What class of amplifier has the most high definition sound ?

Lots of excellent input here, especially M Green, and George

IME, the interaction with the room plays a very significant roll

I am blessed and cursed with a large room (~ 19 X 35 X 12 i. The blessing is virtually no boundary interference. The curse- finding a amp/speaker combination that will properly energize the room without going overboard

I just replaced a excellent Audio Alchemy 175w/ class D stereo amp with PS Audio M700 monos which only have ~ 200 hours on them (bought them slightly used). Even stone cold, they did a better job of energizing the room (I could better hear deep background low level tinkly things, like in the opening of Famous Blue Raincoat Joanne of Arc, BUT, I think I really need to double their ~ 350/700w to get the full texture

Speakers are Emerald Physics KCIIs @  92dB with Clarity cap and Wire World upgrades +. even though a very benign load, I am told the KCIIs love some power. To compensate, I have  2 SVS Bash amp subs (Ultra and Plus), but their volume control is way too coarse at lowest volume they come on too much, so very hard to blend  

IN MY ROOM I probably need Ice EDGE power @  ~ 1200w to properly energize the room

1. OTL
2. Really good switching amps ONLY with linear power supplies. SMP’s will foul up the entire presentation.
3. Superior A/B solid state amplifiers

What a can of worms.  Synergy is the real quest.  It's mating the loudspeaker to a power amplifier that has the right chemistry.  Certain combinations or one particular amplifier are/is pure magic while others are simply pitiful. 

Just so we are clear- there are classes of amplificationandthere are types of amplifiers.

The class of operation has mostly to do with how the output devices in the amp are turned on and how long they are on. In this regard both solid state and tube amps can be class A, class AB, class B or D (yes, you can build a tube amp that is class D). Class C is not used for audio- its typically used for radio frequency transmitters.


A *type* of amplifier has to do with its topology (circuit design) and often what sort of devices it uses in the output section. For example an SET is a type of amp using entirely single-ended circuitry and a triode for a power tube. An OTL is a tube amp that does not use an output transformer. There are single-ended solid state amps (ala First Watt amps from Nelson Pass) and most solid state amps are output transformerless, so the OTL moniker is usually reserved for tube amps. These days all class D amps are solid state, but they can have half-bridge and full bridge configurations.

I have to go with class  A....