Switch from Parasound JC-1 to Bel Canto Ref 1000?

Two products aren't a market. I listened to the Devialet unit and it was indeed very open and precise, but with a restricted sound stage. When the music opens up, it didn't. The MOON A/B unit was tremendously more dynamic and thus, much more musical, not to mention much richer in texture.

A/B amps have been around since 1967, almost 45 years, and are still improving. I really haven't seen class D get where it needs to be in the last two years. Better, yes.

I think that they can match the needs of low to mid full-range applications in performance most successfully but are still not as consistent as a high-end analog power supply at getting clean Vcc DC voltage to the AC signal path. Restricted to low frequencies in matched systems (powered subs) where they work best is a good audio nich.

My biggest complaint is the poorly market indexed pricing. Again, one or two products isn't the market, and one's that are pretty esoteric at that. The average Joe or Jane won't even register that the Hypex nCore 400 kit even exists.

Clear winners in sound? No, everyone will determine the sound that they enjoy. There will never be a winner there. I don't like the Plinius SA-103 at all for instance, but it is a good amp for a lot of people. So SOUND is NOT my point, base material cost / pass through mark-up is. Most class D amplifiers exist to substantially pad the pockets of the manufacturer's and dealers. Especially now, realistic pricing is needed to pull people into the hobby.

The plethora of class D amps is changing as manufacturers try to ride the excessive mark-up wave much more than true design improvements. Adding a few caps here or there to a D-class power supply (maybe $300.00 in parts at best) and pricing a unit at $2,000.00 is close to the 5X parts to sell ratio. $8,000.00 for a Bel Canto REF1000M II series is suspect.

Be careful out there.

Do listen to NCore if you have a chance...

You are correct, though. $1800 for the NC400 pair and $9000+ for the OEM-only NC1200 version is too bad. I would like to know what Hypex is charging OEMs for the NC1200 module.

To Rower, The Ref1000 m is NOT 8k per pair. They list at 6k. I bought a new pair for close to half that. Have you heard them? They sound really good. They aren't perfect but they do a lot right for the money. Your posts make you sound like a real blowhard. And you certainly don't have your facts right which doesn't make your argument any stronger.

I see this discussion has new life. I never did get the bel cantos. What I did do was buy an Innersound ref 500 amp for a great deal. It's a cool running class A/B amp that gives 500 watts into 8 ohms in a single chassis that idles cool. Exactly what I wanted so I can leave the stereo on all the time. I even bought the matching Innersound ref preamp. I spent a good deal of time comparing these to the parasound jc1s and the Ayre k1x. I had these all on hand for a few months so I really got to live with them before deciding what I liked best. I ended up keeping the full Innersound rig and selling the jc1s and k1x. The Innersound amp had a little quicker attack and punch the jc1s were a little rounded sounding still good I could live with either but the Innersound amp doesn't heat the whole room so that is important and really I like the sound of the Innersound amp better with the dynaudio C4s though the JC1s are certainly not bad. The preamp I clearly like the Innersound ref better than the Ayre k1x. Granted the price on the Innersound gear was very high when originally sold (25k for the set) I paid less than what I sold the other combo for so it was a good deal and I got what I was looking for. After hearing how good a cool running high powered solid state amp can sound I don't think the marginal improvements to big hot mono blocks will sway me. I've owned a bunch of amps VTL 450 BAT 150 SE Ayre v5xe pass labs simaudio so I've had a fair share of experience.

Adjusting for inflation the facts are correct. The sources are listed for your reference. I listened to the Devialet and this thing goes for 15K. SOUND isn't the "main" issue (although such HUGE variations in opinions of the same amp should give you pause!). My opinion, which most should care less about, is that the mids were great, but the bass and treble were pushed back. The imaging was one size too small compared to AB amplifiers, but very precise. It was a usable performance, but not to the level I'm after.

Few vendors (ANTHEM being one) can design, build, and absorb the R&D costs to market a class D pulse supply with the majority licenses a major market block and add little else. And, making one isn't the solution. It has to be good. Few engineers really understand CLASS D like they will going forward. We went to the moon, but we made a ton of mistakes along the way.

I'd love to think that in just two years a totally new technology with tremendously varied negative attributes relative to linear amps could be oh so perfect in such few design attempts. This isn't TV, we all aren't 28 year old geniuses.

I find it curious that people can decide their choices are perfection only to dump them a year or two later. Prior to the abandonment of their old technology, anybody that made comment towards it's merits on price or performance is a "blowhard". Ya, we'll learn a lot thinking like that.

The market will take from you what you allow. Get educated.

The pursuit of CLASS D amps is to achieve superior size, weight, and cost advantages over the same linear parts. It is MUCH more electrically complex, however. That complexity has been mitigated over a wide audience (for audio anyway) to leverage the R&D costs across a larger universe of users. But, the cost advantage has been absorbed by the manufacturers at this point, and not passed on to the consumer. The designs are better, but the lessons are still pages deep on this technology.

I would wait a few more years before I plunked down 8K for a CLASS D amp for hi-end audio. My opinion, lightly blown in your direction.