As always, I agree with Ralph.
I can understand modern feelings about class D. Most of us have had nothing but bad experiences.
About ten years ago, one of the first class D mega threads (might have been Audio Circle, not sure), was something like, "Tried this class D amp and sold my $20k tube monos." So I thought, why not try it and built the kit ("from a small US Manufaturer without a cult follwing") with all my favorite tweaks and upgrades. Horrible right off the bat. Hmmm, must need more break-in. Long story short, 1000 hours later, I thought something must be broken. Contacted the designer and we determined that the amp was working properly. Kind of like the first CD players. I could never sell it in good conscience, still sitting on a shelf. Nice PS and chassis though; I might stick one of the latest modules inside and try again.
Just about every year or two since, another "best amp I ever heard, tubes and transistors are obsolete, blah, blah, blah".
Of course, again, over time, not acceptable. Always some grating, annoying subtlety.
I think there have been some major breakthroughts in the last year or so. I posted the two recent reviews of the Legacy i.Vx Ultra series just as a baseline.
With everything else in audio, you must audtion in your home with your speakers using a well broke- in dealer loaner or have a good refund policy with mail order.
With all that said, I think many of the negative comments regarding these modern class D designs implemented well (really good power supplies, excellent noise and grounding techniques, etc) are folks that simply didn't put enough hours on the amp to make an accurate assessment. Or the typical Audiogon types with countless comments of gear they have not heard...
Finally, I have no skin in this game. Whatever technology sounds best, I'll take. Wouldn't it be wonderful if inexpensive, cool running, energy efficient amps of whatever technology one day replace the big, hot, uber expensive +$50k mega-amps.
