Old Amp vs. New Amp

" I had never heard of Classdaudio.  I just looked at their website.

Certainly something to consider."

     petrela,

      The good news is that classDaudio is only one of many companies offering very good class D amps.  My initial very good experience with a class D amp impressed me so much that I did a lot of internet research about the history of class D amps, from the 1st proposal in 1958 and the 1st commercially available amp in 1964 to the best current examples of class D using power modules from companies like Hypex and Anaview/Abletec. 

       But this fascination with class D only inspired me to want to try some of the latest examples in my own system. Fortunately, my limited budget also limited my subsequent class D amp purchases to the more reasonably priced versions.  

       My 2nd class D amp was an Emerald Physics EP-102 stereo amp (bought on sale for $600) and my last amp purchase was a pair of D-Sonic M3-600-M mono-blocks (just under $2,000/pr.).  

     All 3 of my class D amps share some similar sonic qualities: very good bass control and response, very low noise floors, powerful dynamics,exceptionally neutral, high levels of detail, solid and stable sound staging and smooth mid-range and treble response that never seems too bright. 

     From reports  from numerous class D amp owners using a wide variety of good class D amp brands and models on this and other audio forums,  they typically mention the same  sonic qualities that I mentioned above.  However, I still try to resist claiming all good class D amps sound the same because I've only personally listened to a small sample of them.

     If you'd like to explore some other good class D amps, I'd suggest a google search of 'class D home audio amps'.

      Tim

I have owned Pass amps for the past 15 years...I have found each new generation to be significantly better than the previous...

add Odyssey to the list of manufacturers who upgrade both their newer and older units...even new they make excellent value amps...

Thanks for the note Pete.

I'm hoping that this ML amp will be my "Reference", therefore, if I want to experiment with class D or tubes or whatever in the future I'll be able to evaluate based on that.  For now at least (and maybe I'm wrong) I consider Class D as the "imitator" trying to do what the big amps do with less size, less energy and less cost.  Of course solid state is still trying to do what tubes do (to some extent).  And I guess tubes are trying to do what solid state does (mainly in the low end).  So I guess there's always a trade off.

Pass is another that I was really interested in, but more so their newer stuff, which of course is still pretty pricey.

My 1961 Fender Deluxe amp needed maintenance for leaking caps after only 40 years…damn…the amp worked fine before the new caps were put in but still, who needs that sort of hastle every 40 years?