call me embarassed!

[shepperd]

I don't know where else to post this OK so I have been reading about this and using the words slavishly but I haven't got a clue what I'm actually saying! To the point: I have a Tripath-based amp (the Trends) and I know of some other examples like Vinnie's. So do we call these all chips amps or T-amps? What about those based on "Ice" and other types, like Nuforce, Red dragon, Flying Moth, Bel Canto, etc. are they Digital amps, switching amps or what? I don't dare ask (yes I do)... would anyone care to put the named brands into their proper nomenclature, give a brief discription of the different technologies and maybe rank them as to how they compare sonically? Maybe this could be a perminent sticky for fools like me who pretend to know and are afraid to ask. It would be a good reference guide
(he said hopefully)

[phn]

You call Tripath (TM) T-amp, just as you call a computer by Apple a Mac. All other switching-mode amps are "D-amps." I wouldn't call a switching-mode amp a chip amp even though it uses a chip.

[Pano]

Yes, normally "chip amp" refers to Class-AB amps on a chip. They've been around for years. Some are quite good.

Although many of the Class-D (switching) amps are on a chip, too - we don't use the term for them. Because the Class-AB boys got there first!

T-Amp is a term that has grown up recently to describe Tripath based amps - whoever makes them.

Maybe D-AMP could be used to describe all switching amps. Just another term for Class-D. T-AMP would be a subset of that.