Red Dragon's new S500 Class D Amp

Davemm- Sorry, nothing new. The S500 has been sitting around for a few weeks, waiting for me to get the room (and system) in order. I will update when things are back together. By the way, 6 Moons has a partial review of the S500, at this point it is just background info ending with "to be continued..."

I purchased an S500 a few weeks ago, but haven't put too many miles on it yet. I am building a second system (music only, 2ch) that isn't ready yet, but I inserted the S500 into my main HT/music hybrid system for a couple of weeks of music listening.

Here are the associated components:
Primare SP31.7 processor (in analog "bypass" mode)
Yamaha CDR-HD1300 (a very early hard disk based music server, used as a transport)
Wyred-4-Sound DAC2
Totem Mite-T loudspeakers

The Red Dragon S500 temporarily replaced a Sherbourn 5/1500A (5 Class A/B monoblocks in a single chassis design). I think the S500 sounds great. It is dynamic, very quiet, and a remarkably wide soundstage. A common criticism of Class-D amps, particularly earlier ones, is that they are bright and "brittle" but the S500 is neither of these things. Compared to the Sherbourn, it is quicker and more musical, but a little less "authoritative" sounding (the Sherbourn is a bit dark). I think the S500 is a more neutral amp than the Sherbourn. The lower gain (26db vs about 30db for the Sherbourn) meant my pre/pro had to work a bit harder. It runs very cool, something I was looking for since my 2nd system's room will not tolerate a Class A/AB space heater, and it amazes me that such a small amp could produce so much clean power and sound so good doing so. Overall I am very impressed with the S500 so far.

-Dean