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Class A amps or Class D??: Which sounds better??

Amplifier performance and synergy depends on the other components, and cables in a system. I have read alot about the advantages of Class A.amps Though an older amp design, do class A amps necessarily sound better than Class D digital amps like Nu-Force, Bel Canto, and Wyred4Sound?? These class D amps supposedly run more efficiently, with less heat and noise and are smaller in size.

I have a friend who has a Musical Fidelity A3CR power amp and a Bel canto pre-amp, and a pair of Spendor floorstanders. The MF amp is at least 10 years old, and no longer made. I have listened to the amp in his system, and it does sound very good. Most noteably is its across the board smoothness. However, I think its performance is system dependent, and might be a liability in other systems. Would like to hear comments and opinions about these two amp "designs", and if one sounds better than the other, OR JUST DIFFERENT.

BTW, I am not sure that owning a 10 year old amp like the MF A3CR is a good idea, despite its class A rating, and a few positive consumer reviews I have seen. Thank you
sunnyjim

Showing 1 response by roscoeiii

roscoeiii's avatar
roscoeiii
1,155 posts
 
It really doesn't make much sense to discuss amplifiers apart from the speakers with which they will be paired. Different speakers have different amplification needs, and may have been designed with certain types of amplifiers in mind, as well as being voiced with specific types of amplifiers. Some speakers will need huge wattage (not easy or cheap for Class A), and others will not. Some speakers will benefit from a very high damping factor (a strength of a Class D amp usually), but others may feel overdamped with high damping factor amps.

And I will also point you to Atma-Sphere's paper on the Power vs. Voltage Paradigms:

http://www.atma-sphere.com/Resources/Paradigms_in_Amplifier_Design.php
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