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Should I steer clear of class D amps

I’m finally upgrading my amp. I currently have an Onkyo TXNR 636 which has served very well but it’s now the weakest component in my system.

I’ve a budget of up to £1200-£1300 and been looking at the NAD C3050.

I was initially drawn to the NAD C3050 when I saw the VU meters but these are not deal breakers if I can get a much better amp without them, but I really do like them. I spoke with a dealer and he mentioned all NAD amplifiers are now class D and that’s now where I’m stuck procrastinating my purchase. My understanding was class D never really took off, despite the power efficiency due to the HF noise caused by the PWM. Times change things improve but I can’t find much about how they have mitigated this, in fact an article in EETimes refers to how the tests performed for THD etc are quite irrelevant in a digital amp and quoted figures may be very different in real life. In essence, the way of testing makes them look better than they are. This may be true but do they sound good? We all know vinyl is technically an inferior medium but I certainly prefer it’s sound.

I am listening to classic/ heavy rock and a mixture of lossless streaming from a NAS into a Cambridge Audio CNX V2 and vinyl off a Technics 1500C with a Pro-Ject DS phono stage all into monitor audio bronze 5s. 
 

I need a new amp. I need slapping out of my indecision but it’s not an insignificant amount of £££ and I want to get it right. Should I stick with AB ? My electric bill can’t withstand class A or valve regardless of sound quality. 

Also what’s the thoughts on NAD in general, I’m my youth they were good amps, but then so were Pioneer. 
 

nosleeptilldownload
erik_squires
15,870 posts
 

You joined in 2017. There have been dozens of threads on this subject since then which I encourage you to read. There are some points I want to make:

  • Your hearing trumps all specs and arguments and critics
  • I like some Class D a lot better than I like some megabuck Class A
  • Last I looked, NAD was using a hybrid Class D amp in some models which is quite innovative. It’s almost a class H amp, with a little Class A in the middle.
nosleeptilldownload OP
7 posts
 

Very true and I am looking back but this amp only hit the shelves a week or so ago, Cambridge audio recently introduced some tech called Hypex Ncore (the word hype isn’t lost on me) nothing more than sales pitch about that, nothing meaningful.

Im not being lazy, this is a new amp and despite asking NAD a bunch of questions via email I’ve had no response. 
Ears do trump all but due to personal circumstances I really want to limit having to return anything, I also am unable to go demo one.

I’ll look into the hybrid tech you mention, I didn’t know about that, thanks for the pointer, it’s not mentioned in the blurb for the C3050 though. 

mesch
3,411 posts
 

Check out the Music Fidelity 2si.  A good sounding line level integrated amplifier in your price range I believe. Class A/B. 

erik_squires
15,870 posts
 

OP:

Well most of your post seems related to Class-D in general, and the title was about Class D, not NAD, and those hesitations and questions are roads well traveled here.

NAD has promoted a hybrid-Class D in some amps, but not others, so I’m not sure if it was an experiment that didn’t go far or if it’s become core, or if there wasn’t enough benefit vs the basic Hypex Class D amplifier designs they are using.

Honestly I thought they did a poor job of promoting the hybrid part. My desktop 3020D for instance is one of those hybrid designs and it’s great but I don’t really challenge it.

My suggestion, which was implied in my first post, is to ignore 100% of the literature on Class D and actually listen to the amp you want to buy, preferably with the speakers you want to buy.

If it helps, I went from Parasound to Class D to Luxman.  At no point in using the Class D amp did I think "Oh, well this is a problem unique to class D", or "this sounds like class D."  so I encourage anyone thinking of buying to stop thinking Class D vs. the world and focus on budget, features and sound quality that you can actually hear. 

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