The Truth about Modern Class D

The "truth" about class D is that it is all over the place.......just like all the other classes. They all have strengths and weaknesses......and all classes have gotten better with time. Every single thing you do to an amp module or wiring or casing or whatever makes a sonic difference. Every amp using the same stock module will even sound different as different wires, solder, connectors, damping, feet, etc. are used.

The latest and best? Class D (the Merrilll $36,000 Element 118 and the $8000 Nuprime Evolution 1) may have sound that will compete with anything. All amps based on OEM modules (modified on not) are probably not as good as these. The brand new 12000AS1/2 modules from Icepower (brand new ICEedge technology) are really refined and low distortion and tweaked out can give some serious sound and high power (600 watts into 8) for little money. I will have a $1000 amp out soon with the stereo module and also a dual mono stereo unit for $1900, as well. I expect these will beat all the older Hypex modules but will not be as good as these latest expensive tweako things mentioned above.

Everything keeps getting better. If you have not heard a class D amp for awhile, you might want to check out the very latest offerings. I will be selling my amps with a 30 days in house money back audition period and also will have one of each my amps out on tour. I have been tweaking audio since the late 70s and these amps will have 40 years of listening tweaking in their design. This is way more than a stock module in a box....way more!

Unless you have heard the very latest and best class D amps then you have only heard history.

The brand new Merrill amps have way more musical and detailed sound than the previous Hypex Ncore based amps. You can read some comments on their site and more info will be here shortly.

The brand new Nuprime monos are suppose to be killer.

My about to be released $1000 and $1900 tweaked ICEege amps are seriously great sounding.

My own reference amp for the past 5 years is a class A amp designed by myself. It is dual mono and super, super pure and tweak in all ways....only two fets and two resistors in series with the signal per phase. Well, the ICEedge prototype is overall better.....better in most every way.....and I have three more things to try on the proto amp. I don’t want to go back to my class A amp.

Here is something to ponder......All connectors suck....and I mean big time! I have hardwired my amps to my x-over and speaker drivers for years but only in the last year did I remove the connectors on my interconnects. I had no idea how bad they were. I will never have any connectors (except AC) in my system again. If you have connectors on a warm or colored system then the system still might sound musical. However, having connectors on a pure "straight wire" system will bring agony to the listener. Connectors sound like bad class d or digital....really....grainy, compressed, Aharmonic, rolled off......just bad. My new amps will have my binding post bypass system where the binding post is used only as a clamp, that clamps your speaker wires (hopefully without connectors) directly to the wires coming out of the amp. I will also have optional hardwired interconnects on my amps and also have optional hardwired short pigtails hanging outside the amp that you can solder your own wires to. All these things have never been offered on any amp before (except for my previous amps that had my binding post bypass system).

This is just the beginning.

I predict that in 2-3 years Class D will be so close to pure straight wire that all other amps will then be history except for those addicted to coloration. Class D will also become even more efficient and smaller and cheaper so we will all win on all counts. The class D revolution has started.

George,

You are so yesterday.....he he. Check this link out.....no, they are not mosfets as Mouser has no category for them at present.....download the data sheet.....these are $5.50 each and anyone can buy them when they arrive in Nov. They also have higher current ones for $8 each due in Oct.

https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/GaN-Systems/GS61004B-E01-MR?qs=sGAEpiMZZMvplms98TlKYzJ7xUKby2GKgG%2funvqgEAPyX8Mt10R2gA%3d%3d

What so funny is that you only need a couple of these per channel to make multi-hundred watt amps. These are only slightly more expensive than the mosfets everyone is using now.

The revolution is happening. Get rid of those heavy boat anchors before they are worthless!

Georgy,

You misinterpreted what I said about mosfets.........The category that mouser put these new GAN devices in was under "mosfets" (they have no category for GAN devices yet)......this is why I said they were not mosfets......so in case you read their thing real fast, you might think they are mosfets. Which is why I suggested downloading the data sheet. So, the one going off half cocked is......

Also, I think Merrill has a great point......maybe we don’t need higher switching frequencies.....just less overshoot, dead time, ringing via circuits using super high speed output devices (GAN). The use of parallel output mosfets (like the older Icepower amps) makes it worse with even more capacitance. The ICEedge modules have one pair of output mosfets that give 1200 watts a channel into 4 ohms. Icepower also claims they have "continuous dead time compensation". Maybe these two things are part of what makes the new ICEedge modules so good. Surely, this is not zero dead time.........but I will say these modules implemented right are really sweet.

As my friend used to say "it all comes out in the wash"......meaning....it will be shown with time and experimentation which things do what as far as sound quality.  We have George repeating over and over and over and over and over and over.....he he..... about phase shift due to filter effects....trouble is, he is guessing about its sonic effect.  He knows nothing because he has not heard anything......he is just talking.  He likes to repeat himself, repeat himself, repeat himself.  But he has no actual information based on listening tests (the only thing real in audio). 

We have Merrill who has made an amp with low dead time and the amp will show us something about what he says.  George will show us nothing about what he says.  Hey, I think GANs, zero dead time and higher frequency switching (and lots of other things too) COULD make better sound. But only those who actually experiment and listen will know.  We are at the beginning of a new stage in Class D.  As these things get implemented by more companies it will show/prove what is really valuable.  I believe that before long even the Merrill amps will be boat anchors.  This game never ends.  IcePower, Pascal, UCD (come on Bruno, let's see some GANs in your amps!), DAC, Nuprime (already switching at 700K), etc. will make amp modules with GANs, higher speed switching, etc......and these modules/amps will be very affordable.  Viva La Revolution!  I just talked to the IcePower distributor today and he is going to talk to the engineers at IcePower about what is being said here.  All technology has a very short window of opportunity (as it keeps improving and changing).  Merrill is riding the first wave of GAN madness.  I bet there are many more waves coming. This ride is fun!  We have a lot to look forward to......better sound, smaller amps, less power consumption and less cost.  A win for everyone.