My NAD 3020 D proves your Class D tropes are wrong


I have a desktop integrated, the NAD 3020D which I use with custom near field monitors. It is being fed by Roon via a Squeezebox Touch and coaxial digital.

It is 5 years old and it sounds great. None of the standard myths of bad Class D sound exist here. It may lack the tube like liquid midrange of my Luxman, or the warmth of my prior Parasound but no one in this forum could hear it and go "aha, Class D!!" by itself, except maybe by the absolute lack of noise even when 3’ away from the speakers.

I’m not going to argue that this is the greatest amp ever, or that it is even a standout desktop integrated. All I am saying is that the stories about how bad Class D is compared to linear amps have been outdated for ages.

Great to see new development with GaN based Class D amps, great to see Technics using DSP feed-forward designs to overcome minor limitations in impedance matching and Atmasphere’s work on reducing measurable distortion as well but OMG stop with the "Class D was awful until just now" threads as it ignores about 30 years of steady research and innovation.
erik_squires
@yyz hoping that is a Rush reference...

Best band ever!

Please do us a favor and listen to some Purifi amps.  Seems like UPS is delivering to you every day.   Hope to be like you in the near term.......

I'm going on 15 years of DIY Class D,  all Hypex stuff way back to their UcD.  

I spent way too much money on Class A, A/B, Tubes with the all the usual suspects....Levinson, Pass, Rowland, Mac, etc....

Finally figured out that a great source (streaming - Roon - Qobuz) gives me the most enjoyable (maybe not the best) listening experience to date.

I'm leveraging a Ravenna interface thru Roon and the fiber connectivity is absolutely tremendous.

M
Blaming on Class D in general is just a nonsense. It is not a matter of a taste, rather it is an objective reality that there are quite affordable class D amps that  sound better than many more expensive class ab amps  in terms of all objective sound characteristics. Point. Just as an example, according to my experience, I consider it  is not easy to find a class ab amp that sounds as good as my Cherry Megaschino Class D amp.
Wake up guys!
I’ve been buying, listening to and selling/swapping class A and A/B audio gear since 1974. Last year I downsized and so needed to simplify the space and reduce the number of ’boxes’. So I sold off my large monoblocks, preamps, DACs, subs and large floorstanders. Bought a pair of Goldenear Triton Ones (class D powered bass units in each). This was my first introduction to class D - very happy with the sound. Last month my NAD M33 arrived (Class D again - this time by Bruno P.) and to say I am happy is an understatement. In my room they are a wonderful, clean, emotional and tonally rich combination with a great synergy between amp and speakers - definitely no nails scratching on a blackboard. These are all keepers.
I have never heard older class D models in stand alone power amps so cannot comment on them, and even if I was able to, my views would be entirely dependent on the combination of components used and room they were playing in.This particular class D design and configuration is a game changer fro me.
For a serious 'home' listener on a budget this discussion becomes a little prissy.  The ranges of difference make very little in a normal home's rooms and rooms under 16' x 16'.  The higher ranges of my amplifiers have never even gotten close to max, whatever the 'Class'.  They would blow ear drums and windows out first!  
One of my daily amps today is the Peachtree Grand X-1 hybrid integrated with valves in the pre-amp stage and 440 watts into 8 ohms.  The big watts are from a Class D amplifier.  The parameters I look for in an amp are more than ample with superb all-around performance.  Especially the onboard ESS Sabre DAC and the tubed pre-amp's handling of all forms of digital source material.  I run only a coax from my CD unit and even that sounds really good being processed in an integrated amp.  Sorry, no mono-blocks or ICE power.  
I have seen the reviews and gone off ready to 'move up' with a Mac MA252 valve pre-amp and solid state Mac A/B power too. and then the Prima Luna all tube designs which are awesome indeed.  And then I sit down in my listening place and listen to a lot of vinyl, CDs and FM radio with great Public Radio stations (shout out to WCMU on line and the 8 PM EST Sunday evening with the Duke of Juke blues show and the later turn to  blues).  Oh, oh.  I think some of this group may have passed out when I said 'FM radio'.  I hope they enjoy their monster systems as much as I enjoy this Class D that is made very well, even if not driving noise at a fraternity party.  But this 440 per channel would blow the place up without distortion and lots of play.  
I believe the entire Peachtree amplifier NOVA series that run up to 500 watts per are loved by their owners and all Class D.  And as many others have rightly noted:  I do not believe you can hear any difference in normal home listening from equivelant models with A/B power.  
I do not believe you can hear any difference in normal home listening from equivelant models with A/B power.  
The class of operation isn't important. How much feedback the amp uses *is*. This can have an enormous effect on how much and what kind of distortion is present. Distortion is a good deal of the reason we hear differences between amplifiers- that old trope about 'distortion is negligible and therefore inaudible' so often seen in reviews of the last 50 years is false.