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Class A amps or Class D??: Which sounds better??

Amplifier performance and synergy depends on the other components, and cables in a system. I have read alot about the advantages of Class A.amps Though an older amp design, do class A amps necessarily sound better than Class D digital amps like Nu-Force, Bel Canto, and Wyred4Sound?? These class D amps supposedly run more efficiently, with less heat and noise and are smaller in size.

I have a friend who has a Musical Fidelity A3CR power amp and a Bel canto pre-amp, and a pair of Spendor floorstanders. The MF amp is at least 10 years old, and no longer made. I have listened to the amp in his system, and it does sound very good. Most noteably is its across the board smoothness. However, I think its performance is system dependent, and might be a liability in other systems. Would like to hear comments and opinions about these two amp "designs", and if one sounds better than the other, OR JUST DIFFERENT.

BTW, I am not sure that owning a 10 year old amp like the MF A3CR is a good idea, despite its class A rating, and a few positive consumer reviews I have seen. Thank you
sunnyjim
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,198 posts
 
Atmasphere is right that Class D amp technology is likely still evolving along the technology maturity curve, certainly it is newer than other types relatively speaking. But it has been around a while and has reached a fairly mature state at this point I would say, at least based on my experience so far. I did consider waiting about 2 years back when I splurged on my current Class Ds, but hey tthey seemed like the best solution available for me at the time so I decided to take the plunge. You only live once TTBOMK. One can never be certain what lies ahead.
mitch2
3,969 posts
 
Class A has little power but lots of finess
Stringreen, my Clayton M300 amps provide 300wpc into 8ohms and 600wpc into 4ohms - all in Class A. In the tubed world, Ralph and others also offer pretty high powered Class A amps. High powered Class A amps require large, high quality power supplies not typically found in Class AB or Class D amps. I am not saying there are no better sounding amps than those that run in Class A (because I don't know, plus the Class AB Jones PA-M300 amps are said to sound great) but there are reasons that really good Class A amps sound really good.
doggiehowser
672 posts
 
I think there's a lot to be said for system matching.

I have heard the Thiel CS3.7s powered by Bel Canto REF1000s, and then REF1000Ms (upgraded kit to the base 1000s), Plinius SA-Reference and Electrocompaniet.

For the price of the REF1000Ms, I think they punched way above their weight class. Once I improved the power to the REF1000Ms (ASI Liveline fed through Sound Application RLS 240 conditioner), the margin was very close especially when I switched from the Bel Canto Pre3 to an ARC Reference 5SE pre.

The price was like a factor of 1x (for Bel Canto), 2x and 3x.
wolf_garcia
6,695 posts
 
As I recently posted elsewhere, speculation about the sound of something that the speculator hasn't ACTUALLY heard is merely speculative speculating and those opinions are worthless as information except to the speculator, who may have found some comfort from having merely vented a thought, so there's that.
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drubin
3,274 posts
 
That was brilliant, wolfy. In a Professor Irwin Corey sort of way.
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