2. amps-preamps
  3. 165827-20253

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 All I am saying is that the stories about how bad Class D is compared to linear amps have been outdated for ages.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
mglik
911 posts
 
Class D amps have traveled quite a long journey over 25+ years.
Surely, there has been a lot of focus on improving the technology.
I have been a dedicated tube guy for most on the past 50 years into this hobby. About to turn 68, got my first system when I went away to school at 18. BTW- it was a Pacific Stereo $199 special with the original Lenco TT. 25, or so, years ago I was thrilled with the Spectron, think it was, Class D amp. Believe it was the first. And even then I was excellent and had great qualities beyond tubes.
Noticed in the “recommended components” recently was the $50K Solution 501 mono blocks. Believe they are a type of Class D (switching power supply) with AB output. Has anyone heard them?
They must be pretty special...
erik_squires OP
16,281 posts
 
And, to your first point, silly me went over to the Audio Science Review (ASR) forum and started asking if "anyone" had tried pairing up a really good tube preamp with the NAD C298 Purify module based amp. Quickly realized all measurement extremists over there, few wanting to engage into "sound" discussion or anything with higher distortion.



And that is the difference between a technician and a scientist.  With the exception of Floyd Toole who hangs out there and I have the deepest admiration for, they are technicians pretending they know a thing about science when they don't.

Nelson Pass, Revel, Bose, JBL, Meyer Sound.  That's where t he actual scientists are.  I don't necessarily like the result of all of them, but their science and business practices are rock solid as a result.
decooney
2,123 posts
 
I enjoy how Nelson tries different output transistors within his stash, in different circuits he comes up with in his head. Admittedly, 1 of 10 of those variations actually make it to production. He intentionally looks for rare or extinct opt transistor supplies to make it harder for people to clone his amps. Each variation and release sounding different from the past. Exploration never ends with him. Just gotta love it, rinse and repeat with new Opt's. All in search of a new and different variations of "sound" amplification.

I seriously doubt the majority of the self-proclaimed scientists over at the ASR forum have proper tools and platforms to measure all the various aspects of sound. Clearly many over there don’t use their ears much either, simply looking at graphs, charts, specs, produced by limited tools measuring only a few aspects of sound.

A fun read for those who appreciate the nature and physics of sound, so much more to it than a few metrics and specs used by techs too, have yet to see an audio lab covering much about sound https://physics.info/sound/
snapsc
681 posts
 
I’ve never had a warm up issue with my 2Cherry...sounds the same if it’s been off for 2 weeks or on for 2 hours. 
speakermaster
738 posts
 
I can always hear class d amplification because it is so tonally off that it is like fingers scratching on a chalkboard to me.
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