Competitive class D amp suggestions


I have been Class D fun since a few years ago when i bought my first class D amp. I like the concept, in general, and all the attractive features of this class of amplifiers. I tried 4 different ones, currently i  stayed with one of them that i consider to be the best among all four amps. I do enjoy and like it. At the same time,  my 5 watts SET amplifier (with more than 100 times higher distortion according to the specs) gives more natural and (surprisingly) notably cleaner sound (THD of the class D amp is 0.001). The soundstage  of the class D amp is not so bad but that of the tube one is still better.   

I remain attracted by class D amps though. 

Any fresh suggestions on reasonably priced class D amps (i mean excluding  non-reasonably priced class D amps, e.g., Merrill amplifiers)?

Any comments on non-reasonably priced class D amps are also welcome (so far i was not able to audition many class D amps and am curious if there are some which could really compete with Class A). 

128x128niodari

@evank "I have the Rogue Sphinx 3 and with the stock tubes it was very thin sounding. I put in a pair of Mullards and it beefed everything up"

 

I have not heard the Rogue Sphinx V3, so I can’t say that it is or is not thin sounding with stock tubes. Herb did not mention anything about it sounding thin in his review. Perhaps it depends on what you are pairing it with, source and speakers? It is good to know that you found that it actually responds to tube rolling. That could be some fun. I like the no nonsense look of it, especially in the black. The black makes those knobs pop, plus the graphics are more legible. Herb liked it paired with the Lintons, kef ls50, and the Goldenear BRX. I don’t like that it has increased in price by 200 bucks, but like everything else, it is the norm nowadays.

The M1200s are now $4398. Stock Ice Edge boards but their own tube input. Ric Schultz introduced  his EVS1200 a good year before them using the same Ice Edge modules, but in one chassis, plus all his technical and mechanical skills. No longer made, it was ~ $2500. I have one, that I would consider selling it at that price

I've known Ralph for a while and have been an Atma-Sphere customer for some time owning an MP-3 preamp and M-60 OTLs. I have had the Class D amps in my system now for about 6 weeks. In the simplest of terms I will say they made the OTLs obsolete. On top of that I have lent them to 2 people and both of them placed an order after their listening comparisons.

I have Bel Canto REF1000 MkIIs and while I think they are a very good Class D amp, I prefer the Atma-Sphere. In my opinion they have all the attributes of a tube amp with the transparency and speed of an OTL, as well as no heat to deal with and they are much more power consumption friendly. In comparison to the LSA, the LSA came off grainy in the upper frequencies, it was clearly heard after listening to the Atma-Sphere amps.

@clio09 , thank you for this post. 

In comparison to the LSA, the LSA came off grainy in the upper frequencies, it was clearly heard after listening to the Atma-Sphere amps.

 What you precisely mean with "grainy in upper frequencies", can you be a bit more specific on sonic differences between Atmasphere class d and LSA Voyager amps in different frequency ranges?