Is D for Dry? Class D...

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

I wonder if they were defective?

@grk No, its more likely that Jerry is behaving the same way he did 25 years ago. At that time he dissed our products (by changing previously published good reviews to bad after the fact) when I called him out after he reviewed a poorly built kit version of one of our amps as if it was factory built. Obviously that amp had some problems and he had bought it used.

We don't know how he got this set of amps either (if he even has a set), but IMO he is unreliable. That is how thoroughly he discredited himself back then. As I recall he didn't post on any audio forums for years after that. Apparently he is still carrying a grudge. Obviously he isn't a candidate for a review sample from us.

Here are reviews by more reputable reviewers to put this in perspective:

https://pmamagazine.org/is-class-d-amplification-now-better-than-class-a-b-and-class-a/

https://www.audiokeyreviews.com/akr-magazine-january-2024

https://hifiplus.com/articles/atma-sphere-music-systems-class-d-amplifier/

You can see that Jerry has done what he did at his own risk. I have to admit I'm a bit surprised that he would attempt something like this again.

heard many SOTA amps and they are still dry and brash to my ears.  

Strange - because I have read on this forum about some hardcore tube guys replace their tube amps with Class D - namely the AGD amplifiers.

And I generally check the profiles of folks posting. I mostly ignore reviews from folks who do not have a system posted - because I am not sure if they are just marketing or genuine. But the one person actually had his system posted and he had replaced tube amps with the AGD.

There is always new product hype - e.g., according to TAS, AGD has "unobtainium" GAN transistors that only Alberto Guerra has access to, and "everyone else in the industry is using GAN devices that were not specifically built for audio".  The audiophile trend embraces the latest as the greatest but, as usual, only time will tell if the hype is borne out in reality.

Pretty useless review. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. 
 

Class D rules.  Never going back again.