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Class D amplifiers are cool


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On 5/10/2019 at 6:31 PM, polizzio said:

A member here sold one in the classifieds in the last 7 days.

Haha ... yes that was me :D Had an XLS 2502. They are awesome units ... mucho power, DSP and the fan does not kick in until its turned way up. Highly recommend them.  (Just did not need the power since I got rid of my dual 18" bass bins.)

Cheers, Emile

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On 5/14/2019 at 5:34 PM, Emile said:

Haha ... yes that was me :D Had an XLS 2502. They are awesome units ... mucho power, DSP and the fan does not kick in until its turned way up. Highly recommend them.  (Just did not need the power since I got rid of my dual 18" bass bins.)

Cheers, Emile

 

My Crown XLS 1002 arrived yesterday. So I hooked it up to a spare pair of floorstanders and my Cowen mp3 player to make sure it works ok, no issues as it was "gently used". Impressive performance, no noise no surprise pops when switching on or off, just clean power. I actually laid on the beanbag and listened to Seal for quite a while. Loads of adjustments,  bridged or stereo, high pass, low pass, or band pass filters. 

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Very cool looking, but, @ $15k, I’ll stay with my DIY TPA3118 “Wiener” and TI TPA3255EVM class D amps, both of which accept the balanced output from a Pono player.  Including 3 Pono players, the two amp boards, two cases, assorted switches, connectors, etc., I don’t have $1,000 invested in the whole lot.  I’m not implying that my setup is better than, or even as good as, the AGD amp referenced above. I’m merely saying that any improvement could not justify, to me, the expense difference. 

YMMV

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...
On 8/23/2019 at 9:36 AM, avguytx said:

So just how good is this little Class D amp for $28 from ebay?  Anyone mess with these?  Kind of intrigued for the money just to tinker with it.

 

 

 

There are several variations out there, all from China. Fosi Audio sells em on amazon, the one above, Nobsound/Douk Mall on ebay. I picked up one of the Fosi amps with bass and treble adjustments off amazon to drive a pair of Elac 6.2 speakers on my desktop pc. The good thing about purchasing the unit from amazon is you get returns and warranty assured by amazon policies. And it comes complete with a power supply. The person selling em on amazon has a good rep, you can read the reviews if you choose to. I am very pleased with my unit, drives my Elacs very well and zero noise. Had it in operation since Dec 2018. I wouldn't buy any unit without the bass and treble adjustments. You can buy em cheaper on ebay from China, but if it craps out you're on your own. Not worth the cost of return shipping to China.

 

I am so pleased with mine many times I have thought of purchasing another just to have. I mean for $67 delivered with PS and tone controls. They offer units with bluetooth too. I bet it would drive my CWs too just for fun, but I have an AVR serving there. 

 

Here is one on ebay for $38 delivered, no power supply: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Finished-TPA3116-LM1036-tone-digital-amplifier-Class-D-amp-50W-50W/222185254033

 

Fosi unit I purchased on amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Audio-Amplifier-Receiver-Integrated-Speakers/dp/B076P2VS9H/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=R3RDUPS0P4ID&keywords=fosi+audio+amplifier&qid=1566577428&s=gateway&sprefix=fosi%2Caps%2C170&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&smid=ATV3LXZ3ZXOW8&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUFCQU5BU0wySFNMVkMmZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTA3OTE1NzM3OTFZR1dFWUVPS00mZW5jcnlwdGVkQWRJZD1BMDEwMDY1NFdHS0szUUJEWDQzNyZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello,

 

for people interested by class d, you can also have a look on spec Corp, Japanese company, with guys that have SET background.

it does not sound digital at all and from some point of view more like set amps. Deang it could be for you, they also use Arizona caps..

i have one at home, 60w integrated. Too early to give a feedback as I still don’t have a valuable source, but it seems to have great qualities. 

 

Could le be a really interesting solution for everyone who search great amp, easy to use, avoid hot runner with set sound in upper range. 

