I find myself less willing to type with the same precision and care that I used to.I get accused of being overly specific more than I used to...
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 All I am saying is that the stories about how bad Class D is compared to linear amps have been outdated for ages.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.
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 All I am saying is that the stories about how bad Class D is compared to linear amps have been outdated for ages.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.
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The NAIM Atom is one heck off a LiL Mulekicker, sounds better warm... I agree, some topology and combinations of components just need warm up... The Ayre VX-r a great case in point,, Ontrak semiconductor version took days...leave it on ! The twenty w Diamond circuit was golden after a few minutes....twenty. D shows promise,IF people have an open mind....ears, perhaps both |
I didn’t even know what a class D amp was and as it turns out I had already owned 2, for years. I owned 2 ICE amps that powered my power sound audio subs designed and built and sold by Tom Vodhanel of PSA. Funny thing, he sells a ton these ICE powered subs and the owners of his subs are amazed by the voicing or tuning of his subs and quite a few have expressed that they sound better than the SVS line of subs with MOSFET amps. What I’ve found out is that it’s the design skills of the designer that matter the most in designing gear no matter what he or she decides to use. Many designers go about in many different ways to get the best sound they can get. The quality of sound coming from a component is not based on the fact alone that it is a class A or A/B amp. It’s the designer. There are good amps made in every configuration and bad amps made by bad designers. |
I'm using one of these: https://www.ebay.com/itm/50ASX2-2-Channel-Power-Amplifier-Module-2x50W-HiFi-Power-Amplifier-For-ICEP... Sounds perfectly good to me. |
I kind of backed into class D amp’ing when I set up my 1st real desktop audio system w/discreet DAC in this home office ~2008 (after years of 2.1 "computer systems" running of a soundcard). There’s no room on this crowded desktop for class A/B or tube amps. I really lucked out: the class D amp I bought was Wyre4Sound’s ST-500, which I use on its side to save space (got the blessing of Wyred4Sound before doing that). I paired it with a very revealing passive monitor (ATC SCM12 Pro) and the sound was excellent. Have had 2 other high-end 2-way passives here since then (Aerial Acoustics 5B; and vintage KEF 103.2). All sound very good w/the ST-500. I will eventually upgrade to more current class D technology. I lean toward Nord Acoustics hypex-based stereo amp that allows use of Sparkos op-amps (I’ve used them elsewhere & know how good they sound). But if I trip over a gently used Cherry stereo, maybe that... |
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