Class A or Class D solid-state amplifiers (modern designs)


Hey guys.

 

Class A is supposedly superior. Something to do with a conduction angle of 360 degrees...so the entire signal gets processed in one go without crossover distortion.

But in terms of sound quality (subjective enjoyment) is there a benefit to Class A? Can class D provide the same level of enjoyment?

 

The dealer I’m talking to says that really nice Class A amplifiers are designed for "reference quality" meaning completely true to the real life performance.

 

Let’s compare and contrast. Which one is technically better?

 

In other words, could you have equal technical performance and quality in a Class D amp?

 

- Jack.

jackhifiguy

@bigkidz

My previous post answers your question. Why do you want Ralph to advertise for other people? Would you go to GM and ask them who else makes good trucks?

I have some really nice Class A amps. Though my fav amp is still the cheaper non-Class A Benchmark AHB2. I just wish it had more power, though in Mono configuration it is high powered for speakers above 2 Ohms. It has that clean Class A sound and is very smooth. I feel it is just the most crystal clean sound I have heard from any amp.

The stock LSA Voyager GAN 350, mentioned a few times above, is good but after the very low-cost mods by EVS it sounded a lot like the AHB2, my highest compliant for an amp. I sold the Voyager since I liked the AHB2 a little more. I kind of wish I kept it as a backup.

As posted above the AHB2 is not Class D.

Thank You to all for the insight. Goes to show that my friend was right. This is easily the best audiophile forum on the web.