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Which Class D Amplifier? PS Audio, Ghent, Nord, Merrill or other???

I’m looking for a new amp & want Class D.

I’ve seen various brands mentioned, such as PS Audio, Ghent, Nord, Merrel to name a few, but I’ve not heard any of them.

Which company is producing the best sounding Class D?
Which models should I be looking to demo?


Thanks



singintheblues
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 

Hello slimpikins5, if your amps do not require warm up, go with what your ears tell you....


Eric's report of very long warm up time for ICEpower amps is similar to mine.... Although with my old ROland M312 I started to hear better sound after one hour or so.... Very good sound after 24 hours of power up and crunching some signal, and best performance after one more day or two.


NCore 1200 devices seem to have a faster warmup curve.


As for George... Perhaps he and I are not talking to the same manufacturers *Grins!* Or perhaps his ears are dramatically different from mine and Eric's.


About 24/7 power up.... I confess that my wintertime 24/7 practice will come to a schreeching halt by may, when the thunderstorm season starts around.... At that time I will change to a "turn off after music" policy. ... Even now, if I hear any distance thunder in the middle of the night, I get up, power down,  and then disconnect the entire system from the AC outlets.


G.

 

   

erik_squires
16,237 posts
 
I use Furman with LiFT and SMP to reduce noise and protect from surges.
erik_squires
16,237 posts
 
Eric’s report of very long warm up time for ICEpower amps is similar to mine....


Glad to hear I am not alone.


Although with my old ROland M312 I started to hear better sound after one hour or so....

Ahhh! This reminds me of a JR Class D amp I heard years ago, cold. It was painful to listen to. It was only many years later that I went with all Class D and didn’t put the two together. Thanks!

E
erik_squires
16,237 posts
 
I'd like to answer George (above):

Amps are adjusted and calibrated at the factory for peak performance after a short 1/2-1hr warm when they've reached operating temperature, even tubes, to say they sound better after hours and hours is a furphy.


With another quote of his from another thread:



Give it up be happy with yours, that you say you can't hear any problems with it. And let those that can, and have been down that path go the way they want.


Best,
E

slimpikins5's avatar
slimpikins5
191 posts
 
I had a Parasound Zone Master Class D amp on loan to give an evaluation of.  It uses the ICE Power modules and in that particular case, it did sound better after a long warm up period or as Parasound told me at least a 200 hour break in period.  And although it did sound better, to me it still had a high frequency range harshness which I didn't like.  I removed it from service and put the A51 back in which of course is the Class A/AB amp and it was more pleasing to me.  The zone master did have a noticeable boost in low/mid range and it was a 600 watt per channel vs. 400 watt as in the A51 at 4 ohms.
However, when I installed my Class D Anthem M1 mono blocks, it was hands down no comparison in performance upgrade I heard immediately.  The M1's blew away everything, no harshness at all, better sound stage/imaging and monstrous immense power.  And no warm up needed, they just plain old sound fabulous.  Hey, who could ask for anything more than 2000 watts per channel? 
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