Expensive amp or cheap classdaudio?


My four last amps in the order have been: Ayon triton II, still in function,Airtight ATM2, Audioresearch classic60, Threshold 400A.
Last sept. i bought a small classdaudio sds470 amp of $590 for my daughter and decided to test it with my Duntech Prince speakers.

Wow...what a big surprise! this small amp for DIYers has a high end sound....
If i hide which amp is operating, my golden eared friends could not realize that this is the small amp which is connected....incredible!
Two audiophile friends immediately bought one by internet,one for Tannoy the other one for Cabasse speakers and both are surprised that the sound is sooo better than with their former amp.
I am not anymore sure that well have to go on paying a lot to get a pure and transparent sounding amp..did you make a similar experience?
Sorry for my english but i am a frenchie talking from France.
maxitonus

Showing 1 response by plato

Yes, I have a slightly modified TriPath Class D amp rated at 60 watts/channel @ 4-ohms and 100Wpc @ 8-ohms. The power supply caps were replaced with higher capacity capacitors and it sounds wonderful. In fact, it replaced my QuickSilver GLA tube amp driving my Magnepans... It plays louder without strain and sounds as good if not better in some ways. I do use a VTL 2.5-TL tube linestage into it.

My other system is totally solid-state (except the phono preamp) and uses a Wyred 4 Sound STI-500 ICE-Power amp, which sounds better than any other amp I've tried in that system... including a Cary Audio CAD 120S tube amp and some very good solid-state amps.

I believe the digital amps are the future and they don't need to cost a ton of money to sound great. They are incredibly fast and ultra-detailed, low-noise, and can be just as musical and engaging as other types of amps. Plus they're lighter, smaller, and way more efficient than conventional tube or solid-state amplifiers. It's a win-win, in my view.