The Truth about Modern Class D

@mdeblanc 
Your Cherries replaced a J2? That says something. And you are “just” using the Desktop 60v amp Version. 

I have an Ultra Cherry coming to me soon. For those who may not know, The Ultra is a hybrid SS/CLASS D amp with an 1800w toroidal transformer for extra headroom and transients. SNR is still 116.

Built by Tommy O’Brien of the Digital Amp Co in PA. He is the quintessential independent owner/engineer/designer that sells only via word of mouth and his own thread on AudioCircle, no adverts. He does some custom jobs too. 

@phomchick
all good points. But I would argue 2 things, that although built in DACs with Built-in DAC with built-in amps-in-speakers May very well @be the future”. But that will be more of a commercial product in the future than an audiophile product. 

Mand the Kefs entwined are good, but not great cans same for all the Dynaudio all in one speakers I’ve heard. Severely limited in many respects. Sound. Precision. Pray. Musicality. Power. Nuance. 

And my 2nd point? Well, there is no damn fun if the system and speaker do everything for you. Again, that is a commercial product, not an audiophile product. If DSP is going to do everything for you, then you don’t learn anything about how the sound waves and sound effects can be managed in your room with your own knowledge and know-how.   Boring. 

I suspect one reason for the vastly different takes on Class D is a matter of physiology. People's HF perception vary dramatically, and something irritating to one person may not register much for another. This is particularly true w.r.t. gender - women tend to have superior HF acuity, and my wife can spot treble issues almost instantly. Faults that take me a while to pick up will drive her out of the room in a heartbeat. (She can't pick up on bass notes for her life though!)

I haven't heard much of the latest SOTA Class D, but I did get a brief listen to the Devialet 250 recently. I thought it sounded quite good, smooth and full with killer bass. There's something about the way Class D does low frequencies - not only the power, control and definition of bass notes, but also the evenness of response. Traditional amps sound lumpy by comparison, though this might be more a function of the switching supply than the actual amplification circuit. (Chord amps are Class AB but with a switching supply, and have a similar evenness of response.) I still have the nagging feeling that the Devialet doesn't quite have the air, openness and dimensionality of the best linear amps, but I'd need a more careful audition to ascertain that.

In any case, I'm going to seek out some Class D for review - I have my eyes on an nCore implementation, and will look for something based on ICEPower 1200AS2. Recommendations appreciated.

Cheers,
TAWW
taww.co

Loved your “Lumpy” description above as that eally rings true in my experience. Well said. I am only commenting on bass and not the overall sound of Class D vs conventional SS amps.

@1graber2

But that will be more of a commercial product in the future than an audiophile product.... Severely limited in many respects. Sound. Precision. Pray. Musicality. Power. Nuance.

There is no reason an active speaker cannot be an audiophile grade product. We are at the beginning of this technology. There is Dynaudio, Genelec, Kii, KEF and very few others. I believe I saw an interview with Andrew Jones where he said ELAC is working on an active speaker, and the new PS Audio AN speakers will be partially active. Of course, the best Pro monitor speakers have been active units for almost 20 years. This technology will rapidly improve. And not only is there no reason that active speakers can’t be audiophile grade, they allow elimination of passive crossovers and the adoption of DSP crossovers which can provide much better sound -- offering solutions to driver equaliztion and speaker time alignment as well as room correction that you can’t get any other way. Not only will active speakers with DSP achieve audiophile quality, they will set the bar for the highest quality.

And my 2nd point? Well, there is no damn fun if the system and speaker do everything for you. Again, that is a commercial product, not an audiophile product. If DSP is going to do everything for you, then you don’t learn anything about how the sound waves and sound effects can be managed in your room with your own knowledge and know-how. Boring.

I can’t argue with that. I bought my last preamp in 1982, and my last amplifier in 1989. Since 1990 I have owned three DACs, but until recently the same pair of speakers over that span, and no exotic power cords or fancy speaker wire. (But I have bought a ton of music). If your enjoyment of this hobby comes from flipping equipment in search of synergy and nirvana, you probably won’t be that interested in active speakers. But if you are more interested in actually achieving synergistic audio nirvana, why not join the future and let the manufacturer do it right?

And to finish and anchor these musings in this thread, Class D amplifiers are one of the main technologies that are enabling the next generation of active speakers.