How do Digital Amps Mfrs. compare in sound?


I am so excited about all the reviews of various digital amps out there. I just know this is the future of audio because the value is just too irresistable.

But, there are so many companies out there: PS Audio, Bel Canto, NeForce, Wyred, Spectron, etc just to name a few. To compound the issue(s), the modding companies like Cullen Circuits are upgrading and modifying digital amps. So are there differences between these companies products' sound or does digital equipment sound homogenous? Where does the biggest "bang-for-the-buck" lie when it comes to digital amps? Has anyone directly compared any of these digital amps to each other?
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Showing 1 response by palewin

I probably won't be adding much to the discussion by simply suggesting (as another poster did) that it depends on the manufacturer. For the past 2 weeks I've been listening to an ARC 150.2 which I swapped into my system in place of a tubed ARC D90B. The 150.2 is a tripath class T amp, which is really just another name for class D. I'm feeding it with a tubed ARC SP-8, and it sounds as good as, if not better than, the tubed amp it replaced. I also have the TAS issue which compared a number of class D amps, and if you read the review of the ARC 300.2 (the bigger brother of my amp) you see two opposite opinions - the assigned reviewer loved it (as I understand, he actually bought one after reviewing it) but Jonathan Valin, another TAS reviewer, definitely didn't like it. It seems to me that when you have two professional reviewers for the same publication disagreeing, it certainly points up that there is no "easy answer" to the question of class D sound.