For a serious 'home' listener on a budget this discussion becomes a little prissy. The ranges of difference make very little in a normal home's rooms and rooms under 16' x 16'. The higher ranges of my amplifiers have never even gotten close to max, whatever the 'Class'. They would blow ear drums and windows out first!
One of my daily amps today is the Peachtree Grand X-1 hybrid integrated with valves in the pre-amp stage and 440 watts into 8 ohms. The big watts are from a Class D amplifier. The parameters I look for in an amp are more than ample with superb all-around performance. Especially the onboard ESS Sabre DAC and the tubed pre-amp's handling of all forms of digital source material. I run only a coax from my CD unit and even that sounds really good being processed in an integrated amp. Sorry, no mono-blocks or ICE power.
I have seen the reviews and gone off ready to 'move up' with a Mac MA252 valve pre-amp and solid state Mac A/B power too. and then the Prima Luna all tube designs which are awesome indeed. And then I sit down in my listening place and listen to a lot of vinyl, CDs and FM radio with great Public Radio stations (shout out to WCMU on line and the 8 PM EST Sunday evening with the Duke of Juke blues show and the later turn to blues). Oh, oh. I think some of this group may have passed out when I said 'FM radio'. I hope they enjoy their monster systems as much as I enjoy this Class D that is made very well, even if not driving noise at a fraternity party. But this 440 per channel would blow the place up without distortion and lots of play.
I believe the entire Peachtree amplifier NOVA series that run up to 500 watts per are loved by their owners and all Class D. And as many others have rightly noted: I do not believe you can hear any difference in normal home listening from equivelant models with A/B power.
One of my daily amps today is the Peachtree Grand X-1 hybrid integrated with valves in the pre-amp stage and 440 watts into 8 ohms. The big watts are from a Class D amplifier. The parameters I look for in an amp are more than ample with superb all-around performance. Especially the onboard ESS Sabre DAC and the tubed pre-amp's handling of all forms of digital source material. I run only a coax from my CD unit and even that sounds really good being processed in an integrated amp. Sorry, no mono-blocks or ICE power.
I have seen the reviews and gone off ready to 'move up' with a Mac MA252 valve pre-amp and solid state Mac A/B power too. and then the Prima Luna all tube designs which are awesome indeed. And then I sit down in my listening place and listen to a lot of vinyl, CDs and FM radio with great Public Radio stations (shout out to WCMU on line and the 8 PM EST Sunday evening with the Duke of Juke blues show and the later turn to blues). Oh, oh. I think some of this group may have passed out when I said 'FM radio'. I hope they enjoy their monster systems as much as I enjoy this Class D that is made very well, even if not driving noise at a fraternity party. But this 440 per channel would blow the place up without distortion and lots of play.
I believe the entire Peachtree amplifier NOVA series that run up to 500 watts per are loved by their owners and all Class D. And as many others have rightly noted: I do not believe you can hear any difference in normal home listening from equivelant models with A/B power.