[Rclark]

 Has anyone had the chance to compare? Power is already many times in favor of ClassD but what about SQ?

[JLM]

Check out this thread:

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=80881.0

A couple of the Virtue amps get a mention, and only a couple of other Class D amps in the realm of the truly big boys.

If you search elsewhere at AC, you'll find someone commmenting that Virtue is really good for the money, but not in the same league as the big boys (what did you expect for roughly 1/10th the price/size/weight?).

The first considerations in picking an amp is to provide a commanding grip on your speakers and have a good impedance match with them.  After that its largely a matter of taste and pocketbook.  Personally I'm not an amp guy, so my money would go into speakers first.

[Rclark]

I've got Statement Monitors

[JLM]

Is this your speakers:

http://www.speakerdesignworks.com/Statements_Monitor.html

Never heard of them before and the efficiency isn't stated, but the maximum spl of 104 is pretty low and its impedance is roughly 6 ohms, so perhaps the Virtue amps would be a good match.

[jtwrace]

I've had both in my room with my last system and a pair of GR NX1 from the tour. 

It's hard to remember but the Virtue stands out in my mind.  It's shear size is what still blows me away.  I wish I could try it on my current system but I don't think it has two outputs.   

[Rclark]

 Yeah, those are my speakers. I almost have them finished. The midbass is a 4ohm driver and the speakers themselves love power, so I'm not sure the Virtue is gonna cut it. They have about 84db efficiency.

 From what I understand, they do really well with about 300 watts per side.

 I was more interested in merely a comparison point of view. Most definitely I will be going with the high powered ClassD amps and eventually I'll get into tweaking them to extract even more performance.

 I'm not at this time interested in buying a Virtue amp, I'm more interested in opinions of the sq of this amp versus the SDS kits from ClassD, just mainly for knowledge.

[eclein]

  It's shear size is what still blows me away.  I wish I could try it on my current system but I don't think it has two outputs.   

two speaker outputs??

[JLM]

84 dB/w/m is rather low efficiency, so you're right more power would be most beneficial.

Years ago I had a modded/battery powered 7 wpc Tripath with my 90 dB/w/m speakers.  They did a remarkable good job, but 40 wpc monoblocks really woke them up (turned them from polite dinner guests into NFL linebackers in tuxedos).  Recently I upgraded to a more modern, 100 wpc monoblocks (Channel Island Audio Class D's)which added even more resolution and made them sound like a sub had properly added (that you only hear when you hear it).

[Rclark]

I hear ya. So in that vein I"m considering doing SDS 254 monoblocks, one on each side. Just have huge headroom for transients.

[jtwrace]

two speaker outputs??

No, line out