Is D for Dry? Class D...

I am leaning very strongly towards class D, not because I particularly am strongly musically influenced to do so, but from cost, convenience, and power consumption. I used to have a ton of class ab equipment, old hafler dh200s and the like that I built from kits and they sounded great. I started letting them run all the time so they didnt have to go thru the power cycle current inrush and I think its helped them last and be reliable, but holy mother they love electricity and my wallet didnt like the power bills. Then I realized that more power was a good thing and would save tweeters from premature death...So class D or H at a minimum is where I am going to have to go. That means upgrading the house wiring too...A single 15A circuit will never be enough with two high power subs, and 5 channels of high power audio. I think I am looking at needing 2 20amp circuits at a minimum and maybe 3

One other thing that just occured to me is that all my cars have class D amplifiers in them and I have been listening to them without complaint for years now, some of them not that new for sure. And while one can reasonably argue the environment in a car is not the quietest or perhaps the best for listening to music, still I find little room to complain about the sound I get in my cars. Why shouldn't we accept the validity of current class D designs and their very real benefits of vanishingly low distortion at moderate power levels, and an extremely low noise floor in the best designs currently offered, and keep in mind these are all contributors to an overall high quality sound. Never mind that some of these sound a bit harsh when pushed or perhaps a bit thin in certain parts of the audio spectrum or have other shortcomings. These issues are being addressed as the designs of these amplifiers  evolves and improves. The fact that Legacy Audio is rocking the ICE modules in their amps speaks to their fidelity and to maybe a lesser extent their reliability. I will say that most class D manufacturers do not offer very long warranties on class D amps, often only a year or two, where many class AB designs get 5 years and sometimes more. So there is that to consider.

I guess I have had pretty good luck with my Class D amps. I had a Peachtree Nova 300 running ICEPower modules, and it sounded pretty good. I now use a NAD C298 with Purifi modules (using a ProJect PreBox RS2 Digital preamp) and it sounds great. I also have a Peachtree Carina 300 (Hypex modules) and a Peachtree Carina GaN and they each sound excellent, not "dry." The ProJect has a selectable preamp tube stage for a little of that warmer tube-distortion sound. I would say the Class D amps I have tried deliver what I expect, lots of low distortion clean power and a dead silent background. I have other tube amps, a modded and tube rolled Willsenton R8, which as a push-pull tube amp is as different to the class D amps as might be possible but still with a dead silent background and excellent sound. I think class D offers tremendous utility in space-constrained applications (like car audio and plate amps for powered speakers and subs) while offering much of the performance of AB designs without the energy and weight penalties.

Well, "10Audio" just did a mini review of a pair of class D amps and...ouch!

I wonder if they were defective?

https://10audio.com/atma-sphere_class-d/