Solid State Amplifier Advancements In A Decade

THose Datzeels are very interesting. Should be for $150000.

For most people in this world, I'd say advancements in Class D amplifiers is the thing that most people with modest budgets should be looking into. Class D is a different ballgame altogether and the most recent models and technology delivers in spades IMHO and many others as well.

Its a good question. I'm sure better is possible for a price but not sure how much SS amps at various price points in general have advanced practically in the last decade whereas Class D is still perhaps the new kid on the block, but growing up fast, and offering new value that did not exist 10 years ago.

Forget Class D ban imposed here then. Class D is where the real progress is in SS amps. I've owned gear for years and miss very few SS amps. My old Tandberg receiver at home and Nakamichi in teh car maybe. I'd probably own a tube amp by now if not for having tried Class D first.

Capacitors and or other electronic parts alone make no sound and therefore have no inherent sound quality.

Its how you put all the parts together in the design that results in "sound quality".

Some parts are better than others though and operate within a smaller tolerance range ie more accurately to spec as a group overall.

So a good designer these days has access to better parts (perhaps for lower cost than in the past) and if he does his thing well, voila, the result can be better sound/performance.

OR many may take it upon themsolves to replace parts with better parts which if done properly should produce better results to some degree overall. If you replace a part with a better quality one but it is not the right kind to start with, well anything can happen.

Experts in all fields tend to become better over time so no doubt in my mind there is more expertise in designing good gear out there today than ever before. That's called progress and is probably the biggest difference. Today's experts have the expertise of all those in the past to draw upon. They may still innovate but there is a better body of knowledge available for them to start with so the good ones will likely produce even better products. That's progress.....

Well they definitely do not make any sound alone but some parts definitely seem to get certain sonic attributes associated with them over time so there you go.

There is only so much human ears can hear. We are limited in frequency response and SPLs. I suppose progress can be made with lower noise and distortion levels that truly approach 0 more, but what will be the audible difference?

So amps can continue to improve but for what reason other than offering better sound for lower cost and maybe smaller size? One might argue good quality amps already produce all that most can hear as accurately as needed. Not to say that there are not many differences case by case within those limits, but those could attributed to objective design decisions in order to provide a different or particualr kind of sound but not one that can be clearly measured as "better".

So maybe we've hit the proverbial wall for now not in terms of what's possible, but what's audible. Especially when it comes to resolution of modern digital audio formats used but that is not an amp issue.

Most new technology tends to get it mostly right after a period of time. Amplifiers have been around for quite a while now. Most of the bigger practical problems have likely been solved fairly well. Time to tackle other fish maybe?

Could be the end of progress in high end audio amplifier technology as we know it for the foreseeable future. Except for things that can continue to offer better results in a clearly smaller and more afforadable package (like CLass D) Of course no one vendor will ever say their product cannot be improved upon in some way. Not many sales in that! Small distinguished niche vendors might broaden their niche perhaps. Improve the digital source formats as well while at it! Storage space and network bandwidth is getting cheaper.

Just saying...