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The "new" Class D vs A/B amps

Pure guess, likely distortion or maybe the interaction between the amp and speakers?
Neither of which will be happening with either Class D or Class AB decently designed modern amps.

I am confident that if you did a properly controlled, blind test you would not be able to tell one from the other.
 
To think you can hear things that no one else can is borderline mental illness.
It really isn't.

It is only January and we already have the 'post of the year.' This needs to be displayed on the ASR site banner!
And no, it doesn't

It is to be expected - when everyone will hear stuff resulting from perceptive biases. If you are not aware of this, then naturally you are going to assume you are hearing real differences. Even if you are aware of it, you can still hear differences if the comparison is not blind.

The only antidote is education in the nature of modern electronics (pretty much universally transparent) AND the mechanisms by which our human auditory system fools us. Calling people mentally ill will not help (and is insulting to those who suffer from actual mental illness)

Doing a personal well controlled blind test is a great educator (and humbler) for the formerly golden eared.
 
Getting ready to purchase a Buckeye NCx500 2 Ch amp to drive B&W 802's. I have read glowing reviews and Amir has put this on his recommended list above other seriously expensive amps. I was originally considering ATI 6002-2, Anthem STR, Mark Levinson 5302. From reading reviews of the Hypex and Purify amps, it seems that the new class D amps are outperforming the "higher-end" A/B monsters. Is this actually the case? Other (anecdotal) reviews regarding Class D have said that the distortion is low, power is abundant....but mid's and lows lack texture and slam. I have no experience here, lack a golden ear, and am fighting a bias that "heavier, and more expensive" has to be better:( Please advise.....Would love to spend less if I was not sacrificing performance....

There's so much bullshit spouted by the popular hi-fi press about the sonic differences between Class D and Class A/B.

Fortunately, this is Audio Science Review, where objective measurements are what really count.

I'm in the process of converting a stereo 3-way passive speaker to fully active. I already owned 2 x Benchmark AHB2s (113 dB SINAD) running in bridged mono. Reverting them to stereo, I still needed a further 2 channels of power amplification. I could have bought another AHB2 at a cost of £3700. Instead, I bought a pair of Hypex Nilai 500 DIY monos (113 dB SINAD) for £1656. After building them and listening to them, they're sonically indistinguishable from the AHB2s.

So, I decided to buy a pair of Hypex Nilai 250 stereos and sell the AHB2s. The Hypex amps cost me £2472 and the AHB2s will fetch ~£3500. All in, I have 6 channels (1.5 kW) of amplification into 8 ohm for £4128. I'm £628 out of pocket vs £3700 out of pocket and have 2.5 x the power available had I simply bought another AHB2.

Don't get me wrong, I loved the AHB2s, but the Hypex measure almost every bit as well as the AHB2s and are audibly identical.

The days of Class D being inferior to Class A or Class A/B are long gone. Class D is also considerably more efficient, so less energy/heat is wasted which can only be good for our rapidly overheating planet.

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Go with Class D, save some money, enjoy the performance and revel in the fact that even in some small way you're helping to save the planet.
 
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Try it out and use your ears!
I have been there several times now, latest trying out Hypex NCx and latest Purify versions. Yes, they sound very “clean and correct” with wonderfull control of speakers, but every time I am ending up with class A/B solutions. After moving focus from figures and asking myself, “what kind of sound” do really touch me most when enjoying music!
Reference isn't necessarily preference. If you are spending time between classes of amp think you're missing the bigger picture in any case.
 
Pure guess, likely distortion or maybe the interaction between the amp and speakers?

Good Class D amps employ PFFB (post filter feed back) and have vanishingly low output impedance.

Operated within their (very broad) design limitations, the audibility of speaker/amplifier interaction is non-existent.

A lot of what people think they hear is driven by sighted bias and a lack of proper level matching. One amplifier playing a fraction of a decibel louder than another will usually sound better. This is why properly controlled, blind listening comparisons are so essential.
 
no no no, all differences are audible and mappable! :) LOL
Omg omg the usual 3 meters (x2 bcuz round-trip) of speaker cable have 24 times the impedance of your amplifier! That's 24 times worse! You're totally ruining the bass response, it'll be so sloppy! Need to use 9AWG at the very least to not completely ruin your experience!!
 
Omg omg the usual 3 meters (x2 bcuz round-trip) of speaker cable have 24 times the impedance of your amplifier! That's 24 times worse! You're totally ruining the bass response, it'll be so sloppy! Need to use 9AWG at the very least to not completely ruin your experience!!

OMG, should I ditch my Canare 4S11 and make speaker cables out of 35 mm² (2 AWG) welding cable instead?
 
OMG, should I ditch my Canare 4S11 and make speaker cables out of 35 mm² (2 AWG) welding cable instead?
Yes of course. Unfortunately, the banana plugs will remain 6AWG naturally. But you'll get that nice pregnant anaconda look, which inproves sound. Don't forget heavy duty risers.
 
OMG, should I ditch my Canare 4S11 and make speaker cables out of 35 mm² (2 AWG) welding cable instead?

Works for me!

It's not welding cable, but it is 2AWG, so I've got that going for me, which is nice.

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And bi-wired too, because I could, at speaker and amps, same terminals both ends, all from the junkbox.
 
Works for me!

It's not welding cable, but it is 2AWG, so I've got that going for me, which is nice.

View attachment 420668

And bi-wired too, because I could, at speaker and amps, same terminals both ends, all from the junkbox.
Someone from Audioquest sees those and they'll be selling cryogenic audiophile offset lugs.
 
Works for me!

It's not welding cable, but it is 2AWG, so I've got that going for me, which is nice.

View attachment 420668

And bi-wired too, because I could, at speaker and amps, same terminals both ends, all from the junkbox.
You know, reflecting on this -- I think that audiophiles could take a page from saltwater fisherpersons. Hooks bigger than size "1" are called "1/0", "2/0", etc.
Do they have 2/0 gauge wire?
oh.
yes.
they.
do.
 
Do they have 2/0 gauge wire?
I have some 2" (cross-section) cable that was used when they added Cogen coke-fire power plant down the street from me. My brother was on the hookup crew and he brought me a few 12 and 18" sections for thumping semi-tires.

They trim the insulation, dip it in this $hit, and cinch it with a 1/2X18" torque/ratchet. I think the torque was 75fp. or 175fp. It's been close to 40 years now.

They actually tore the Cogen (s) (there were 3 total) back out when PG&E did a huge upgrade from an old oil fire to a clean burn natural gas fire plant.

I've seen quite a bit of water-cooled hard-line being dug up from a dam they were tearing out. It had to be a 6-8" cross-section. Kind of like the pic.

I wonder what that cost per foot? :cool: I remember one of the engineers was commenting on how things have changed from that tech to larger aluminum cabling and that the aluminum was better for HHV and a LOT less expensive.

I know I've had to tear out a lot of aluminum/copper-clad RCAs as a campaign. They were all replaced with domestic .9999 copper and the power amps would light up (trigger), where they wouldn't before with the aluminum/copper-clad. That aluminum $hit grows barnacles, if you don't use a contact enhancer. Never been a fan of
aluminum/clad cabling they are starting to use in a lot of newer heavy equipment.
 

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OMG, should I ditch my Canare 4S11 and make speaker cables out of 35 mm² (2 AWG) welding cable instead?
I use 2 pairs of car jump leads.
 
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