Class D Technology

I cannot hear any trace of harmonic distortions on the 3rd or any other partials when I play music with my class D Rowland M925 monos or class D Rowland Daemon integrated.... Nor do they intermodulate. They are as sweet and stunning as can be.

As fashionable as it might be, generalization is a dangerous tool. Best to avoid the infimous logical trap of "1, 2, 3.... 99, 100".

Like with any other class of operation, the performance of class D amps can be evaluated only one amp at a time... And only through actual listening to boot. There is a huge variation of audible performance characteristics and tonal qualities amongst amps to make any sweeping proclamations one way or another.

 Regards, Guido

"I cannot hear any trace of harmonic distortions on the 3rd or any other partials when I play music with my class D Rowland M925 monos or class D Rowland Daemon integrated.... Nor do they intermodulate. They are as sweet and stunning as can be."

+1  guidocorona

          I also hear no traces of harmonic distortions on the 3rd or any other partials when I play music with my, much less expensive, class D D-Sonic M3-600-M monos or 2 other class D amps that I formerly used for music but currently use for HT 5.1 surround sound, an Emerald Physics EP100.2-SE and a Class D Audio SDS-440-CS, which are both excellent performing and very reasonably priced stereo class D amps.

      In general, I view class D amps as an excellent alternative to the more traditional ss and tube amp types that represent a bit of a revolutionary approach and a breath of fresh air.  They're the very competent, silent, efficient, straight talking and cool running guys in the amp neighborhood who just even handedly and confidently tell us what's what without distortion or ever getting overheated.  

    No, they don't all sound the same, not everyone likes them, some refuse to even listen to them, some are prejudiced or jealous and others just bad mouth them out of habit.  But these confident, competent and cool guys don't care.  They know how good they already are, that they're constantly only getting even better and that their technological future is bright.

Tim

I should however like to point out that as with any other class of operation and topologies, class D amps range from the marvellous to the horrid. When I visited RMAF a few years ago, there was an equal proportion of class D amps and tube, class A, and A/B that left me befuddled for their total lack of musicality, be their tone dull and wooden, or acrid and shreaky.

Bottom line... Let’s use our ears when choosing an amp best for our music genres, and avoid preconceived abstractions. Old and trite urban legends are bound to drive us down some suboptimal path.

G.

Bottom line is until we can get rid of the nasty 3rd harmonic distortion in class d our ears will always prefer the cozy 2nd harmonics that tubes generate