Class A / class D
mastertech said:
class-d as is digital is a translated form of audio when you compare this with true Analogue and its classes a,b,ab where
the original signal is processed as is you can see why hifi revolves
around them
digital and class-d are nice but not hifi
cheers
Class A can be very nice at low volume/power but still is hopelessly old fashioned sounding like a 50's radio. It has extreme coloration and distortion above a couple of watts. It is totally at the mercy of all the parts that make it up and each one contributes to this coloration. I am not saying this can't be very pleasant, at least for a while but who wants syrup on every thing? The job the output transformers have to do makes them very expensive, large and limited in bandwidth. The class A claim to fame is the old “first watt” thing. This relates to letting through the low level information so is very noise dependant. Typical class A has high noise and low power meaning very restricted dynamics. The typical solution is to by a set of very efficient speakers that introduce even more coloration. WOW, now we are back to the 40’s!
If you want the state of the art regardless of cost, the best of the class D amps are your only choice.
The reasons are many as they are;
The very best at reproducing low level information without compression or distortion,
Very low in dynamic compression at all playback levels,
Very low in distortion at all levels and frequencies,
Very low in noise in the audio band,
Have no crossover or hysteresis distortion masking low level information,
(Any hysteresis distortion due to the output filter occurs at the peaks of the switching waveform and doesn’t interfere with the signal.)
Extremely low in coloration from parts that are within the feedback loop,
Extremely high in efficiency,
Have very little or no sonic penalty for higher power,
Have excellent rejection of power supply noise.
Have a real rightness about reproducing the leading and trailing edges of all sounds,
Have exemplary sound staging when coupled to an adequate power supply,
Their life expectancy is many years including obsolescence with no or very little maintenance required,
And last but far from least one of the modules will not cost as much as a single quality output tube. A really nice whole amp can be built for the price of a couple of quality class A output transformers.
Convinced yet? There is much more that I haven’t gone into!
You came to the wrong place to say that class D is not hi fi. But I guess it isn't if your reference is a 50's radio sound.
Roger