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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

meiatflask
kerrybh
677 posts
 

For those interested, I recommend a video just posted on YouTube by Audioholic concerning How Class D works and the current state of its progress. His videos are generally instructive, and I think anyone interested in Class D would find it worthwhile. His conclusions might challenge some of our stereotypes, but that's a good thing. 

devinplombier
1,657 posts
 

@jimbennet 

@atmasphere 

@erik_squires 

All of you guys are selectively quoting facts in an attempt to mislead one another.

Here is what the TPA3255 datasheet actually says:

Power output per channel

RL = 4 Ω, 10% THD+N 315 W

RL = 4 Ω, 1% THD+N 255 W

RL = 8 Ω, 10% THD+N 180 W

RL = 8 Ω, 1% THD+N 150 W

So, all your dueling quotes were correct. And all were taken out of context in an attempt to win a dumb argument that never existed in the first place, although to be fair @jimbennet only claimed 60wpc when he first brought up the amp, and that appears well within the chip’s capabilities, at low distortion.

TPA3255’s THD+N is only .006% @ 1 kHz @  1W https://www.ti.com/product/TPA3255-Q1

At least Texas Instruments (the maker of the $12 TPA3255) know what they’re talking about.

 

erik_squires
17,543 posts
 

All of you guys are selectively quoting facts in an attempt to mislead one another.

@devinplombier - See, here I was trying to steer this conversation into a more constructive form that gentlemen would recognize.  Accusing me of attempting to mislead anyone has no fact behind it, rude and inflammatory without reason for it. 

I'm sure you could have pointed out the same data without attributing a deliberate attempt to mislead anyone.  

jimbennet
193 posts
 

The TPA3255 is 1% distortion per the site specs as I posted. Not 10%

atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
12,404 posts
 

All of you guys are selectively quoting facts in an attempt to mislead one another.

@devinplombier This statement is false. Facts are never misleading. 

Something that you are not taking into account is the supply Voltage fed to the chip. That determines how much output power is available. 

It doesn't affect distortion so much at full power for the given Voltage.  Do you see how this works?

That is why the specs Jim quoted above are likely to be true despite TI correctly stating its distortion at that power using a greater power supply Voltage. 

If the Voltage sags at full power the amp is also more likely to have higher distortion. That is why a robust supply is so important. 

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