who has moved from a class a/b amplifier to CLass D digital ?

Pio1980 said:
No suprizes from your previous postings, I thought some context would be useful for others.
In my own experience, the technically elegant dual TPA3118 Allo Volt+D from an Indian IT company is a more sonically interesting and musically involving amp within it's limitations than many other amps I've used.
Click to expand...
Was just asking. Im not sure why you didnt just say so in the first place and eliminate anyone having to ask the obvious.

I was also looking at those volt D+ units. They are less powerful than the amp i ended up going with. The w4s st-500 i did get has better build quality than any amp ive had. Rca’s are the good kind, the speaker posts also top notch.
 
Last edited:
gentlejax said:
Was just asking. Im not sure why you didnt just say so in the first place and eliminate anyone having to ask the obvious.

I was also looking at those volt D+ units. They are less powerful than the amp i ended up going with. The w4s st-500 i did get has better build quality than any amp ive had. Rca’s are the good kind, the speaker posts also top notch.
Click to expand...
Some at least of the Class D amps have shown great promise for critical home listening, but the highly regarded ones are price competitive with other better known options. I'm not yet ready to spend 'big amp' money in a technology that is still evolving, witness GaNFETs.
 
Pio1980 said:
Some at least of the Class D amps have shown great promise for critical home listening, but the highly regarded ones are price competitive with other better known options. I'm not yet ready to spend 'big amp' money in a technology that is still evolving, witness GaNFETs.
Click to expand...

I spent equal amount for the class D W4S amp I have as I did for a fully rebuilt adcom 555. the new price on the W4S amp is over $1K . I took a risk. but it is fine. and much nicer than anticipated. It has ICE chips which I think are on 5th generation or something like that now. I had Pioneer ICE amps and that was 10yrs ago...they also made Pioneer Elite recievers with ICE chips. I dont think they are going anywhere
 
Tried a Labgruppen IPD2400 earlier this year to drive the 18" subwoofers in my open-baffle setup. Decided to get that one after lots of reading reviews and marketing hype. What a nightmare that was. The amp was so noisy, where ever I placed it, it was just plain unusable. Built quality etc. was certainly not comparable to any of the 70s or 80s amps I used so far.

I was lucky that there was a problem with the display, so I returned it for a full refund. Then got very lucky and found an Accuphase P-550 for a song due to some very slight cosmetic imperfections. No problems whatsoever, and just mean fat bass all day long :)

I won't write off Class-D entirely, 'still curious to compare it with other A/B amps, but I would certainly not buy one without a solid return policy.
 
DrTebi said:
Tried a Labgruppen IPD2400 earlier this year to drive the 18" subwoofers in my open-baffle setup. Decided to get that one after lots of reading reviews and marketing hype. What a nightmare that was. The amp was so noisy, where ever I placed it, it was just plain unusable. Built quality etc. was certainly not comparable to any of the 70s or 80s amps I used so far.

I was lucky that there was a problem with the display, so I returned it for a full refund. Then got very lucky and found an Accuphase P-550 for a song due to some very slight cosmetic imperfections. No problems whatsoever, and just mean fat bass all day long :)

I won't write off Class-D entirely, 'still curious to compare it with other A/B amps, but I would certainly not buy one without a solid return policy.
Click to expand...

For the Labgruppen, the noise was fan noise or was noise thru speakers?

Bass not good either?

Seems odd as that brand of amp runs a lot of live music/pro audio gigs and what I've seen gets great reviews.
 
Gibsonian said:
For the Labgruppen, the noise was fan noise or was noise thru speakers?

Bass not good either?

Seems odd as that brand of amp runs a lot of live music/pro audio gigs and what I've seen gets great reviews.
Click to expand...
It was all noise in the signal, not from the fan. And it changed depending on which other component (pre-amp etc.) was next to it or below or on top. Tried it all, then just give up. Cannot even tell you whether the bass was good or not. There were definitely some EFI/RF noise issues.

I should add though that my mid and mid-woofer both are quite sensitive at 96dB.

I don't know, maybe in a live music setup the signal noise is not so apparent as it is in a living room.
 
Gibsonian said:
Something wrong with your unit or with specs listed. S/N ratio >102 dB listed for that amp.
Click to expand...
No, it was not that kind of noise. It was as though it was picking up noise from any other transformers that were running near by. That's why it made a difference when I put a preamp on top, then next to it and so on... every time I did that, the noise changed somehow.
Thus, it was some kind of bad EFI insulation or whatever that is called......
 
I've just asked a custom amp builder to make me a "Class D digital amp". As a point of detail he pointed out that those amps commonly called D class digital are actually 'Switching Amps '. Was news to me, so I'm having a 'Switching amp' built.
 
