Class D come of age - Coherent amplification

[Firebottle]

Maybe Mr. C should now be called Mr. D

Fantastic amp.

[Edward]

Maybe Mr. C should now be called Mr. D

Fantastic amp.

Indeed Alan. Just listening to some stuff right now whilst waiting for the young lady (aka the Finance Director) before we head out. Some Bach Cello stuff, what I failed to mention before is the texture this amp is able to convey. Not only the instrument itself (you can make out the differences between the notes produced by the wood and the drawing of the bow) but also the layered nature of the other instruments as well as the micro-detail coming through from the recording room. Realism rools ok!

[bungalowbill]

Interesting.
I've heard a fair few class d amps and while there was a wide range of presentations and excellence they all had a characteristic smoothing over of the finer details.
I guess the Coherent amps have overcome this?

You certainly have. Still using the Lyngdorf SDA2175 you sold me and the A1 FBP Pre. 😊

[WESTLOWER]

So I have had on test for about a week now Tony's LM1 version of his PWM amp. In a short sentence the experience has been stunning - and highly disruptive.

Stunning in the liquidity, detail, speed it is able to perform. Disruptive in the sense it has taken me so far down the road as to what I thought an amp is able to do.

The amp Tony lent me is his smallest amp being 85w, the next ones up are a 125w and then 220w monos.

I have thrown everything I can at the amp and without fail it just gets on with the job. Absolutely sublime sound. I simply can't fault it.

Massive grip as well as stunning shimmering highs. The detail and speed are the major magic of the amps. But also the overall coherence, things are 'just right'.

I've had the amp driving Tannoy Eatons and Kudos Cardeas - both are handled magnificently by the LM1. The music is delivered perfectly. I've been listening to albums I know very well and hearing them in a radically new light. The detail that is extracted is so refined that one can almost visualise the instruments being played. Soundstage is deep, wide and high. Pinpoint accuracy. Totally non fatiguing. Highly emotional.

Tried various preamps and again the LM1 faithfully and honestly delivers the sound.

Adam (westlower) has heard this amp in an extended listening session as well. He can report on his views separately, but I did see a wide smile from him when he was listening.

Tony says he has some further 'tuning' he can do which will deliver 20% more. I can't imagine how it is possible.

Sadly the loan will end sometime this week.

Well, I had this amp in my system for a few hours, firstly it really sounds superb, with great grip on the low end and dynamics and sparkle to hanker after. What you'd expect I suppose.
It was a relatively short listening time but it grew and opened up as the time passed.I had a preconcieved idea of what to expect and I was right in it's ability to effortlessly push
more from the system. But what i hadn't figured was it's ability to sound cultured and unctuous. So I was pretty impressed to say the least. It really finds detail and portrays
ambience well. I can see how this addictive sound could well be a game changer...
I personally wouldn't swap it now for my tubes as i require something else. But that's just me and my quest for capturing atmosphere of the era.

One thing we did find, in my system, was to be careful about material selection. Playing Tidal MQA Masters, the pianos became slightly jarring, we switched to rebook of the same Album and
that was far more palatable. But as i say this could well be synergy with other components in my set up.

I have previously experienced a Nord Acoustics Class D power amp on duty and was very impressed with that also. This PWM amp has a touch more of the nice stuff around the midrange.

Anyway I was impressed and was totally blind to the price point, or indeed the product really. Edward turned up with a non descript box and plugged it in.

I can see the future.....Class D is surely in that picture somewhere.

[montesquieu]

On reports from Edward and Adam, I'm very keen to hear this. Coherence ... cultured ... unctuous .. shimmering ...liquidity ... all hitting the right spot for me.

Interesting about the Tidal MQA content, MQA is an interesting topic at the minute - could be that whatever 'enhancements' are baked in with MQA, this amp is sensitive enough to pick up as overdone?

[WESTLOWER]

On reports from Edward and Adam, I'm very keen to hear this. Coherence ... cultured ... unctuous .. shimmering ...liquidity ... all hitting the right spot for me.

Interesting about the Tidal MQA content, MQA is an interesting topic at the minute - could be that whatever 'enhancements' are baked in with MQA, this amp is sensitive enough to pick up as overdone?

This was my thinking too. The MQA Masters thing is interesting, for me, modern recorded LPs such as those on the already wonderfully recorded, ECM label don't need extra enhancements.
It can easily go too far.

[Edward]

I don't think the aim of MQA is to 'enhance' stuff, simply to take music that is recorded at higher than Redbook standard and, by switching and 'folding' frequencies it is able to pack it in a standard Redbook PCM stream (as well as 'authenticating') the source. I think what Adam and I heard was the farting around with freqs that MQA employed such that the unfold was not faithful to the original. Tony's amp, with its resolving abilities, was able to clearly show this. The Redbook version was unquestioningly better for the 4 ears employed in the session.

[WESTLOWER]

IMHO The amp is certainly an achievement, i have to say.

[Macca]

I don't think the aim of MQA is to 'enhance' stuff, simply to take music that is recorded at higher than Redbook standard and, by switching and 'folding' frequencies it is able to pack it in a standard Redbook PCM stream (as well as 'authenticating') the source. I think what Adam and I heard was the farting around with freqs that MQA employed such that the unfold was not faithful to the original. Tony's amp, with its resolving abilities, was able to clearly show this. The Redbook version was unquestioningly better for the 4 ears employed in the session.

It could well be the imperfect unfold causing the issue, but an MQA file is still larger than a red book file I think. I also think they do eq it to make it sound slightly different, although with a proper unfold that should not sound 'bad'.

[montesquieu]

It could well be the imperfect unfold causing the issue, but an MQA file is still larger than a red book file I think. I also think they do eq it to make it sound slightly different, although with a proper unfold that should not sound 'bad'.

Yes but really any machine-instigated dicking around with the signal is unwanted, full stop.