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


I heard a class D amp the other day (Lyngdorf) and it sounded really good. I liked the minimalism of it also. But, I need to own a amp for a couple of months to really know if I like it or not. I don't like room correction ether, so I just liked the sound without that. 

Curious, has anyone ever switched from a class AB or class A amp to a class D amp? If so, did you regret it? Was it a downgrade in sound? Or was it upgrade in sound? 

 

dman777

It depends, but when someone like Ralph @atmasphere builds a GaN amp it’s a pretty strong indicator it’s a legit technology.  As always, it comes down to personal preferences.  I’ve heard Class A/B amps sound sterile and Class D amps sound utterly musical, so again it depends.  Why are you so against room correction?  I heard Lyngdorf’s RC and it was pretty awesome.  

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.

Amplifier class is just that. A different topology and implementation.

 

Doesn't correlate with sound quality at all and yes I use Class D.

 

Remember Class is  moniker for different topology. It is not a grading system

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