Classdaudio vs Channel Islands amps

Having had extended conversations with Dusty Vawter of Channel Islands during the past three years, and receiving emails from him of the interior of the D-500 MKII, he has applied major upgrades to the D-500 MKII by adding a large power supply and a beefy toroidal transformer and adding his own DC power supply board. I respect companies that take small, lightweight Class D switching modules and power supplies and add major upgrades to make a far better product than just slapping in the switching and power modules and adding fancy wiring in a pretty cabinet and charge an outrageous retail price. The Class D Audio amps look like a damn good deal for the price. Another company to consider as well with high powered budget priced Class D amplifiers using the very innovative Pascal switching and power modules is D-Sonic out of Texas. Jeff Rowland recently utilized Pascal amps into two of his newest Class D products.

I am stumped..having over looked Class D Audio in recent months I decided last evening to read reviews of their SDS-470C amp on blogs and forums of consumers who recently purchased the amp and the one positive issue that keeps coming up is that it sounds very much like a tube amp with a lush, warm midrange character with out standing bass and a very smooth sweet treble. For $700.00 and completely made in the U.S.A., this very well could be the sleeper giant that will make fools of all of us thinking we have to spend well over $1K or more for a good quality Class D amp.

This is exactly why it's so hard to choose. Class D Audio is such a great value. The owner is so nice and helpful too.

Izora..I got an email today from Tom at Class D Audio regarding to know the input impedance of the SDS 470 which is 45Kohms, and the gain, which is adjustable on the back for each channel which can be set up to 34db's which makes it easier to match with Preamp's that have a high or low voltage output. Looking at the pics on the Class D Audio site of the SDS-470 kit, I'm impressed that it
includes a toroidal transformer, and a power board that has six large capacitors. I'm amazed that in the assembled version it sells for $700.00, which has enough under the hood to sell for $2K to $3K from other companies. Tom mentioned he makes very little profit and his sales are very strong in Europe.

Izora, see below for a response I posted in July regarding this subject. It's not about the same model you're considering, but it's from the Class D Audio family. My suggestion ... just go ahead and get one in for a no cost audition. If it meets your approval, keep it ... if not go on to the next amp.

One of the great things about this hobby is that it's part of a cottage industry. I've spoken with Dusty, Tom of Class D Audio, and Tommy O at Digital Amp Co. My personal experience is that talking to manufacturers either on the phone or in person at audio shows is of little value. They all feel they have a product that belongs in your home and in your system. In the final analysis, only you can make that call.

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I tried the SDS-254 and it was natural sounding and compared well with other Class D designs that I auditioned. Sound-wise it was tilted up on the low end a bit. All together I had the following in my system: Nuforce, Bel Canto, Wyred4sound, Channel Island, and Class D Audio.

To my ears, and in my system, the Nuforce bettered the Channel Islands but only slightly ... and at more than twice the cost ($2,400 vs $5,000). I am currently running CI Audio D-200's. The Class D offering was a close third. Unlike a few others, I was not very impressed with either Bel Canto or W4S. Both are ICE module based and were very detailed and clear ("Everything being right with no soul"). They were bought used and sold for about the same amount.

Finally, you can get the Class D direct from the mfg and audition in-home for at least a month. He's a good guy to deal with as well; and in terms price/performance ... you can't go wrong. Just my 2 cents.
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