Are Class D Amplifiers really "digital"?

[fas42]

 

 

[fas42]

9 hours ago, R1200CL said:

 

In Bruno Putzeys interview you can learn something about his design. He also reveal what class A amp that may be equal to class D in about 6:45. And I must say one is not a very expensive amplifier. The other is totally crazy price.

 

 

Hmmm ...

 

Two measurements of distortion performance, at 1kHz into 8 ohms:

 

 

 

  

Which amplifier should give you the better performance, looking at those two AP graphs, at normal, rather than extreme listening levels? 😉

 

Surprise, surprise ... the first is of that extreme cost amp mentioned by Putzeys; the second is of a DIY construction project of a 20W class A unit using normal topology, published in a hobbyist magazine in 2007 ... 😁.

 

 

 

[fas42]

4 hours ago, Summit said:

 

The answer depends on what you mean by “really" digital.

 

One could argue that a classic class AB topology is digital, if  it happened to use some processor chip within to dynamically vary the bias of the output stage so that it could work in something close to class A all the time - to nominally improve the subjective SQ. Digital processing is used to improve the numbers, or improve behaviour in a fault situation, etc; more and more these days - arguing over such semantics is pointless, these days.