Time to buy a class D amp?

Class D is in prime time. Some companies like Bel Canto and Aavik, as just two examples, are putting out superb Class D. I just had a customer upgrade from a couple Simaudio pieces (certainly not inexpensive) to a Bel Canto Black EX integrated amplifier. He was in a situation in a new house where he needed something that didn't produce as much heat. I said he should try out the Bel Canto Black EX. When I brought one over to try, he was hoping it would get close to sounding as good. In my mind, I was quite sure the Bel Canto would sound better. He was thrilled to find out that he found the Bel Canto to sound superior.

I more of a believer that we "prefer" amplifier A vs amplifier B because of the way it makes our systems sound...to us...in our rooms...with our other equipment...and our selected music.  In this respect, there appears to be plenty of people buying class d amplifiers and then making detailed descriptions about why they enjoy their purchase, as much or more than their previous amplifiers.  This definitely describes my situation with the 2Cherry that I purchased from Cherry Amp six months ago...beautifully accurate tonality with veil removing clarity...the music is just more alive.

But, it is only fair to say that not everyone has found a class d amplifier that was good enough to remain in their systems.  To slightly paraphrase Herb Reichert in his review of the JBL A170...." In the realm of reviews, John Atkinson's measurements and my empirical observations have one important equivalency: Both are meaningless abstractions until confirmed by your listening experience".

Nodari, Might I share my experience with you?
I run a PS Audio S300 and I have tried various preamps with it, including the matching Gain Cell Preamp/DAC. I got very different outcomes in terms of the nature of the sound output from my speakers.

--I tried a good passive preamp....very dry sound, lacking in timbral fullness and color.
--The Gain Cell DAC/Preamp created a smooth, rounded dulled sound, somewhat lacking in dynamic interest. I was surprised.
--When I placed a tube preamp in front, the sound became, to my ears, spectacular. I was surprised how much the sound varied with these preamps. My final outcome is brilliant and not at all dry or bright. Great dynamics, timbral richness, clarity, resolution. Very happy. I suggest you work with that amp a bit more.

I recently built a second system and after much reading and research bought D-Sonics M3A-1500 mono blocks.  I ran them for about 300 hours using a SS Primare pre I had and driving a new pair of Maggie 3.7i's.  The amps and Maggies both require significant run in time.  I was very impressed with SQ....huge open soundstage....bass took some time to arrive but it is now present and impressive.  HF still needs to open up a bit more but getting there.  With burn in 90% there I swapped out the Primare with a McIntosh C2300 tube pre amp...at first pretty disappointing and a bit lifeless but let it run in for 24 hours and boy am I glad I waited.  Very impressive.  Huge open, layered and deep soundstage.  Not as highly resolving or detailed and focused as my reference rig, but at 1/5th the cost I'm totally happy and I'm still tweaking the speaker placement.  These class D amps are terrific.  Dead quiet, wonderfully balanced top to bottom....nothing close to "bright".  Huge open soundstage with great sonic images.  Crazy power.  Very musical.  Someone above noted that on great recordings SQ is wonderful and even poor recordings sound great.  I found that to be true.  Hard to believe at $2,750. for the pair.  

Hello ptrck887,

Yes, the D-Sonic are excellent examples of class D amps that provide hi-end sound at bargain prices. Of course, there are even better class D amps available, such as Merrill Audio’s new Element 114 stereo amp that uses the new extremely fast switching Gallium Nitride transistors, but it’s priced at $15,000. Here’s a review:
https://parttimeaudiophile.com/2019/05/03/merrill-audio-introduces-the-114-new-gallium-nitride-amplifier/

But it better perform better when it costs over $12,000 more than your D-Sonic M3A-1500 mono blocks, which are their latest top of the line mono block amp model and utilize the latest very high quality power modules from Pascal. I use a pair of the slightly older, previous generation D-Sonic M3-600-M mono blocks, that were their amp model just below the M3-1500-M model, with Magnepan 2.7QR speakers and they’re the best amps I’ve ever used with them.
I’m glad you mentioned how "dead quiet your class D amps are because this quietness, along with a very accurate, detailed and neutral presentation, are the most obvious qualities I’ve noticed in all the good quality class D amps I own and have listened to.
The only difference I noticed between your description of your experiences utilizing class D and my own concerns performance on poor recordings. I find it’s become much easier to identify the quality level of recordings as well as upstream changes in equipment and cabling when using good quality class D amps compared to the good quality class AB amps (Adcom, McCormack and Aragon) I used previously.

Enjoy,
Tim