What are the best GaN Amplifiers available today?

Great post! thanks...

The two are interesting and competent...

But between people sometimes discssion may be "heated" a bit...

Anyway  these two makes great contributions very few of us can match...

i respect the two person in the utmost possible way...

Mr Ralph is a good engineer and I often find his posts interesting and useful. A very effective marketing tool as well.

Mr Charles Hanson, another good engineer, before he passed (RIP), stated on one of these forums that Mr Ric is one of the most knowledgeable digital engineers in the county.

So just because Mr Ric is primarily a mod guy with an unconventional personality, don't discount what he has to say. He certainly has better ears than most of us. I've used him several times over the last decade or so. He's a straight shooter and an honest guy. He stands behind his work. I've always been pleased with the results. Very reasonably priced, I might add. He's also interesting in other regards.

If you look at the available info it appears the best Class D amps measured so far are not GaN.  Moral of the story is GaN alone does not necessarily mean best.   Hypex and Purifi and a few others are not GaN yet and still seem to measure better and are at or near the top overall. 
 

GaN is clearly a promising new technology but still may be a ways from full realization. 
 

I’ve heard both AGD and Atmasphere GaN amps and both sound very good to me but that is just my subjective assessment.  Neither may be most cost effective. 

Best GaN amp is not even class D it is class A and made in Italy. Bone up on the PA-10 think that 6 Moons has a review in the pipeline. 

@mc1969 what do you base saying that is the “best” on?

Mapman,

Using a lot of feedback to create super low distortion numbers does not make a product superior sonically to an amp that has less feedback.  Ralph uses way less feedback in his amp than Purifi and it probably does not measure as well as Hypex and Purifi.  Does not mean it is less REALIZED...or less good sonically.  The GaNfet analog class d modules used by Peachtree and LSA were designed by listening and they preferred less feedback.....therefore less good static measurements. 

There are no fully realized products....absolutely none.....at any price range.  As soon as you buy the latest $100K amp another one comes along that is said to be better or the original amp manufacturer brings out an "updated or new" version. 

If you go to 10 audio you will see a review of the Purifi based NAD amp ($2K) and my modded VTV Purifi amp ($1600).  He gave the NAD a 7 and mine a 9.5 bordering on 10.  The execution has a tremendous effect on the sound.....sometimes more than the amount of feedback or the modules being used.  Truth is what you hear.....it is what you feel.....it is what you are..