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A few other Class D benefits

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In Reply to: RE: Cool amp for summer posted by cawson@onetel.com on September 18, 2024 at 10:12:02

Class D is efficient while sounding excellent.
My journey was similar to yours but not in replacing SET amps. Instead I had a pair of 70-Lb Manley NeoClassic 250 monoblocks each with 10 EL34 tubes. And of course I've had many other tube and SS amps over the decades while experimenting with Class D. Class D has come a long way since my PS Audio HCA-2 from 20+ years ago.
The Manley monoblocks were beasts! They consumed a lot of power and ran hot. And you couldn't just turn them ON and enjoy music as they took a while to warm up in order to sound their best.
With Class D amps I can leave them powered ON 24/7 as they draw a minuscule amount of power while idle and they produce almost no heat. OR, I can turn ON the Class D amp from cold and start enjoying music immediately as they pretty much require no warmup. Either way they're ready to perform.
Class D not needing warmup suits my habits well as I don't always 'plan' my listening. I will sometimes sit at my listening spot unplanned to enjoy music immediately. I might listen for 20 minutes then do something else or I'll sit there for a couple hours... it depends. The point being, I cannot do this with a tube amp. It takes 20 minutes or more before the tube amp is even thinking about sounding good.

Edits: 09/19/24 09/19/24

Follow Ups:

RE: A few other Class D benefits - farfetched 06:23:28 09/25/24 (0)
This is why I never was tempted to go for a tube power amp. Music listening is my hobby. It has no schedule it has no rules. That is other parts of my life!

That's why I just opted for a tube preamp to have on hand. BATvk-500 gives me a bank of reliable transistors that don't mind being left on 24/7 and the preamp doesn't mind either.

But on that note! This is what I'm realizing. That power amp has a lot of expensive parts and costs a bunch to ship and repair. Is this sensible today? Are big SS amps as old as tube power amps now?

/ optimally proportioned triangles are our friends
RE: A few other Class D benefits - cawson@onetel.com 12:53:23 09/19/24 (0)
My first Class D amp was a DIY Tripath board that left a lot to be desired. Then I bought the highly regarded (at the time) Red Wine Signature 30 amp, that to my disappointment used a similar Tripath board. It never let my Avantgardes sound their best.
Then 17 years with SETs and a few other tube amps from Art Audio, Graaf, Consonance Cyber, Audio Note, etc until I re-discovered the vastly improved Class D amps.
Arguably the best right now is Purifi's Eigentakt but care needs to be taken to avoid garage-built amps, sold on Ebay that use the cheap DIY Eigentakt Eval(uation) board. Much better performance can be obtained from Eigentakt amps built by big brands such as NAD and T+A. More costly, but undoubtedly better!

Edits: 09/19/24

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