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

OK, I've had the March Audio p252 in the system for two days (Hypex nc252mp), so I'll follow up with my thoughts in this contentious Class D thread.

I had a bit of a long strange trip comparing it to my old amp (Adcom 5802). When I first connected the March, I was sure I could hear a difference. A bit tighter in the bass, not as smooth in the highs. Was the image not as wide? The soloists seemed a little further back? A difference in Cymbal decay?

This evening I had a chance to A/B them, albeit under less than ideal conditions. Since I had to power them off before reconnecting, there was a bit of a lag between listens, and, of course, I'm getting up from the couch to do it. Just to complicate things, the March reverses the channels, so I had to be careful to connect right channel on my DAC to left channel on the March. I put in a pair of speaker cables with bananas instead of spades, to make it easier. After trying to volume equalize on the music, I started doing it on a 1k test tone (with a decibel meter). As it happens, the two amps have the same gain, so I realized I didn't have to change the volume at all. Eventually I got the switch down to less than 30 seconds.

The better I got at making the swap, the less I could hear a difference. When I started I was almost sure I could. Ninety minutes later I'm pretty sure I would fail a blind test between the two.

On the one hand, I am reasonably persuaded by the volume of tests that suggest well-designed and adequately powered amps will sound very similar. On the other hand, on very first blush I immediately started hearing some of the things detractors say about Class D. Hmm, which way do my biases run?

All in all, it was a weird experience.  But it's nice to have a cool amp here in the living room, so I can leave the A/C window unit off and hear the music. Also, with only the DAC/Streamer and the tiny p252, I could get rid of the audio rack and de-clutter....

Next I'm planning to test the Orchard Audio PecanPi DAC/streamer against my current rig (Cambridge Edge NQ).

Class D is to analytic. At the beginning, it sounds good, but after a while, you will miss something. It have no body, no personality.. you cann’t have “the” connection with the music. Our ears are analoque.
For me,still the best is Class A:pure, natural, real,more holographic.. you enjoy more. Class A/B is good for those who want more power ,those who wanna play loud...but sometimes you mis the attention  (the detail) and some tones suppressed by being too low. It does not represent a fair and real image. It is also reallly tiring for the ears, why many people have hearing problems in the long term .

luka

I do not like dry amps of any kind. Early digital could be the actual cause of your statement, but it too has evolved. Most likely, your issue is with impedance mismatch between the preamp and the amp input buffer 

I have owned many amps; class A/B, one class A, and a handful of tube amps. None were perfect and most did not compare to my current class D experiences.

I had a similar experience to yours with early W4S amps, but none of the class D amps I’ve owned in the last 4+ years have been dry. That said, one does have to up their cable game with class D as it often exposes issues upstream

how many class D amps have you owned?

Over the last decade+, I have owned several class D amps; W4S (stereo and multi-channel), PS Audio GCC 250 (~ 10 yo, and still functions really well in my TV system), Emerald Physics 100.2SEs, Audio Alchemy DPA-1 which for almost 2 years has been my main amp in my stereo system, and PS Audio M700s.

I consider the last pair of Class D amps I listened to for a long period of time the equal of Parasound A21’s in terms of warmth and color. Possibly the better in terms of noise.

The noise specs are better, but I never heard noise out of either of them. :)

There are a number of linear amps I would call more analytical than these, so in terms of broad class distinctions, I don’t think the idea that Class D is always analytical compared to linear holds.


I’m not asking you to love Class D uber alles, I just think you need to evaluate your choices on a case by case basis.


Of course, if your standard is a vintage Conrad Johnson amp, I can't help you. Everything will sound more analytical. :D


Best,

E

Yes but the Parasound A21 is not very good.You need a better reference.