How do Digital Amps Mfrs. compare in sound?

Guido,

Sorry for the delay. I don't follow this forum regularly.

The ICE amp I auditioned was from SeymourAV. I'm a bit picky about looks, and it's the only ICE amp in the price range that doesn't have the garage-built look.

And thanks for your impressions of some of the other ICE amps. I've found that I sometimes disagree with other people's observations on what sounds good/bad/different, but it's still valuable info to have.

I was able to spend a few weeks directly comparing a pair of ICE-based monoblocks with a Mark Levinson ML-9. I found the ICE amp to be a very good amp overall, with no obvous weaknesses. I find it quite puzzling that there is such vehment opposition to "Clas D" from people who have either never done a direct comparison or only listened in passing years ago.

Truth be told, I returned the ICE amps because of two minor things my friend and I both noticed. One was that the ML-9 had tighter bass. No, the ICE amp wasn't "boomy" by any means. I'd say the ML-9 probably has tighter bass than most SS amps, so this shouldn't be an indictment of class D.

The other reason was that there was a slight veil of the high frequencies, as compared to the ML-9. I want to emphasize that it was very subtle and not noticeable most of the time. If I had not been doing a direct comparison, I probably would not have noticed it. Judging by the popularity of the various ICE amps, I'd say most people do not notice these issues.

Btw, based on a few days of diect comparison between the ML-9 and a Spectron Musician III SE Mk 2, I'd say the Spectron compares very well with the ML-9. My friend and I are not able to say for certain if there is or isn't high frequency veil, and the bass extension may be slightly better with the Spectron. It weighs 20 lbs less and uses less than half the electricity of the ML-9, which to me are "good" things. I think I may have found a keeper and can finally return my father's ML-9 :)

Guido,

I want to reiterate that the class D amp did NOT have "loose bass". In fact, I would not be surprised if its bass is tighter than most other amps.

The ML simply was a little "better". That's it.

I have not had a chance to compare all the various ICE amps out there, but I am a bit dubious that the various tweaks different manufacturers claim to do actually make much of an audible difference, especially as far as the veiled highs go. That is something that seems to be an inherent problem with the ICE modules.

Has anyone been able to compare different ICE amps?

Guido,

It was the Ice Block 5001.

I believe it's the one they typically send out for reviews.