Atma-Sphere Class D… Amazing

@fsonicsmith 

Here we go again-the old fallacy that the lack of distortion means more faithful sound reproduction.

How would you define/measure faithful sound reproduction?

If the output doesn't match the input, how can the result be called faithful?

And then we come to digital amps as a category. They are insanely cheap to manufacture as has been pointed out elsewhere in this thread. To my mind, a digital amp is a switching power supply built to drive loudspeakers. If there is a simpler way to harness power from the wall directly to the pre-recorded sound signal it has not yet been invented. Ralph has acknowledged that the box-a plain vanilla box at that-is the major parts cost of this product. When the best switching power supplies sound better than the best linear power supplies I will likewise believe that the best digital amps sound better than the best conventional Class A/Class A/B ss and tubed amps. 

@fsonicsmith Let's clear something up. Class D isn't digital. It's a coincidence that the D and digital use the same letter. Its called class D because at the time (late 1950s) class A, B and C were already taken. Its an analog process.

It behaves a bit differently from a switching power supply. For one thing the switching frequency is a lot higher- often by an order of magnitude. Another thing to understand is that switching power supplies are often used in class D amps but class D amps can run off of conventional power supplies too. But even in SMPSs the noise floor is much lower now than it was 30 years ago. Like anything else people sort this stuff out over time. FWIW our class D is so quiet that most tube amps inject more noise on the AC line.  

@kuribo You do know we have published specs right?

There’s obviously much more to good sound than a lack of distortion.  Japanese companies tripped all over themselves in the 70s/80s to produce the lowest THD specs and by and large produced amps/receivers that sounded awful.  

@kuribo You do know we have published specs right?

If you mean a rather thorough and complete set along the lines of Hypex and Purifi, no. Please provide a link if you have time...Thanks.

@soix 

There’s obviously much more to good sound than a lack of distortion.

"good" sound is a subjective opinion that depending on the listener, may have something, everything, or nothing to do with distortion or the lack thereof.