I went from Class D to Luxman A/AB - And most of what you think is wrong

@glennewdick -
I disagree with your assessment about Rowland’s amps and comparing them to the numerous brands that simply take an existing Class D module with its stock SMPS and stick it in a cheap chassis. JR designs and builds his own proprietary SMPS which are actually very expensive to implement correctly and then integrates those power supplies with various Class D output stages which he selects for their sonic performance. His SMPS outperforms most linear power supplies and avoid creating the AC line noise which lesser designs inject on the power line. His chassis construction is exceptional, with most models having aluminum billet chassis which are expertly machined and masterfully finished.
Granted his amps are not inexpensive, but their level of engineering and build quality are exceptional as is their sonic performance. Quality of that level comes at a price... of course there are cheaper implementations of Class D amps which are quite popular but are not competitive with the performance of the Rowlands despite some circuit similarities. There is a market for both types of products, more value oriented amps and cost no object designs for more demanding audiophiles.

As far as I can tell high end audio is more of a rat race than ever as there are many more manufacturers looking for a piece of the pie. The marketing is getting progressively more obnoxious.  Kids appreciate good sound like the rest of us. They go to concerts and are quite capable of discriminating between great and not so great sound. But, life in general is more expensive than ever and megabuck HiFi systems are not on their priority list. Later in life they are sure to join in as finances allow. They are also more likely to include theater in the equation as well as vinyl which I find very interesting. I think we are analog creatures at heart. There is nothing like the warm glow of tubes. That is an instinctive attraction. 
As far as class D amps are concerned I think TACT was on the right path with an amp that encoded in pulse width modulation and sampled at 90 meg. They were very clean sounding amps with solid bass but they did not like reactive loads at all. I have never heard a Rowland amp but obviously someone is paying close attention to build quality. I have no doubt that Class D amps will become very competitive with other amps in regards to sound quality. Back in the late 60s we all thought that SS amps were garbage because they were. A decade or two later and they came into their own and many of us think they are superior. The efficiency of class D is what I find so attractive. Turning money into heat is counter productive especially when you spend more money air conditioning it out of the house. 
After all it is all about enjoying the music right? Silly. We all love music or we would not be doing this. HiFi is all about reproducing the music but to what standard? There really is not one or rather we all have our own standard which evolves over time. But I can say that in the presence of a truly great system jaws drop and there is very little criticism. I love it when my jaw drops.

cleeds, you are absolutely right.  I apologize to the group for my stupid remark.  Pain meds and keyboards do not a match make. 

So, @georgehifi you have compared GaN with other class D amps?

Hi,
While I love the small footprint, cool running, low current draw of Class D, there is one compelling reason I will not own one: as an audio repairman for almost 40 years (McIntosh Labs, Nagra, dCS, Musical Fidelity), I cannot even begin to repair a Class D amp.
Class A or AB  for me for the foreseeable future.
Cheers!Steve GeorgeNashville