Atma-Sphere Class D… Amazing

@kuribo 

You are welcome anytime to visit us at the next Audio Show and listen to our amps and then corroborate or revisit your assumptions. However as a matter of curiosity, is there a reason why in your peculiar selective cut&paste exercise you decided to omitt what in the same article the reviewer wrote about the sonic qualities and his personal experience about the sound?

@aw-agd 

However as a matter of curiosity, is there a reason why in your peculiar selective cut&paste exercise you decided to omitt what in the same article the reviewer wrote about the sonic qualities and his personal experience about the sound?

I don't put any value in subjective opinions of third parties of audio equipment, especially when the associated equipment and listening environment are different than my own. In this case, the load dependent frequency response alone tells me that this amp will sound differently depending on the speakers used- all the more reason to disregard the subjective impressions.

@kuribo ...well...and that is my last comment on Audiogon, you may want to consider the fact that all amplifiers regardless the manufacturer/topology/technology will sound "differently" if one changes the load (i.e loudspeaker). That is why it is better to have a direct use of the auditive sense we humans are equipped with, to chose what one likes more.

Finally, for all my audiophile colleagues that still prefer reading numbers instead of listening music, I would like to remember what Galileo said "...eppur si muove.."; a very profound statemwnt despite the grave situation in which he was forced in. However, for all you, next time you may pass-by Firenze, I suggest to visit the Galilean Museum and ponder a bit when in front of the glass ball containg Galileo's hand (really, his right hand) and decipher what message he left to the posterity by using the effect of the rigor-mortis of his hand. All the best.

Purifi

AGD

"While noise and spuriae are low in this design the ’traditional’ bridged Class D architecture and inductive output filtering retain some drawbacks – output impedance [dashed trace, see Graph, above] rises steeply at HF, as does distortion, while the frequency response varies with speaker load impedance [unloaded/8/4/2/1ohm = grey/black/red/blue/green traces]. Put simply, if the impedance trend of your speakers rises in the treble then the Gran Vivace will likely sound brighter, and vice-versa."

@aw-agd

Please notice how your amp has a frequency response which varies with load, unlike the Purifi, which is ruler flat.

Your amp will change character even without changing the loudspeaker!

Of course one must at last choose on one’s opinion of the sound, but for me, I expect an amp at this price range to meet certain objective criteria first and load independence is a important to me as I don’t want an amp with a frequency response/character that varies with changing speaker impedance. This issue was resolved 25 years ago or more in class d design.