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Hattor Audio Class D (Hypex)


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22 minutes ago, wgscott said:

 

Well his opinion is the only one that really matters.

 

For the deluded, Hypex is outstanding in terms of sound quality and value.  Having said that, the DIY option is in many ways ideal, and really requires a minimum of DIY skills.

 

Class D sucking is a fact, not my opinion.

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1 minute ago, afgverhart said:

Well, it’s not a fact at all in my setup. The Hypex NC400 kit based mono amps are outstanding.

 

Your amps sound dry, over-damped (depending on speakers) with collapsed soundstage. I can judge your amps without having heard them because that’s what class D sounds like.

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1 hour ago, wgscott said:

 

giphy.gif

 

There’s a lot of people who want to believe Class D is good for financial reasons. A lot of them have bought into the electrostatic promise and don’t want to spend money on quality amplification so they convince themselves that class D is good. They believe they’re being "smart", they’re "winning" against the industry. Every once in a while someone might dare to inform the Internet that class D sucks.

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A high quality class D will only out-perform very bad class A and A/B amps. Any decently designed will beat class D. 

 

The performamce comparison with modern high-quality class D with better topologies isn't a linear mapping across the board. In terms of control and noise floor nothing can beat good class D. The inherent flaw of class D is the use of an aggressive output filter that ruins the sound. Through tricks and technical wizardry that's over my head modern class D can eliviate some of its issues but these are improvements and not a resolution.

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sug30.jpg

 

This is the Technics SU-G30, a network all-in-one which retails for $4k. It’s a class D that supports direct digital style decoding of DSD 256 and also MQA. I saw it online used for $2k, and I couldn’t help myself — I had to pick it up.

 

But wait, doesn’t class D suck? Yes, but the SU-G30 is unique in that it’s one of the two amps (that I know of) that use Galium Nitride MOSFETs (GaN FET) and the only one which is remotely affordable. What’s special about GaN FET is that it allows the class D amplification stage to switch at 3 times rate of current MOSFETs, which is still to low but is still much closer to the ideal to eliminate the destructive effects of the steep class D output filter. By providing a lot more bandwidth, GaN FET allows for a gentler filter.

 

I had the chance to listen to the SU-G30 at Capital Audiofest for some time. Sadly the room was bad and those little Technics speakers weren’t that good. I was unsatisfied by the demo, and I’ve meaning to setup a realistic demo somewhere with a Grand Class dealer (Technic’s high end line), but with it appearing used for half off I figured I could flip it if it turned out to suck. The promise is that if it’s good enough it can eliminate a lot of gear in my system. And it’s got MQA. 

 

Stay tuned for a GUTB review of a class D that might not suck.

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 3/20/2018 at 8:29 PM, wgscott said:

 

Sorry, I only just saw this now.

 

In case anyone misunderstood, I was trying to make fun of all the useless and divisive threads like "Class D sucks" and the snobbish dismissal of all Class D amps and anything (like integrated systems) that don't cost a fortune, while at the same time suggesting that anyone who disagrees is autistic or has pervasive developmental disorder.  These are serious handicaps, and anyone who has any familiarity with them I would think would think twice about deploying them as insults.

 

I sincerely apologize for creating any impression otherwise. 

 

I thought it was pretty obvious you were just taking a dig at me. But then I supposed you'd only know that if you grasped the context.

 

BTW, just so that all my fans know I haven't once complained about anything anyone has ever posted.

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  • 2 months later...
55 minutes ago, Supperconductor said:

One of the marketing promises of Class D is immunity to AC power quality. When I lived in an apartment, the AC quality was so bad, I could hear noise in my listening seat coming through my various solid-state and tube gear (this is before I owned any Class D amps). So I tried various techniques to fix the problem and finally got fed up and bought a Furman P-2400 IT Power Conditioner. It was expensive and considered a hifi no-no because transformer isolation based power conditioners can limit dynamic swings in really power hungry amplifiers. I found that the Furman not only fixed the noise problem but, the dynamics (especially on my tube amps) got better because hum and other noise was eliminated. With my Class D amps plugged into the Furman, they sound also improved, but ESPECIALLY the dynamics. I have yet to experiment with the AC cords, I may go with DIY solution as that’s something I think I can accomplish.

 

 

Good information. Furmans are all over the audio shows along with PS Audio Powerplants — dealers like to hide them but if you look you’ll find them. With my own experience with class D I didn’t find any difference with AC cables. Since switching PSUs are inherently regulated I figures AC delivery wouldn’t make much of a difference...but maybe the Furman eliminates the switching noise from class D from getting back into the amp. Or something else.

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