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



And what were the reason you did a backflip back to S/S or tube.
As there are a few pro Class D threads being hammered at the moment, I thought I'd put this up, to get some perspective.

Cheers George
128x128georgehifi
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.
11-28-15: Kijanki
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. [...]

The exposure goes both ways; what's at the end of the signal chain (i.e.: speakers) can also be ruthlessly revealing as well as, conversely, reveal their limitations. When people describe SET's as possessing "lush, warm [i.e.: meant as warmer than strictly "neutral"] midrange" and generally "loose bass," it could be descriptive of speakers lacking mids resolution/speed and of (bass-)ported designs with poor damping and overhang. Connect well-implemented horn speakers instead (themselves far more revealing than most direct radiating designs) with non-ported bass of higher damping and the "math" can suddenly reverse into match-bliss: here the mids are no longer warmish warm, but attain a "bloom" and naturalness that's ultimately freeing of any containment resembling "hifi" in the usual sense, and a bass enriched with an organic imprinting more about texture, immersion and cohesion (traits of true horn bass as well) than oomph, attention-seeking and depth.

If one were to insert a Class-D amp here instead (many iterations though they are), and the sound suddenly became slightly bleached, bass-thin and lacking fullness (that's a guess), my take would be to assess the amp lacking harmonic richness and being over-damped in this particular setup rather than aiming the search light towards other components - not least the speakers. Though speakers (and their acoustic environment) are by far the most coloring and limiting factors, their potential to put into perspective on what to use earlier in the chain is significant.