Can't comment on the D-Sonic....but here is an alternative amp to consider. And here is a link that describes how this amp was developed. As you say, there aren't too many reviews of the D-Sonic but the few there are seem to be good....there are quite a few more reviews of the Cherry Amp products and they seem to have a loyal following of owners who use words like class A sound...or tube like sound....to describe them. I suspect that people will post lots of options for you to look into...good luck. |
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I have a D-Sonic M2000 MKII 5 Channel amp based on B&O ASP Modules (3 ASP1000, 2 ASP500). I'm very happy with the amp. I originally had Bel Canto REF1000M & REF500M mono's which are based one the same B&O Modules. The D-sonic gave me 97-98% of the Bel Canto's for a lot less. The difference being in the input design. Sold the Bel Cantos, and a bunch of power cords, and bought the D-Sonic. Used the rest of the cash to go to Disney World.
I'm going to upgrade to the Pascal based amp shortly. I'm thinking 1500 x 3, 800 x 2. Not that I need all the power, but...... |
If it was me and I wasn't desperate for a new amp I would wait a few months before purchasing any class D amp. My only knowledge is from reading user experiences here, but it seems that important improvements to the technology are happening daily and are expected to continue in the near future.
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Sorry to see the cherry amp’s input impedance is too low to use with many tube preamps. |
Presumably the Cherry input impedance can be tweaked at time of order. I see emotiva has numerous options.... not sure how the sound compares.
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@prpixel, thank you for your contribution. Not too much info to be had. I'm hoping more owners of D-Sonic products, old and new, will make their experiences known. I am certainly leaning in D-Sonics direction.
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Not too long ago i acquired an M3a-1200S that replaced Emotiva xpa2-gen2. The Emotiva being what it is, not a terrible amp is severely out classed by d- sonic. I love this thing, it’s scarily powerful with seemingly infinite headroom, no discernable distortion and almost a warm quality to it which becomes apparent especially when volume goes up, wherein the Emotiva got harsh and unlistenable with collapsed soundstage. My speakers are horn loaded (Klipsch Palladium p37f) so having an amp that was smooth was paramount. Paired with a tube preamp it’s even better but i don’t think is necessary. Needless to say, I’d say jump on it, you will not regret it. |
Like Luka said, jump on it. I was astonished as to how much bigger everything was after replacing a Parasound A21, which in its own right is a kick ass amp, too. The D-Sonic I have is an older model, maybe 6 or 7 years old, at close to 600wpc, which you can hear and feel right out of the box. The low level detail is pretty amazing as well. Power to boot. Hope you get one and love it. |
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I have recently installed the D-Sonics M3a-1500M monoblocks driving Maggie 3.7i's. Using a McIntosh C2300 tube amp and I am very pleased with the results. Great soundstage, great balance top to bottom and nice detailed sonic images with in the sound stage. These punch way above their weight. I have about 400 hours on them and couldn't be happier. At some point I will move them into my reference system and see how they stack up to my McIntosh MC601's. From what I hear so far I suspect they will do very well. Their size makes them so easy to work with....a pair of monoblocks can easily fit on one shelf in almost any rack. Class D amps from D-Sonics are definitely worth looking into. Class D is here to stay. |
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Thanks for all the replies to date. Have not yet pulled the plug as there is so much controversy regarding class D but the more information from actual users I get the more learned I become. It's all useful.
Can anyone explain to me why GaN based class D is so much pricier than Pascal etc. It makes no sense to me other than its faster switching capability but that hardly warrants the cost. |
Never heard of D Sonic, and they do look very interesting.
Class D sure has its "mystery" shroud against it, but I think its just the
audiophile community snubbing it.
I had Bel Canto's auditioned and they sounded amazing, I had a
Lyngdorf Millennium MK IV and it was awesome, I have a pioneer Elite AVR and its great (not at the same level of course).
So D class is here to stay, for good reasons. More power to the people! |
Class D sure has its "mystery" shroud against it, but I think its just the audiophile community snubbing it.
Probably because many think it hasn't earned the sonic right to be called hi-end, it still has problems that need to ironed out with future technical innovations. Atmasphere's new patented circuitry could address some of it's ill's, but it's still in prototype stage. Technics with their expensive SE-R1 looked to cure all the problems using the GaN technology to it's fullest, but you'll really pay for that one. Cheers George |
