2. amps-preamps
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My NAD 3020 D proves your Class D tropes are wrong

I have a desktop integrated, the NAD 3020D which I use with custom near field monitors. It is being fed by Roon via a Squeezebox Touch and coaxial digital.

It is 5 years old and it sounds great. None of the standard myths of bad Class D sound exist here. It may lack the tube like liquid midrange of my Luxman, or the warmth of my prior Parasound but no one in this forum could hear it and go "aha, Class D!!" by itself, except maybe by the absolute lack of noise even when 3’ away from the speakers.

I’m not going to argue that this is the greatest amp ever, or that it is even a standout desktop integrated. All I am saying is that the stories about how bad Class D is compared to linear amps have been outdated for ages.

Great to see new development with GaN based Class D amps, great to see Technics using DSP feed-forward designs to overcome minor limitations in impedance matching and Atmasphere’s work on reducing measurable distortion as well but OMG stop with the "Class D was awful until just now" threads as it ignores about 30 years of steady research and innovation.
erik_squires

Showing 1 response by tyray

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tyray
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I didn’t even know what a class D amp was and as it turns out I had already owned 2, for years. I owned 2 ICE amps that powered my power sound audio subs designed and built and sold by Tom Vodhanel of PSA.

Funny thing, he sells a ton these ICE powered subs and the owners of his subs are amazed by the voicing or tuning of his subs and quite a few have expressed that they sound better than the SVS line of subs with MOSFET
amps.

What I’ve found out is that it’s the design skills of the designer that matter the most in designing gear no matter what he or she decides to use. Many designers go about in many different ways to get the best sound they can get. The quality of sound coming from a component is not based on the fact alone that it is a class A or A/B amp. It’s the designer. There are good amps made in every configuration and bad amps made by bad designers.
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