The most revealing, unforgiving and detailed class-T amplifier on the market ?

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Hi guys, I am asking this to people who have had experiences with class-T amps.

Which brand and model according to you has the most revealing, brutally honest and detailed nature ?

I am actually looking for T-amps for studio applications and would love to have an amp which produces a very honest representation of a mix.

Something which sounds great with a great mix but which blatantly reveals the flaws of a bad mix.

Thanks in advance!! :)
 
For studio use, go with Hypex. Tripath amps can sound ultra-detailed but that's not the same as accuracy. The DAC makes a bigger difference in regards to resolution, and I would look into that first. With the more revealing DACs, the Tripath amps just have way too much emphasis on the treble. These amps actually sound better with less revealing sources.
 
Tripath amps can sound ultra-detailed but that's not the same as accuracy. The DAC makes a bigger difference in regards to resolution, and I would look into that first.

HI Cotdt :) thanks for your input but what is the difference between detailed and accuracy ? Are those not supposed to work hand in hand to offer the truest representation of the sound source ?? Are you also implying that Tripaths are not accurate ? and if so why ?

For the DAC I have been trying to find differences between the Yulong D100 and the Lavry DA11(which I own) ... on paper how could I ever know which one is better ?

Thanks in advance :)
 
HI Cotdt :) thanks for your input but what is the difference between detailed and accuracy ? Are those not supposed to work hand in hand to offer the truest representation of the sound source ?? Are you also implying that Tripaths are not accurate ? and if so why ?

For the DAC I have been trying to find differences between the Yulong D100 and the Lavry DA11(which I own) ... on paper how could I ever know which one is better ?

Thanks in advance :)

T-amps (out of a good DAC) sound very detailed because there is more emphasis on the treble. This is not the same as accuracy, because in real life voices are not supposed to sound so metallic. Whereas a Hypex amp sounds much more similar to my linear solid state amps. They are more neutral.

I would highly recommend you make your own DAC, as they are cheaper and are state of the art. The power supply is very important, and the output stage is very important. I like the Twisted Pear offerings.
 
This is news to me and I've been using them for almost 10 years. Maybe you've had output filter or power supply problems?

I have the 41Hz amps. The frequency response measures flat and distortion low, so it seems to be working as it should. But subjectively, there is a treble emphasis and it sounds like notes are not decaying properly, giving a thin sound. The amp is too bright and sibilant to listen to an extended period of time. It might be that I am young, or that my Twisted Pear DAC is highly revealing, but I find the T-amp to not be accurate.

By comparison, the Hypex sounds more full, with proper decay of notes. It sounds like my linear amps. The details are all there but not emphasized like the T-amps.
 
The amp is too bright and sibilant to listen to an extended period of time. It might be that I am young, or that my Twisted Pear DAC is highly revealing, but I find the T-amp to not be accurate.

Is it so on all tracks ?? What type of music do you listen to ? Are you sure that it's not your speaker which are super bright ? or your listening position close to walls ?

95% of Today's pop music, dubstep, dance music and other styles suffer from very crappy, over-bright, piercing and sibilant problems.

While listening on top professional equipment, those tracks sound awful and very hard to listen to ALL THE TIME.

By the way even on Sade- Smooth Operator there are ugly sibilances here and there :)

Try something, if you have TRACY CHAPMAN - FAST CAR on vinyl, cd or wav , try it and tell me how you hear her vocals ?
 
I'll get the song later today and tell you how it sounds on my setup. Keep in mind that I am young, in my twenties (despite being active in the hifi scene for 15 years), can hear to 20kHz, and am very sensitive to higher frequencies. I just can't stand the over-brightness of what people call accurate reproduction.

I have 20 pairs of speakers both commercial and DIY. The ones I am listening to now have ruler flat frequency response and low distortion, so it can be considered a studio monitor.

If you are a recording artist, wouldn't it make sense to have for reference the kind of speakers what most of your listeners will be using? You want people to hear what you intended.

Hmmm... I just played back TRACY CHAPMAN - FAST CAR and there are no vocals in the recording, just humming. Did I get the right song?
 
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Over brightness is not at all called accurate reproduction.

Accurate reproduction is when what you hear is the closest possible to the source signal.

So if the song is bright, it has to reproduce the brightness, if the song has sibilances it has to show ... if the track is badly engineered and sounds harsh and thin and crap .. then it's how you are supposed to hear it.


A studio speaker + amp + dac does just this ... show crap when there is crap and only sounds good when the mix and master are outstanding.

TRACY CHAPMAN _ FAST CAR ... has vocals in it
 
I sent you a PM regarding the track.

Considering that every piece of gear sounds different, despite all measuring well, how does one determine which is more accurate? There are just so many factors. I have more amplifiers than I can count, and it's my T-amps that have the worst problem with bright metallic sounds. Even if I plug in HD650 headphones into a T-amp, it sounds bright and thin, which as everyone knows, is not how this headphone sounds.

What I'm trying to say is, we can't assume that the harshest sounding gear is always the most accurate.
 
Just describe the vocals of the song I told you, if you describe it correctly I will tell you if your system is accurate in the mid/highs

Haha... which system? I can't test the T-amps anymore, I gave them away to my grandmother and cousin. But if I can somehow get the song, I'll let you know.

You realize that at 8kHz, there's a +-30dB variation (!) in hearing amongst different individuals... I'm not sure my descriptions will match what you hear even if our systems were identical.
 
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The amp is too bright and sibilant to listen to an extended period of time. It might be that I am young, or that my Twisted Pear DAC is highly revealing, but I find the T-amp to not be accurate.
That could be higher order harmonics, like 7th and so. They tend to make an amp sound bright. I need to get in there and measure a few T-Amps again. Maybe that's what is bothering you.

When I was in my 20s I was not a fan of tweeters. Most sounded artificial and "Hi-Fi" to me, not like the sounds I hear in nature. 30 years later, they don't bother me as much. ;) I still hear a lot of speakers with too much tweeter, tho . With T-Amps and others with a low pass filter on the output, you have to be careful with impedance. Too light a load and you will get a real boost at the very top. For us old folks, we may not notice it much, younger ears will.

FWIW, in tests of T-Amps vs Gainclone vs Tube (all well built), we have always picked tube, but the T-amp was not far behind. The Gainclones always sounded muddy and closed in, no space. No bad, but not as good as the tube or Tripath. Tastes vary,
 
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Back to the original question, the 2024 Tripath chip in a well built amp has always sounded the most detailed to me. But I can't see using it for pro monitoring, as it's so low power. The bigger chips and chip sets are very nice, but not as detailed.
 
Back to the original question, the 2024 Tripath chip in a well built amp has always sounded the most detailed to me. But I can't see using it for pro monitoring, as it's so low power. The bigger chips and chip sets are very nice, but not as detailed.

Pro audio monitoring and mixing engineering is made at whisper level :) Top professionals don't blast the speakers :) For example I use the big monitors to impress clients and very rarely to test for lows.

Are you saying the the 2024 is the most detailed and revealing chip for tripath ?

If so what's wrong with the more powerful chips ?
 
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Nothing wrong with the others, they have their own good points, one being power.
The 2020 is my favorite for its well rounded sound. The 2024 does have a bit of an advantage in subjective resolution, tho.

Give either a good power supply, good quality caps and well built output filter and you're ready to go.
 
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