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My NAD 3020 D proves your Class D tropes are wrong

I have a desktop integrated, the NAD 3020D which I use with custom near field monitors. It is being fed by Roon via a Squeezebox Touch and coaxial digital.

It is 5 years old and it sounds great. None of the standard myths of bad Class D sound exist here. It may lack the tube like liquid midrange of my Luxman, or the warmth of my prior Parasound but no one in this forum could hear it and go "aha, Class D!!" by itself, except maybe by the absolute lack of noise even when 3’ away from the speakers.

I’m not going to argue that this is the greatest amp ever, or that it is even a standout desktop integrated. All I am saying is that the stories about how bad Class D is compared to linear amps have been outdated for ages.

Great to see new development with GaN based Class D amps, great to see Technics using DSP feed-forward designs to overcome minor limitations in impedance matching and Atmasphere’s work on reducing measurable distortion as well but OMG stop with the "Class D was awful until just now" threads as it ignores about 30 years of steady research and innovation.
erik_squires
erik_squires OP
16,119 posts
 
Knowing you enjoy this sound, it is now understandable why you never liked Pass designs.

Well, I've been pretty vocal about what I do like instead:  Luxman, Ayre and Parasound, so the 3020 D alone shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.

Keep in mind, again, I’m not calling the 3020D the end all be all. I’d much rather listen to my Luxman all day long, but for a desktop system none of the stereotypes of Class D apply in my listening experience. I’m not at all unhappy with this. Of course the nearfield part of this also means I have different room acoustic issues, so I hear music differently at my desk than in my living room. The NAD 3020 D is good enough that I’m not rending my clothes and wearing sackcloth in despair.
snapsc
676 posts
 
If you really believe class d can’t sound good... there are a lot of cherryamp owners that have owned other amps and would disagree. 

As for one approach to the technology and how to extract good sound... this is an interesting read. 

https://positive-feedback.com/interviews/tommy-obrien-digital-amplifier-co/


erik_squires OP
16,119 posts
 
One more thing on the subject:  One trend that seems to be true often is that Pass owners buy very different speakers than I tend to listen to.  My electronics go very much in line with my speaker preferences.

It's hard to say what this is since I build my own, but top end Monitor Audio and Fritz are among my favorite commercial speakers.
david1949
14 posts
 
How many of you Class D haters really have Class A really expensive amplifiers.  The only reason I can think of to pay for expensive Class A amplifiers is to say you have one.  I’ve had Class A, Class A/B and Class D.  Class D with the right speakers is as good if not better than many Class A’s.  Each person hears differently, likes differently, so who’s to say what is best for you.  I currently have NAD Class D with Paradigm 3F Persona speakers.  To me and most who listen think the sound is great.  Buy what you like and like what you buy.  True Hi end Class A amp owners probably wouldn’t post on this site.
anotherbob's avatar
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anotherbob
344 posts
 
Hmmmm.....my NAD M33 gets great reviews with zero detectable distortion, but even more importantly, sounds great to me through my Monitor Audio Gold 100 speakers.  I’ve heard tubes, class a and class a/b, vinyl (yawn), nothing sounds “better” to me than my simple, streaming via Qobuz, small room setup.  Different, yes.  Better, no.
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