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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
tweak1
3,576 posts
 
luka

I do not like dry amps of any kind. Early digital could be the actual cause of your statement, but it too has evolved. Most likely, your issue is with impedance mismatch between the preamp and the amp input buffer 

I have owned many amps; class A/B, one class A, and a handful of tube amps. None were perfect and most did not compare to my current class D experiences.

I had a similar experience to yours with early W4S amps, but none of the class D amps I’ve owned in the last 4+ years have been dry. That said, one does have to up their cable game with class D as it often exposes issues upstream

how many class D amps have you owned?

Over the last decade+, I have owned several class D amps; W4S (stereo and multi-channel), PS Audio GCC 250 (~ 10 yo, and still functions really well in my TV system), Emerald Physics 100.2SEs, Audio Alchemy DPA-1 which for almost 2 years has been my main amp in my stereo system, and PS Audio M700s.
erik_squires OP
15,994 posts
 
I consider the last pair of Class D amps I listened to for a long period of time the equal of Parasound A21’s in terms of warmth and color. Possibly the better in terms of noise.

The noise specs are better, but I never heard noise out of either of them. :)

There are a number of linear amps I would call more analytical than these, so in terms of broad class distinctions, I don’t think the idea that Class D is always analytical compared to linear holds.


I’m not asking you to love Class D uber alles, I just think you need to evaluate your choices on a case by case basis.


Of course, if your standard is a vintage Conrad Johnson amp, I can't help you. Everything will sound more analytical. :D


Best,

E
jtgofish's avatar
jtgofish
502 posts
 
Yes but the Parasound A21 is not very good.You need a better reference.
tweak1
3,576 posts
 
It's been a minute since my previous reply. Since then I have been enjoying an EVS 1200, Ric Schultz's highly tweaked take on IcePower dual 1200AS modules. And I loved it from the start as its 1200 wpc provides the authority my volumetrically large room needs to properly energize it.


Over those ~ 2 years, my cables have gone through a significant upgrade, and, I replaced my Emerald Physics (EP) KCIIs with EP 3.4s (12" concentric woofer with 1" polyester tweeters), but due to ignorance I never got around to replacing my optical cable with coax. Instead, thinking the dac in my Audio Alchemy DDP-1 + PS 5 needed upgrading. Not having the money to make a huge DAC/PRE investment, I tried a 1.0m Pangea Premier SE coax which was on sale from Audio Advisors.


I started a thread to discuss my journey, which included replacing the 1.0m with 1.5m then on to their 1.5m XL which is much more intimate, had much better bass (which is now way better) but slightly rolled off highs, until... Last night, after ~ 50 hours over a period of 5 days, the HFs opened up, and, bass/mids have really blossomed. Fantastic value for $150. How much better the more expensive coax cables are, I may never know.

The moral here is if one is not happy with what they're hearing from class D, it could be their cables

hth   
earlflynn's avatar
earlflynn
461 posts
 
Enjoy the music no matter what topology you use.
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