Class D is just Dandy!

@celo wrote:

I am very very impressed with this amp. It is stupid powerful but that’s not why I like it. It is super balanced. Detailed sound, big soundstage, the instruments sound like live almost, very good vocals.

Great that you like its sound! What speakers are you running them with?

However, the fans. Ohh those stupid loud fans!

I replaced the built-in fans with low noise Arctic dittos. Noctua fans is another option, and while some of them they don’t shift as much air as the Arctic’s (a potential problem with high wattage usage) their noise floor is a bit lower even. Consult MC² Audio for advice with regard to fan replacement. I had mine delivered by the company to a pro dealer I know well and who’s importing the amps, and this way the fans were fitted with the right wire socket type.

@phusis I already talked to MC2. They are very helpful and responsive. They told me I can do the replacement but I cannot get fans out myself. Looks easy but need an angled/suitable tools which I don’t have. About Noctua, they said it maybe risky to use if you don’t know what you are doing. Because the Noctua has metal parts on the fan and if it touches the heatsink, it will short out and damage the amplifier.

I maybe after a T1000 which has an option to set the back fan to kick in when it reaches to 90 Celsius, the front fan is still on at all times. The T1500 has fans are always on design.

Did you really hear a big difference when you changed it to more quiet fans or is it still there?

I am only using it in my second system for now which is connected to NHT 1.5.

@milpai

Which Parasound?

A21 driving Focal Profile floor standers

How did the sound change from Parasound to Class D.

I can’t answer that because I don’t believe in the class itself making a sound. If you ask how did it change between my A21 and ICEPower 250ASP I can honestly say they sounded identical in good and bad ways. Very laid back and maybe even too laid back with no euphonic colorations

I am wondering why you went back to class AB.

I didn’t. I went to a Luxman because it sounded better. In particular, compared to both the Parasound and ICEpower it had more extension in the bass and treble and an almost tube quality to the midrange and treble. The Luxman just happens to be A/B.  I suspect much of the sound quality of the Luxman however is in the preamp design so I hope to switch to a Luxman preamp (perhaps tubed) when I go active.

And now looking to change to active speakers.

Making speakers is how I enjoy my hobby and the next step in my system’s evolution is to convert my 2-way speakers with passive crossovers to 3-way actives.

I am very curious about NAD M23 since it is not a beast and seems well made. But not sure if I will like it compared to the Parasound A21.

I can’t speak about that particular jump. I’m using a Hypex plate amp for my center and I like it a great deal, but the NAD hybrid amps are significantly different in design so hard to compare.

@erik_squires ,

Thanks for sharing your experience. The A21 is a killer amp and punches above it's price point. I believe I will have to put in significantly more money to upgrade this to another Class AB or D.

Making speakers is how I enjoy my hobby

That is the most important (No.1) goal of this hobby and good to know that you are having a great time with it.

@yyzsantabarbara  I had the Coda 16 and it was just not a good match with my Spatial X5s.  So its hard to compare the sound.  In my system the Coda 16 never sounded as good as the professional reviews or the testimonials by posters here on Audiogon.  In my system, the PSAudio M1200 monoblocks sound better and give me superlative sound.  The Spatial qualities of these amps is superb.  Their clarity is stunning and given that they are hybrids there is nothing sterile about them.