Roger, I have been through enough double-blind tests to know without any doubt that many opinions "stated as fact" quickly disappear when the ONLY selection criteria is the performance. Enough of the so called "class D is not as good" have selected the class D choice when they didn't know which source was which, that the prejudice becomes clearly in the mind and nit in reality.
Sure there are other talented people out there, I've worked with some and additionally, I have often praised other products that I think made good achievements with the class D platform (most recently Pat Quilter Bobby Baldwin and Jim Bergentino). The attitude I have adopted comes from the double blind tests where these very people who categorically stated that class D could never be as good as (pick solid state class AB or even tubes) who then chose the class D amp in the test. Of course, the excuses start to fly it wasn't a "fair" test, the wind was blowing the wrong way, the sky was too cloudy, etc
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I often present different points of view for the very reason of the community, but this is done (and I do try hard) in a more factually oriented way including how the different approaches work, the pros and cons of them, and why one might be selected over another. You seem to forget that I designed a whole lot of class AB linear amps, including some pretty large high performance ones, so I have been in all categories of the market... including big tube power amps. In fact the company I work for now is probably one of the gew companies that offers all 3 topologies in their product line: TUBE(Prodegy-Strategy), solid state linear (Carbines and Walkabout)and class D Subway) in their current product line, so I wouldn't say that we are a class D only philosophy, in fact we about as far from paining a single technology in the best light as you can get. There are some cool things that can be done with each technology, but to say that one is "better" than another without clearly qualifying the how and why (backing up with data) is not presenting the information in an unbiased fashion (and I have also mentioned that there are biases present which is WHY double-blind testing is so important... especially for a designer)
Class D is not as mature as other amplifier types, it is complicated, has its own unique quirks, and requires a lot of engineering expertise to get the most out of the platform. Unfortunately, there were (and still are) a lot of false starts and poor examples of this technology and its applications on the market, both performance as well as reliability and it's IMO unfair to judge all class D products based on those that may not have been the best implementation, or even the best voicing choice for the player. I hope that the market continues to mature, and that more good examples of class D get introduced, which will help folks recognize the potential of this technology.
That doesn't mean that I wouldn't be interested in designing another big linear solid state power amp (might have on sitting on my bench actually) but the question is if there is sufficient market for a big, heavy, expensive bass amp like this. Sadly (I mean this) my gut says no.
[edit for improved accuracy]
