What is your favorite Class D amp?

Moving to a new home with a smaller dedicated listening room has caused me to rethink my entire system. I have always been a fan of EL34 tube amps and presently have a Primaluna HP (4 tubes per channel), but the size and heat make this a bit more difficult in my new set up. So I have been thinking about going with a smaller, less hot class D amp. But being a tube guy, I have never seriously looked into or listen to these amps.

so what is your favorite class D amp? New or used, in the 5k range, but could go up to 10k. Preamp is a Conrad Johnson ET-7. Speaker will be in the monitor/mini-monitor class (so I don’t need high power for a smallish room) but have not made my final decision on speakers as the amp/speaker synergy makes this kind of a joint decision.

I purposely asked for “favorite” to be a bit more open in your relies.

thanks, Bill

meiatflask10-18-2025 12:01pm

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carousel Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 31 posts 10-25-2025 at 09:57am Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete Does anyone with experience using custom op amps with Class D amps have views on using such buffer boards just for the woofers? I have a three-way active system with Benchmarks for the mid-ranges and tweeters. For the 10-inch Purifi woofers, I have a bog-standard Hypex NCx500 using the Hypex input buffers. The crossover is 4^th order at 200Hz. So there is still signal to the woofers up to 1000Hz. When I looked through the buffer board options on, for example, the VTV site, I got too confused too quickly. And then I considered that this is for the woofers, which I assumed to be less critical than for the mids, and I kept it simple. Another option would be to get new other amps for the woofers and reuse the NCx500 poolside outdoors. Or maybe just do nothing. Since it is not like I am unhappy.
liquidsound Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 205 posts 10-25-2025 at 11:15am Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete I have had the LAiV GANM Monobloc's for 4 months now and they are really good driving my 4-ohm Final-Audio Model 12+ planar electrostatic speakers. Plenty of power and run cool even under demanding load. Well within your price range and they're well-built. Good reviews and praises from several reviewers. They also have selectable range VU-meters, ability to easily install firmware upgrades, and other selectable parameters. They also have a small footprint. Highly recommended !
yzfr1mike Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 18 posts 10-25-2025 at 02:11pm Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete I have the PS Audio M1200 mono's running my passive subwoofers and the bass panels on my MG20 Magnepans, but I still run my heavily modified Sonic Frontiers Power 2 tube amps on the mid/high freq. panels. The M1200,s sounded wonderful when I used them to drive my Magnepan MG1.7i speakers. I have been a customer for PS Audio for several years. The M12's have a tube input section with the Class D output. Highly recommended!
squared80 Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 313 posts 10-25-2025 at 02:20pm Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete Buckeye Purifi. Full stop.
worldwidewholesales Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 140 posts 10-25-2025 at 03:42pm Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete Hi, just so I'm clear from the beginning, we are an importer for several high-end audio products but we do not promote or import any Class D products and I am not affiliated with the company that I'm about to recommend. A few years ago we started listening to Class D amplifiers and it was intriguing because the noise floor was super low. We auditioned several different manufacturers from the very expensive Merrill 116 amplifiers to very inexpensive Class D manufacturers. At the time the very expensive Merrill Audio amps were exceptional and the most expensive that we auditioned. Recently I been playing with an inexpensive pair of RCVTech monobloc's. I also tried their stereo amplifier. I must say that Class D technology is making a positive move forward and this small manufacturer out of Canada is making a wonderful sounding and very musical Class D amplifier. In fact it is now the best we have heard. Cheers and just an opinion so be gentle.