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 1 response by why0why

I am in the IT field and I worked in computer retail for awhile in the 90's.  Sometimes I would have people come in and they were what I came to call "specced out" and suffered analysis paralysis.  I still remember this one guy, over 20 years ago.  He wanted the fastest hard drive.  We carried a certain brand and he would bring in spec sheets for other brands.  This one was .5ms faster in read time, this other one was 1ms faster in write time.  He wasn't going to see a difference, but the SPECS! 

I feel like a lot of people are like this about class D.  It CAN'T be as good as Class A because of dead time or switching, or whatever.  Just like the guys that pop up in threads (usually amps) and say it can't sound good because it didn't measure as well as this other amp.  

I have a little bit of everything: tube, SS, and class D.  My class D is a Peachtree Nova 220SE.  I like it a lot and over the last 18 months it has gotten more and more time in my main system.  I do have some vintage McIntosh stuff too, their first SS stuff and it sounds great as well.  After I recapped the 2505, it sounded amazing.  If I listen critically, there are definitely differences, but it is hard to say what is "best."

I have enjoyed reading this thread, but I choose to trust my ears.  I don't care about dead time or switching, or whatever else.  I want it to sound good.  If it sounds better because you have fixed those issues, then great!  I do think Class D is the future and it will only continue to get better.  But I am getting ready to build a single ended tube amp, so maybe I am crazy :)