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The Hifi Trajectory Of Class D Amplifiers

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I bought my first digital SLR camera back in 2005. Film SLR cameras were still king back then. Longtime film camera hobbyists and pros thumbed their noses at digital. Ten years later, film cameras have been surpassed by digital cameras and are nearly extinct. Millions of people use cameras. The market was already in place for anyone that would advance the technology of digital photography.

With Class D amps, you don't have a marketplace the size of the camera marketplace. There doesn't seem to be enough economic incentive to spend the necessary research dollars to advance the technology to get the same sort of improvement trajectory that digital photography has enjoyed.

Anyone care to speculate how long it will take for Class D amps to consistently rival the best tube, Class A and Class A/B across the board....and do it without resorting to the stratospheric prices that current non-Class D amps are priced at.
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mitch4t
mapman's avatar
mapman
23,651 posts
 
Most pro audio applications call for high efficiency easy to drive speakers in order effectively fill large rooms. That helps assure tube amps will be able to do a good job as can good SS or Class D. Most will opt for the lower cost and maintenance solution out of practicality as long as results are good. So few would choose a tube amp these days even though I have no doubt some might sound very god.

HOme audio is different as Kijanki points out. Tube amps are not suited for many home speakers designed to deliver more bass out of a smaller package. A god Class D amp will have little problem with most any home speaker.

What sounds best in each particular case will obviously depend on a lot of things.

So I agree pro use or benefits of tube amps is not really useful for this discussion.
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
12,428 posts
 
I'm pretty sure we can find 500W tube amp that doesn't keep up with 400W class D bass amp,

Good luck with that. While I do think that day is coming, its still a long ways off and that amp simply does not exist yet. I've no intention of arguing back and forth about it- this is simply how it is.

Has Class D arrived? Sure. But do they beat tube amps? That's an entirely different question!
mitch2
4,761 posts
 
But do they beat tube amps? That's an entirely different question!
...and one with no answer here, because you will never achieve consensus on the definition of "beat"
phd
1,346 posts
 
Not only has Class D arrived but their making a big splash and the ripples are being felt through out the audio community. For some of you dyed-in-the-whool Class A or Class AB fans, there is a technology that threatens your existance, well maybe not yet but they are getting there. Even those cheap little Class D amps by Lepai sound better than a lot of midfi conventional amps when properly set up. Even so I will keep my McCormack amp because it just sounds different but in a damn good way! But I will continue to listen to some of those Class D amps just because they are diferent but sound good!
aolmrd1241
1,046 posts
 
Atmasphere,as much as a lot of folks here love the sound quality of tube equipment [me included] your assessment and comments on SS class D amps just doesn't sit well with me.

We know that you make great sounding tube equipment,but this thread is about solid state class-D amplification. You really do not have to defend your business every time someone speaks about liking SS kit better than tube kit.

I may be going out on a limb here... but I would presume that you never sat down and gave a serious listen to the likes, of say, a Merrill Audio Veritas mono block amp. If you can ever get the opportunity to hear them,I think you will be picking your jaw up off the floor...
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