The Future of Audio Amplification


I have recently paired an Audio Research DS225 Class D amplifier with an Audio Research tube preamplifier (SP8 mkii). I cannot believe how wonderful and lifelike my music sounds. The DS225 replaced an Audio Research SD135 Class AB amplifier. Perhaps the SD135 is just not as good as some of the better quality amps that are out there, but it got me thinking that amazingly wonderful sonance can be achieved with a tubed pre and Class D amp. I have a hunch that as more people experience this combination, it will likely catch on and become the future path of many, if not most audiophile systems. It is interesting that Audio Research has been at the forefront of this development.
distortions
 newest class D amps are so good and so cheap that you could just throw them away
That's just great, depends just how well off you are. Try saying this to an owner who Class-D has just smoked it, as see what you get back in return.
Also you sell them, so you and are definitely not impartial.
newest class D amps are so good and so cheap that you could just throw them away


What a wonderful throwaway society we now live in when we can even consider that statement as not only being relevant but likely the truth.
Very sad reflection of todays mindset and the times.
If GaN acts like a V-Fet or a SIT, then they might be on to something.

The non linear gain curve of a modern transistor will generate odd order harmonics, which is where the problem in audio lies.

A SIT or V-Fet, produces predominantly even order harmonics, which is tied to possessing what is principally a linear gain curve. More akin to a tube. A triode tube, specifically. This is critical. Big time critical.

To test this theory, one has to make a modern Class D amp with a modern V-fet, which means Tokin devices. Which are available on ebay as the last of their kind. These are high current high voltage devices. (the Tokin versions)

The future of audio is very likely V-Fet/ SIT.

Class D, as it stands, produces what is predominantly odd order harmonic hash, which is filtered.

The shape of that odd ordered hash is mistaken for detail, as the components of it (mix of odd ordered harmonics) meander around (shift and change) in the presented mix.

I heard it for what it was the first time I head a class D amp, and it is there in all of them. Garish, faulted right to the emergent core, unlistenable. For me, that is....as I heard it and recognized it...that it is totally against the aim of audio technology, in my view, hearing and understanding. To take the worst and unwanted part of what solid state devices do and make it the ENTIRE waveform. Jebus.

This is mostly testable in a finished item...as Sony did it right and made a class D amp back in the day, with SIT or V-Fets as the output devices.

Not as much of a modern refinement as the current crop of Class D amps, but the build/design clues for working with SIT devices are all there in a pre-existing finished item.

Interestingly enough, modern V-Fets/SITs are designed to be high frequency high powered choppers of the like that are required for Class D design.

We had it in hand, we were on our way... but mosfets killed the audio star....

Audio is all about shootout and comparing. And the best one will always be chosen. You need to find the best one in each single price range.

So far I never auditioned a class D who was the best in it’s price range. All the ones who are less than the best one have no meaning in our world.

When you do not understand sound and music you will never understand audio either . Over 99% van all human beings don’t understand that much about sound and music.

I had conversations with many people who work in audio (just like me over 20 years of time). They all had to admit that their insight and knowledge was very limited.

I asked them all many different questions they could all not answer. This made them realize that they own a very limited level in insight and knowledge regarding music and sound. This is needed to understand audio.

The fact that audio is done all over the world by trail and error. Proofs on facts that the awareness of human beings is very little developed. Based on the fact that trail and error has no real foundation. When I talked about this with many people who work in audio. They realized that they cannot extract the dna of each single part in an audio system.

So you never will understand what you are doing. And it is just audio by gambling. They all agreed that there was no way to understand why the sound and stage(these are only 2 aspects of sound) is what they can hear. This proofs on facts that there is no foundation. You always need a foundation to understand exactly what you are doing.

Knowledge and insight is something you need to develope yourself. But....most people in audio are all just like parrots. They use they words they read from articles. Or they say the things distributers or manufacturers told them.

I give you an example; We were at the first presentation of the B&W 800D3. The person who did the presentation said: B&W did change over 800 parts compared to the former series2.

So we asked him a simple question: can you tell us some of those changements? But he could not, and he realized that he was only telling us a story from a paper.

Whe you let people hear instruments and voices in real, it becomes clear that most audio products sounds a lot different. This proofs on facts that most manufactures know little about sound and music as well.

Because if they would have known a lot about sound and music their products would have sounded a lot different. So what is needed to create audio products who sound more realistic an natural?

Yesssss research and knowledge and spending time how music and instruments sounds in real.