Which sounds better?

[dekiller]

Which Class-D sounds better?

NC500, 1200AS2, Pascal, Anaview, or anything else? It needed to power my Ologe Ten loudspeaker which is 3-way dual 10" rated 300W@4ohm with 90dB efficiency. At the present moment, it works with my custom-made 300B SET and sounds nice. But, not its full potential for sure. I think Class-D worth a try.

 

[IVX]

Technically, NC500 10x times better vs others (THD, output impedance). No idea about the sound.

 

[dekiller]

Technically, NC500 10x times better vs others (THD, output impedance). No idea about the sound.

Thanks for your reply. My concern is more on sound, as SS amps always 100-1000 times better than SET.

 

[IVX]

All of your candidates are class D closed-loop designs with tons of feedback. So there is no principal difference as you've with ss vs sst yet. Only in case NC500 the feedback loop is sophisticated and much more effective weapon vs others amps from your list. I believe such amps have to sound like others ss amps with a lot of loop gain and THD .000*(Acuphase, ML etc). The others class D could sound different due to its lacks in highs region. Especially I'm impressed with Pascal amp, which promises kinda "unprecedented" THD performances, which actually around .1% at 6.3kHz )) If you still wish a class D, the only way to get something principal other one is the open loop digitally modulated PWM amp. It's a power DAC in fact, I've tried one as headphones amp, with TAS5558+64 LVC gates as a power stage, BTW quite ideal one. It sounds not like a closed loop amp, TAS5558+TAS5624 for instance, however, I can not say it is better or worse yet, slightly different and that's it (actually I have a strange feeling of "darkness" in the sound of TAS5558+TAS5624. UcD sounds brighter, more transparent. Freq.resp are matched). The current project what I debugging right now contains switchable noise-shaper, so I can switch by iPhone close/open loop online and hear the difference right away. If I am able to hear that, probably all my feelings are my sympathetic induction. However, an open-loop digital amp has ridiculously low PSRR, in fact, the power supply affects the sound even more than digital modulator I2S->PWM itself. And when someone reports about poor sounding Ti open-loop ewboard powered HP laptop's power-brick, I just laugh.

 

[dekiller]

All of your candidates are class D closed-loop designs with tons of feedback. So there is no principal difference as you've with ss vs sst yet. Only in case NC500 the feedback loop is sophisticated and much more effective weapon vs others amps from your list. I believe such amps have to sound like others ss amps with a lot of loop gain and THD .000*(Acuphase, ML etc). The others class D could sound different due to its lacks in highs region. Especially I'm impressed with Pascal amp, which promises kinda "unprecedented" THD performances, which actually around .1% at 6.3kHz )) If you still wish a class D, the only way to get something principal other one is the open loop digitally modulated PWM amp. It's a power DAC in fact, I've tried one as headphones amp, with TAS5558+64 LVC gates as a power stage, BTW quite ideal one. It sounds not like a closed loop amp, TAS5558+TAS5624 for instance, however, I can not say it is better or worse yet, slightly different and that's it (actually I have a strange feeling of "darkness" in the sound of TAS5558+TAS5624. UcD sounds brighter, more transparent. Freq.resp are matched). The current project what I debugging right now contains switchable noise-shaper, so I can switch by iPhone close/open loop online and hear the difference right away. If I am able to hear that, probably all my feelings are my sympathetic induction. However, an open-loop digital amp has ridiculously low PSRR, in fact, the power supply affects the sound even more than digital modulator I2S->PWM itself. And when someone reports about poor sounding Ti open-loop ewboard powered HP laptop's power-brick, I just laugh.

Maybe I should turn my head to Sanders Magtech. Thanks.

 

[dekiller]

Hi, There's a thread around (sorry cannot locate it at present) that suggests the Sure Electronics AA-Ab32313, for some reason they are sold under the Wondom name on Ebay.

WONDOM 2X 400Watt Class D Audio Amplifier Board Compact - T-AMP Module Stereo 6959687310848 | eBay

Is the best reasonably priced Class D amp available, I am using the 300 watt version & very happy with it.

Cheers

There is a Sure 2 X 500W T-amp also. Some say Class T has better sound, but, I can't see more products after Bel Canto.

 

[AleksandrsB]

IVX

!
==about poor sounding Ti open-loop ewboard powered HP laptop's power-brick, I just laugh. ==
Hello! What kind of TI thats You mean here ??? For me that ti325x is the pre-filter FB amps .... Or not??
Any other???
Thanks!

 

[IVX]

Aleksandrs, the open loop Ti power stages are only a few for today(however, about 5 years ago all their power stages was an open loop), one of them is TAS5342. So TAS5558+TAS5342 = open loop digital(I2S->PWM) AMP, or Power DAC, with no feedback around a power state at all.

 

[AleksandrsB]

Thanks for Your answer, IVX

!