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Anyone compared high end Class D power amps?

I see multiple comments that class D is transparent. Is the transparency an illusion.

No.

Class D does emit a lot of high frequency noise, and perhaps the transparency is the effect of the high frequency noise on the loudspeaker drivers and crossover.

Modern class D amps operate at frequencies where that isn't an issue.
 
Are some of you here of the opinion that Class D (or the likes) is now perhaps as capable as A, A/B, valves etc - irrespective of price?

I heard somewhere that the switching noise in class D could be an issue.

I can only speak from my experience with Class D on super efficient speakers and I’ve found them to be stunning. My last power amps were £30k and the Temple Audios are every bit as good.
Maybe that’s speaker related but I’m not going back to valves/class A/B that’s for sure....
 
Damping factors over about 40 are irrelevant. Any and all differences due to damping factor are in the range of DF's from say 1 to 30.
There is no intrinsic difference in noise between different amplifier classes. It is all down to implementation.

Ah I was led to believe that the extremely high DF’s that Class D tend to have over damped the bass hence you could get a thin sound in certain set ups....
Maybe it’s just coincidence though and just the inherent sound of some of the less well implemented Class D amps...?
 
For speakers of such high efficiency I would go for low powered solid state class A amplification. This should beat anything else. I've no suggestions as such things will usually need to be built to order of from kits (both of which I can help with).
 
Alex - I have no amp experience outside of a Naim 250 and now an Avondale'd 250 with the upgraded NCC220 boards. Do you have any idea how the Bantam One compares ?
Like you, I'd only want the power amp part, which I assume drops the price a bit and could be of interest (not that I have any complaints about the NCC220, just curious..)

I don’t have any experience of the Bantam one but I’ve heard that unless you need the monoblocks they out perform the rest of the range including the mono’s....
 
For speakers of such high efficiency I would go for low powered solid state class A amplification. This should beat anything else. I've no suggestions as such things will usually need to be built to order of from kits (both of which I can help with).

Class A is kind of a no option as the amps are on 12-14 hours a day generally. Aside that there were noise issues with anything I tried unless it was stupid money. I had dem’s of some mega valve amps at 5 series money and aside a slightly more natural sound they were generally walloped by the Temples...it appears that super efficient speakers are very good at highlighting less than perfect designs...?
 
I can tell you that the two Mytek Brooklyn amps I’m using sound superb imo :). Tiny power-houses. That’s either as monoblocs or stereo amps. Gato are great too.
 
Class A is kind of a no option as the amps are on 12-14 hours a day generally. Aside that there were noise issues with anything I tried unless it was stupid money. I had dem’s of some mega valve amps at 5 series money and aside a slightly more natural sound they were generally walloped by the Temples...it appears that super efficient speakers are very good at highlighting less than perfect designs...?

As I said up thread there are no noise issues with different classes of amplification. Nor does price tend to have all that much to do with it (beyond many cheaper valve amps any way).
With 10W ish class A amps the heat should not be a problem even if on for hours at a time.
Class A is the least compromised and nearest to perfect amplifier class.

Sorry can't really give any further advice as all the "why's?", "if's", "but's" and caveats get too technical for the general audio area.
 
Class A is kind of a no option as the amps are on 12-14 hours a day generally. Aside that there were noise issues with anything I tried unless it was stupid money. I had dem’s of some mega valve amps at 5 series money and aside a slightly more natural sound they were generally walloped by the Temples...it appears that super efficient speakers are very good at highlighting less than perfect designs...?


I have an amp which runs the first 2W in class A and it's on all day when I'm at home, it runs warm but not hot. Whether it's ever out of class A is a question I can't answer. How can anyone find out? You can easily pick up this sort of amp for less than 1K.
 
Class A is kind of a no option as the amps are on 12-14 hours a day generally.
As Arkless says, a low power Class A (Hiraga Monstre, JLH, etc) will consume about 60W day and night when switched on. That's as much heat as is generated by a traditional table lamp.
 
I have an amp which runs the first 2W in class A and it's on all day when I'm at home, it runs warm but not hot. Whether it's ever out of class A is a question I can't answer. How can anyone find out? You can easily pick up this sort of amp for less than 1K.

What's that then?
 
Ah I was led to believe that the extremely high DF’s that Class D tend to have over damped the bass hence you could get a thin sound in certain set ups....

If it was an issue, it would be easily solved by using slightly longer speaker cables, or thinner gauge (lamp wire? :) ).
 
Alex - I have no amp experience outside of a Naim 250 and now an Avondale'd 250 with the upgraded NCC220 boards. Do you have any idea how the Bantam One compares ?
Like you, I'd only want the power amp part, which I assume drops the price a bit and could be of interest (not that I have any complaints about the NCC220, just curious..)
Steve, I’m sorry I really couldn’t say. Back in the day I sold my Naim amps in favour of Dynavector. Then I went beefy valves for a while. When I didn’t need their power I got a Sugden A21. Then, thanks to Peter Stockwell I bought the Amptastic Tripath amp for £100 and was a bit shocked. This lead me to Temple Audio. In short, the Bantam One is a great amplifier (and is better and nicer to look at than the mono blocks) but so is an Avondaled 250 IM(limited)E.

In short there’s no way of knowing without trying. System, room, taste dependent but having tried almost all flavours, I basically think a good amp is a good amp no matter the recipe provided it can drive your speakers. I would finally add that the Bantam and Khozmo are absolutely the last things I’d think of changing.
 
Class A is kind of a no option as the amps are on 12-14 hours a day generally. Aside that there were noise issues with anything I tried unless it was stupid money. I had dem’s of some mega valve amps at 5 series money and aside a slightly more natural sound they were generally walloped by the Temples...it appears that super efficient speakers are very good at highlighting less than perfect designs...?
What power supply are you using with your monos?
 
As I said up thread there are no noise issues with different classes of amplification. Nor does price tend to have all that much to do with it (beyond many cheaper valve amps any way).
With 10W ish class A amps the heat should not be a problem even if on for hours at a time.
Class A is the least compromised and nearest to perfect amplifier class.

Sorry can't really give any further advice as all the "why's?", "if's", "but's" and caveats get too technical for the general audio area.

Thanks for the info. I wasn’t aware that class a amps could use so little power, I thought they all boiled themselves alive and melted your wallpaper. Of course now it makes sense that lower power versions use less power and less heat...doh!
I’ve had low wattage valve amps that fired out tonnes of heat (literally couldn’t sit in the room with them), do SS class A put out less heat than valve amps for the same power output? As a general rule....?

If this is the case it definitely opens the door to class a SS amps. Probably the ideal sound I’m looking for....
 
The noise could be the decider though, looking at specs (which I don’t claim to understand) it seemed that only amps with S/N ratios well above 100 were quiet enough for the speakers....
 
Thanks for the info. I wasn’t aware that class a amps could use so little power, I thought they all boiled themselves alive and melted your wallpaper. Of course now it makes sense that lower power versions use less power and less heat...doh!
I’ve had low wattage valve amps that fired out tonnes of heat (literally couldn’t sit in the room with them), do SS class A put out less heat than valve amps for the same power output? As a general rule....?

If this is the case it definitely opens the door to class a SS amps. Probably the ideal sound I’m looking for....

A class A valve amp will put out a bit more heat than a class A SS one due to the valve's heater's. Some valve one's will use a valve rectifier as well which will contribute a fair bit of heat.

Most low-ish output valve amps are indeed class A.
 


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