Competitive class D amp suggestions

+1 @snapsc

I just heard Mr. Pass mention 2nd order harmonics in an interview. But your question about whether 3rd order harmonics is pleasing for complex music is interesting.

And, while it may seem intuitive to presume that a system that can do complex material can easily tackle less complex music, maybe there is more to it than that.

And now for a movie reference that hopefully someone besides me, gets…

Bueller, Bueller, Bueller?   LOL.  I mean, Ralph.   

Nelson Pass is correct about the 2nd harmonic, great for simple music, but not for complex music. Here is a quote from the late Roger Modjeski on the topic as well:

"Once again, I remind people that 2^nd harmonic is not benign on complex music, i.e. anything more than a solo. What people are missing is that large 2^nd harmonic distortion also means there is large IMD and here I'm talking of the good old SMPTE test, 60Hz and 6kHz mixed at 4:1. The nice treble note riding on the 60Hz bass gets crushed in the valley of the 2^nd harmonic wave. Doesn't anyone think about this? It's so obvious and easy to hear."

I have read a number of times where Ralph talks about 2nd and 3rd harmonics being pleasing to the ear, and where higher ordered harmonics are not. I have his Class D amplifiers and also his M60 monoblocks, as well as a Music Reference OTL and David Berning Quadrature ZOTL amps. The Atma-Sphere Class D is right there with all of them. In fact I have said to Ralph and a number of people who I have had listen to the Class D amps that they in some ways make the OTLs sound obsolete. There is some really cool things that Ralph is doing in his circuit that other Class D manufacturers are not, and it's evident in the sound.

Don't be concerned if Ralph does not pop in here. He is off on a month long bicycle trip riding along the Continental Divide. So his access to the Internet as well as time to respond on this thread may be limited.

Good for Ralph...life can't just be about music and Gear 🤣.

I can't seem to find it now but I think Ralph said that his goal with the Class D Monos was to get the distortion as low as possible and be sure that any residual distortion was dominated by the 3rd Harmonic....and based on how you describe the sound, I wouldn't be surprised if this is exactly what Tommy Obrien was doing at Cherry Amp...although he never actually said it.

What about the wattage draw question...if a class d amp is 90% efficient, does that mean that it draws 110 wats to produce a 100 watt output?

There is some really cool things that Ralph is doing in his circuit that other Class D manufacturers are not, and it's evident in the sound.

Something similar could be said about Cherry amps, these amps have something special, they sound different to other class D amps. They have some kind of a special flavor. The distortion of Megaschino  is 001% and this can be perceived. It sounds cleaner than my push pull class AB tube amp, but the SET class A tube with 5% of distortion at 5 watts, 2-3% at my usual listening volume of 2-3 watts, sounds remarcably cleaner, which is very difficult for me to explain.

@snapsc , it would be great if you compare your Cherry amp with Atmasphere class d, they may have something in common indeed.

@niodari 

I suspect that the difference between the Set and the Megaschino is both the amount of distortion and the profile of the distortion with the SET amp having more 2nd and 3rd harmonic giving it a tonal difference.  In my case, with the 2Cherry, I've never owned an amp that was as clear, tonally correct and presented music in a life like way.

I pretty much change my system up every 2-3 years...I guess because the gear is as much fun for me as the sound.  Most of the time, I sell the current piece to make space for the next piece, although lately I've just given gear to my son as his interest in the hobby seems to be growing.

I've got my eye on a couple of amps and as such, will sell the 2Cherry...and usually there is an overlap of the old with the new so a comparison may be possible.