A great article on Class D/switching amps

Vince, without being disrespectful or mean spirited towards you or Mr. Ho, if he can make his D amps sound exactly like my Pass Labs XA-100's or a dartZel I will order a pair right now.

This sounds like a claim made almost twenty years ago by Bob Carver, that he could build an inexpensive amp to sound like any amp in the world, regardless of price. Notice, no one considers his amps "classics" in any way today.

When I started this thread I did mention that I had listened to the Kharma D amp and thought it was quite good, but the pair does cost around $6000.00. So many of these D amps offer alot of performance for the money, but the reality is sometimes you do get what you pay for, which means that these amps sonicly are not at a reference level yet compared with linear a/b reference amps.

Chris, you asked a great question, so let me answer it in three ways:

1) As a reference point I'm not a fan of amps like Krell or Halcro or speakers like Wilson because I find them to have certain qualities (details, dynamics, transparency) but for me I found them "sterile/cold" sounding which I do believe has much to do with their way of presenting timbres and harmonics in their overall sonic presentation.

2) Another example would be the Pass Labs X series, that I found quite dynamic, detailed, with great extension, but not very "musical" to my ears. However, when Nelson Pass came out with the XA and X.5 series, it kept the dynamics but also returned the timbres/harmonics of his Aleph design.

3) So, when I have listened to a few of the switching/D amps they offer great clarity, dynamics, and a silky presentation, but not the realistic timbres I hear in the best of class A linear amps.

I believe that many of the class D amps are very good bargains for their price range, but do not yet compete with the reference class a/b amps quite yet in their development. I'm quite aware that at this level of gear we are really talking about personnal taste and system synergy, so there is no "right" or "wrong" answer to what are the best amps or designs in the world.

Branimir, you are quite correct. I have never auditioned the present Krell Evolution generation of amps. I was refering to past experiences with prior generations of Krell gear, that was not my cup of sonic tea.

Muralman1, it sure would be fun to have Nelson come to your house and see what his opinion of the H2O amps would be! I just don't understand your statement, " Who says there must be one design", I did not say that or even imply that there is only one design or type of amp that is surperior sonicly to all others. I also firmly believe that D/switching amps will get better and better as more talented designers get involved with this type of amp design.