Atma-Sphere Class D… Amazing

All this fuss. Class D is the affordable ticket to music heaven these days. That includes Hypex and Purifi.  You can bank on that. It’s just a fact. Not to say others cannot still compete.  Good sound is largely a subjective determination but all really good sound excels in the same fundamental areas that can be easily measured.  Looking forward to see and hear how the Atmasphere product compares.

This is just my observation but the Atmasphere OTL amp products have always occupied a very unique niche, technically much different than other products.

I think it would be foolish for Atmasphere or any other smaller vendor to try to compete with Hypex or Purifi based on technical specs  because you will probably never differentiate yourself positively that way.   
 

Rather, it’s better to offer a unique option.   Like anything of unique quality, it will cost more probably than more mainstream products.   It’s like coffee wine or any other product.   There are always more niche products that excel and they usually cost more.   
 

Looking forward to hearing Atmasphere Class D amps .  That will be a draw for me at upcoming Capital Audiofest hopefully .  I have a lot of respect for Ralph . He does things his way and very well historically  .  His posts here are almost always very informative and I appreciate that  

Fwiw I am a long time Class D owner and fan ( well documented here).

I decided to dive into the “latest and greatest” offerings earlier this year. I went in willing to spend what was needed to put myself in the best position possible replacing older amps I ran happily for many years.

Auditioned Purify and Hypex based models and also AGD. ( had also heard those earlier, as well as many other top contenders). Decided to go for broke and tru out the $3K Cambridge Evo 150 all in one device which uses Hypex. It was a keeper.

Honestly each amp I heard knocked it out of the park. The Evo brought my entire system up to date in one shot in a smaller package for less than I had owned prior. The quality of the technology these days puts a lot of old arguments and sweating about what is good or not to rest, at least for me . I am a music lover, a hifi enthusiast and deal with technology for a living . Looking forward to hearing the Atmasphere amps to see and hear what they do. My ears are always open and receptive.  

A well designed shootout among the leading or most popular class D amps would be very interesting, but getting conclusive results on such a highly subjective thing as how things "sound" is always problematic.

That leaves one to merely leverage both the two tools one has at their disposal to decide.....what they read including specs then always most importantly in the end what they hear.

Since everyone hears differently and also has unique goals and preferences, there is no pressure for anyone to agree with another.

At the same time, in lieu of objective measurements, no substantive conclusions regarding what is "best" or even "better" can ever be made. Each will make that determination based on the factors that matter to them. Measurements may or may not even matter in some cases.

What are the cases in which measurements don’t matter?

The ones that come to mind are:

1) the published measurements are not sufficient or accurate enough to be useful

2) The user does not know how to properly apply the measurements

3) The user simply does not care and prefers to rely on other means to make their decisions.

I would also point out that the transition from most tube amps to Class D amps is probably more challenging for owners than most. Most speakers that sound good to someone with a tube amp will sound different with most Class D amps. As they would with most SS amps that also tend to have much lower output impedance and are also capable of driving more speakers well. Given that, I still suspect most tube amp lovers will be more pleased moving to a good quality modern Class D amp than others. But still in many cases, a move from tube amp to SS amp is also likely to involve a speaker change unless the listener is able to make the adjustment. I suspect many cannot.

Perhaps the Atmasphere Class D amp, coming from a vendor known for their OTL tube amps, is a more natural path to Class D for tube amp owners? One that is less likely to make owners jump ship on speakers they selected to sound good with their prior OTL amps? That would make sense. Just guessing though...have not done the homework yet on the Atmasphere Class D.

In any case, it is not possible to properly assess any amp without also considering the speakers it will be driving. The best amp/speaker integrations will ALWAYS produce the best results. Nothing else is possible, though some amps will care less about what speakers are used than others.

It’s true the best measurements are those done by qualified and trusted independent parties.  Maybe that will pop up somewhere soon.  Meanwhile hope to give the Atmasphere amps a listen soon maybe at CAF. 

 @atmasphere backs up his words with his actions.   That makes for a strong case.   We will see. 
 

About 12 years back I was on the brink of going with tube amps to get the sound I wanted but decided to look forward and try the newer evolving technology (class d amps) rather than backwards.  I have great faith that advancements in technology move things forward.  Been a Class D amp fan ever since.  Still have a tube preamp sitting idle currently but never took the tube amp plunge.   class D did  the job better for me.  No looking back now at this point.   Kudos to Ralph for being forward thinking and having always had a great appreciation for good things past. 
 

Will the Atmas Class D be playing at Capital Audiofest?  Hoping so. 

I heard them at a show with the Big Classic Audio speakers that Atmasphere typically partners with at shows. I couldn’t find a fault. Then they switched to the Atmas tube amp and frankly I struggled to hear a difference. So there you go FWIW. Overall teh Atmasphere/Classic Audio room sound was teh best I had heard to-date compared to prior years where it was tube amps only. For a year or two prior, the sound came off too me as a little bright and somewhat fatiguing for whatever reason.  THis was with tube amps only.  Probably they adjusted better to acoustics the big conference room they were in each time.  The room is usually manned by folks from Classic Audio, I believe.