E.Man said:
I've just asked a custom amp builder to make me a "Class D digital amp". As a point of detail he pointed out that those amps commonly called D class digital are actually 'Switching Amps '. Was news to me, so I'm having a 'Switching amp' built.
Click to expand...
Class 'D' is "switch mode"" operation.
 
With the garage system, I've used a number of amplifiers over the years. I first dove into switchers by replacing a NAD 325BEE with a Crown XLS1500. Good news: midrange response was better, but top end while clean lacks extension. Upper harmonic trails just hit a brick wall and die.

About a year ago, I replaced that with a Hypex Ncore NC502 based amplifier. This is one of Bruno Putzey's designs found in quite a few brands such as Mola Mola, Merrill, NAD, Marantz, et. al. Midrange response is excellent with improved top end response over the Crown. I've yet to hear a switcher that fully competes at the top with a good class A or AB amp but this one is quite nice and compact especially for a 300 watt/channel amp.
 
I ran the wyred4sound st500 pretty hard last night. Then today i ran the adcom 555gfa about the same.

I could tell no benefit of running the 555 so the plan is still to find new home for him.

I had changed preamps and that was the first comparison on the new pre
 
gentlejax said:
Im not refering to the crown XLS drivecore Class D pro amps. I think everyone has tried them as they were such a good $ to watt at one point. I am talking about the Ice chip amps or the other classD amps that have sprung up recent years that were made for home use.

has anyone gone from something like a adcom or B&K or HK or carver or any other well known common middle range amp to the class D amps and what were you thoughts.

I am waiting on a restored adcom gfa555 and a W4S St500 to compare . winner takes all looser finds new home
Click to expand...

I went from an audiolab 8000a mk2 (A/B) to a TPA3116 class d amplifier and a passive attenuator.
The audiolab was nice to listen to but could not match the 3116 for critical listening. The audiolab hit the classifieds years ago.
 
Pio1980 said:
No suprizes from your previous postings, I thought some context would be useful for others.
In my own experience, the technically elegant dual TPA3118 Allo Volt+D from an Indian IT company is a more sonically interesting and musically involving amp within it's limitations than many other amps I've used.
Click to expand...

As Pio just mentioned, the Volt+ is a VERY special Class D amp. Never heard anything sound this great under $500 and at $69, it's one the best bang for your bucks in the audio industry. The Volt+D is $129 and offers a little more than th normal Volt+. But I own the Volt+. Anyway, with that said, I wanted to try something else. So I have been doing a ton of research over the past month or so and am going to Class A/B with the NuForce STA-200. Which is funny because NuForce usually builds Class D stuff. I am VERY curious and excited to do some comparisons.

upload_2019-1-2_14-12-35.png
 
HiFiJeff said:
Have this

https://www.allo.com/sparky/volt-plus-stepped-attenuator.html

And switching to this

https://www.optoma.com/ap-nuforce/product/sta200/
Click to expand...

Switching?
From what I can tell, you've simply ordered another amp without hearing it first.

The Nuforce outputs 4x the watts of the Volt+.
To my mind very possibly a case of "apples to oranges".

Speaking as someone who has moth-balled a couple of fairly well respected vintage A/B amps in favor of Class D, I did so because I've yet to hear an A/B amp with dynamics that begin to compare with the more powerful brethren of TPA 3116/8
 
Last edited:
I have never listened to HiFi or Audiophile Class D, but the whole concept seems like there might be unknown interactions between the output filter of the amp and the speaker's crossover and driver impedance loading on the output filter. So, those that have Class D amps, they sound good on all speakers in your system?
 
On all my JBLs anyway. Bi-amped the 4333s using the DSP for the LF xover and some correction for the upper mid on one. Sounded really good. Imaging was outstanding. Delayed the 15s to match the horns. 4333s are on their sides with the lens vertical and woofers on the outside. Bas was definitely tighter.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

K
Any experience with Class D amps and impressions?
9 10 11
Replies
201
Views
25K
Frbock
Frbock
Rpower53
Impressed with a Crown XLi 2500 class A/B amplifier
Replies
15
Views
7K
Rick@68
R
G
BC Acoustique 80w pure class A...anyone?
Replies
9
Views
701
gravis82
G
B
  • Locked
Has Class D come of age?
4 5 6
Replies
100
Views
7K
Urizen
U
W
  • Locked
Class A, AB vs latest Class D amps? How close is Class D?
4 5 6
Replies
102
Views
4K
ehoove
ehoove
Back
Top Bottom