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I went from Class D to Luxman A/AB - And most of what you think is wrong

Hi everyone,

As most of you know, I’m a fan of Class D. I have lived with ICEPower 250AS based amps for a couple of years. Before that I lived with a pair of Parasound A21s (for HT) and now I’m listening to a Luxman 507ux.


I have some thoughts after long term listening:
  • The tropes of Class D having particularly bad, noticeable Class D qualities are all wrong and have been for years.
  • No one has ever heard my Class D amps and gone: "Oh, wow, Class D, that’s why I hate it."
  • The Luxman is a better amp than my ICEPower modules, which are already pretty old.

I found the Class D a touch warm, powerful, noise free. Blindfolded I cannot tell them apart from the Parasound A21s which are completely linear, and run a touch warm due to high Class A operation, and VERY similar in power output.


The Luxman 507 beats them both, but no amp stands out as nasty sounding or lacking in the ability to be musical and involving.


What the Luxman 507 does better is in the midrange and ends of the spectrum. It is less dark, sweeter in the midrange, and sounds more powerful, almost "louder" in the sense of having more treble and bass. It IS a better amplifier than I had before. Imaging is about the same.


There was one significant operational difference, which others have confirmed. I don't know why this is true, but the Class D amps needed 2-4 days to warm up. The Luxman needs no time at all. I have no rational, engineering explanation for this. After leaving the ICEPower amps off for a weekend, they sounded pretty low fi. Took 2 days to come back. I can come home after work and turn the Luxman on and it sounds great from the first moment.


Please keep this in mind when evaluating.


Best,

E
erik_squires
erik_squires OP
15,630 posts
 
Oh, I don't mean to shut George down. That would be impossible.


I just want it to be clear that despite the mountains of posts he's failed to persuade.
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 

You are dreaming, at best Class-D has a 40-50% share over linear, and that’s mainly for low to mid fi and subs, in the hi end it favors linear tube and solid state much more.
  
And you and your mate tweak have your heads buried in the sand, if you can’t see the advantages of GaN technology used in Class-D over past/present technology.
Guarantee you’ll be one of the first in line to get a GaN one when they meet your price expectation. Why not embrace it, you can’t stop it from coming that’s for sure.
devilboy
1,172 posts
 
Aren’t GaN amps pretty expensive? At least the one manufacturer I heard about is.

I have 100 hours on my PS Audio S300 and it sounds absolutely lovely driving my Selah Tempestas. My last system was an Almarro integrated using the 6C33C driving a pair of Rethms. Two very different approaches for amplification and speakers and I’m enjoying it just as much.

I’ll start a new virtual systems in the next week or two.
devilboy
1,172 posts
 
Oh and George, one more thing. I don't want to hear anything about Gan amps if they cost $40,000. I'm sure they're fantastic and probably a breakthrough in the technology, but frankly that's out of the ballpark for 99% of us.
As with everything else, one day it will trickle down and be available in amplifiers under $2,000 but don't tell me I need to spend an exorbitant amount of money for class D to sound good. 
erik_squires OP
15,630 posts
 
Hearing has never had anything to do with George's dislike of Class D.

It's more of a passion to dislike them. A reason to go on.
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