Class D Amplifiers

[slipperybidness]

Hey HD, them ICE amps that Pioneer uses in some of their AVR’s umm what are your thoughts on those? Shouldn’t color the sound right?

From what I have read (no direct experience), the Pios with ICE modules are pretty good. But, Pio also made class D with their in-house D3 modules and those are best avoided.

 

[lovinthehd]

From what I have read (no direct experience), the Pios with ICE modules are pretty good. But, Pio also made class D with their in-house D3 modules and those are best avoided.

Did you have one of the D3 units? I've seen folk say nice things about those....

 

[ryanosaur]

The hypex NC400 modules look like the sweet spot. The NC500 modules are pretty good too, but the ASR review put them below the 400s.
I haven’t had a chance to see much more about the Purifi modules, but they still use hypex SMPSs in the one I checked out the other day.
Toid did a build video of the IcePower modules you can get from PE, and maybe a chassis from Ghent... claimed it was the equivalent of a $3000 audiophile amp for $300.
I would relly love to see these reviewed by ASR just to compare to everything else. If they are the equivalent, say, to the Outlaw 2200s in measurement AND price, I think Id go that route as I have no concerns about the qualities of the 2200s. If they measured worse, I would look towards the next best option above.

 

[lovinthehd]

The hypex NC400 modules look like the sweet spot. The NC500 modules are pretty good too, but the ASR review put them below the 400s.
I haven’t had a chance to see much more about the Purifi modules, but they still use hypex SMPSs in the one I checked out the other day.
Toid did a build video of the IcePower modules you can get from PE, and maybe a chassis from Ghent... claimed it was the equivalent of a $3000 audiophile amp for $300.
I would relly love to see these reviewed by ASR just to compare to everything else. If they are the equivalent, say, to the Outlaw 2200s in measurement AND price, I think Id go that route as I have no concerns about the qualities of the 2200s. If they measured worse, I would look towards the next best option above.

LOL So I did have it right and then in finally looking at the review got it wrong again thinking it was the amp modules from Hypex rather than the smps....d'oh!

OTOH the Crown already qualifies IMO as a $3k "audiophile" amp. Who else would pay $3k for an amp?

 

[ryanosaur]

Who else would pay $3k for an amp?

C'mon. Srsly.
I'm sure I couldn't possibly think of anybody that would do that.

*poorly restrained chortle

 

[Gmoney]

From what I have read (no direct experience), the Pios with ICE modules are pretty good. But, Pio also made class D with their in-house D3 modules and those are best avoided.

I did find their Elite VSX-LX503 looks like a 2018 model going for 599.00 it’s a Direct energy don’t know what that means. Can do up to 9.2 nice looking AVR comes in at 120 X 2 @ 8 Ohms, 4 Ohm stable 29 lbs not a lite weight for sure.

 

[lovinthehd]

C'mon. Srsly.
I'm sure I couldn't possibly think of anybody that would do that.

*poorly restrained chortle

LOL. I can think of a few around here....

 

[slipperybidness]

Did you have one of the D3 units? I've seen folk say nice things about those....

No, and I was trying to find what I had read previously and no luck yet.

It may have been that "D3 is when they finally got it right" and I was thinking of the previous iterations?

 

[Out-Of-Phase]

I already feel better about my Crown amp.

 

[M Code]

Earlier Pioneer/Elite AVRs used the ICE power modules but then changed over to the IR solution, which was more cost-effective....

Just my $0.02..

 

[M Code]

I already feel better about my Crown amp.

The Crown solution was supplied by TI...
In fact some years back Harman/Kardon was planning to design/build a higher end AVR using the Crown/TI solution but later abandoned this.. When Samsung stepped in and bought them wanting Harman to concentrate more on 12V OE motive solutions, and soundbars, BT headphones...

Just my $0.02...

 

[John Parks]

C'mon. Srsly.
I'm sure I couldn't possibly think of anybody that would do that.

*poorly restrained chortle

$3K? Pfft - pocket change... these beauties are only $170K - a bargain at twice the price!

darTZeel NHB-468 monoblock power amplifier

What's the point of reviewing a pair of monoblock amplifiers that costs more than most people spend on two or even several cars and far more than most audiophiles spend on an entire music system? That's a good question. Another is: Why should I write this review when, just seven years ago, I...

www.stereophile.com

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Looks like Gene's new Reference speakers - RBH SVTRS Active Towers - come with the Pascal Class-D amps.

Gene says he will be measuring them sometime in the future.

Here are some specs on the Pascal amp modules: SNR > 120dB, THD < 0.05%, Damping Factor > 500.

T-PRO1 - Pascal Audio

www.pascal-audio.com

 

[Movie2099]

Looks like Gene's new Reference speakers - RBH SVTRS Active Towers - come with the Pascal Class-D amps.

Gene says he will be measuring them sometime in the future.

Here are some specs on the Pascal amp modules: SNR > 120dB, THD < 0.05%, Damping Factor > 500.

T-PRO1 - Pascal Audio

www.pascal-audio.com

Do you know which companies are using Pascal Class-D?

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Do you know which companies are using Pascal Class-D?

Besides RBH, I don't know who else uses them. But Gene will probably shed some light on this.

The SNR of 120dB 20Hz-20kHz and THD 0.05% 20Hz-20kHz does seem promising.