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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
twoleftears's avatar
twoleftears
5,313 posts
 

Don't overlook this, too; there have been very good reports on its sonics.

https://www.dedicatedaudio.com/products/bel-canto-design-ref501s-stereo-amplifier

niodari's avatar
niodari OP
298 posts
 

@tweak1 , thanks for the suggestion. Is the vibration you mentioned caused by CD players and speakers (I understand that amplifiers cause no vibration)?

tweak1
3,563 posts
 

Some amplifier power supplies/transformers can create high frequency vibrations when they are not properly isolated (Ric Schultz/EVS addresses that with his mods), as well as external vibration from the speakers feeding back into the kit

Other very suspect components that can contribute to high frequency glare etc, are the transport, the dac, and the digital cable

hth

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yyzsantabarbara
4,577 posts
 

D-Sonic amps. I owned the "800s M3a" for a few months and was recently thinking of getting one back since I was considering a low cost and decent sounding amp. They use Pascal modules. I did not get it since I did some other changes the negated the need for an extra amp.

I did not perceive any harshness in my Voyager. It was just a very clean sound, especially so after the EVS mods. It certainly was not warm, like a new KRELL XD or a CODA #8. The Voyager was closer sonically to the Benchmark AHB2.

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