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The Truth about Modern Class D

All my amps right now are Class D. ICEpower in the living room, and NAD D 3020 in the bedroom.

I’ve had several audiophiles come to my home and not one has ever said "Oh, that sounds like Class D."

Having said this, if I could afford them AND had the room, I’d be tempted to switch for a pair of Ayre monoblocks or Conrad Johnson Premiere 12s and very little else.

I’m not religious about Class D. They sound great for me, low power, easy to hide, but if a lot of cash and the need to upgrade ever hits me, I could be persuaded.

The point: Good modern Class D amps just sound like really good amplifiers, with the usual speaker/source matching issues.

You don’t have to go that route, but it’s time we shrugged off the myths and descriptions of Class D that come right out of the 1980’s.
erik_squires
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
intrawert6 posts02-24-2020 6:10pmWhat’s up with GaNfet? Let’s discuss new items. I think this year will be a breakthrough, thanks to new technologies.

Gan fets are definitely the future for Class-D or any class, if their used to their fullest like Technics did with the SE-R1 higher switching speed (1.5mhz) and higher output filter to suit, so there none of the problems it has now. But the SE-R1 is >$20k
The ones around now using GaN’s are either dinky little office type class-D’s or expensive ones that haven’t utilized the technology as far as Technics did.
New ones from  https://www.classdaudio.com maybe will be good for the money, but I don't believe they went as far as Technics did with it. this is the GaN site  https://www.premium-audio.com/    

Cheers George
djones51
4,947 posts
 
If anyone is interested the Technics SE-R1 is $17,000 not > $ 20,000.

https://hifiheaven.net/shop/Technics/Technics-SE-R1-Stereo-Power-Amplifier
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,901 posts
 
The ones around now using GaN’s are either dinky little office type class-D’s or expensive ones that haven’t utilized the technology as far as Technics did.
This statement is false. The Technics amplifier is only 150 watts, which is similar power as many of its GanFET competition. 
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