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Class D Cup: It's odd how specific valve lovers get about their output devices while the identity of transistors in solid-tate amps routinely goes unquestioned. With class D, many make no distinctions whatsoever.

One of Bruno Putzeys' White Papers on his site is quite specific on how class D is home to just as many circuit permutations as the other classes. At present, there are simply far fewer celebrity audio designers who have mastered the art of designing a class D circuit from scratch. That supports the quite erroneous assumption that such amps are mostly all the same. Richard Krol's earlier quote on Hypex OEM modules requiring a number of add-ons to even work pointed at variations even with stock modules from the few established class D vendors. It seems fair to say that until class D gains more of its own Nelson Pass, John Curl and Charles Hansen equivalents, this amplifier breed will continue to labor under misconceptions - the chiropractors of the audio world which 'real' doctors look down upon as lesser practitioners. Hexateq Hypex versus Bel Canto ICEpower - how much of a difference would be audible?

In gestalt and general tonality, these amps were far more similar than not, meaning both were shaded in the treble compared to the earlier comparators and strong in the bass. But there were differences, too. The more important had to do with image plasticity and density - the qualities which render sounds three-dimensional and incarnate rather than flat and ghostly. The Belgians had more of it than the American. This ICEpower implementation mixed more white into its color palette to sound a touch pale by comparison. It also compacted image density more centrally than the Hypex variants which themselves did that more than the FirstWatt, April Music and Hegel machines. Panned effects like moving rain trees that should travel the full width of the stage from one side to the other started farther inwards and were narrowest with the Bel Canto. Depth layer specificity whereby various performer distances to the listener become very clear also were less pronounced with the ICEpower machine. But most relevant I believe was the greater palpability of the Hexateq minis. They created greater presence lock of the musicians in the room as though a teleporter beam had completed its molecular reassembly of dimensional travelers to a greater extent.

Just for giggles and because previous non-D comparators had included more expensive ones to perhaps smack of unfairness, I now reached for the hyper affordable Dayens Ampino to reintroduce a conventional A/B circuit. Treble illumination returned instantly to confirm without hesitation that at least these particular class D circuits still can't match the energy and saturation in the high frequencies which even a €229 'standard' transistor amp—this one admittedly a rare mix of very short green and long performance due to a Serbian connection—will demonstrate. I wouldn't necessarily call the class D takes on the subject wrong per se. But I would most certainly call them under-exposed and not fully developed. How you react will depend. It could well be a case of not missing what you never had.


To move on the good side of this topic, bright speakers and questionable sources will be automatically tamed. Those meanwhile who spent on superior treble makers—ribbons, muRatas, expensive silk domes—won't hear tone modulations at their finest. If for you much of the finesse, liveliness and appeal of music hinge on the spark of life in the treble light, you'll want to move towards that light by different means (and most likely a different operational amplifier class altogether). If you belong into the camp of discontents with modern-day hifi sonics where there's too much sharpness and tizz, too much thinness and speed, the tables turn and you might want to sit down right here. As my available comparators clinched it, today's Hypex amps did more robust tone and performer presence than the Danish ICEpower circuits. In my book, that made them the superior choice in this sector.


And this is where the review originally ended. But the story continues with one last page.