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High End Amp Price Collapse musings

If Class D amplification becomes accepted by audiophiles there should be a glut of high end amps (Krell, Levinson, Pass etc) becoming available on the used market at prices a fraction of what they are now.

Think CRT TV when the flat panels began emerging.I think Ill hold off on a new/used amp purchase for a little while. Maybe I will bet a Boulder.

Has any one else considered this?

energeezer
electroslacker
375 posts
 
All things digital carry a sense of instant obsolescence once the next version is announced.  I wouldn't buy a digital amp because I think it would be a poor boat anchor (too light) in a few years.  There are many old "analog" amps, speakers, and tonearm I'd love to have, but any old digital gizmo falls into the Atari, Windows 2000, iPhone4 graveyard.  Maybe it's an unfair association with computer products, or an unfair label of "digital" but DAC's have the same arc of obsolescence.  Analog dies a slower death in the used market.
dave_b's avatar
dave_b
3,159 posts
 
I grew up with vinyl and I can say that Hi Rez ripped CD's through my BlueSound rig delivers that vinyl magic without it's fatal flaws.  My ripped CD's now sound like great vinyl when before, played through my $12k SACD/CD PLAYER sounded good but lacking in that vinyl dynamic vitality.

mechans
3,048 posts
 


I just don't know, but if that new amp that that puts out 300 watts but weighs only 3 pounds and costs $3,000 or  possibly much more it  just isn't going to feel right to me. I am used to big iron and like I said tubes and transformers.

I know some are trying to figure out a way to eliminate the power transformer them even traditional transistor amps will be light.

guidocorona
4,298 posts
 

electroslacker, you may want to recalibrate your generalizations... Class D amps are analog devices, not digital. digital amps work on different principles.


G.


electroslacker
375 posts
 
Guido: Thanks I stand corrected.  I guess I'm thinking short digital samples of the incoming signal related to switching rate, much like CD sampling or digitizing a photo....and must be wrong.  But I still wouldn't buy because I think this era of Class D won't hold its value.  Just personal feeling.
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