One of the two amps I’m about to mention is hardly new. But I thought my experience might be of interest to to those whose primary interest in class D is musical realism & ear-friendly tonality, not just accuracy and detail.
I have a rather cramped desktop system in the home office. For years I ran a series of powered speakers/monitors + sub here. In 2018 ago I picked up an interesting pair of sealed/acoustic suspension 2-way passive monitors (ATC SCM12 Pro) and had to get an amp to power them. I had done many weeks of reading about class D amps, the only kind that would fit. Positive user comments + a favorable 6Moons led me to the Wyred4Sound ST-500 stereo amp. With some trepidation over what class D would sound like on revealing studio monitors, I found a used ST-500 and installed it. Well, I lucked out. The review and comments were correct: the amp sounded very good, more like solid classic AB amps I’ve had in the past. It had power to spare, but was not bright, edgy, harmonically thin, any of that. I had needed to hit a home run, and the ST-500 was it.
Well, 6 years later the upgrade bug has struck. I have a pair of gently used, recent vintage Harbeth 30.1s on the way here from the UK, and got the itch to try another class D brand I’ve been reading about: Bel Canto, specifically the 600M mono amps--again because of occasional user comments and critical reviews saying these amps sound like music. They arrived and I installed them 2 days ago. Well, NCore vs ICEPower does make a difference. The 600Ms are clearly more resolving, capable of greater detail and subtlety, especially in the entire bass range and at low volumes. But tonally, the Bel Cantos differ little from the ST-500. They don’t have that dreaded edgy, forensic sound too many report with class D, even now. I appear to have hit another home run.
It’s only fair to note that I never tried the high-price names whose class D amps are often described as sounding wonderful: Rowland, Merrill, AGD, Atmasphere, Tambaqui, etc. Even used I really can’t afford to spend that much on an amp. But so far, I’m holding my own in the land of class D amplification.
