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Competitive class D amp suggestions

I have been Class D fun since a few years ago when i bought my first class D amp. I like the concept, in general, and all the attractive features of this class of amplifiers. I tried 4 different ones, currently i  stayed with one of them that i consider to be the best among all four amps. I do enjoy and like it. At the same time,  my 5 watts SET amplifier (with more than 100 times higher distortion according to the specs) gives more natural and (surprisingly) notably cleaner sound (THD of the class D amp is 0.001). The soundstage  of the class D amp is not so bad but that of the tube one is still better.   

I remain attracted by class D amps though. 

Any fresh suggestions on reasonably priced class D amps (i mean excluding  non-reasonably priced class D amps, e.g., Merrill amplifiers)?

Any comments on non-reasonably priced class D amps are also welcome (so far i was not able to audition many class D amps and am curious if there are some which could really compete with Class A). 

128x128niodari
cakyol's avatar
cakyol
940 posts
 

Orchard Audio KingKrimson Ultra.

They use GaN FETS and hence have almost  immeasurably low THD & noise.

holes3's avatar
holes3
19 posts
 

checkout creek audio,, fantastic sound. cant go wrong

ertorque
13 posts
 

check this out

DA&T K422 Bi Amplifier ✨

nagel
56 posts
 

Also try different and better AC power cords. My only experience with class D was with older Bel Canto ref500m, thought they were so-so until I upgraded the PCs to DH audio red wave with furutech plugs, result was much better. I’ve heard the newer Bel cantos like ref600m are better still, you might take a look, but I’m leaning GAN design for cleaner treble and better imaging. There's no contest when you look at 10kHz square waves or treble THD. I’m still happily using class AB ML 532h. The atmosphere class d got a favorable mention in a trade show review recently. Benchmark AHB isn’t class D but might also interest you, and 30 day money back. Good luck and please tell us what you tried and selected.

kuribo
524 posts
 

Purifi and Orchard Audio have both gotten stellar reviews, which isn't surprising based on their best in class d measured performance and state of the art designs. They are your best bets. Peachtree uses a load dependent design and a low switching frequency which does nothing to exploit the benefits of GaN tech. Their design is far behind Purifi and more akin to Tripath and their tech from 20 years or more ago. They just use the GaN devices as a marketing technique. You can do better.

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