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The NAD M33 will cancel your complaints about Class D

There are many reasons to like one type of sound over another. Even among what are considered very good amplifiers there’s a broad range of tastes and preferences among audiophiles. Just ask a SET aficionado!

However, no class is more maligned, inappropriately, than Class D. To hear some regulars tell it, Class D sound will thin your blood, make your teeth fall out and ruin your enjoyment of just about everything because it sounds so (fill in a lot of tropes from the 1980’s here).

I’ve been listening to NAD’s prior collaboration with Bruno Putzy and I can tell with some confidence that none of those tired old tropes apply. For reasons related much more to tonal balance than anything else, I’m sticking with Class A/B in my main system, but with the introduction of the next gen Anthem AVR receivers and the NAD M33 I may be making the switch back to class D.

You don’t have to like the M33 or the Anthem’s but can we at least agree that it’s time to retire the old guard of reasons not to buy Class D? Lets lay those poor phantoms to rest.
erik_squires
desktopguy
334 posts
 
+1 to twoleftears. I read that review and found it fascinating. I’m very familiar w/Herb Reichert’s reviews, his system and idiosyncratic ways of approaching reviews; also met him at an audio show & liked him a lot  (he's an interesting guy...a big-time modern artist, among other attainments).

Still, that review exemplifies a new wing built of hell:
-- a class D amp that sounds absolutely amazing, that any sane person would drool to get his/her hands on
-- but it costs as much as many used cars

ie, a new example of the impossible dream (for those who don’t have $10K in the petty cash drawer)

CONFESSION: I have SO much to be thankful for, I wouldn’t know where to start. Item #1 is COVID-19 hasn’t killed me yet (I’m not about to let it get near me). + many personal and audio things to be grateful for. The mere fact that I know Audiogon & am here posting is evidence that things are pretty OK...
dougeyjones's avatar
dougeyjones
163 posts
 
@noble100 

Thanks for posting that BP interview in its entirety, the cherry picked quotes were annoying me as well but I wasn’t about to start a war. Guys a genius, I’d actually love to see what he can do with a Class A A/B design now that he seems more or less satisfied with his statement Class D topologies. 
kw6
691 posts
 
Unless you only listen to analog master tapes on a reel to reel quit looking for a straight wire with gain. You need some 2nd order harmonics!😆
twoleftears's avatar
twoleftears
5,313 posts
 
What I got from that review and other places, is that most of the best-sounding class D amps do not have "light-weight" power supplies (e.g. switching) but rather more traditional ones.  For instance, the LKV Veros has three (!!) toroidal transformers inside that case.
klh007
614 posts
 
I wonder if linear and switching power supplies are better at different tasks? Maybe use a linear for driver/buffer circuitry and a powerful SWPS for the output stage? Or visa versa? No production amps use both power supply designs in one amp yet, someone may/will experiment to see if the results are better than only one type in an amp.
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