I have had my AGD Vivace amps now for a month or so. I have sold my Luxman M600-a class a 30 watter plus some other ss and tube amps. I did not think it could get better-I was wrong. Try some diff class d amps. I tried some a few years back and that was terrible. The AGD and Merrill companies seem to lead the pack-both sound very good but the AGD is just a step above in my opinion.
Class D amps seem poised to take over. Then what?
I am certainly biased by my lifetime final amp being a Class D. But I know that after 30+ years of development, Class D seems to be on a high plain. I know there are now many, many companies focusing on Class D and, maybe, a good handful already as good as it gets. My Class D amp is as smooth and beautifully musical as a great tube amp and as punchy and detailed as a great SS amp. I am satisfied and done with my search. A class D amp has effectively taken me off the amp merry-go-round. It’s about time after 50 years. And, for me, this Class D is a milestone. Will all other classes of amps fade away?
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What's after Class D? Well, as usual, probably improvements on what we've got. Sounds like GaN (Gallium Nitride) transistors can handle very high voltages and very high current and very high frequencies. Perhaps useful for class A, A/B, G etc - because they cmight vastly reduce output delta t, so feedback works better - but almost certainly wonderful for D. Much better edges, so fewer errors for the system to compensate for. And, of course, all this hifi stuff is for pleasure. It's nice to know that product X has immeasurable distortion under all circumstances, but of you prefer listening to product Y, then go for it. I prefer Burgundy, but there are those who drink Bordeaux. Neither I nor they word - or rather should - argue that my preference is 'the absolute best'; just that 'I prefer'. It's true that many designers want accuracy first. Good! But if you prefer the sound of something else, go for it. But don't tell me that you're right and I'm wrong for enjoying my Kii Threes. |
Oh, and I had my first class D amp way back when. 1965 or so. The Sinclair X20. http://www.vk6fh.com/vk6fh/sinclairX20.htm Built it myself, I did. If you soldered a short wire to the collector of the driver transistor, you could pick up a distorted version of what I was playing (from a self-electronic'd reel to reel) at intervals all the way up to about 30MHz on the AM band for quite worrying distances. So I put it in a metal box. It had a class A front end, so it must have been good... |
I’ve tried a couple class D units. They were good but not great to me. I’m game to try some more. Anyone try a class G amp? I had a Creek class G. Very cool topology: first 25 watts was all Class A and the switching side kicked in north of that to output 170 watts into 4 ohms. Sounded lovely with PSB Imagine T2s. But I went horns and tubes. |
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