darkstar on his ATI amp:" The sound is high end. Huge stage, precise images and natural timbre. The sound reflects the front end. Changes in upstream equipment are easily audible.
ATI uses a large linear power supply. No SMPS power. I listen about 12 hours a day. Every day. Jazz and classical primarily. No listener fatigue here."
As an owner and user of D-Sonic M3-600-M monoblocks, I consider this a very good description of what to expect from the inclusion of a high quality class D amp or amps in one's system.
I haven't yet had the opportunity to audition an ATI amp in my or any system, but darkstar's description of the ATI's performance characteristics closely resemble the performance characteristics that I've perceived in my amps over the past 4 plus years in my system on both 2-ch music and HT playback.
I also read this Sound & Vision review on a couple of ATI amps that further supports their high quality:
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/ati-at527nc-and-at524nc-amplifiers-review
I 've read that many of the ATI amps utilize the newer and highly respected Hypex NCore500 class D power modules. These are likely an important contributor to the high quality sound performance.
These ATI amps also utilize conventional toiroidal transformers as part of their power supplies. It seems like some believe the use of conventional toroidal transformers in the power supplies of class D amps results in superior performance when compared to the newer switch mode power supplies (SMPS) used in other high quality class D amps. All 3 of the class D amps I use in my system happen to have power supplies using conventional toroidal transformers but I've listened to many other class D amps utilizing SMPS. In my listening experiences, I've never perceived any noticeable sound quality advantage of either power supply types.
Overall, I consider the ATI amps a very good high quality class D amp option that I also consider a bit overpriced.
Tim
ATI uses a large linear power supply. No SMPS power. I listen about 12 hours a day. Every day. Jazz and classical primarily. No listener fatigue here."
As an owner and user of D-Sonic M3-600-M monoblocks, I consider this a very good description of what to expect from the inclusion of a high quality class D amp or amps in one's system.
I haven't yet had the opportunity to audition an ATI amp in my or any system, but darkstar's description of the ATI's performance characteristics closely resemble the performance characteristics that I've perceived in my amps over the past 4 plus years in my system on both 2-ch music and HT playback.
I also read this Sound & Vision review on a couple of ATI amps that further supports their high quality:
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/ati-at527nc-and-at524nc-amplifiers-review
I 've read that many of the ATI amps utilize the newer and highly respected Hypex NCore500 class D power modules. These are likely an important contributor to the high quality sound performance.
These ATI amps also utilize conventional toiroidal transformers as part of their power supplies. It seems like some believe the use of conventional toroidal transformers in the power supplies of class D amps results in superior performance when compared to the newer switch mode power supplies (SMPS) used in other high quality class D amps. All 3 of the class D amps I use in my system happen to have power supplies using conventional toroidal transformers but I've listened to many other class D amps utilizing SMPS. In my listening experiences, I've never perceived any noticeable sound quality advantage of either power supply types.
Overall, I consider the ATI amps a very good high quality class D amp option that I also consider a bit overpriced.
Tim