My thoughts on my first Class D amp

@jaymark 

What impresses me with your description is the quick-swap setup — being able to move amps in and out in under five minutes is probably the single most useful methodological advantage a home listener can have. It comes out in your observations' precision. 

My own setup is similarly configured for easy amp and preamp swaps, which I've found indispensable for allowing for different tests leading to reliable conclusions. 

I also appreciate your value orientation. Five decades of careful system building without treating price as a proxy for quality. Excellent. And you're distinguishing what you've actually heard from what you haven't — flagging the AGD lineup as unknown territory — is refreshing in the hobby.

Oh, and while I agree that commenters' broad characterizations of entire amp classes probably overgeneralize, I strongly suspect that does not fully dissolve the observations either. In other words, there does seem to be something sonically emblematic at the class level that shows up consistently enough to be useful as a (at least temporary) rule of thumb.

Generally speaking, Class D is where is at if you want to listen to music as it was intended by the artist. So clean and efficient.

I'm a broken record on this topic. If you want to hear class D that has meat on the bones and sounds like real music, try the Wyred 4 Sound ST-500. Used ones sometimes come up F.S. in the $550 - $650 range. It's a steal if you can find it.

I've had mine since 2018. Pretty sure it was 3 years old when I bought it. The class D module is ICEPower. This amp is absolutely bulletproof, unflappable. It just works, sounds great and actually has a pretty nice purple light. This is a nearfield system with a changing cast of 2-ways speakers: Harbeth 30.1s; ATC SCM12 Pros; Aerial Acoustic 5Bs; and vintage KEF 103.2s. All sounded very nice indeed on this amp.

I first "experimented" with this class D amp out of necessity, because I don't have the room for a class A/B amp. But now I wouldn't use anything else. I ended up getting 2 Bel Canto amps, one also using ICEPower, and monoblocks that use NCore amp boards. They all sound wonderful to me.

The original Tripath amps had the warmth and meat but they were not very high power. The Gan Systems evaluation amp boards had the ability to turn loop feedback off and in that configuration they have a lot of the Pass sound. I prefer the feedback off on those amps personally. Gan Systems made those evaluation boards to demonstrate the higher linearity of the GaN devices and less need for feedback however I do not know if manufacturers followed their lead or opted for feedback and lower THD specs vs pure sonic results. 

Interesting comment I read tonight elsewhere, and it makes one wonder if I change amps to something much more revealing, will it trigger a follow-on desire to replace other components later as well.  Caused a pause.  Here is the comment:  

"Class D amps tend to be very revealing, very low noise, very fast. Upstream gear like a DAC, a preamp, and speaker voicing become more exposed. If something sounds off, people may blame the amp." 

I wonder how many people have upgraded to one of these great new ClassD amps or ClassD monoblocks - now looking to change speakers, DACs, or other components in order to tame something they are hearing too much of now.