Is D for Dry? Class D...


Class D sounds dry and lifeless... thats all, carry on
128x128b_limo
seems to me that since class d is newer tech with new possibilities for good sounding cost effective builds and a lot of active innovation in the amp modules, there are many new efforts to make good sounding amps using these modules

as in any case with emerging/new-ish technologies, you have older aficianados who will poo-poo it, having been burned before or having experienced poor sound from earlier cruder versions... so while they may indeed have had these experiences, and they are not wrong, their experiences are increasingly out of date, and don’t fairly reflect on what is being accomplished presently by innovative folks working with the latest versions of these 
I have a gut feeling @atmasphere would not be soon marketing a Class D amp if the technology was somehow not up to snuff. Nor would Bel Canto which took the plunge and helped lead the charge a number of years back.

My ears tell me the technology is 100% up to snuff and a threatening challenger to the high end status quo moving forward as a result of not just sound quality but TCO, versatility, and overall ease of use. That might account for at least some of he hostility towards Class D commonly encountered here.

I just ignore it because I have owned good quality Bel Canto Class D amps for a number of years now and know better every time I listen which is pretty much every day. I decided to try the latest and greatest new technology on the block that seemed to fit my needs on paper first  and managed to stay clear of much old tube technology in my system as a result.  Have goals to eliminate tubes altogether perhaps someday soon.     I have to pull myself away from listening usually especially when listening to the Ohms, so that is the ultimate good sign and all that matters.

Of course as always YMMV. Different strokes and all that will never change.


To denigrate all class d amplifiers like the OP shows utter shallow thought and serious bias. To the OP: there are myriad different amplifier designs that fall under class d. So the class d categorization is so generic as to me virtually meaningless. 

Do yourself a favor and listen to different amplifiers without foreknowledge of what class or design they are. Stop letting your preconceived notions about how a particular amplifier should sound based on its design dictate your preferences.

Anyone who believes that a well designed, built and sufficiently powered amplifier from 20-30 years ago automatically sounds inferior to a modern one is deluding himself. Any differences between quality amplifiers regardless of class are infinitesimal compared to the influences of the room acoustics, the loudspeaker and ones hearing on this particular day.

I am an ex classical musician and my sound reference is decades of live acoustic music. To my ears, my (ancient) W4S STP-SE and ST1000 driving my Walsh 5000s sound wonderful and have done so for 10 years. If the ST1000s are slightly better that my Sumo, Rotel and B&k amps it is primarily because they have greater dynamic power and much much lower noise. The fact is these are all excellent amplifiers. Modern designs seeking to reduce distortion and phase errors from inaudible to more inaudible are not going to sound objectivity better. It is better to focus on efficiency and reliability which class d addresses directly. You are best served by focusing resources on room treatments, placement and choosing loudspeakers that have less reactive demanding loads and superior drivers and materials.
I’d have to hear @b_limo ’s Fritz monitors on good Class D versus others to know which I would prefer with those specifically in that they are advertised to be a most easy load to drive (though not at all particularly efficient) and in my only listen I’ve heard them in fact sound wonderful off a flea powered tube headphone amp at a show. So they are somewhat unique and special in the sense that most any amplifier has a chance to sound good with them. Which sounds best may still well be a totally subjective call by each depending, but they definitely make life relatively easy for most any amp compared to most speakers out there these days.

@mamboni the larger Ohms like ours with large 12" Walsh style drivers in particular are definitely a unique beast as well. Not a horrible load by any stretch from what I have read and not efficient enough that I would try to run them off a flea powered tube headphone amp (though teh results might be interesting) but in my experience very responsive to different amps and gear in general upstream and I have found they tend to like lots of power and current to open up fully and benefit from corresponding higher damping factors like those found with most Class D amps.
I’ll skip the D-bate on this...
currently auditioning a PS Audio Stellar S300 which uses the usual suspects of Ice modules. That’s where it stops. The bout stage is a proprietary MOSFET which sounds pretty good. 
The excellent staff at PS say that about 300 hours is optimal burn-in, but this can be done with no speakers connected, so is purely for the input/driver stage. 
I’m playing all my favorite stuff and watching and waiting for either the amp to thermally warm up (they don’t), or to pop a speaker - which would be a good excuse to fed new ones. 
I’ve had a Parasound Halo A23+ on order for awhile...