Hello MRD, I concur with you that historically a lot of class D amplifiers did sound "dry and analytical", and that is using kind words for what they did.
If M535 were even remotely dry, analytical, Hi-fFiish, and emotionally sterile, I would not have kept them in my system for the last six months, and waxed poetic on these pages about the music they produce.
Granted, I do not listen to the same genre as WC does, my preference being more towards classical, ranging from the very large orchestral works of Mahler and Stravinsky with their huge dynamic swings, all the way down to single acoustic instruments and solo voices.
What I seek is both extreme subtlety and huge dynamics... Ability to expose minute harmonics from deep bass to high treble, tiny fluctuations in microdynamics as well as supreme authority in macrodynamics without ever breaking a sweat... Give me goose-bumps during the interplay of female voice and flugelhorn in Cohen’s Aleluia as well as during the firy end of Stravinsky’s rite Of Spring.
I have no idea what kind of decibel levl I achieve... I typically keep the volume at levels that I deem commensurate to what I would perceive in concert hall from a sitting position consistent with the virtual stage and images being produced... And all of this without M535 ever introducing the jarring destructive effect of audible intermodulation.
In my system, M535 do create pure efforteless magic driving the Vienna Die Muzik speakers... 900W per channel with a peak current of 30A that never fail to transport me into the music, emotions and brain alike... I can’t resist toe-tapping, subvocalizing bass llines, "conducting", seeing the kaleydoscopic images produced by synesthesia, and all of this while sinking in my listening couch and forgetting where I am.
Will WC like M535 at all? No idea... But I am confident that he will evaluate them without the tainting of preconceived biases that often accompany class of operation, physical size, or retail price.
Saluti, G.