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

It will be several years before this GaN class D audio amplifier IP technology becomes truly affordable.

I don’t believe so, EPC have already sold these to several Class-D manufacturers direct, and Digikey are already selling it, it doesn’t take much, just demand for a major semiconductor manufacturer to step in and purchase the right to make them for the masses, it’s like the Power Mosfet all over again, which they developed, and became the norm in no time at all.

https://www.digikey.com/catalog/en/partgroup/ganfet-gallium-nitride/53212

Or you can buy the complete Evaluation Board and put it in a box.
https://www.digikey.com/products/en?%20WT.z_cid=sp_917_0110_buynow&site=us&lang=en&mpart...

Cheers George

It’s my understanding that there are currently 2 leading producers of high-speed GaN power transistors, EPC and GaN Systems.
Does anyone know if there are differences between the two of them and whether GaN Systems has a proprietary patent on their GaN FET transistor, too?

Are there other producers of currently available GaN transistors with unique patents?

Are there other producers of currently available high-speed GaN FET drivers besides Peregrine and their PE29102 driver?

I’m just trying to better understand the companies and products involved in these emerging markets.

Thanks,
Tim

Any good credible reviews out there yet where the author compared the sound of a leading GaN Class D amp to others?  Stereophile?  That would help take the GaN argument from a theoretical one to something verified.   The measurements would be interesting as well.

Hi,

We are still doing our direct A/B testing with several different Class D amplifier brands that use different technology and I am certainly not a tech but the differences in sound between the different technologies is very audible. There are 4 amplifier manufactures that we have A/B that sound much better than other Class D manufactures we have tested. We are still testing and we still have a few more amplifiers to test but one thing for sure, Class D amplification comes in many different levels and the top level is very special. The problem might be, if you have not heard the very best of Class D, than the not so good Class D is not very good at all and this might turn you right off Class D.