Class D is just Dandy!

I just finished reading this thread from the start. I have to say that of all the areas of audio, I find the class D debate to be the most diehard and in some ways hardheaded; its almost like politics.

I think, like a lot of things in life, the danger or pitfall comes with the broad generalizations - e.g. all class D is (crap, lacking, great, musical, whatever); or the best class D can already compete with anything (or no chance against good class A at other end of spectrum), and with having intractable positions. But to each their own. I’m not here to change minds, and I don’t have strong opinions on the class in general, just making an observation.

I think it’s much more fruitful to focus on specific models and thoughts on them, rather than trying to paint whole class with a broad brush. I’ll give an example.

Two of my three systems use class D amps, the other class AB. My main system uses class D Audio Research DSI200, and paired with my Spendor D7 and Teac NT505 to my ears sounds absolutely amazing. I don’t foresee changing anything for 10 yrs. My third system uses class D Bluesound Powernode 2, and paired with my Spendor SA1’s to my ears really leaves me wanting, to the point of hopefully I’ll soon be replacing it with similarly priced class AB Marantz pm7000n.

So fwiw I personally love one of my class D’s and can’t wait to replace the other. So I’ll stake out a new position in this thread: some modern class D is really good to my ears and some is really not so good to my ears. It’s okay to admit both : )

Good thread tho, twas a fun read

heaudio
class D amplifier, with fairly well defined harmonics hence why they can be filtered.

Incorrect, it is you that is saying something false, if it was completely filtered out as you say, then they wouldn’t still look like this, with much residual switching noise still riding on the audio test waves 1-10khz, and with severe phase shift indicated by the inward slope of the sides
https://www.stereophile.com/images/1212AM1fig02.jpg

Instead of looking nearly perfect like this, and with hardly any phase shift indicated by the almost vertical sides.
https://www.stereophile.com/images/811532fig2.jpg

Cheers George

HI @noble100 ,
GaN is has been around for awhile. Several manufacturers are using it. It is an interesting material, not only is it fast it is also more energy efficient. I have heard it in Class A and Class A/B products. So you can find amps using this material and they may have no heat sinks or small heat sinks.

Best regards,