Ditching Class A Amps due to Heat - Sort of a Poll

With the newer GaN and Purify amps and with future improvements surely coming down the road I’d have to think long and hard about buying a traditional SS Class A amp.  But at least some Class A amps from Plinius and Clayton have a hi/low bias switch so when not listening critically you don’t have to heat the house or assault the electric bill.  Nice to have viable alternatives. 

I admit I’m more of a green, tree-hugger type, but I’m into audio for great sound and if it took a fire-breathing, Class-A monster to get the sound I love I wouldn’t think twice and would never say a word to anyone else who chose to go that route. That said, I really wish more solid-state, Class-A amp manufacturers would do like Plinius and some Clayton models do and employ a high/low bias switch so it’s possible to leave the amp on 24/7 and not ravage the electric bill or turn the room into a sauna. Seems like such a simple thing to implement, and it comes with the added benefit of not having to constantly turn the amp on and off, which greatly compromises long-term reliability along with the annoyance of having to wait for the amp to reach its optimal operating temperature. Case in point, I recently got my DNA 0.5 amp upgraded by SMcAudio where the on/off switch only operates the power light to let the wife know it’s on when in actuality the amp is always on when it’s plugged in. They do this because they feel strongly that leaving the amp on in a steady state is much better for amp longevity than turning the amp on and off and putting it through the stress of temperature changes, etc. Anyway, I say to each his own, live and let live and so on, but if I did have a power-hungry amp I’d be taking a long, hard look at the new GaN amps from the likes of AtmaSphere, AGD, etc. as we really seem to have turned a ground-breaking corner in both sound-quality potential and efficiency. When Ralph says he’s happy using his new GaN amp over his wonderful OTL tube amps that speaks volumes to me. Anyway…