I added a follow up to the article I wrote about my journey with an ICE Class-D Amplifier build I recently finished.....Hope you enjoy
"Back in school days getting a “D” was a bad thing. I had friends that got very good at changing a D to a B on their report cards! But I’m here to tell you that in this case, a “D” is a VERY GOOD thing. I’ve been in the HiFi retail business for near 50 years. I’ve had the luxury of being able to audition dozens if not hundreds of higher end HiFi components at home for extended periods of time. It always boiled down to “Length of Listening”….Some amplifiers and/or speakers were simply unlistenable for longer than 30 minutes or so. They were somehow fatiguing and I would simply shut them off and do something else. Many of these items were amazing on first few minutes of listening, but then grew very tiring and just not interesting to listen to the music any longer. Some components would put me into some kind of HiFi nirvanas and I’d be listening until the wee hours of the morning. I simply didn’t want the session to end.
Well, last night was one of those LONG nights! Using the ICE amp with a Zero Zone Conrad Johnson clone tube preamp and a Node2i/Gustard X-16 DAC playing Tidal direct, into my KEF LS50 Metas, I was smitten! And I didn’t hit the sack until well after midnight.
This amplifier defies all logic. $300, Kit Built, sparse parts, the size of a small box of cigars, doesn’t even get warm…….and it holds fort with my acclaimed Nelson Pass First Watt F5v2!…….But it has better bass!
Maybe it’s my near 70 year old hearing. Maybe I’m easily sonically pleased. But I don’t think so. During COVID, I’ve bought so many amplifiers and other HiFi gear and returned it because it sounded horrible. I can’t hear anything above 15Khz, but I can hear sound stage, imaging, air around the instruments, dynamics…..and I believe these things are more important to good HiFi that frequency response. And this ICE amplifier offers these attributes up in shovels full!
The question I now have to ask…..How much better does a $XXXXX.xx Jeff Rowland Class-D amplifier sound? Diminishing returns you say?
Yup, we got ourselves a VERY interesting hobby!"
for the full article: www.rvbprecision.com
"Back in school days getting a “D” was a bad thing. I had friends that got very good at changing a D to a B on their report cards! But I’m here to tell you that in this case, a “D” is a VERY GOOD thing. I’ve been in the HiFi retail business for near 50 years. I’ve had the luxury of being able to audition dozens if not hundreds of higher end HiFi components at home for extended periods of time. It always boiled down to “Length of Listening”….Some amplifiers and/or speakers were simply unlistenable for longer than 30 minutes or so. They were somehow fatiguing and I would simply shut them off and do something else. Many of these items were amazing on first few minutes of listening, but then grew very tiring and just not interesting to listen to the music any longer. Some components would put me into some kind of HiFi nirvanas and I’d be listening until the wee hours of the morning. I simply didn’t want the session to end.
Well, last night was one of those LONG nights! Using the ICE amp with a Zero Zone Conrad Johnson clone tube preamp and a Node2i/Gustard X-16 DAC playing Tidal direct, into my KEF LS50 Metas, I was smitten! And I didn’t hit the sack until well after midnight.
This amplifier defies all logic. $300, Kit Built, sparse parts, the size of a small box of cigars, doesn’t even get warm…….and it holds fort with my acclaimed Nelson Pass First Watt F5v2!…….But it has better bass!
Maybe it’s my near 70 year old hearing. Maybe I’m easily sonically pleased. But I don’t think so. During COVID, I’ve bought so many amplifiers and other HiFi gear and returned it because it sounded horrible. I can’t hear anything above 15Khz, but I can hear sound stage, imaging, air around the instruments, dynamics…..and I believe these things are more important to good HiFi that frequency response. And this ICE amplifier offers these attributes up in shovels full!
The question I now have to ask…..How much better does a $XXXXX.xx Jeff Rowland Class-D amplifier sound? Diminishing returns you say?
Yup, we got ourselves a VERY interesting hobby!"
for the full article: www.rvbprecision.com