GaN FET Amps vs. Traditional Class D Amps

Having stumbled upon this... 

I've been running a HiFi Rose RS520 for about a year now.  I got a really great deal that I couldn't pass up on a slightly used unit. 

They say its Class AD which is really a Class D GanFET that does 250wpc at 8 or 4 ohm. (In testing the amp does over 340wpc at 4 ohm ) 

I wanted an AIO to keep things simple, but with AIOs you have to make a few compromises.  

In terms of sound. Its neutral in terms of the amp, although the ESS Dac could be considered 'brighter than neutral'.  

I've been looking at GaN amps because I wanted something that could be always on and not heat the house. So that meant Class D over anything else. 

In terms of the cheap chifi I'd say Douk / Ampapa has the best sound, and built to allow for op-amp swapping.  I tested the Douk A5 Pro and it sounded great for the price but bright when compared to the RS520.  

I've seen the Purifi  amps, and they are really good.  Its a question of what does the input buffer look like. 

If you're looking at GaN, Look at Orchard Audio.  Leo now has a plate amp and also an upgrade board to allow for op-amp swapping. 

His amps are also fairly fast switching. Over 1mHz . 

I don't think you can go wrong w either a high end GaN or a Purifi based amp.  It depends on what you want to do. 
 

Also remember that what you hear is a sum of the components. Plus you.

@hbarrel post with the Buckeye link is spot on. Gan boys can only compare to older MOSFET tech and are way more expensive than we need these days. The newest tech by Putzeys and others have overcome all their arguments with newer tech. Just try to get a Gan manufacturer to a/b against a well implemented silicon/MOSFET amp. You won't find one willing. 

You won't find one willing.

@ericrhodes1 Pretty sure this statement is false if personal experience is any indication. 

I moved from Class A/B to the Mola Mola Perca.  The professional reviews are outstanding. Probably the most important reason why I purchased the amp is that my Vivid B1 Decade speakers pair extremely well with them.  As it turns out, Vivid often uses Mola Mola amplification at audio shows. Plenty of power and extraordinarily transparent without sounding clinical.  It’s the end-game amp for me.

Yes Vivid is often shown with Mola Mola amplification; Bill Parish at GTT is the distributor here in the US of both.  But when he shows off the bigger Vivid Giya speakers, it is usually with either Audionet (class AB) or his TLA (True Life Audio)) tube / hybrid  equipment.  The latest Mola Mola amps sound amazing and have the obvious class D advantages.  The Audionet or TLA components are bigger, heavier and sound better :).  To me the argument is answered by what you are willing to purchase, place and own.  I have owned the MM Kalugas, and at first they sounded amazing.  but as others here have stated, they became boring and lifeless compared to the Audionet Max amps I had downstairs.  It was impossible not to compare and notice in the same home.  So I moved the Max amps upstairs and sprung for the Heisenbergs downstairs.  Yes heavy, not hot and simply amazing in all regards.  Maybe if I have to move it will change me, but from where I sit, I have the best.