 

Best

ugo

 

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A question, lets say I wish to emulate (in the simplest "passive" fashion) a SE tube amp's major response and Z-out characteristics with a cheap TPA3116D2 amp - what might the network look like?  Could it be as simple as an air core inductor with some resistance?

 

I don't have a ciruit modeler to look at Z-out vs F plus the learning curve now might be tough.  There used to be a program called ACNAP which could use simplified transconductance models rather than curves to roughly approximate a tube amp with output transformer Z-out.

 

It would be interesting to hear how close - or far away the hacked cheap amp would perform vs the tube unit.

 

I have a cheaper version of the Breeze  - -$25 shipped from Amazon with 14.5V 4.5A power supply - only used so far with headphones where it does a very good job.  Its binding posts look very delicate.   I've not opened it.  The somewhat lower voltage supply might help it live if caps aren't great. 

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On 9/7/2019 at 3:11 AM, Ougo said:

. . . it does not sound digital at all . . .

 

I know you mean this as a compliment, but I have a different take on your comment.   To me, amps shouldn’t sound tube-like or digital, they should sound like the music they are reproducing.  After years of enjoying several excellent tube amps, I’ve switched totally to class-D chip amps.  The money I save on air conditioning pays for more music. 😏

 

If accurately reproducing the source material with zero noise, high dynamics, full frequency range, and great separation sounds “digital,” then I’m all for it.

 

None of my high quality tube amps sounded as good as my balanced class-D chip amps.  Others will disagree, but I don’t consider “digital” as a negative adjective.

 

YMMV

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So, I've had 3 generations of Denon AVR, 2 of the Nobsound TPA3116, and 1 Parasound A23. 

 

The Denons do the job and with a mash of HT speakers in the mix, well it's pretty much that.  Even in stereo mode, the sound seems just a bit flat.  The interesting thing is ... the Denons have never skipped a beat (knock on wood), and all 3 are still in service today.  The one I use for the HT now is a X4300H and it just has enough guts to make a 5.2 setup run.  I'd like a bit more, but I'd have to start selling gear to move up the chain.   So, I bought the 2 chip amps to relieve the Denon from some of the work and to have some portable amp power ... in case I want to move speakers around the house etc.

 

The little chip amps also do the job.  One had a bad hum when I first got it.  So I opened it up ... oh boy.  Not the best soldering, and the connectors are all just sort of loosely connected to the IC board.  I re flowed a bunch of the solder, changed out some wires from IC board to connectors, tightened all connections.   I purchased a new power supply too and that may have been the final straw to make the hum disappear.  The originals were not good at all.  I think, in the winter months, I might take the amp apart, put it into a nice little wooden box, change out the connectors and maybe the attenuator ... but then again all that will cost more than the amp in the first place.  Maybe I'll velcro them to the sides of the Denon and run the surround speakers off of them?

 

The Parasound is by far the best amp.  It's in an all digital setup, 2.1 and really is the sound I like.  I need a preamp that has some controls, and/or maybe I'll start looking into a miniDSP or something for a bit of tone control, I don't have any ability to affect the low pass / distribution to the subwoofer right now. 

 

I'm with @DizRotus the amps should leave the music alone.  But in the 3 types I have above I'd simply say ... the Denon doesn't have enough "depth / command / guts" even in stereo mode it just seems to lack a bit, but for reliability / flexibility in running HT ... they are just fine. The chip amps seem to provide just plain music and if the build quality was higher I'd be more interested, they might turn into a simple little project for winter time amusement.  Some of the chip amp builds folks have done on this forum are interesting for sure, and I've tried researching a few but end up sometimes in dead ends with parts of one kind or another.  The Hypex kits are expensive, but seem to do a really good job.  But for now, 3 kinds of amps is about all the wife is likely to be able to handle.

 

The Parasound is just right. Now if I could just find an A21... hmmm

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