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). 

128x128niodari

@tweak1, @rc22 Thanks for the suggestions. In fact, I also read in the manual that a better power cable is recommended. I replaced the supplied PC of the Voyager GaN 350  with Audience Forte f3 PC. perhaps, there is some improvement in power and in base (I have to return the other cable and audition the amp again to be completely sure).  But the most important thing that needs improvement remains a little dryness and lifeless in sound. Hopefully, this can be improved with break-in.

So far, my analytical thinking tells me that this is a very good amp. Pre-consciously, i am not still too attracted to the amp, all is good, but something (the soul) is still missing. May be i need to spend more time with the amp and this might be changed. For the final verdict, I will wait until it is fully broken in and then will try it in my main system (with better cables, transport, dac, acoustics, etc). This weekend I used it more than i usually do, it should already have close to 15 hours (in some amps, i was observing an improvement already after 10 hours). As to the other interconnect cables, honestly, i don't understand how a transport  interconnect cable may influence on the performance of the amp (it may improve how the transport sounds of course). I have never tried spring pods but will bear this possibility in mind.

Later this week i may try the amp's balanced inputs with W4S STP 2 preamp. 

 

I'm kind of surprised there hasn't been more discussion of the Nuprime Evolution STA.  Anyone heard it?

It would be interesting if there are some comparisons, in particular, between Nuprime ST-10 stereo, ST-10 mono blocks  and Evo STA amps. I suggest ST-10 stereo may have the highest value performance/cost. 

As to the Voyager, it made the first "improvement jump" after about 20 hours of use. If following 10 jumps will be equally significant, then this amp is a great amp,  a perhaps, with a best value performance/cost. So far, i use the same setup with RCA cables and Nuprime HPA-9 preamp (if i mentioned it earlier,  the HPA-9 was better than the W4S STP 2 preamp hooked up with the Nuprime ST-10 amp). 

I gather Jason Lim shut down production of the Evolution monoblocks because the Evolution STA offered 90-95% of the performance at just over half the price, so it is now their flagship product.  I can't seem to find out whether the STA uses proprietary modules or ones purchased from an OEM.