2. amps-preamps
  3. 151675-68726

Time to buy a class D amp?


Will some new class D amplifiers outperforming the current ones appear soon

(the newest ones i know were released a  few years ago)?

Class D amps attract me as I consider them the most ecological ones with obvious non-auditionable benefits.

I have no doubts that they posses the maximum ratio performance/sound quality among the amplifiers of all classes.

At the same time, the sound quality the class D amplifiers that I have auditioned produce, although is quite good,

but not yet ideal (for my taste).


I use PS Audio Stellar S300 amp with PS audio Gain Cell pre/DAC with Thiel CS 3.6 speakers in one of my systems.

The sound is ok (deep bass, clear soundstage) but not perfect (a bit bright and somehow dry, lacking warmness which might be more or less ok for rock but not for jazz music).

I wonder if there are softer sounding class D amps with the same or better details and resolution. Considering two reasonable (as to the budget) choices for test, Red Dragon S500 and Digital Audio Company's

Cherry  2 (or Maraschino monoblocks), did anybody compare these two?



128x128niodari

Showing 2 responses by big_greg

big_greg
6,567 posts
 
The comment about noise is a puzzler.  "Noisy" in what way?  I'm using a 460 watt per channel amp with 102 dB sensitive speakers and a tube preamp.  If I stick my ear literally right next to the tweeter I can hear the faintest amount of hiss.
big_greg
6,567 posts
 
I'm surprised at all the disdain for Class D amps in this thread and a couple of others.  They are not the be-all and end-all, but they can offer great performance at a pretty reasonable price.

I have a Peachtree Nova 300 in my office system with Focal Electra 1008 BE speakers and am currently listening to jazz from my Magnum Dynalabs Etude tuner.  The sound is very full-bodied and lifelike, with lots of detail.  Horns sound great, drumming is very tight and realistic, and it has a great soundstage for the small space I'm in.  The Peachtree, which includes a nice DAC, headphone amp, and phono stage is pretty small and light and doesn't suck up a lot of juice.  I scratch my head a bit about it's claim of 300 watts per channel, it doesn't seem like it, but I rarely crank up the system in my office.

My bedroom system has a Wyred 4 Sound ST-1000 MKII amp (460 watts per channel) with Crites modded KLF-30 speakers and an ARC LS26 pre.  It bested amps from Krell, Parasound, Lexicon, Rotel, Emotiva, and Carver, and a new one is $2,000 (I paid $1600 for a B Stock Demo).  It doesn't have the lush mid-range of my current tube monoblocks or quite the same amount of detail, but it's powerful, has excellent bass control, and doesn't take up much space.  It's a little on the warm side, most notably the top end is a little rolled off, which is actually a good thing when paired up with the Klipsch speakers.  The worst thing I can say about it is that it's kind of ugly.  It's a bit "industrial" looking.

Does it compare well against amps costing much more?  No.  Does it hold its own against other offerings in its price range?  I think so, at least of the equipment I've heard. 
More to discover