I think the technology has improved quite a bit. But it still varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. I had attended a demonstration about 18 months ago at the local dealer with both VTL and NuForce driving a pair of USHER BE-20s. The VTL was hooked up to the speakers first, and they sounded phenomenal. NuForce's reference monoblocks were then put to the task after the break, and I got to sit in the sweet spot. My personal take was that the NuForce exhibited a lot of the undesirable characteristics that everyone had been complaining about digital amps. (At least to my ears)
Moving forward 12 months to RMAF 2008 in Denver. There were a good amount of manufacturers showing off their digital amps. Some still exhibited those undesirable characteristics, but some sounded very promising. One that stood out the most, for me, was Wyred4Sound. I would love to have the opportunity to bring one of their amps home to compare to my Pass X350.5 side by side.
But I think it is safe to say that digital amps, in general, are moving towards the right, and a very promising, direction.
FrankC
Moving forward 12 months to RMAF 2008 in Denver. There were a good amount of manufacturers showing off their digital amps. Some still exhibited those undesirable characteristics, but some sounded very promising. One that stood out the most, for me, was Wyred4Sound. I would love to have the opportunity to bring one of their amps home to compare to my Pass X350.5 side by side.
But I think it is safe to say that digital amps, in general, are moving towards the right, and a very promising, direction.
FrankC