So, Ralph, since we’ve got you here I gotta ask, how would you compare the sound of your new amp versus your OTL amps?
The distortion signature of the amp is similar to our OTLs in that the 3rd harmonic is most prominent. It is high enough that its able to mask higher ordered harmonics, so it sounds very similar to our OTLs (which was a nice discovery - to find out we were on the right path all along...). In direct comparisons people independently seem to say the same thing- that its a bit more focused (easier to hear into the rear of the sound stage; this is owing to about 2 orders of magnitude less distortion) but otherwise has the same liquid organic midrange and highs. The big difference is how it plays bass, since it behaves as a voltage source while our OTLs are meant to behave as a power source, owing to using little or no feedback. I've been playing a set of the class Ds at home for the last 8 months or so.
I for sure was a bit, just a bit, of a Class D naysayer. I wasn't foolishly so, as I always thought the tech would improve. I think we are right at that point now.
I heard a class D for the first time about 22 years ago. IMO it was a joke. Also IMO it is no longer- they have to be taken seriously. Earlier class D amps gave the tech a bad name just as tube console stereos gave tubes a bad name. There is as much or more variance in the sound of class D amps as there is with tube amps.