What are the advantages to a Class A amp & what are the trade offs?


I've never had a class a amp but am considering one now. So what am I getting myself into?
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Showing 1 response by lowrider57

To a large degree, the sound of a product comes from general implementation and engineering, not the class of operation, the chip used, and so on.

It’s a design choice. Ralph Karsten designs his Atma-sphere amps to run in Class A.
So does Tim de Paravicini. I believe it’s a design to lower distortion and colouration.
Nelson Pass designs some of the Pass amps and First Watt to operate exclusively in Class A.

I own an EAR Push-Pull Class A amp and the sonics are a  clean reproduction of the recorded material. The downside is the heat generated from the amp. But this was not a consideration when choosing which amp to buy, I chose the component based on performance and  
sound quality.