Expanding the Class D Conversation: How Would You Characterize Their Differences?

@kirkwallace 

Thanks for the info! I’ve decided to take a break from trying things for a while. 

The trial period feels like it offers the best of both worlds — patience plus opportunity — but it doesn’t actually deliver the thing most valuable -- a genuine reset for full evaluation. A true break will help assess how I’m relating to my system, and whether I’m missing something significant.

Why? Listening while an amplifier is sitting in my house on a trial clock is different –  it frames every listening session as implicitly comparative even when I am not consciously evaluating. A trial period under these conditions keeps the situation artificially uncertain that doesn’t let me discover what I deeply feel. I need to see if the desire for what I heard in the AGD reasserts itself — that I find myself missing it.

In other words, I learned a lot and need to sit with it. There is a way that I can start auditioning for its own sake, NOT just driven by audiophile momentum. I want to return to the question – should I get a class D amp -- out of genuine dissatisfaction with my system.

You might suggest I "just buy one and live with it." That seems to resolve the trial clock tenseness. BUT: the "just buy it and live with it" approach just extends the test and raises the stakes. Instead of a six-week trial with a clean return, I now have an open-ended audition with a financial exit cost – re-sale -- as the termination condition.

And so the pressure doesn’t disappear; it transforms into the background question of whether I’ve made a mistake, which is arguably harder. Ownership changes the evaluative frame — loss aversion kicks in, sunk cost thinking lurks, and "living with it" can easily become "rationalizing it." I might end up keeping an amplifier not because it genuinely resolves a real need but because selling feels like I’m admitting an error.

There seems to be a psychological asymmetry: the threshold for deciding to sell something I’ve bought is almost always higher than the threshold for deciding not to buy it in the first place.

Overall, then, none of these possibilities — trial period, buy-and-potentially-sell, continued auditioning — actually address what what I think I have already discovered: the problem ("a need for a class D amp") may not exist. Changing the acquisition mechanism doesn’t change that. It just finds more elaborate ways of staying in motion when stillness is what my situation calls for.

Admirable restraint and self-knowledge, @hilde45 .

Given that your Pass is obviously a fine amp and one you are happy with, after some further “stillness” you will likely know if (or when) you “need” a class D amp (as well or instead of), but I assume that need would be born out of space, weight or temperature motivations not improved sound — although I’d love to hear the Jeff Rowland 925 monoblocks, which are Class D (Pascal, i think) and reported (by fans) to sound amazing. (There’s even a mint pair on sale JRDG 925s 60% off right now.)

Space and weight issues are what drove me to get the M10 v2 and now the Gato to replace it for our bedroom. Just no room for a big Class A or AB amp, or separates of any kind in fact. 

Thanks again for all the work and excellent reporting that went into this thread!

Really great post about audio hobby and upgrades possibilities...

Thanks for the info! I’ve decided to take a break from trying things for a while. 

The trial period feels like it offers the best of both worlds — patience plus opportunity — but it doesn’t actually deliver the thing most valuable -- a genuine reset for full evaluation. A true break will help assess how I’m relating to my system, and whether I’m missing something significant.

Why? Listening while an amplifier is sitting in my house on a trial clock is different –  it frames every listening session as implicitly comparative even when I am not consciously evaluating. A trial period under these conditions keeps the situation artificially uncertain that doesn’t let me discover what I deeply feel. I need to see if the desire for what I heard in the AGD reasserts itself — that I find myself missing it.

In other words, I learned a lot and need to sit with it. There is a way that I can start auditioning for its own sake, NOT just driven by audiophile momentum. I want to return to the question – should I get a class D amp -- out of genuine dissatisfaction with my system.

You might suggest I "just buy one and live with it." That seems to resolve the trial clock tenseness. BUT: the "just buy it and live with it" approach just extends the test and raises the stakes. Instead of a six-week trial with a clean return, I now have an open-ended audition with a financial exit cost – re-sale -- as the termination condition.

And so the pressure doesn’t disappear; it transforms into the background question of whether I’ve made a mistake, which is arguably harder. Ownership changes the evaluative frame — loss aversion kicks in, sunk cost thinking lurks, and "living with it" can easily become "rationalizing it." I might end up keeping an amplifier not because it genuinely resolves a real need but because selling feels like I’m admitting an error.

There seems to be a psychological asymmetry: the threshold for deciding to sell something I’ve bought is almost always higher than the threshold for deciding not to buy it in the first place.

Overall, then, none of these possibilities — trial period, buy-and-potentially-sell, continued auditioning — actually address what what I think I have already discovered: the problem ("a need for a class D amp") may not exist. Changing the acquisition mechanism doesn’t change that. It just finds more elaborate ways of staying in motion when stillness is what my situation calls for.

Thanks mahgister and @kirkwallace 

I assume that need would be born out of space, weight or temperature motivations not improved sound

No, it would be for sound. Those other factors are not important to me. I have space, I am in a basement. 

Imagine you always like to go to Italian and French restaurants, regularly. And someone says, "How about going to an Indian restaurant as part of your regular routine?"

You’d say, "I need to try it a few times to see if those different flavors sit well with me. If so, I’ll expand the routine to include Indian food." You're not giving up Italian or French food; you're adding something alongside them.

The Class D definitely adds new flavors; other flavors go missing. What is not certain is whether enough is gained that, despite the losses, I’d want to add it to my routine. What is clear is that badly-implemented class D is not worth adding. The question becomes, "Is it worth adding for multiple thousands of dollars?" That -- I’m not sure about.

AH! @hilde45 , I missed the idea that the new amp, if one came, would be in addition to the Pass, not instead of.  Then, for sure your question is harder to come to grips with. (Personally, as much as I depend on various Italian regional cuisines, I would hate to not have Northern & Southern Indian, Cantonese, Sichuan and Korean food readily available; but what if Class D is more like merely very good [New Zealand]* cookery? )

Adding @atmasphere ’s class D monos seems very tempting in that context; a bit easier to justify than those JRDG 925s, but still probably not a “need.”

* To my Kiwi friends, no offense is intended here, and one could substitute English/Scottish/Dutch/Argentine and no doubt multiple other cultures’ cooking that offer a fine degree of comfort and pleasure but are not paragons of technique and flavor.