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Time to buy a class D amp?


Will some new class D amplifiers outperforming the current ones appear soon

(the newest ones i know were released a  few years ago)?

Class D amps attract me as I consider them the most ecological ones with obvious non-auditionable benefits.

I have no doubts that they posses the maximum ratio performance/sound quality among the amplifiers of all classes.

At the same time, the sound quality the class D amplifiers that I have auditioned produce, although is quite good,

but not yet ideal (for my taste).


I use PS Audio Stellar S300 amp with PS audio Gain Cell pre/DAC with Thiel CS 3.6 speakers in one of my systems.

The sound is ok (deep bass, clear soundstage) but not perfect (a bit bright and somehow dry, lacking warmness which might be more or less ok for rock but not for jazz music).

I wonder if there are softer sounding class D amps with the same or better details and resolution. Considering two reasonable (as to the budget) choices for test, Red Dragon S500 and Digital Audio Company's

Cherry  2 (or Maraschino monoblocks), did anybody compare these two?



niodari
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
Let me note that MEGAschino is not a typical representative of class D: it is quite heavy (about 20 kilos)
Because it has a linear power supply using a massive toroidal transformer, which to me is a good thing, never been keen on noisy switch-modes no matter how well built.

Patented and proprietary circuitry designed in-house. Could be good, no off the shelf stuff like many others use.
Still nothing on how it handles 2ohm loading and if it’s got good current drive down that low (increasing it’s wattage a lot from 4ohms)

https://www.cherryamp.com/dac-home

Cheers George
jones3music
5 posts
 
Class d is the big girl with the pretty face, or the chain smoker with nice legs.  
audiozenology
362 posts
 
In a Class D amp this would only describe how loud it plays at 2 ohms without sonic impact not much else. Damping factor at the frequencies where impedance drops is far more important.

Still nothing on how it handles 2ohm loading and if it’s got good current drive down that low (increasing it’s wattage a lot from 4ohms)

niodari's avatar
niodari OP
317 posts
 
Could we combine  pretty face with nice legs without chain smoker in class D? 

My speakers (Thiel CS 6) go down to 2.5 ohms at 8 kHz, the output impedance of Megaschino is measured at 10  kHz. I did not note any damping problem though am a bit surprised with the power issue.
Supposedly it gives over 600 watts at 4 ohms, that i do not really perceived  (I feel it gives about half of that, though its power is quite sufficient for my needs). 


georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
Could we combine pretty face with nice legs without chain smoker in class D?
Not yet affordable, one day maybe, or now if you can afford the Technics SE-R1, it addressed all of the ugly's of Class-D dead time (big girl) and switching frequency (chain smoker).

Cheers George
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