Class D Amplification Announcement

Ralph, could this have been possible without the GAN ? If so, why wait so long ?

Yes. There's a lot of noise around the 'sound' of class D amps on the internet (IME class D amps can vary in sound quite dramatically, more so than the sound of various tube amps can vary). This is for various reasons- in ability to really implement the use of existing modules, poor power supply design, as well as modules that don't have good (meaning 'musical') distortion spectra; all these things made it hard to know how far class D as a technology had really come. I started to sort that out about 6 years ago and realized that we had better get going or be left behind.

i agree very much with ralph/@atmasphere

class d is a class of technology, even within it, there are substantial technological variants, not to mention myriad of ways to implement

but folks keep at the old saw... class d is like this, class d is like that

it is all in the details folks!  would we say, well moving coil cartridges have this sound?  it's silly, in reality they run high and low, all over the spectra, it is a technological means to do something, how it is designed specifically, how it is implemented, drives the sonic result

Years ago at a show in NYC I heard Joseph Audio Pulsars driven by Bel Canto Ref 500M mono blocks and it sounded excellent — changed my perception of Class D on the spot and realized it’s really all about implementation.  Definitely one of those “aha” audio moments. 

Yes, it's all in the details, the implementation, the execution. Technics cringes when someone calls their GanFET integrated a Class D design as it's an all digital amp designed in house, built around their digital decoding tech. 

The best part is, it sounds like nothing else I've heard and just gets better all the time. 

All the best,
Nonoise

If you started driving in the early 1960's, you know what a crappy car is and you know the worst car you can buy today is leagues better.  Our stereo equipment today has gotten so good for knowledgeable enthusiasts it's also hard to buy something poor like we listened to 60 years ago, relatively speaking to the state of the art that existed then and now.  Unless we listen to every piece of equipment, for us average listeners reviews are mostly what we got.  It would be nice if every review could give an absolute answer about relative value to competing equipment.  Sometimes the reviewers compare, but more often they don't.  I seem to think it happens more with lower priced audiophile speakers because like in cars, it's easier to design a $200k Ferrari in some ways than to bring a high percent of that performance in a $20k car.  I think reviewing equipment is an art and what I've learned is that reviews are a good guide but reading the review is also an art where if you read enough of them you get more insights into what technology and equipment is really good and a good value, too.