Has anyone tried an amp from Class D Audio?

Nobel100, it was your thread that first brought my attention to the amps from Class D Audio; especially, since you were coming from an Aragon amp similar to mine.

Response34, I THINK that neutral is what I'm looking for. I recently got my hands on a Marsh P2000 pre amp, and, as much as I liked my previous NAD C162, I think that the Marsh is in another league all together. I'm just looking for an amp that will let me enjoy the upstream components.

The reason that I'm looking at the SDS-254, rather than the more powerful model, is that the 254 is pretty close to the rated power of my Aragon and the Aragon has been all of the amp I've needed thus far. On the other hand, with the adjustable gains on the CDA amps, I may be able to make the more powerful amps work in my system and be able to rest assured that I have more than enough headroom available.

And that leads me to another point. With the Marsh and Aragon combo, I'm only able to get up to about the 11:00 position on my volume control before it's so loud that I can't think. I'm hoping that the adjustable gains will allow me to get the use of more of my volume control.

In any case, I think I'm sold. My very next purchase is going to be an amp from CDA. I just need to decide between the 254 and the 440. I know that the Minuets I'm running are small, but they are rated to 300 watts. I wonder if I've been missing something with the "little" 100 wpc Aragon.

It's also going to be nice to get that 40 something pound beast out of my little audio cabinet. I'll have room for more toys.

""Everything being right with no soul"

Strat,

Are you comparing the various Class D amps apples/apples with the rest of the system all the same?

Which Bel Canto amps specifically did you have and what was rest of the system?

I have ref1000m monoblocks. I find them rock solid performance wise in every regard, which is pretty much what I expect from an amp and works for me. Whether they possess "soul" or not will be largely determined by what they are run with. Source, pre-amp speakers, ICs, all will sound different. They have high damping factor that can sound towards lean side in some setups, but sound dead on in others. I experience this myself running various speakers in various rooms off them concurrently.

Tim,

Thanks for the advise. I suppose that going for the more powerful amp would make sense. The main reason that I'm looking for a neutral amp is that I think I really like the sound of the Marsh Pre.

After the upgrade from my previous NAD pre, I think that I can characterize the sound of the March as not exactly tubey, but it does have tube like qualities that I've found I really like.

Although I would one day like to get into tubes, now is not the time. I do not have the space to accommodate tube equipment.

Tonyangel,

Excellent, from all you've said, I think a CDA amp is going to give you what you want. I definitely improved my system going class D instead of my old, but still quite good, Aragon amp. I think you'll also like the smaller size, weight and cooler running of the CDA amp.

Good luck and happy listening,
Tim