2. amps-preamps
  3. 1447923589

The Hifi Trajectory Of Class D Amplifiers

.
I bought my first digital SLR camera back in 2005. Film SLR cameras were still king back then. Longtime film camera hobbyists and pros thumbed their noses at digital. Ten years later, film cameras have been surpassed by digital cameras and are nearly extinct. Millions of people use cameras. The market was already in place for anyone that would advance the technology of digital photography.

With Class D amps, you don't have a marketplace the size of the camera marketplace. There doesn't seem to be enough economic incentive to spend the necessary research dollars to advance the technology to get the same sort of improvement trajectory that digital photography has enjoyed.

Anyone care to speculate how long it will take for Class D amps to consistently rival the best tube, Class A and Class A/B across the board....and do it without resorting to the stratospheric prices that current non-Class D amps are priced at.
.
mitch4t

Showing 2 responses by georgehifi

georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 

11-19-15: Mitch4t

George, is this because hifi mfgs pockets aren't deep enough to finance the research to advance the technology?

It's up to the massive component manufacturers, that HiFI manufacturers purchase their components off to advance this technology.

As for guys like Nelson Pass and such, they will also in the future use Class D when this technology is reached.

Others manufacturers who have already invested in Class D, are getting into it because it's already a financial viable product to make
As the components that are around now will make an amp that costs half the price of linear amps to manufacture, even though the technology is not yet matured enough.

Cheers George
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 

Class D is still growing and coming out from it's infancy.
The technology isn't here YET to get the switching frequency for Class D far higher than what's available at present.
Once this technology is developed only then Class D may get to be considered real high end.

Doesn't matter how much is spent today like the above $38k Rowland, hifi manufacturers can't make the switching frequency technology happen, this can only come from big component manufacturers, like Burr Brown, Analog Devices and such.

Once this Technology is developed, and it's coming, all linear amps tube or solid state, will become worth less boat anchors, and Class D will become the norm for hiend instead of being just a good bass amp.

Cheers George
More to discover