The Truth about Modern Class D

I have had the opportunity of trying in my own system a late pre-production of the brand new Merrill Element 118 monos... All amps of the new Oganessom series have class D output stage circuits totally designed in house by Merril... They employ Gallium nitrite transistors switching in the Mhz range.

In spite of the units that I demoed being pre-production, and not yet sporting all the circuit details of the very final implementation, the tone of the monos was absolutely delectable for all parameters I an think of.... From delicacy and extension of treble, to the complexity of the midrange, to the depth and tunefulness of the bass... And let us not forget a quite phenomenal authority, staging and imaging.

Element 118 were immersive and mesmerizing, with a complex resolution and musical tonality  that I have experienced only in rare cases. The element 118  prototypes seemed to rank with flagship devices from some of my favorite brands, such as amplifiers from Soloution, the ARC reference series, and my own Rowland M925 monos.

On the other hand, if what you seek is a classic warm tube sound, none of the above will do.... It is not a matter of such designs as the Merrill Oganessom series, Rowland M925 and Daemon, or even the class A/B Soulution amps, or even the reference seiries ARC tube amps. "not being there" yet for a reason or another....

Rather, the designers of any of these devices are not aiming at the slightly euphonic warmth of the classic tube sound.

While general goals at Rowland, ARC, and Soulution include, amongst other parameters, harmonic complexity and minimization of intermodulative distortions in the treble, they aim to maintain an even treatment of harmonics across the spectrum, without preferencial emphasis of any particular region of the audible band. But designers achieve their flagship goals with very different sophisticated strategies, which employ Tubes at ARC, class A/B output stages with Soulution, NCore NC1200 or Pascal X-Pro2 in Rowland, and completely custom design of class D output stage on the Merrill Oganessom series.

Bottomline... Do not get fixated on topologies, and keep an open mind. Keep auditioning to amps of different tonality, designs, and vintage... You never know what might capture your heart *Grins!*

Remember that the worst enemy of audiophiles, and humans in general, is what is sometimes called the false induction step... That is judging an entire class of complex objects based on characteristics of some small number of samples. Even less reliable a technique when the samples are out of date or otherwise obsolete.

Saluti, G.

I see threads like this "looking for the truth" started as a "reach out for confirmation" from owners who know their Class-D’s are not quite right, but
can’t bring himself to go back to linear, almost like begging for forgiveness, for what they have done and everything will hopefully be fine."

Hello George, have you perhaps caught a sudden chill? I, like Erik and several others use our ears.... We need nor seek confirmation for the devices and the music we love. Let alone seek "forgiveness" for our anathema... Man, you do need an icepack on your brow today... Or would it be an ICEpower pack *Smiles!*

On the contrary, as mentioned so many times, I invite you to get "out of the house" just a bit.... The musical air is amazingly refreshing today... You might even catch a lovely class D breeze. To the contrary of the trite urban legends circulating in old and stuffy audiophilic houses, There are some class D amps that make wonderful music.... Provided one cares taking a good open minded listen to them. In addition to the ones that Erik and I already mentioned on other threads, I recommend a good audition to the newest Merrills Element 118, 116, and 114. 

BTW, I remember no more than one year ago you advocating that the day of class D would come once designers adopted Gallium Nitrite transistors switching at 1.5Mhz.... But now that appears to be a moving target... As the new Merrills are using such technology, you are changing your dirge already.... And just to make sure you can lament for a few years more, while remaining a staunch paper-bound audiophile,your latest goal is a onetousand-fold Ghz range... Once that boundary is finally crossed, I am confident that you wil pine for a brand new 1K-fold switching frequency leap into the Terahertz range... Meantime, you will still be suffering from never-ending "Princess and the class D pea" syndrome, whilst pouring smilingly over that ever-reassuring old PDF by Martin collom from the 2008 munich Show, where the old trombone from HiFi Critic had not even noticed that he had already missed the train *Grins!

G.

You might have a point George.... I just did a quick Google search and came up with this article....

https://phys.org/news/2018-07-path-high-performance-transistors.html

If indeed Gallium Nitrite transistors may be applied to push into the Ghz switching frequencies for 5G transmitters, they will need to be eventually supplied by mainstream/major fabs... Perhaps we will see more high speed GaN transistors before long.

BTW, I did not know that Soulution is already using GaN technology.

G.

Thank you so much Merrill!

Indeed I had suggested a few small things... I believe that you actually implement my recommendation to use 20A IEC to maximize stability of connection with heavy power cords.... Well, at least now, if anyone complains about 20A inlets, you can refer their  lamentations all to me *Grins!*

And yes, the Element 118 prototypes I played with were already exceptional performers, even with their pre-production circuits and assemblage!

BTW, have you published pricing for Element 116 and 114?

Saluti, G.

Hello @d2girls, your question does not have an absolute answer.... A lot has to do with bersonal preferences, because Merrill, Rowland, and Bel Canto all make some wonderful devices.

Starting with Merrill... The Veritas monos were fabulous in their hayday.... Today they would still be worth a serios look... Although all things point to the new Merrill Oganessom series of Element 114, 116, and 118 being superior... Yep the Element 118 prototype that I had the fortune of having in my system for one week, while not well broken in and still evolving rapidly, was musically impressive to say the least!

Rowland has 5 class D amps.... two I know well and I adore... THe M925 monos that I own, and the Continuum S2 integrated.... The following I know by their excellent reputation only.... the Daemon integrated just below $39K, the M535 bridgeable just below $6K, and the little entry level M125 at some $2.5K.

Bel Canto has a number of amps.... THe Black series is their top of the line, while the Ref600 is more entry level.

All the above are great products, I doubt that you’d go wrong with any of them.... And I have not heard of any reliability complaints about their class D output circuits.... But which brand or model might be Best is pretty impossible to say.... It depends on your budget for one thing, but most of all on your sound concept.... Assume that none of them are strident, all of them are pretty linear, all of them let you hear subtle harmonics, all of them yield deep and tuneful bass without sloppiness.... And yet, inevitably you will develop a personal preference for a brand, or for a particular model, or.... You might dislike the whole lot instead *Grins!*

Why? ... "BECAUSE!"

G.

Ah George, I was just trying to say that the three brands mentioned make some extraordinary products, but inevitably, there will be audio lovers who prefer the more lushous tone of classic tubes, or the starker tone of some SS.... And there is nothing wrong with that!

But you are reverting instead to your single track paper-bound comments a priori of any live experience... I can only shake my grizling head *Rolls eyes!*

G.

Yep, vaccinations cause autism, soy causes infertility and androgeny, the moon landing is a hoax, the Earth is flat, and... Class D is digital and invariably sounds terrible.

No end to ever-popular conspiracy theories and urban legend, Ain’t it?

But wait, has anyone seen where I mislaid my trusty high-end tinfoil hat? Aliens are after me again *Grins!*

G.

@auxinput... Not quite.... Like with all other topologies, some class D amps I like very much, some leave me indifferent, and some I have deeply disliked.

G.