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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 3 responses by tweak1

tweak1
3,561 posts
 
Over the decades I have owned tube, SS (Class A, AB): I have also owned 2 different older generation W4S amps, Emerald Physics 100.2SE monos, Audio Alchemy DPA-1 (UcD), and PS Audio M700 monos prior to the EVS 1200; it’s an entirely different sonic experience from what the naysayers pontificate

The Audio Alchemy DPA-1 or DPA-1 monos (see TAS March 2016 glowing review) could well be the ticket for you, and are typically available at > 50% discount on the used market
tweak1
3,561 posts
 
I had the PS Audio preamp and M 700s. The amps were far superior to the pre, which lacked umph and color, which should be remedied with a beefy outboard PS, like Audio Alchemy's PS 5 did when I added it to my DDP-1

I replaced them with Ric Schultz EVS 1200 (dual mono), which sounds fantastic, but is a large chassis component

I owned a Audio Alchemy DPA-1, stereo amp, which is quite small and may well be what you’re looking for sound-wise, Probably can be bought for < $900

I never heard NuForce, but they appear to be much smaller chassis
tweak1
3,561 posts
 
I am extra happy with my EVS 1200; dual mono IcePower 600 modules plus lots of intelligent tweaks from Ric Schultz TweakAudio
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