Looking for 200 watt Amp to drive Dynaudio Heritage speakers

"it seems that lack of soul or engagement is a common theme more so than other critiques"

Everyone describes what they hear based on their own impressions, so I can only speak to my impressions of the Class D Acoustic Imagery Atsah monoblocks, that I owned for over a year. Those amps were built using the very same Hypex NC1200 modules used in the Merrill VERITAS monoblocks, and in Bruno Putzeys’ own Mola Mola Kaluga monoblocks.

As I wrote in these forums in 2021, the Atsah’s sounded, “dry, or at least dry’ish and lacking in that last touch of "realness," which better amplifiers are able to convey.”

A similar impression was conveyed in a review of the Mola Mola Kalugas, where the reviewer for “Mono & Stereo” wrote, “All notes were there but the illusion of musicians standing in front of me wasn`t convincing at all. The music didn`t sound inviting and involving, it was just… there. The emotional content was missing and the tonal colours were somewhat bleached. For lovers of analog reproduction and concert goers the sound could also be quite fatiguing and plain boring."

To me, those impressions are mostly consistent with the current comment,

“lack of soul or engagement."

PS Audio S300.

140W/ch/8 ohms

300W/ch/4 ohms

Class D- not heavy!

I completely disagree with this post and actually find it somewhat amusing, however audio is subjective and is dependent on the listeners ability to listen. 

I find the new GaN amplification rivals tube amps in every way and modern tube amplifiers are actually lacking in comparison. These are my subjective findings. 

 I also don’t  believe you’ll get there with Class D amps  knowing what I’ve recently found after purchasing them myself and what you’re expecting sound wise from your amp despite claims of Class D now sounding like tubes.  They’re close but just don’t sound like tubes imo, particularly el34’s. 

To me, those impressions are mostly consistent with the current comment,

“lack of soul or engagement."

@mitch2 Right- but apparently, only holds true for those examples. They don't represent all class D amps any more than saying something like that represents all class AB amps. And there are plenty of the latter that suffer the same problem and are bright and harsh to boot.

But there are class D amps that are as involving and as musical as the best tube amps, perhaps even better as just pointed out. The ones I'm playing at home are more revealing than the triode OTLs I was playing for years prior but just as engaging so I don't miss the tubes at all.

@atmasphere - No argument on the possibility of better sounding Class D amplifiers.  I think some of the perception problem is due to the level of hype surrounding each new amplifier release, which peaked with those Hypex NC1200 amplifiers when several reviewers declared them "as good as Class A".  They were not as good as the two Class A amps I owned at the time, Clayton M300s and Lamm M1.2 Reference.  They did some stuff nicely including well-damped (maybe a little over-damped) bass, nice tone, macro impact, and smoothness, but compared to the amplifiers I have enjoyed most, they came out a little flat and uninspiring for $9K amps.  I believe I once described the sound as musicians each playing in a separate room instead of a band playing together.  There was something about the ambient sounds that was not coherent as it is in real life.

I would love to hear a pair of small, light amplifiers that overcome that issue.  OTOH, my somewhat large heavy amps sit in one spot, don't bother anyone and sound great, plus I can lift them if I need to, so I have no reason to change anything.