Class D is just Dandy!

Happy to see a thread "celebrating" this technology.  I have a Taranis Class D power amp from Merrill Audio.   Apart from the sheer power this thing supplies, I'm very impressed with the quality of bass from Totem Forests when driven by it. I think outstanding bass quality might well be a hallmark of Class D design.  The Totems' bass is impressive to begin with - especially considering their driver size, but the Taranis takes them to another level.  Bass is deeper and fuller than with either the solid state integrated I was using (Hegel H-200) or my EL-34/78WPC tube mono blocks.  The Taranis makes using a subwoofer with the Forests truly unnecessary for most (most) recorded material.  I also like the fact Merrill has produced a balanced design.  Having recently brought a Schiit Freya pre-amp into the system, I can now run balanced outputs from CDP & DAC into the Freya and from Freya into the Taranis.  Balanced, to my ear, is associated with a less fatiguing and cleaner sound.  The Taranis certainly allows long listening sessions; I don't experience listener fatigue using it.  Add to that cool running and no reliability issues, so far.  I did attempt a review of it here on A'gon. shortly after buying it.  Thanks very much to Audiogon member D. Patterson for getting me started thinking about Class D (he's been something of an audio mentor - intentionally or not!).  Thanks also to Guidocorona for pointing me towards the Taranis and Merrill Audio.  

I have a Class D Ampeg bass amp. It's tiny for 350 watts. Thought I'd toss that one in there, and I'm hoping it counts.

the nads look interesting

Gents,
I had a pal construct a Class D amp in a nice wood cabinet that set me back the princely sum for $125.  It won a blind comparison against a pricey Class A ss amp at a gathering of the Bay Area Audio Society.  I initially felt the sound of the amp was rather dry sounding compared to my tube amps, but upon further listening, I conclude that it has a very neutral sonic signature.  However, this 125 wpc amp, paired with a Don Sachs 6SN7-based tube preamp, is a wonderful combination.  It drives my Dali Zensor 3 speakers with ease with great detail and extension.

I believe Class D amps are clearly the wave of the future.  They run so cool and efficiently and the new wave of designs I suspect will be able to mimic attributes of the sound of tube gear that so many of us like.  

Hi @roxy54

You know, I probably heard the same Class A amps @whitestix heard in the Bay Area and I have to concur. I re-iterate, blindfolded and level matched I don’t think I could tell them apart from the Parasound A23’s. Both are excellent, modern sounding amps via my reference speakers.

Negatives?
The ICEPower 250 ASP modules are in no way euphonic. They lack the utter calmness and dark backgrounds of the very best Ayre or Arcam systems. They lack the juiciness if not excessive boldness of the best big Conrad Johnson tube amps.

Despite all of this, they are very very engaging and when the music and sources are right just as compelling to listen to as the best amplifiers I have heard.

Unlike the worst SS amps, they also don’t sound thin, compressed, underpowered or grainy at all. I just listened to Trombone Shorty’s latest tracks via Jazz FM 91 and man, freaking awesome playback. Absolutely nothing was missing nor called attention to itself in terms of the amplifier.

Best,


E