Class D amps

H20 Audio's latest iteration of amps are pretty spiffy. The man has finally begun to mix artisan flavor in with solid engineering - and the results "speak" for themselves. You'll find no 10lb light weights in his lineup - and I like that.

I was recently putting together my system and couldn't decide between two used amps: Wyred 4 Sound ST500 and Conrad Johnson MF2500. They were both used and almost the same price, so I bought both in my own little "shootout". The sound of the two was very close in the short 3 days I compared the two. I sold the Conrad Johnson in the end because it was so big and didn't fit into the cabinet my wife wanted to buy. The Wyred 4 Sound amp also didn't have the hum that the Conrad Johnson had, especially when using the balanced interconnects.

I can understand the draw to traditional amps. I really liked the big, solid SS amps and I really felt that it was like owning a big mercedes compared to a VW. In the end I could not get over the lack of difference in the sound. Some of it could be chalked up to using balanced cables with the W4S, I suppose. It was not a hard choice to make.

Similar to Doggie, I run a tubed TRL Dude preamp with a pair of NuForce
Ref9 V2SE's, the sound is sublime.

Might want to do some homework on the latest Hypex NCore amps. They have kicked a lot of big names out of some very high-end systems.

nCores! They've got my blood up, and I've been content for so long. I've come close to putting my name on the list three times now. The thought of gathering what few parts needed to assemble them is turning me off. Then the 6Moons review, those little prototypes look (as my Son would say) DIRTY!

So I've stayed away for a month hoping they'd offer a complete kit.

Fiddler, I seem to remember you were listening to some switchers before the UCD's? Pop a picture and I'll send you a canoli.