What is the future of amp technolgy?

I also play some guitar as an alternate hobby (like I need one). In the guitar world tube amps rule, and are prized for their colorations and distortions. This is almost the polar opposite of the hifi view.

In recent years various guitar amp manufacturers have introduced digital modeling amps. These use lots of computer processing power to run a digital model of various classic guitar amps (i.e. various Fender, Marshall, Vox, Matchless etc amplifiers).

At first the results were like a caricature of the real tube amp sound and feel (the way the amp responds to the player's nuances). However, with faster processors and better digital modeling techniques, the current crop of modeling amps are coming surprisingly close to the originals they emulate. They even capture amp-speaker interaction.

So I wonder about the intermediate future of hi-fi amplification. Might we see an advanced version of digital amplifier modeling coupled with room modeling and a Class D output stage to give us the sound of any of out favorite classic tube (or solid state) amplifiers? Imagine being able to change amp models on the fly from a remote control to select just the right one for the music at hand.

But could we as audiophiles accept such an innovation?

To Twl:

Like so many buzzwords "digital amp" has several meanings:

1) A "switching" (aka Class D, Class H) amplifier in which the output stage at any moment is either fully conducting or fully off. This is unlike a conventional analog amplifier in which the output stage at any moment passes current proportional to the instantaneous value of the input signal.

A switching amplifier produces music by varying the the ratio of on time to off time of the output stage in proportion to the music signal (i.e., by varying pulse width). Typically these amplifiers use some kind of filter on the outputs to reduce ultrasonic noise caused by the rapid switching.

Digital signals (both PCM and DSD) easily convert directly into the pulse width modulation signal required by such an output stage.

2) An amplifier that uses physical modeling implemented in software to reproduce the sonic characteristics of another amplifier (none for hifi use yet) or perform room/speaker corrections.

3) An amplifier that uses both of the above techniques.

Soix:

I concur. One thing I forgot to mention is that "digital" amp technology is inherently energy efficient and relatively inexpensive to build, compared to classic big iron analog amplifiers.

The executions of this technology will only get better and cheaper.