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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?



128x128niodari
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 

That went nowhere for me.🤷‍♂️
Would have been nice to know what each amp sounded like driving both speakers, oh well, thanks I guess.🤷‍♂️

Cheers George
niodari's avatar
niodari OP
305 posts
 
I wish you all to enjoy the sound that you get from your current audio gear, and further, to be able to improve it according to your needs and taste. Perhaps, there is no absolute audio reproduction that is equally good for all. Besides, sometimes a good or bad quality recording makes much more difference than thousands of dollars spent on the upgrades and "improvement". Everything in this life is relative (as Einstein has taught). On an ideal recording reproduced on an ideal equipment you may get what you want, but it is difficult to have permanently both of them... 

Happy New Year! 
devilboy
1,176 posts
 
I have the Stellar S300 and it is, without a doubt, NOT bright in my system. 
Maybe look Kat your speakers???

IDK. 
niodari's avatar
niodari OP
305 posts
 
It's not a speaker issue, but it was the gain cell preamp. I bought first Stellar and then after a few months the pre. Before that i used Stellar 300 with a Mcintosh pre. After some hours of break in gain cell sounds better though its not perhaps an ideal pre for Stellar. What pream are you using?
devilboy
1,176 posts
 
@niodari  I'm using my headphone amplifier as my preamp,  the Burson Conductor V2+.  Digital to analog conversion is taking place elsewhere in a separate DAC (I don't use the DAC inside the Burson).
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