Has anyone switched from Class AB/A to Class D? Was it better? Was it worse?

When the air conditioner in my small house could not keep up with the heat input from my Pass XA30.8, (ok, slight exaggeration), I said to myself this is ridiculous and I don’t care how much I liked the sound. Additionally, moving the 75 lb hulk every time the wife wanted to move furniture was equally ridiculous.

I went to a Hypex based class D amp that weighed 13 lbs but I was not crazy about the edgy sound. Then I went to a Benchmark AHB2 which is class H or something, and never looked back. It is a compact powerhouse.

So in summary, my motivation was more about convenience than sound but it worked out well in the end once I discovered Benchmark. Sometimes I miss the Pass sound but not enough to ever go back.

"Think of BMW - they make various models and then they offer the M series. What is the difference."

The BMW M series’s original intent quickly diverged to a "M = Marketing" strategy to sell more upgraded BMW’s to those desiring the M badge of honor.

Originally, BMW had to sell a minimum number of street-legal cars to qualify for the European Motorsport series. They were true street-legal race cars at first and they sold out quickly. That is when the BMW marketing dept. realized an opportunity to increase profits. The M cars of today are far from the original spirit of M.

In the audio world, we see this sometimes with upgraded casework that gives the audio-jewelry effect that if it looks good, it must sound good, just like with the M-series’ aggressive styling and colorful racing stripes. Anyway.