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Competitive class D amp suggestions

I have been Class D fun since a few years ago when i bought my first class D amp. I like the concept, in general, and all the attractive features of this class of amplifiers. I tried 4 different ones, currently i  stayed with one of them that i consider to be the best among all four amps. I do enjoy and like it. At the same time,  my 5 watts SET amplifier (with more than 100 times higher distortion according to the specs) gives more natural and (surprisingly) notably cleaner sound (THD of the class D amp is 0.001). The soundstage  of the class D amp is not so bad but that of the tube one is still better.   

I remain attracted by class D amps though. 

Any fresh suggestions on reasonably priced class D amps (i mean excluding  non-reasonably priced class D amps, e.g., Merrill amplifiers)?

Any comments on non-reasonably priced class D amps are also welcome (so far i was not able to audition many class D amps and am curious if there are some which could really compete with Class A). 

128x128niodari
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cherbib
38 posts
 

+1 to the Elacs.  1U format, cool running, sound great and the price is nice.

snapsc
666 posts
 

The interesting thing from the March Audio review/test is that although the distortion is very low, the remaining distortion is mostly 2nd and 3rd.  The question  becomes "although it has great bass and an extended top end, is it musical"...or is possible that the distortion possibly too low for optimal musicality?

Of course "musical" means different things to different people...from lush harmonics to no fatigue to open and airy...and then there is the whole issue of how much influence is being put forward by the specific speakers and room.

The important thing is that with more of these tests, people can begin to draw their own conclusions at to what might be more appealing to them individually.  In my case, I never really understood what CherryAmp was doing to get a less sterile and more musical/harmonic/lush sound...now, I have a suspicion that since Tommy was an admirer of Nelson Pass, he got the 2nd and 3rd harmonics where he wanted them while driving total distortion low.

 

 

twoleftears's avatar
twoleftears
5,313 posts
 

Perhaps what we need is an amp with variable second and third harmonic controls, so that we can dial in the exact mix that we prefer.  

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