Class D is just Dandy!

If there are actually audible benefits to GaN based amplifiers I look forward to hearing them.

There should be. GaNFETs are generally faster than MOSFETs (although MOSFETs aren't done by any means) and so the use of GaNFETs means you can run the amp with less dead time. Whether a designer takes advantage of this fact is another matter but generally speaking GaNFET amps should sound better as they have less distortion on that account.

Whether a designer takes advantage of this fact is another matter but generally speaking GaNFET amps should sound better as they have less distortion on that account.

@atmasphere

As you are well aware, I’m kind of touching on an issue of specmanship that that affects us with all amps. Can we hear "better" when you go from 0.01% distortion to 0.001%? I know distortion can be reduced, which technically means more fidelity to the input signal. What I don’t know is that this alone is audibility, let alone desirable.

Like Tube amps, or Pass (who makes it clear this is his goal) the distortion profile may have more to do with euphonic capability than merely lower distortion.

Like Tube amps, or Pass (who makes it clear this is his goal) the distortion profile may have more to do with euphonic capability than merely lower distortion.

He is certainly right in that regard IMO. But we can hear that difference provided the distortion profile is also correct. The problem is that in most cases the difference between 0.05% and 0.005% isn't the issue- the fact that the distortion that is there is mostly higher ordered stuff that is highly audible even in those trace amounts. The correct distortion profile can mask those higher orders making the amplifier easier to listen to. But a class D amp tends to have a different distortion profile than a traditional solid state amp. Many of them using PWM encoding tend to have lower ordered harmonics too- which is the profile you're looking for.