Atma-Sphere Class D… Amazing

Someone, please correct me:

I don't believe that the idea is to "want" 2nd and 3rd harmonic distortion, but rather our brains use the 2nd and 3rd harmonics that are produced by the musical instruments to perceive certain aspects from the sound. I don't believe any type of harmonic distortion from an amplifier is "desirable".

I read Atmasphere’s words as, ‘given the choice between no 2nd/3rd harmonics, then having them allows one to mask the higher order harmonics. So you want them higher than everything at 4th and higher harmonics.

If the higher order harmonics are not there to begin with, then the 2nd/3rd do not need to mask anything… but some might still prefer the signal modified, or distorted, so that the 2nd/3rd harmonics were present.

Some of this may also bleed into people running tube preamps into SS/Class-D amps. 

@riccitone Yes they are nice and it is really confusing with the reviewers and the OE spec sheets. Just look at this review.

Gold Note is making some very nice audio equipment. 

 https://6moons.com/audioreview_articles/goldnote13/2/

@jerryg123 

Wow, hadn’t seen this 6moons article! Very cool, thank you 🙏🏼 

They really are making some nice stuff. 

@holmz 

some might still prefer the signal modified, or distorted, so that the 2nd/3rd harmonics were present.

Some of this may also bleed into people running tube preamps into SS/Class-D amps. 

And this is a truth.  I am such a one, for a variety of reasons.  I am also careful to consider measurements (defined widely) for a component's attributes, again, for a number of reasons.

@atmasphere 

If it walks like a duck and sounds like a duck, it is probably a duck. 

From Wiki;

Class-D amplifiers work by generating a train of rectangular pulses of fixed amplitude but varying width and separation, or varying number per unit time, representing the amplitude variations of the analog audio input signal. The modulator clock can synchronize with an incoming digital audio signal, thus removing the necessity to convert the signal to analog. The output of the modulator is then used to gate the output transistors on and off alternately. Great care is taken to ensure that the pair of transistors are never allowed to conduct together, as this would cause a short circuit between the supply rails through the transistors. 

So yes, Class D is more accurately referred to as a "switching amplifier" rather than a "digital amplifier" but things get blurred when binary quantization is involved as binary quantization is at the heart of digital too. 

I find it interesting that in order to "cut me down to size" you chose to seize upon my bad choice of nomenclature (when I in fact used BOTH within the same paragraph!) rather than comment upon the bigger points made in my post.

I will say it again also-I have no doubt that this is a very fine sounding amp. I would expect nothing less from a man of your immense experience, intellect, and knowledge. I just get my hackles up a bit when someone like our OP posts a sensationalistic thread title and then waxes on and on. You don't want to be equated with Tekton do you?