Class D Technology

Such an interesting discussion!

I'm perhaps a month into my Class D audition and I am very pleased.  I agree with other posters that the goal is good sound and comparing my new Bel Canto ref600ms to my Supernait 2....well, it's not even close - the Bel Cantos are better in so many ways - dynamics, speed (yes, even against the PRaT Naim) and in particular imaging.  The bass is excellent with so much more control and I find the mid/hi excellent as well.  No ear ringing here!  

I'm still comparing and learning - but I suspect soon my Supernait 2 will bo going to the 'Gon.  

Since I am having fun exploring I may try to pick up a Class A or A/B to power mid/highs and keep the D's for the bass to bi-amp. 

All in all, have to agree with mapman.  I could live with this setup indefinitely - incredible sound more than anything.  The benefits of small size and efficiency are just frosting on the cake.  I'm tempted to find a Bel Canto 3.7 or similar preamp/dac to simplify my rig and save some $$$.  As always, it will depend on the sound!

P

Geekboy I run arc sp16 tube preamp and mhdt Constantine DAC into my Bel Canto ref1000m amps. Also a Bel Canto c5i integrated in my second smaller system. . I spend many hours just listening and enjoying more so than ever. Class D amps and my Ohm Walsh style speakers together are the most likely to not be replaced anytime soon at this point.

BTW I have used Triangle Titus monitors now for many years with a lot of gear and these are currently running of Bel Canto C5i Class D integrated and the sound with these tiny very resolving monitors is the best ever. Absolutely no signs of brightness or edge which I have found to be possible with many amps.  The sound is just lovely overall. Same true with Dynaudio Contour 1.3mkII monitors I’ve used with the C5i. Both Dynaudio and Triangle sound absolutely marvelous with c5i (as do OHM Walsh speakers) but I lean towards the Triangles over the Dynaudios with the c5i mainly because they are more efficient than the Dynaudios and the 60 w/ch output of the c5i is plenty for the Triangles whereas the less efficient Dynaudios are not fully engaged with only 60w/ch.

@mapman

That's really good. My one exposure to Triangle was with high-end McIntosh gear in the early 2000s and bright and glaring is exactly what they sounded like.  It never occured to me to consider the amps.

I'm listening with very high end AMT tweeters and ICEPower amps and there's not a hint of glare or brightness. These tweets are flat to 20kHz, and have considerable output to 30kHz. Maybe -6 dB?

I also have a center channel with an equally exquisite ring-radiator used by many high-end manufacturers (Sonus Faber, Krell, etc.) and again, not a hint of glare or grain.

They sound just like the Parasound A23s I had before. Which, while you can argue not the best SS ever, are linear amps.

erik last McIntosh demo I had was with Totem Mani 2 and other newer Totems. It was somewhat bright and glaring compared to other Totem demos I had heard. Other than that the Mani 2s left an impression and remain on my list of speakers I would like to own, especially with the right amp to make them shine.

I’ve also heard Goldenear Aeon monitors with folded ribbon tweets off NAD amps and there was no edge or glare at all there. In fact fatigue factor was extremely low, towards the polite side. I liked the Aeons a lot as well.

Its usually all in how well matched things are to work together in a manner that performs well and also suits the listener’s preferences (two different but related things).