What are the best GaN Amplifiers available today?

I would think low-volume performance in Class D amps is not solely reliant on low noise (albeit that being a huge factor), but also the amount of attention in delivering the appropriate quality and control in those first few watts?

The first few watts are always the best...then its always down hill from there as the volume goes up.

Playing at low volume does not require a lot of watts so most any good quality amp should do well.

As I think mentioned earlier, human hearing and Fletcher-Munson is teh key issue for good sound at low volumes in most cases. FInding an amp at most any realistic cost that can deliver enough power for low volume is just not practically a problem.

Now in teh case of high efficiency speakers, where the effects of just a few watts gets magnified, it is more of an issue perhaps but so also is noise.

Easy cases like low volume is where measurements are your friend in particular. That is the only way to truly know what performs best OBJECTIVELY or better than others. Subjectively, anything is possible. A poor quality overly bright amp may sound better at low volume due to aforementioned Fletcher-Munson, but crank up teh volume and be prepared for greater chance of ear bleed.

Fletcher Munson Curves

I can’t think of a reason why they wouldn’t work just fine. For starters class D amps tend to be low noise. I run mine on speakers that are 98dB and they work fine at low levels.

My findings concur with that. All my Class D amps are dead quiet, perhaps all teh quietest I have ever owned in 50 years, from my largest and most costly in teh Cambridge Evo 150 (Hypex Ncore) to the smallest in my little $80 Fosi integrated (TI chip) and everything in between including a somewhat older Bel Canto c5i and the 4 in my Vanatoo Transparent One active speakers. Even the oldest and most costly BEl Canto ref1000m 500w/ch monoblocks the Evo replaced were always dead quiet and all excellent at low volumes, though perhaps just a tad rolled off in the high end. These are all with typical average not high efficiency speakers which typically are more sensitive to any noise in the signal.

I heard the Atmasphere Class D amps at CAF last year and was very impressed with what I heard. It was a sound I think I could easily live with, at least driving the big and I suspect very efficient Classic Audio speakers, which I suspect are a fairly easy load given their affinity with OTL tube amps, , but do not know for sure.. Then I heard the Atmas OTLs briefly after that and the sound was more similar than different from initial impression. I have not seen any measurements yet to assess, but I would be unhappily surprised if measurements turned up anything of generally significant concern with the Atmas Class Ds. No doubt @atmasphere has tons of experience and knows good sound when he hears it.

@invalid No need to be so absolute. I’ve bought many items just because I had a chance and liked what I heard. I’ve also heard many things that sound uniquely good but don’t measure well. If you can’t hear something you have to go with whatever info is available In order to be able to make an informed decision. Otherwise it’s pure guesswork and the chance of expensive mistakes goes up.

@invalid, when I look at measurements, specs, or other objective information, I’m looking as much if not more for red flags ie clear problem areas as I am which measure best. I don’t necessarily need the best measuring thing but I definitely do not necessarily want to pay top dollar for products that have demonstrable flaws or even are not able to justify the asking price objectively.. Nor do I want to pay top dollar for advertised abilities (specs) that don’t measure up. That’s just me. Lots of factors to consider including operational features desired for a particular application. Lots of things sound “good” to me. What is harder is to make smart decisions that maximize value. The bigger the investment, the more careful I will be in order to justify the expense. I think that is a relatively normal thing to do.

So far nobody has produced any concrete evidence that any product discussed is the best. Just more this one sounds good or better to me judgements, which are fine but everyone has an opinion. In that case it just boils down to who do you trust most to help make a decision and then what products do you decide to try based on recommendation.

I’m with @atmasphere in that my experience tells me I can typically correlate good measurements with resulting sound to a useful extent. It’s never a 100% guarantee but I find it good enough to help me make better informed buying decisions. Of course in the end one cannot know what any one component is capable of until it is heard doing it in a particular system. Even then the resulting sound is always a team sport among the gear in play, the room, annd even the ears listening and some teams will perform better than others even if perhaps a superstar or two are in the game.

I have not heard the Peachtree but from what I have read it is just OK at best.

GaN got a lot of hype early on here. It is a technical advancement but no one thing alone assures a superior product. It’s all in how well designed and implemented a product is overall. It usually takes some time for engineers to fully realize any new technology fully. So the rule with new tech is always the longer you wait the lower the risk. New technology gets done better and often more cost effectively over time.

@mapman read the reviews
 

The good ones for that product or all the others with similar food revues?

Being a bit cheeky…..can you point me to one that indicated it is the “best”?  Thanks.  

@ricevs nothing wrong with subjective reviews except the fact that each persons subjective opinion may be different. 

@mc1969 what do you base saying that is the “best” on?

If you look at the available info it appears the best Class D amps measured so far are not GaN.  Moral of the story is GaN alone does not necessarily mean best.   Hypex and Purifi and a few others are not GaN yet and still seem to measure better and are at or near the top overall. 
 

GaN is clearly a promising new technology but still may be a ways from full realization. 
 

I’ve heard both AGD and Atmasphere GaN amps and both sound very good to me but that is just my subjective assessment.  Neither may be most cost effective. 

I’ve had no problem with various Class D amps driving speakers on recent years.   I even have a $90 chip based Class D integrated amp driving original KEF ls50s amazingly well where I have seen other way more expensive amps fail at that miserably.  As always YMMV.  Like anything else all CLass D amps are different.  So yes they can drive difficult loads well but you have to do your homework.  The info needed to make a smart choice is out there. 

Just buy a certified good quality amp to start with and no need to tweak. 

Just buy a certified good quality amp to start with and no need to take chances on tweaks.