Class D Amplification Announcement

Hey, the little unassuming 30€ Sure Wondom Tripath amp (TA2024) turned me into a believer. I plugged my very revealing OGY speakers into my amp and, yeah, it just sounds fine. To the point where I forget about the gear and just enjoy the music. My previous Yamaha RN402 amp (your typical entry-level Yamaha A/B amp) didn’t sound nearly as detailed in the midrange and treble (from memory). Look, this is not a comprehensive review. It’s just a positive experience. I wish that this 30€ amp had more than 10W of power. I would honestly pay 1000€ for a high end Tripath implementation (or equivalent) with 60W of power. But that does not exist because Tripath went bankrupt.

My 2 cents on live performances:

- Most rock performances sound like garbage. The drums and electric guitars are often too loud. The bass guitar and vocals are often too quiet. The sound is way too loud and confused near the stage. The sound improves significantly when standing far away (but then the band looks like ants on a stage and you're wondering why you bothered to go to a live performance).

- Electronic music is similar to rock in terms of volume. You have to stand really far from the stage to get a good sound. 

- Acoustic folk/Jazz music in a small venue is bliss. But you realize that instrument separation and stereo effect only happen with Hi-Fi equipment. In the real world everything kinda blends together. The band is performing on a small stage after all.

- Orchestral music. Wow! You get a wall of sound effect where you can feel the air moving and the walls vibrating. Again, stereo effect, soundstage and instrument separation lose all meaning in the real world. You get a wall of sound. You feel the music in your bones. 

My 3 cents:

I believe that audiophiles are chasing a sharper definition than the real world. In the real world everything just blends together into a wall of sound and through the reverberations of the room. There's no stereo effect and crystal clear "instrument separation". In the real world most live performances are way too loud and confused. Soft jazz, acoustic music and orchestral music avoid that problem. 

At what point do you guys say that your gear is "close enough" and start listening to music intentionally? 

@frogman Album tracks have autotune, drumbeat correction, volume compression etc... to enhance the clarity. I mean just compare demo tapes to finished albums and you’ll hear why enhancements are highly desirable. This implies that the album doesn’t sound like the live performance, even in a recording studio.

I’m assuming that you only listen to live recordings of acoustic performances. Softer acoustic performances in well-treated rooms sound inherently crystal clear, so enhancements aren’t necessary. So you’re limiting your musical library immensely.

And to be frank, the importance of a balanced hi-res system is overstated (IMHO). Budget gear is getting better by the year, especially dirt cheap class D amps. AND for people like me LIVE music is way more affordable and accessible than high-end Hi-Fi. That's the perk of living in a metropolis I suppose. 

@phd Ha! You're feeding into the hype! 

Class A and Class AB will never be obsolete in the second-hand market. Sometimes I wonder if it's not wiser to score a Denon/Yamaha/Pioneer/Onkyo/NAD amp for $100 on the used market and pair that with sufficiently good speakers and call it a day. 

I might be diverting the conversation towards budget gear and vintage gear. But I would love a comparison between a vintage A/B amp and a cheap China amp using class D. 

To me the high end is clouded in a veneer of romanticism and craftsmanship. For example people who buy expensive tube amplifiers are not interested in getting the best performance metrics. They're looking for a unique experience. This may explain why some audiophiles have several different amps/speakers/turntables and DACs for different experiences. It's just nice to switch it up. 

Okay, okay. I think I may have found a limitation to my cheap-ass class D China amp (Tripath T2024 chip with only 10W of power). And it took me some time because I was mostly listening to my regular music, which is soft rock and acoustic. The amp sounds very nice to me, just warm enough not to be sterile. It’s also more detailed than the previously owned Yamaha RN402.

Yoshimatsu: Symphony No 4 is the album which punched me in the gut. I have to crank the volume up to 80% to fill the room. And I feel like I’m still missing a dynamic punch. Is this a limitation of my amp or my speakers (Closer Acoustics Ogy + Rel T5x sub)?