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


Hi everyone,

As most of you know, I’m a fan of Class D. I have lived with ICEPower 250AS based amps for a couple of years. Before that I lived with a pair of Parasound A21s (for HT) and now I’m listening to a Luxman 507ux.


I have some thoughts after long term listening:
  • The tropes of Class D having particularly bad, noticeable Class D qualities are all wrong and have been for years.
  • No one has ever heard my Class D amps and gone: "Oh, wow, Class D, that’s why I hate it."
  • The Luxman is a better amp than my ICEPower modules, which are already pretty old.

I found the Class D a touch warm, powerful, noise free. Blindfolded I cannot tell them apart from the Parasound A21s which are completely linear, and run a touch warm due to high Class A operation, and VERY similar in power output.


The Luxman 507 beats them both, but no amp stands out as nasty sounding or lacking in the ability to be musical and involving.


What the Luxman 507 does better is in the midrange and ends of the spectrum. It is less dark, sweeter in the midrange, and sounds more powerful, almost "louder" in the sense of having more treble and bass. It IS a better amplifier than I had before. Imaging is about the same.


There was one significant operational difference, which others have confirmed. I don't know why this is true, but the Class D amps needed 2-4 days to warm up. The Luxman needs no time at all. I have no rational, engineering explanation for this. After leaving the ICEPower amps off for a weekend, they sounded pretty low fi. Took 2 days to come back. I can come home after work and turn the Luxman on and it sounds great from the first moment.


Please keep this in mind when evaluating.


Best,

E
erik_squires
BTW 'switching noise' really isn't a thing unless the switching frequency is really low,
Which it's artifacts are, even the non technical can see it in any Class-D's 1 or 10khz square wave from on the amps outputs, and in the phase shift the filter produces down to 4khz in many cases.

I know your bringing out your own Class-D amps just like Ricevs is also using off the shelf boards (maybe slightly modded) that's maybe why the negatives toward the GaN Technology, that now even Texas Instruments are behind.
  https://e2e.ti.com/blogs_/b/powerhouse/archive/2018/06/26/the-sound-of-gan    
Which it's artifacts are, even the non technical can see it in any Class-D's 1 or 10khz square wave from on the amps outputs, and in the phase shift the filter produces down to 4khz in many cases.
You can't see switching noise on any frequency a class D amp can amplify. All that can be seen is a sine wave known as the 'residual'. You've been told this before. That sine wave is at the switching frequency of the amplifier; if you are saying you can hear 250KHz or 1.2MHz sine wave good luck trying convince anyone that you aren't a nutbag.


Regarding phase shift, filters in most class amps are set to 60-80KHz and are usually 12dB per octave; phase shift thus derived is less that you would see with a 6dB slope (with a 6dB slope phase shift can be seen down to about 1/10th the cutoff frequency). So the 4KHz thing in the statement above is just plain false. You might see something at 20KHz though, but it would be slight even on an older class D amp.

I know your [sic] bringing out your own Class-D amps just like Ricevs is also using off the shelf boards (maybe slightly modded) that's maybe why the negatives toward the GaN Technology, that now even Texas Instruments are behind.
We have our own circuit and are not using anyone's boards. We filed for our patent over a year ago and expect the patent soon.

That sine wave is at the switching frequency of the amplifier; if you are saying you can hear 250KHz or 1.2MHz sine wave good luck trying convince anyone that you aren’t a nutbag.
Your twisting things to suite your self, I never ever said that you can hear these frequencies, I’ve always stated they have an effect and the "output filters used" in all Class-D amp to remove them have an audible effect, because they cause problems!!, and if the "output filters" are shifted up higher because the switching frequency is higher, then problems become minimized. 

As for you getting abusive, I understand you are trying to promote and protect your upcoming new non GaN Class-D, because all linear amps tube and SS will go the way of the dinosaur once the new Class-D GaN technology takes hold.
George,
What amps have you removed the output filters from so you can test your "idea"?  What amps have you raised the switching frequency on so you can again....test your "idea"?  You have interesting ideas.  That is all they are.  You have no proof.  More and more people everyday are listening to 500K switching amps using mosfets and they do not hear the "terrible mids and highs" you keep talking about.

On the other hand, I agree with you about switching at higher frequencies being a "possible" positive (apparently hard to do without drawbacks....Merrill even says so).  You could make the coil smaller and it would have less effect.  As far as dead time there are various ways of dealing with it.  Everything will be known about all this within 10 years.  In the mean time we have great sounding relatively modest costing mosfet based amps that are replacing class A and A/B amps all over the world.  Not that any class D amp (including the new Merrill GaN amps) is state of the art.  I am sure the $100,000 plus Class A amps are still the best there is (Audionet Heisenberg, DAgostino Relentless, etc.).

I really hope that GaN transistors can help class D get even better.  However, there is no proof yet.  Even the $36,000 Merrill GaN amps don't do depth or dynamics or classical music as well as the CH Precision stuff (according to one guy who had them both in his house).  Most of the class D amps out there are inexpensive, use off the shelf modules (including mine), are not being produced by serious tweakers, etc. and therefore are compromised.  I do 17 mods to the modules and hook them up in state of the art ways and sell wholesale direct.  This is why my amp is so good for the money.  It is not state of the art.....no way.  State of the art means the best available period.....Heck, that bar keeps changing every year....even at the $100K price range.  Class D is very good right now and will keep getting better and better at cheaper and cheaper prices.  If GaNs can help this trend then all is a WIN!  I have high hope for GaNs...let us see what happens.  Right now there are no (zip, zero, nada) tweaked out affordable GaN amps available (the inexpensive Technics is not a tweak product!!!).  This is going to take some time.  What is for sure (and I keep saying this over and over....so here goes again)......is that every amp with GaNs (when and if they get released) will sound different from every other amp with GaNs or whatever.  Every single thing you do changes the sound.  Unless you invest tons of time tweaking something you will never get what is possible.  I have been tweaking the IceEdge modules for a year now and am just now starting to ship.  Perfecting and tweaking takes time.  You will have GaN amps that do not sound as good as mosfet amps.....that I am sure of.  There is no silver bullet.  Everything has to be done right.  I hope that GaNs done right are another level better....I always want everything/everyone to improve.  I want everyone to feel happier and happier with each day.  May it be so.
Ric hits the George issue on the head, eloquently. Not that his eloquence or reasoning will dissuade George from using cherry picked measurements to assert issues with Class D which are almost solved.