The TPA3255 is 1% distortion per the site specs as I posted. Not 10%
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
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@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. |
...unless you happen to omit half of them. But let’s go back:
Much of that statement is legitimately objectionable, but not really the 60wpc claim. Yet for some reason that’s what you chose to focus on:
Yes that’s true, but it’s irrelevant since @jimbennet claimed a mere 60wpc for the Douk amp - not 315wpc. I think you’ll agree the TPA3255 can deliver 60wpc at less than 1% distortion, let alone 10%. It would have been better to explain why comparing a garbage $100 amp with well-designed and properly built amps is apples to oranges, starting with, as noted, their respective PSUs’ power-delivering abilities. Look, I guess what I want to say is that it’s always best to educate when you’re in a position to do so, which I believe you are, rather than shut down people with selectively quoted data from, in this case, the TPA3255 datasheet which, if anything, supports @jimbennet ’s 60wpc claim. Sharing knowledge benefits everyone, especially on a forum like this one where technical proficiency levels are quite diverse.
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@devinplombier Take a look at the link above. Only the 5 Watt power distortion is shown. The supply is rated 48V @5A. Look at the 4 Ohm power rated with this supply. Its 240V, the same rating as the output of the supply! By that metric the amplifier is 100% efficient. Since that isn't so, its pretty obvious that things aren't going to measure up as claimed. What you don't see is the 10A supply for this amp. The stock supply is a 5A unit. As long as you don't push the amp hard it will not make much distortion. Funny thing, the amp uses a chip and isn't GaNFET, but the power supply is marked 'GaNFET Adapter'. I'd be curious to see how this amp holds up running at full power with the 10A supply. IME if you want to make a class D amplifier do its thing, the power supply is vitally important. What we don't know here is what supply was being used when the amp was tested, what load impedance it was driving and so on. If the supply has trouble holding up at power (which I have to assume is the case, given the output power figures aren't correct), the distortion will rise. But as I said when this first came up, amps like this challenge stuff costing a lot more. I'd be interested in seeing what it does with a proper power supply.
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