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Could Class D really be that good?

I've heard statements praising modern class D amplifiers all the time but was sort of hesitant to try. Lately, one particular model caught my eye, the Fosi V3, which costs sub $100 but is praised for having refined sound like class A/B. To fulfill my curiosity, I quickly ordered one and tried it with my Burchardt S400II and Wharfedale Linton speakers. Basically, this is a neutral sounding amp but, to my surprise, the sound is clean, open, airy, with full mids, wide soundstage, good imaging/separation, with nearly null traces of the edginess, dryness, or lean sound that traditional class D amplifiers have. The background is just as quiet as my current systems. The core is the TPA 3255 chip from TI and comes with a 32v, 5A power block, which is supposed to deliver approximately 65 watts per channel (into 8 ohms). It drives the S400II/Linton without any hesitation, as well as my 130-watt-per-channel high-current Parasound A23. Very impressive.

Measurement is not everything. However, according to the lab test results, when operated under 10-60 watts, the distortion level (THD) is below 0.003%, better than a lot of high-end (price) gears. I am going to build around it for my fourth system with upgraded op-amp and LPS. I believe it will outperform my current mid-end (price) amplifiers.

I know, I know, quite a few Audiogoners' systems are above $100k, and mentioning this kind of little giant that costs a fraction could be rather embarrassing. But I thought this is just like gold digging with a lot of surprises and fun. Don't you think?

lanx0003
ricevs
1,543 posts
 

riccitone,

What is your direct experience with the Nilai amp that makes you state what you did? Did you compare it directly to stock or modified Purifi, high powered Purifi, NCX500, Orchard, LSA, Peachtree, ICE and Pascal?  I did mods to a Nilai but when I did the mods (pictures of modded Nilai on my site) my system was not working so I could not A/B with my modded Purifi to find out how good it is relatively.  I know what the mods do....I have done the same mods to many amps and the results are always a better sound.

andynotadam's avatar
andynotadam
169 posts
 

Dog help me, but this was simply an incredibly useless, pointless, depressing and endless series of exchanges... 

ricevs
1,543 posts
 

How you view the world is a reflection of how you view yourself. The universe is your mirror. More and more I love what I see. I don’t always like it......but even the likes/dislikes are fading in the sunshine of your eternal love. It just feels so good to love.......we never have to stop.  God (dog backwards), help me to see that your love is always present and that I am always loved and adored.

milpai's avatar
milpai
2,379 posts
 

+1 @arafiq

Hmm... tell that to Dan Wright of "Modwright" and Bob Backert of "Backert Labs"!

@grk both these companies have been creating products for quite some time and have CURRENT products in the market. In fact I OWN the Backert Labs Rhumba.

Based on a claim made here, I looked up searched the internet on "EVS Millennium DAC". A result came up on Audio Circle on the "EVS Millenium DAC" thread. It is from 16 Mar 2003, 07:42 am and the poster says - "Dacs are increasingly becoming obsolete (in my opinion)". Wow..so true in 2024...LOL!!

ricevs
1,543 posts
 

The reason someone in 2003 would say that is we all wanted hi rez....and the only hi rez then was SACD and DVD-A.....and you then needed an SACD player as Sony would not allow digital out of the DSD signal. So, I started modding SACD players.....because that is what everyone wanted. Of course, when downloads started to happend and then streaming.....then DACs came back into vogue. Now there are a lot of integrated amps, streamers and powered speaker that have DACs built in but the DAC game is still alive and well. Look at the raves over the new cheap Holo and the Laiv DACs.

If I were looking for a solid state amp in the under $3K range than the Purifi, Orchard, NCx500 and Nilai (stock, and of course, modded) fill the bill. However, if you want to spend twice as much, then you have the AGD Tempo and tubey dude, the Atmasphere and the Coda 5.5 to consider. I would never buy one of these amps without comparing them all. They all have rave reviews but hardly any comparisons. Most amps can be purchased with a 30 day trial.....of course, you have wait times for some amps......like the Coda. Even more expensive would be the bigger AGDs. the Merrills, the hopefully about to be released Mytek, etc......and of course, you can combine a class D amp with a tube preamp or input stage to give that tube magic.

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