Marklarsen and Tugen5 please have your class D, rules party.
One thing was fascinating that in the very review we found prasing the amps the reviewer also found a whole bunch of areas where a conventional amplifier was far better sounding that was in terms of bass slam and punch.
Again, unless you need the size and light weight, and low heat generation of these types of amplifiers or great amounts of power per dollar, why wouldn’t you just use the tired and true amplifier design of a conventional class A/B amplifier which to most people still sounds the most musical?
It is not that the Ref 600 are so much less expensive they are still $5k a pair and that puts you close to some of the best sounding conventional Class A/B amplifers out there.
For edification we have tested Auralic Hypex amplifiers, Merrill Veritas, Nad M10, Devialet, Nuforce and Nuprime amplifiers, Mytek and a few others.
The only truly magical sounding Class D was the original Nuforce Ref 9 Se V3, the new Nuprime ST 10 is very nice but still sounds too much like an amplifier, the very inexpensive STA 9 from Nuprime sounds great for a $700 amplifer but we are willing to forgive what that amplifier doesn’t do because we are expecting different things from a $700 amplifier vs a much more expensive one.
We haven’t tested the lastest Nuprime reference amplifier but the word on the stree is that one does sound very good.
Most Class D lacks the magic in the midrange whcih draws you in to the performance, what you get is clean, clear power and generally good bass and dynamics.
The Pascal amp modules do tend to sound warm but still lack the articulation and presense of a good conventional Class A/B amplifier.
Go listen to a Coda, a Krell, a Naim, a Pass, and go see if you are still in the class D camp.
Here is the real question if it wasn’t for the light weight, compact size and low heat, and high power for low cost, would most of the guys who switch to Class D still be using them?
Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ
