Spectron Musician III MK.2 or Audio Research DS450

I wonder if the naysayers of class D amps have given them sufficient break-in time. I have a Wyred integrated which I DID NOT like at first, then after connecting a tuner and putting over 300 hours on it, it really opened up. The cold, edgy sound was replaced by a involving, open soundstage. And yes, I believe it is on the warm side as well. I've owned tubes for years.

The Audio Research DS450M is the first of its kind, a true high powered A/B Amp with a
class D switching module that will forge a new path for the future of amplification. The amp idle's at 55 watts and is as equally efficient as any Class D amp on the market. What irritates the hell out of me is the very high prices for some class D amps, but not all, considering the modest amount of electronics under the hood of some of the 12 and 15 pound amps. The B&O ice amp that is in the Wyred4Sound SX-1000 and the Bel Canto REF1000M's has a wholesale cost of $400.00. The biggest rip off coming around the corner is the new Mola-Mola M1's coming out next year from the Hypex/Ncore company. Bruno Putzeys, the owner and designer, came over from the Netherlands early last week and brought his Mola-Mola's to GTT Audio in New Jersey to finalized the design. Bill Parish, the owner, informed me on Friday that Bruno has set the retail price at $15,000 a pair. Phew!! What a burn. Two dinky 18 pound switching amps for $15K a pair!! Don't think that price will fly with Audiophiles. The Audio Research DS450M's are a steal at $10K a pair and weighing 75 pounds a pair due to their massive power supply and large custom built block transformers.

Audiozen -- do you sell or market the AR amps? (Your post reads like ad copy...).

OTOH, I agree that the AR amps sound good. They area tad expensive though...

The thing with the good Class D amps is that the performance rivals others, they are small, they are efficient, and do not get very warm. Plus massive amounts of power to drive most any speaker.

Are the prices high? Definitely in some cases. THat's part of high end audio. One is actually paying largely for teh innovation and the benefits derived in the case of Class D beyond just paying extra for boutique type products. Nothing new there! Over time, I would expect price/performance to trend positively.

Also it is worth noting that Wyred and Bel Canto does add useful technology to the stock IcePower modules which at least helps justify the cost somewhat. Wyred adds an input stage that makes the amps tube pre-amp friendly and BC adds that plus a custom power board. These are things that only audio enthusiasts (like me) would care enough about to pay extra for.

WHen I bought my ref1000ms here on A'gon, I had the seller actually open them up and show me a picture of the innards to make sure that I was getting what I was paying extra for.

I would really like to hear the new Audio Research DS450M. Maybe it is a possible next step type higher efficiency amp for thirstier speakers than say Icepower to-date.

Will have to stop by my local ARC dealer where I bought my ARC pre-amp to see/hear.

A beefy power supply done well can never hurt, right?

The description of the sound it produces on the ARC sight is not unlike what I hear with the Bel Cantos, which is quite good. Maybe these can push the edge further, albeit perhaps with some additional size, weight, bulk, power consumption and cost compared to Icepower for example.