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 All I am saying is that the stories about how bad Class D is compared to linear amps have been outdated for ages.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
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/
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. 
I can always hear class d amplification because it is so tonally off that it is like fingers scratching on a chalkboard to me.
I can always hear class d amplification because it is so tonally off that it is like fingers scratching on a chalkboard to me

I doubt it.

   I don't own class D but I heard the first generation Rogue Sphinx in a pair of Maggie 1.7s a few years back. I couldn't believe I was listening to a 1200 dollar integrated. Detailed, powerful, and warm. Could have listened all day.
   Tube pre and Hypex if I remember correctly. 
     It will be on my audition list when my current Tube preamp/class AB separates need replacing.