Who tried Class D only to return to S/S or Tube

Me. Three times. Treble quality was atrocious. Roland, Job and one other. This was up until 4 years ago. People say they've gotten better. On each try, they were out of my system within 2 days. (Yes, they were broken in).

Jeffb28451, while the Class D amplifiers may have been "broken-in," it is possible that a two-day warm-up was not long enough for them to reach their full potential. I would have previously called BS on this notion but, after living with NC1200 monos for the past year, and switching between those and my Class AB amplifier, I found that both need to remain powered up all the time or the amp that is warmed up sounds better every time. Particularly with the Class D amplifiers, it seems they need to be powered-on up to a week for the treble to sound its best.

I also admit that the treble is one area where my Class AB amp beats the Class D amps. Both seem fully extended but the Class D amps seem comparatively a little "shelved-down" in the very upper frequencies, which seems to affect ambient cues more than how instruments/vocals sound directly. I get just a little better sense of venue and infill of the background sounds between players with the Class AB amp. However, there are other areas where I like the Class D amplifiers better, which is why choosing between the two has been difficult for me.

Jeffb28451, while the Class D amplifiers may have been "broken-in," it is possible that a two-day warm-up was not long enough for them to reach their full potential. I would have previously called BS on this notion but, after living with NC1200 monos for the past year, and switching between those and my Class AB amplifier, I found that both need to remain powered up all the time or the amp that is warmed up sounds better every time. Particularly with the Class D amplifiers, it seems they need to be powered-on up to a week for the treble to sound its best.

I also admit that the treble is one area where my Class AB amp seems to beat the Class D amps. The Class D amps sound comparatively a little "shelved-down" in the very upper frequencies, which seems to affect ambient cues more than how instruments/vocals sound directly. I get just a little better sense of venue and infill of the background sounds between players with the Class AB amp. However, there are other areas where I like the Class D amplifiers better, which is why choosing between the two has been difficult for me. Maybe I should just keep both.

As has already been stated, the pre-amplifier is as important to the sound of class D. One cannot simply swap out an AB amp for a D. The system must be coherent and matched. I'm fine with my Bel Canto and Wyred monos driven by Modwright tubed pre-amplifier.

My Rowland 102 sounded the best after about 400 hours. Class D amps are very revealing and often don't work well with some "bright" components. I cannot say if class D works better when powered for a while since it is always on in my system. It doesn't even have on/off switch. Yes, trebles are different, more natural IMHO. Cymbals sound fuller and brassy and not "splashy" as it was with class AB amp. It requires some time getting used to. Midrange is just wonderful.