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
@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. 
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!😆
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.
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.
I still say, many throwing shade on the M33 have not actually heard it, most that have love it, many with way more experience in the hobby than me.  The real benefit and a quote that is overlooked is that his objective is to “remove a zero” from the cost of superior amplification.  He has.