Class D is just Dandy!

Tom - Yeah, I’m using an NAD D 3020 in the bedroom. It’s a hybrid Class D designed by Hypex, so it runs a little warmer than you’d expect. It’s really quite nice.

One thing I’ve learned recently is NAD is using 3 different types of Class D:

1 - Direct Digital
2 - Hypex Ncore
3 - The Hybrid approach they used in the 3020.

It would be interesting to compare them side by side! I will say that while I am a fan of Class D in general, I’ve never heard a PWM amplifier I actually liked the sound of. I suspect they get the feedback (if any) quite right and can’t solve the output filter issues well.

Erik

Erik, please educate me. What is a "Poor White Male" amplifier?

Tom

1 - Direct Digital

@erik_squires FWIW the phrase above is a marketing thing. It means that the amp has a DAC as its input, but the amp itself is actually analog, like all class D amps are. IMO/IME marketing terms like this tend to confuse the marketplace.

@tomcarr ’PWM’ stands for Pulse Width Modulation.
Such an amplifier usually has something like a triangle wave oscillator in it. The incoming audio is compared to the triangle wave and this determines how long the output devices are either on or off. The switching frequency (which is otherwise determined by the frequency of the oscillator) is then stripped from the resulting signal and what’s left is the audio.

@atmasphere , thank you Ralph.

So, with all of this Class D talk, where to the new ATI 52X and 54X rate in the scheme of sound quality? I have read great articles saying how wonderful they are but what about people who have actual experience with them who don’t work for a paid magazine?

In a home theater application will there really be much difference than say running an older parasound or anthem amp?