Wyred 4 Sound.....Anyone?????

They are worth trying in many cases before jumping straight to more expensive monster SS amps.

Tube amp lovers will be less impressed I suspect but probably not any less than they might be with a big expensive monster ss amp, at least based on sound.

Not as pretty to look at as Mac gear for example for sure though.

Sounds like high damping factor with the Wyreds.

The Bel Canto Ref1000m monoblocks had a similar positive effect on bass with the ported designs in my system. Bass is about as good as it gets currently!

I think ported speakers in general tend to benefit from high DF in an amp.

Most of the amps mentioned are good ones.

I believe system synergy and listener preference more determines amp performance in practice than any inherent objective sonic superiority of one over another by design.

The Class Ds are small and energy efficient however compared to most others. These undeniable attributes are unique to the Class Ds.

"60 tube watts can't be greater or equal to 100 SS watts it can only be less."

yes, but soft clipping nature of tube amps in general compared to SS may allow things to go louder off the same # watts than SS and still sound good.

Some Class Ds might have favorable audible clipping characteristics as well, but Class D generally enables you to throw power at teh problem more efficiently than otehr SS amp technologies so clipping may be less of an issue in general with CLass D than SS in general as a result.

Clipping is always something better off avoided or minimized to the max extent possible in that it will always have a major negative effect on the sound when in play, but not to the same extent with tube amps as with SS in general.

Highly efficient Class D technology can serve as a good insurance policy against clipping compared to many SS amps of comparable cost. That alone is a good reason for me to invest in a good Class D amp and never look back.

Clipping will be less of an issue with more efficient speakers also. Tube amps are accordingly at their best here with high efficiency speakers designed to work well with tube amplification.

CK,

Watts/power alone is solely about how loud it can/should go and not useful to determine much else.

Other characteristics of amps and how they interact with speakers, like damping, current delivery, transient response, and other aspects design and execution have more to do with control, musicality transients and such. Specs in these areas might help set relative expectations but do not tell the whole story either. Only your ears when listening can.

Often the build quality of the power supply and transformers are good indicators of what might be expected.

Class D switching amps are considerably more efficient in delivering power than Class A or A/B. As a result, the power supply circuitry is considerable smaller, lighter, and compact. Also less heat is created in teh process so heat sinks are smaller, etc.

My understanding though is quality of the power supply is still a major factor in resulting Class D performance and power supply quality varies widely from model to model, vendor to vendor, despite the more compact package.

So just like most other gear, not all Class D amps, even all Icepower module based Class D amps, are created equal.

Same true in regards to Icepower amp input circuitry and how designed to work well or not with higher output impedance tube pre-amps. There are differences from model to model, vendor to vendor. Wyred is quite good in this regard as I understand it.