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A great article on Class D/switching amps

The latest edition of The Absolute Sound has, in my opinion, the best overall perspective and evaluation of the eight most regarded class D switching amps on the market today.

The article contains an explanation of the technology, an interview with a couple of the most important designers, the individual reviews and finally a round table discussion regarding these amps.

I believe any of you GON members who might be considering auditioning a class D switching amp would want to review this piece regarding their different sonic signatures.

I had the pleasure of listening to the Kharma MP150 which the panel picked as being on top of the "heap" compared to Audio Research 300.2,Channel Island Audio D-200, Nuforce Reference 9 Special Edition, Red Dragon Audio Leviathan Signature, Jeff Roland Design Group 201, Cary Audio Design A 306,and finally the Spectron Musician III.

Each amp had at least two different reviewers with different systems evaluate them and then compare their experiences. This was a well done piece and if you read it I believe you find it both educational and helpful to understand what these amps are all about.
teajay
dazzdax
599 posts
 
Hi Vince (Muralman) and other fellow Audiogoners, there is still this dichotomy between the class-D followers and class-D opponents. Personally, I don't get it. Some people say class-D is in it's infancy (that's true), class-D is bad because..., bla, bla. But when one listens, class-D is not bad at all. It is quite good. I think it is even very good (sonically)! We are audiophiles. Most of us know a lot of gear. We regard live sound as absolute reference. But why do our hearings differ so much with regard to class-D amplification? Do you have an explanation Vince?
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teajay OP
1,697 posts
 
Vince, without being disrespectful or mean spirited towards you or Mr. Ho, if he can make his D amps sound exactly like my Pass Labs XA-100's or a dartZel I will order a pair right now.

This sounds like a claim made almost twenty years ago by Bob Carver, that he could build an inexpensive amp to sound like any amp in the world, regardless of price. Notice, no one considers his amps "classics" in any way today.

When I started this thread I did mention that I had listened to the Kharma D amp and thought it was quite good, but the pair does cost around $6000.00. So many of these D amps offer alot of performance for the money, but the reality is sometimes you do get what you pay for, which means that these amps sonicly are not at a reference level yet compared with linear a/b reference amps.
muralman1
1,527 posts
 
Teajay, Henry has class A amps that will give your XA-100 amps tough competition. He isn't producing them because class A is a far cry from what his class D amps sound like. His first ICE amps were very much like the best of Class A amps. Now he has moved on towards making them sound just real.

Like many threads, this one has evolved, one idea building on another. There is no doubt simple class D amps are not the equivalent to first rate class A amps in some respects. What was brought out was a linear power supply steps up both the sound and the cost of a class D amp.
dazzdax
599 posts
 
TJ, what is in your opinion the biggest flaws regarding the sound of class-D amps? Lack of harmonic structure? Do they sound too "artificial"? And why? In my opinion the sound of class-D amps (and in my case, the ICEpower based Acoustic Reality Figaro's) is very clean and smooth, very "neutral" and accurate with awesome bass. I hear none of the typical signatures of solid state (some kind of "haze" and coloration).
PS: I'm only trying to find out what distracts people in case of class-D amplification.

Chris
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