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<blockquote data-quote="helotaxi" data-source="post: 1546428" data-attributes="member: 550915">That&#039;s what I remember.&nbsp; I couldn&#039;t remember if he had included Class D.&nbsp; I know the premise of the &quot;challenge&quot; and fully agree that if they measure the same, they sound the same &quot;a watt is a watt&quot; in a manner of speaking.&nbsp; My point is really that a Class D typically measures like *** and sounds like *** when you are trying to get power out of them and they clip very harshly when you do drive them too far.&nbsp; I would say that they sound fine &quot;in their linear range&quot; but they aren&#039;t linear so that is moot.&nbsp; They sound fine when not driven hard, but who never drives their amps hard?&nbsp; I&#039;m not trying to start an argument because there isn&#039;t a point to argue.&nbsp; Physics rules the day.&nbsp; I guess my point is that you can&#039;t tell the difference between two amps with high distortion and most mass produced D class mono amps have pretty high distortion and a relatively high noise floor.&nbsp; I only know of 3 full range class D amps including the Zapco described above.&nbsp; Blade Audio made a whole series of them in the early 90&#039;s and Xtant makes one right now.&nbsp; The problem with these are that they sacrificed efficiency to better approximate the signal.&nbsp; They have lower distortion than the big inexpensive mono amps but make less power in most cases and draw more current doing it.&nbsp; They ARE more efficient than a Class A/B but not by much and for the modest power they put out the savings in current consumption isn&#039;t that much.And no one ever will.&nbsp; I can use an EQ to make a really expensive set of speakers sound like trash, but no ammount of EQ will make a crappy set sound good.&nbsp; You can&#039;t hear a difference that you can&#039;t measure, but you can measure differences in plenty of amps that are clearly audible.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="helotaxi, post: 1546428, member: 550915"] That's what I remember. I couldn't remember if he had included Class D. I know the premise of the "challenge" and fully agree that if they measure the same, they sound the same "a watt is a watt" in a manner of speaking. My point is really that a Class D typically measures like *** and sounds like *** when you are trying to get power out of them and they clip very harshly when you do drive them too far. I would say that they sound fine "in their linear range" but they aren't linear so that is moot. They sound fine when not driven hard, but who never drives their amps hard? I'm not trying to start an argument because there isn't a point to argue. Physics rules the day. I guess my point is that you can't tell the difference between two amps with high distortion and most mass produced D class mono amps have pretty high distortion and a relatively high noise floor. I only know of 3 full range class D amps including the Zapco described above. Blade Audio made a whole series of them in the early 90's and Xtant makes one right now. The problem with these are that they sacrificed efficiency to better approximate the signal. They have lower distortion than the big inexpensive mono amps but make less power in most cases and draw more current doing it. They ARE more efficient than a Class A/B but not by much and for the modest power they put out the savings in current consumption isn't that much. And no one ever will. I can use an EQ to make a really expensive set of speakers sound like trash, but no ammount of EQ will make a crappy set sound good. You can't hear a difference that you can't measure, but you can measure differences in plenty of amps that are clearly audible. [/QUOTE]

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