[TAULISA]

Talking about future innovations beyond Class A/AB Amplifiers I wish to point out something I’ve been auditioning satisfactorily lately for which I suspect you may not all agree with despite being very popular amongst DIY audiophiles.
Read at your convenience the below-mentioned link and report your comments accordingly although I perfectly know you are all everlasting Class A/AB-based enthusiasts !
Suppose to sound greaty, light weight and all positive qualities

Bottom line: We can't keep dragging heavy Class A/AB tanks for the rest of the 21st century !

http://www.tnt-audio.com/ampli/hypex_dlcp_n400_e.html

[JohnR]

I'm not quite sure to make of this thread but I wouldn't be that surprised if Klaus just ditched it into the Wastebin. With that said (and he certainly doesn't need me to defend him), my comment on:

Bottom line: We can't keep dragging heavy Class A/AB tanks for the rest of the 21st century !

... is that I've just bought a couple of "tanks" on the used market for myself. Not Odyssey (sorry Klaus, they are 5/6 multichannel), but big transformers, big heatsinks, definitely "tanks." This type of equipment holds its value. Once they're installed, who cares how heavy they are?

[timind]

Or move this to the All Solid State circle. I would have suggested the NCore circle but I didn't see it listed in the circle directory. There was an NCore circle before, wasn't there?

And FWIW, I won't own an amp that uses an SMPS again.

[JohnR]

There was an NCore circle, but the Facilitator quit and nobody put their hand up to replace him.

[TAULISA]

Not that I want to be offensive towards the world of Class A/AB amplifiers.
Just wondering why the World of Audio Technology gears shouldn't be lighter nowadays !

[JohnR]

I just can't help feeling this is a well-worn (and beaten) path.   

Anyway, good luck in your quest

[TAULISA]

It's the future as Class D...

[poseidonsvoice]

It's the future as Class D...

You have a pm (internal email/message within AudioCircle).

Best,
Anand.

[undertow]

Well unless you have a bad back, or really need to save that 2" height, width, and depth in your setups... Honestly not a big deal to have a good amp sitting on the floor between speakers.

As for the future, well I owned variations of the Ncore, and Ice modules in the past. They work well for their intentions. And very specific applications they have a place no question.

Outright best of the best, or pure sound quality... Well I can guarantee Ncore will beat 100 amps, and be crushed by 200 others. So my opinion over the past 50 years only real innovations to sound is mostly in the digital arena with STORAGE of high res FLAC files etc... leading the way so you don't need 500 compact discs taking up a wall in your house. Don't get me wrong there are some enhancements in materials used in high end, mostly capacitors, but generally the designs and circuits are all basically the same topology.

Other than that honestly there are designs from 30 years ago with a little TLC that sound as good or better than almost anything on the market in any category in audio [accept digital] whether it be speakers, analog, power, amplification, pre-amplification, hell even good tubes from the 1950's can school some of the most advanced solid state in the right application! It really comes down to what your looking for, and if absolute ergonomics is the key to your happiness so be it.

At some point though just like all technology when a NCore or something comparable comes along at a 300 dollar price point in a Sony receiver much like flat panels than it will compete because simply put then the 2000 to 20,000 dollar class A high end stuff looks much less attractive when it comes to pricing.

[mresseguie]

I'll second the vote for sending it over to the Solid State circle. It really doesn't belong here.

Taulisa,

I'm going to audition the Nuprime ST-10 class D amp at a fellow AC member's home in about two weeks. It will be compared against his Modwright amp and my Audio by Van Alstine Fet Valve 400R amp. I guess they're both tank-like. I'm eager to hear how it sounds.

Michael

[KLH007]

Michael, Where will you post the amp shootout? I'm interested in the old school vs Class D.

[orientalexpress]

NCORE is great amp but it all about matching with speakers,I got SP Tech Revalation speakers , I got a chance to compare it to DAC cherry plus amp ,Dac cherry amp sound so much better with my speakers.So not all Digital amp sound the same.another example ,I bring my Dac cherry amp to my friend house to compare to Pas Amp.he have Revel sablon || speakers,the Pas sound better.but the Pas does not sound good with My SP Tech.The cherry amp stay with my system .

[undertow]

Well "Digital amps" are not something I am familiar with, but "Class D" I have had are 100% an analog amplifier.

[Folsom]

There are no digital amps. The closest thing would be something like Bel Canto Black where the input is digital, but it's converted to analog before going into the Hypex units.

[Don_S]

There are no digital amps. The closest thing would be something like Bel Canto Black where the input is digital, but it's converted to analog before going into the Hypex units.

Weren't the old TacT and Lyngdorf amps considered digital?  Not sure about the new Lyngdorf amps.  Also, Wadia had some older amps that were basically DACs with high gain (Power DAC). They call the new amplifiers (a315 & a340 digital) but I think that is misleading and fostering the misunderstanding of true digital vs Class-D switching.

http://www.wadia.com/en-us/products

[Folsom]

Given the fact that the output has to be analog, I have no idea wtf Lyngdorf is trying to say but it's obvious only partially true. The amps have analog input option anyway...

If you did amplify the digital signal you'd still need to convert it to analog. What would a very high powered DAC sound like? I'm curious.

[timind]

There was an NCore circle, but the Facilitator quit and nobody put their hand up to replace him.

Maybe Taulisa wants to start it up again.

[*Scotty*]

Here is a link to Lyngdorf's explanation for how they do things. http://www.lyngdorf.com/technologies/
One of their amps has 6 PCM digital inputs and a USB input as well 2 pairs of analogue inputs which pass through an  AKM-AK5394A A/D chip.
Scotty

[jtwrace]

There was an NCore circle, but the Facilitator quit and nobody put their hand up to replace him.

I'm sorry that my life took an unexpected turn. 

[Folsom]

The PWM is the "DAC". They're either amplifying DSD or converting to DSD and amplifying it (DSD in concept, may vary form DSD standards). When it goes to the output it passes through filters and becomes only analog. Increasing the voltage behind a mhz signal is fine, but they're increasing noise as the volume goes up. You can only attenuate so much in the filter. If it were possible it would be preferable to amplify only the signal that's riding on the carrier signal. It's a stretch to call it "digital amplification" since it's more like digital+analog amplification to output filter. Also the claims about not needing a power conditioner don't make any sense at all; but neither has anyone else's claims ever made sense on that.

It's different, for sure, but it's still analog output. I'll give it to you though, it's almost pure digital inside the box.