Class D amplifiers. What's the future look like?

So you can see we didn’t go into this blindly. We knew the class D R&D would be a bust if it didn’t sound every bit as good or better than our OTLs (which, in the tube world, rule the roost when it comes to transparency and bandwidth...).

@atmasphere , From what i’ve experienced thus far, the type of stuff you do could work for guys who mostly roll with midfi (they may think it’s hifi) or don’t have a high enough "point of reference". But, that shouldn’t worry you. You could still make enough money selling to those guys. IMO, what you won’t be able to do is convince guys who roll with any higher level of gear that your stuff should be sufficient for them as well.

For what its worth, I do have a "digital" amp (noted above), the Technics SU-R1000. It would sound pristine for a lot of guys for sure. It works for me in some cases. I am contemplating pairing it with a tube pre or something else for it to be agreeable to me in more cases/more types of music. One could open its chassis and immediately note that it is a innovative engineering masterpiece. You could get it yourself, compare your stuff side by side and let me know where you think you stand....Or let me know when you can beat the Technics and i’ll take a look at your amp.

On the same note, Schiit did something unique and innovative with the Tyr...You could try it as well (it is a very affordable amp) and see how your stuff measures up next to it.

Create "Virtual System" has not worked in months (Error = User can’t be blank).

In my third system I own the following gear, which I know most people would be jealous about:

Gryphon APEX Monos

CH  Precision L1 dual Line Stage

dCS Vivaldi APEX DAC stack

Wilson Audio WAMM Master Chronosonic

All cabling is Nordost Odin 2

This system sounds so alive that I have stopped attending to concerts. But you are correct - Class D sounds so lousy. Forget about it.

In my third system I own the following gear, which I know most people would be jealous about:

Gryphon APEX Monos

CH  Precision L1 dual Line Stage

dCS Vivaldi APEX DAC stack

Wilson Audio WAMM Master Chronosonic

All cabling is Nordost Odin 2

This system sounds so alive that I have stopped attending to concerts. But you are correct - Class D sounds so lousy. Forget about it.

@milpai , nice stuff you've got....i've cycled through all kinds of gear, but, my true breakthrough in high end audio happened after discovering the ACDA treatment options from Aoustic Fields. I literally tossed all my prior treatments in the trash after I found this stuff. It is not cheap, but, at your level of gear, I would seriously recommend these guys for room treatment. Don't waste any cash on all the other crap out there w.r.t room treatments. A guy will truly understand the criticality of competent treatment when he experiences it (you will hear things impossible with any level of gear on its own).

@milpai 😃😃😃

Mark Levinson

"Interleaving of multiple Class D Amplifiers is potentially a step in the right direction, but does not go far enough.Personally I think that the best option would be something that combines a Class D Amplifier for the heavy lifting with something Class A for fine detail. 

Combination of designs of different class amplifiers may indeed work well. An example of such a combination of class D with class A was implemented in Digital Amplifier Company (DAC) Cherry amplifiers.  Tommy had further plans to develop this line, unfortunately he passed away. So far, Cherry Megaschino is the best class D amplifier I have ever heard though it does get hot and is not light at all).