I have a pair of Bel Canto REF500M amps that I bought here, and love them. Lots of detail and plenty of power to drive my KEF LS50 Meta speakers, which are not very sensitive. I upgraded from some Rotel RB-850 class AB amps, so my setup was never expensive, more mid-fi, but I think the Bel Cantos are the biggest upgrade to sound that I’ve had in my modest system. Bel Canto also has more expensive gear in their Black EX and Black ranges that could be worth auditioning in person if possible.
Competitive class D amp suggestions
I have been Class D fun since a few years ago when i bought my first class D amp. I like the concept, in general, and all the attractive features of this class of amplifiers. I tried 4 different ones, currently i stayed with one of them that i consider to be the best among all four amps. I do enjoy and like it. At the same time, my 5 watts SET amplifier (with more than 100 times higher distortion according to the specs) gives more natural and (surprisingly) notably cleaner sound (THD of the class D amp is 0.001). The soundstage of the class D amp is not so bad but that of the tube one is still better.
I remain attracted by class D amps though.
Any fresh suggestions on reasonably priced class D amps (i mean excluding non-reasonably priced class D amps, e.g., Merrill amplifiers)?
Any comments on non-reasonably priced class D amps are also welcome (so far i was not able to audition many class D amps and am curious if there are some which could really compete with Class A).
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Don't overlook this, too; there have been very good reports on its sonics. https://www.dedicatedaudio.com/products/bel-canto-design-ref501s-stereo-amplifier |
@tweak1 , thanks for the suggestion. Is the vibration you mentioned caused by CD players and speakers (I understand that amplifiers cause no vibration)? |
Some amplifier power supplies/transformers can create high frequency vibrations when they are not properly isolated (Ric Schultz/EVS addresses that with his mods), as well as external vibration from the speakers feeding back into the kit Other very suspect components that can contribute to high frequency glare etc, are the transport, the dac, and the digital cable hth |
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- 223 posts total