Tubes Meet Class D

[Sonik Wiz]

Elsewhere there's been some good back & forth as to preferences for tube or solid state 'tronics. And of course there's been hybrids for years. But I've never seen anything quite like this until today:

Tube pre-amp with Bluetooth, USB, switching capabilities & Class D switching power amps at 50 WPC.

It's cute & cheap enough buy several for ATMOS! Ah, but no HDMI...

https://www.parts-express.com/dayto...h-bluetooth-usb-aux-in-sub-out-100w--300-3842

 

[J. PUPSTER]

Elsewhere there's been some good back & forth as to preferences for tube or solid state 'tronics. And of course there's been hybrids for years. But I've never seen anything quite like this until today:
View attachment 54628

Tube pre-amp with Bluetooth, USB, switching capabilities & Class D switching power amps at 50 WPC.

It's cute & cheap enough buy several for ATMOS! Ah, but no HDMI...

https://www.parts-express.com/dayto...h-bluetooth-usb-aux-in-sub-out-100w--300-3842

Interesting, what's the difference in all the Classes (i.e. A or D etc?) Also looking at this with closeup view it looks a little cheaply built to me...

 

[Sonik Wiz]

Interesting, what's the difference in all the Classes (i.e. A or D etc?) Also looking at this with closeup view it looks a little cheaply built to me...

I'm sure it's from China & at $164 it's more audiofun than audiophile.
https://circuitdigest.com/tutorial/classes-of-power-amplifier-explained
Edit: FYI Class D is what Involve is using for the new Y4 set up.

 

[DuncanS]

Interesting, what's the difference in all the Classes (i.e. A or D etc?) Also looking at this with closeup view it looks a little cheaply built to me...

Class A you can use to grill a steak & Class AB to grill an egg.

My Pioneer is a Class D so runs cool. I once designed the output filter for a Class D amp (not audio) and it was a tricky beast to get right! The Pioneer is very good if not a little expensive when I bought it.

 

[Sonik Wiz]

Class A you can use to grill a steak & Class AB to grill an egg.

My Pioneer is a Class D so runs cool. I once designed the output filter for a Class D amp (not audio) and it was a tricky beast to get right! The Pioneer is very good if not a little expensive when I bought it.

I remember seeing (but not hearing) an early Class D amp by Sony circa late 70's:

http://www.thevintageknob.org/sony-TA-N88B.html
It put out so much RF interference it had to be 100% enclosed for shielding. Also the D switching circuits were pretty low in frequency, just outside the range of hearing. This meant quite large values for the L/C smoothing output circuit causing large amounts of phase shift. Also because of that it interacted with the speaker & crossover that the frequency response & over all sound could change from speaker to speaker.

The Sony didn't last long on the market but things have certainly improved a lot for Class D amplification. However, me, myself, & I are dedicated to Class A/B brute force power amps