The Truth about Modern Class D


All my amps right now are Class D. ICEpower in the living room, and NAD D 3020 in the bedroom.

I’ve had several audiophiles come to my home and not one has ever said "Oh, that sounds like Class D."

Having said this, if I could afford them AND had the room, I’d be tempted to switch for a pair of Ayre monoblocks or Conrad Johnson Premiere 12s and very little else.

I’m not religious about Class D. They sound great for me, low power, easy to hide, but if a lot of cash and the need to upgrade ever hits me, I could be persuaded.

The point: Good modern Class D amps just sound like really good amplifiers, with the usual speaker/source matching issues.

You don’t have to go that route, but it’s time we shrugged off the myths and descriptions of Class D that come right out of the 1980’s.
erik_squires

Showing 4 responses by nitrobob

I have one on order (Video below). I’ll let you know. I’m coming from a Signature Series 6005 ATI with 300 watts all 5 channels driven ..Pretty impressive video

https://youtu.be/qQmRwNhuK14

Tweak

According to that video, Legacy only modified,or beefed up the heat sink areas and added a fan.

Maybe I'm being naïve, but I just can't believe that Legacy would put out all this hoopla, video's, and power their state of the art systems with something "flawed". The proof is in the pudding, and I'm coming from what many would consider an amp right up there at the top, ATI Signature Series 6005. I play my system at spirited levels, so the dynamics, punch, and headroom are important, So as to my wanting to try this new IV*5 amp. Maybe the nay sayers are right, but the only way to find out is try one. Just like tweak said.   
George
" Put them on the bench yourself and see, if you even have or know how to use bench test gear, which I strongly doubt very much the way you carry on."

I don’t care WHAT the bench test are, or say. I care what my ears say. The dynamics, the floor, impact at nice volumes. I get this theory from my 20 years of racing cars. NHRA Superstock. Horsepower is everything right? Wrong. Its the "package" of all the parts together that counts. And those dynos we test our engines on mean nothing. They ( sometimes) lie. They are just a test. A benchmark so to speak. The REAL test is the time ticket, the results. Bottom line, am I, or anybody else, going to be able to hear this issue you keep harping on?