Which Class D Amplifier? PS Audio, Ghent, Nord, Merrill or other???


I’m looking for a new amp & want Class D.

I’ve seen various brands mentioned, such as PS Audio, Ghent, Nord, Merrel to name a few, but I’ve not heard any of them.

Which company is producing the best sounding Class D?
Which models should I be looking to demo?


Thanks



singintheblues
I’m using the PS Audio Stellars with .7 Magnepans.  It’s a very good combo.  
Hello dmc,

      I've been curious how a pair of .7 Magnepans would sound being driven with very good amplification. 
     Now that it's been confirmed as a good combo, I'm curious how it could be improved with 1 or 2 good subs.  
     Better yet, how would they perform in a room with a complete 4 sub DBA bass system like the Audio Kinesis Swarm or Debra?
     
     I would imagine that the state of the art bass provided by the AK Swarm ($2,800) combined with the excellent mid-range and treble performance provided by the Magnepan .7 panels ($1,300/pr) would be extremely hard to better, especially at anything close to $4,100.

     With sota bass throughout the entire room as a solid foundation, The relatively small and light .7 panels could then be optimally positioned in relation to the listening seat for best mid/treble frequency response and imaging.

     I'm fairly certain the Swarm bass system would integrate seamlessly with the .7 panels because it does so with my much larger (6' x2')Magnepan 2.7QR panels in my 23x 16 x8 ft room.


Tim
     
      
Few days ago I got new class-D Nord NC500 mk3+SI opamp, connected to Primaluna Prologue tube preamp and Chord 2Qute DAC. 
That combination have total control over Focal 1028be, driving them with such ease, but also tube smoothness and musicality. Couldn't be more happier, never heard something driving big focals with such control. 
One caveat: ordered Rothwell -10db Attenuator because preamp+power amp gain is too high, I can't go beyond 9 o'clock on volume pot, so attenuator will help in pushing noise floor down and give system room to breathe.
One caveat: ordered Rothwell -10db Attenuator because preamp+power amp gain is too high, I can’t go beyond 9 o’clock on volume pot, so attenuator will help in pushing noise floor down and give system room to breathe.

"One caveat: ordered Rothwell -10db Attenuator"  
You "push" both signal and noise down of the source and pre, and "maybe" create an impedance mismatch so your no better off.

If you really want to lower the noise floor, get a preamp with less or no gain, then you’ll use most of the signal available from source, pre and power without boosting the noise floor.

Cheers George

guidocorona
 4,116 posts... 02-23-2019 7:04pm

"Hello @aolmrd1241 and @KLH007, I will post some observations about the darling Rowland M535 tomorrow... It won’t be the complete review, but I’ll try address some differences between M535 in stereo mode, and a bridged pair..Saluti, Guido"


Hello Guido... Is the Rowland M535 review by any chance close to nearing completion yet?

Thanks...Mark