Has anyone tried an amp from Class D Audio?

Hi Tonyangel

I had a Class D Audio SDS-224 amp that was professionally built from a kit and it powered a pair of Ohm Walsh 2 speakers in a medium sized room. Sound wise the music could get loud and pretty clear. I did notice when the volume was turned down there was a little bit of buzzing or static that came from the Walsh 2s that wasn't there when I had powered them with different amps. Build quality wise the SDS-224 was very solid and pretty sturdy for what it was.

What speakers are you thinking about using the Class D Audio amps with?

I'm running a pair of Silverline Minuet Supreme Pluses.

It was my intention to put something together using Hypex modules, but then ran across the stuff from Class D Audio and it seems that what little there is about them on the net has been good.

The model I'm considering is the SDS-254. What I'm afraid of is that it's just going to sound dead. Everything being right with no soul.

What was your impression of the sound quality, other than it being loud and clear?

Hypex N-Core is the leading edge in class D, apparently.

Csontos,

That's the same conclusion that I came to, based on research. Still, the little company, "Class D Audio" is interesting, I think.

From what I've read, the N-Core is supposed to be a true drop in a box module that yields excellent results, as opposed to the Ice Power modules.

From what I understand, taking an Ice Power module and dropping it into a box yields results that lean way toward the cold side, requiring companies like Bel Canto to have to doctor up the input and/or output stages to get good results.

So, who's to say that this guy building his own amps (here in the U.S.) hasn't come upon a recipe that yields similar results to that of the N-Core modules?

I know that there is a large price difference, but I think that most of that is due to the exchange rate and VAT.

In any case, I am curious about these amps from Class D Audio. I'm just not curious enough to flush ~$600 down the toilet, if they are just another run of the mill class D amp. $600 can buy a heck of a nice, used Class A/B amp on the used market.

This isn't anything pressing for me. It's just something that I'm starting to give some thought to. My Aragon 2004 is getting very long in the tooth and when it goes, I just don't think it's going to be worth fixing.

I tried the SDS-254 and it was natural sounding and compared well with other Class D designs that I auditioned. Sound-wise it was tilted up on the low end a bit. All together I had the following in my system: Nuforce, Bel Canto, Wyred4sound, Channel Island, and Class D Audio.

To my ears, and in my system, the Nuforce bettered the Channel Islands but only slightly ... and at more than twice the cost ($2,400 vs $5,000). I am currently running CI Audio D-200's. The Class D offering was a close third. Unlike a few others, I was not very impressed with either Bel Canto or W4S. Both are ICE module based and were very detailed and clear ("Everything being right with no soul"). They were bought used and sold for about the same amount.

Finally, you can get the Class D direct from the mfg and audition in-home for at least a month. He's a good guy to deal with as well; and in terms price/performance ... you can't go wrong. Just my 2 cents.