Yeah just a thought for another time. I don’t want to derail this thread, which is a good one.
Expanding the Class D Conversation: How Would You Characterize Their Differences?
Expanding the Class D Conversation: How Would You Characterize Their Differences?
I'm currently trialing the NAD M23 (1st gen. Eigentakt-based), and I find it intriguing enough to want to understand it better — which means understanding the broader sonic landscape of class D. So I'm crowd-sourcing.
In a recent exchange, the estimable Ralph Karsten (Atma-Sphere Music Systems) made two comments that stopped me cold. For those who missed it, here's what he said:
"IME, class D amps vary in sound more than tube amps, which is to say, quite a lot."
"IMO there is a bigger difference between various class D amps than you hear between various tube amps. IOW just because you heard one class D amp says nothing about how the next one might sound."
Link: https://forum.audiogon.com/posts/2885828
As I think through this more carefully, these are genuinely important claims. My own experience with tube amps confirms that they produce audibly distinct characters across topologies and designs. If Ralph is right and class D exceeds that range, then generalizing from one class D experience to another is even more hazardous than I assumed.
One specific question for Audiogon members:
If you have a Class D amp or have compared class D amplifiers, how would you describe their character(s)?
Here are some criteria I use:
- Frequency balance — Is the tonal response even across bass, mids, and treble, or does it favor certain regions?
- High-frequency texture — Are the highs extended and smooth, or edgy, grainy, and fatiguing?
- Bass definition — Is the low end tight and articulate, or loose and bloated?
- Midrange character — Does the midrange feel present and natural, or recessed and thin?
- Transient speed — Does the amp respond quickly to dynamic attacks, or does it sound sluggish and rounded?
- Dynamic range — Does it scale convincingly from quiet passages to loud ones, or compress the difference?
- Soundstage width and depth — Does it create a convincing three-dimensional image, or sound flat and narrow?
- Image specificity — Are instruments and voices placed precisely, or do they blur and wander?
- Background noise floor — Is the silence between notes actually silent, or is there grain, haze, or hash?
- Long-term listenability — After an extended session, do you want to keep listening, or has something been quietly fatiguing you?
If you can include relevant system context — room, speakers, preamp — please do. Those variables will help me interpret what the amp itself is contributing.
I'm less interested in rankings than in understanding what Ralph mentioned, namely the [vast] range of sonic signatures class D is capable of. Eigentakt, Hypex, Pascal, Purifi, GaN-based, etc. — all fair game.
Price is no constraint here — I'm interested in the full range of what's out there.
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. imo, I don’t think you are too far off topic, actually. The title of this thread asks "How Would You Characterize Their Differences?" What if those characterizations and descriptions of likes & dislikes also relate to preferences, and what each person is "so used to" growing up with audio. There may in fact be those who will continue to like Class A/AB solid state, others for all tubes, some for hybrids, and some pure Class-D, just like different types of food. How each person decides what they like and how they describe what they hear could vary greatly. Same debates with Tube vs SS in Class A, AB, now into Class-D more than ever. Similar discussions around different "tubes" too, fwiw.
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Having had class a, ab and set, someone mentioned the switching rate of the ab and its affect on clarity. I will assume this isn’t always the case but may help explain what I feel is missing with my current sound. The 300b set has super clarity and was dead silent, 2 qualities that I’d like to have more than I have now. But, to me it lacked power and oomph. So I went back to ab which just sounds good with every genre of music and has more power. Just much more satisfying to me across the board. I’m hoping class d will have attributes of both. Fingers crossed. I keep discovering “new” sound. I guess I don’t have expectations of what my perfect sound is so I’m going to keep trying different pieces of gear and topologies to hopefully get to where I want to be. |
@decooney It’s interesting that you say,
I started this thread with a quote from @atmasphere, who said,
If Ralph is right, then maybe we’re not helping ourselves get clearer about preferences by talking about "class A" etc. Yes, we need linguistic shorthand to convey clusters of sonic characteristics we prefer, but if amps vary a lot within each "class" then aren’t we just confusing ourselves at exactly the point we’re trying to get clear? Maybe instead of "Class A" preferences are described with a label like, "Seamless" meaning: organic, warm, enveloping, analog-like, layered, intimate midrange, blooming bass. Instead of "Class D" preferences are described with a lable like, "Articulate", meaning: clean, detailed, punchy, precise, controlled, dynamic, focused soundstage, forward midrange, taut bass. |
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