Class D amps sound inferior?

[Ryno1330]

People say lots of things. Let your ears be the judge.

Perfect reply and first on deck.

 

[byacey]

I might not be expressing that well. If you have a synthesizer set to produce square wave output and you press the middle C key, it will produce a distinct square wave at 440 Hz. It's not arbitrary.

Middle C is 512 Hz.
However, that key will also produce a sine @ 512Hz, or a sawtooth, or whatever other waveform you have your filters set up for.

 

[Topkat13]

No.

 

[seamonkey]

I might not be expressing that well. If you have a synthesizer set to produce square wave output and you press the middle C key, it will produce a distinct square wave at 440 Hz. It's not arbitrary.

Ah yes - middle C fundamental at 440hz - I would call that an "A" but then I'm only being pedantic
As long as it's not 443hz I'm OK with it

 

[seamonkey]

Middle C is 512 Hz.
However, that key will also produce a sine @ 512Hz, or a sawtooth, or whatever other waveform you have your filters set up for.

Hate to be pedantic 261.6256 would be middle -- ah never mind

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

Greetings Everyone,
I was watching a video the other day talking/explaining amp Classes. Pretty much all of the same with Class A, B and AB amps both tube and solid state. But one thing mentioned about Class D was something I had never heard before. The statement was that, and I am paraphrasing, Class D amps are digital and their output signal is also digital which makes for an inferior sound quality.
Is this true?
Doesn't Class D amps convert back to analog?
Or is the conversion where the sound quality fails?

I have a Fender Rumble 800 and never thought the sound was anything but very good.
This statement that I heard will not sway me from my amp as there are many benefits to it that like a lot.

I would like to hear from anyone and their thoughts, opinions or maybe technical knowledge on this topic

Thanks

Depends on what you call inferior. Consistent til digital distortion/clipping failure occurs...yeah, I'd call that inferior to a point. Massive clean power output...no, I'd say that's superior to a point. Oddly transparent tone output...ehh, that could go either way. Size and weight...no one could make that sound bad.

 

[seamonkey]

One of the most interesting things about class-d is that they can reproduce human hearing range square waves from PWM

Human hearing being what it is - you're not going to hear a square wave differently than a 20khz sine wave

Even at 10khz it's not going to happen.

 

[byacey]

Hate to be pedantic 261.6256 would be middle -- ah never mind

You're right, I was thinking in the wrong octave.

 

[1bassplayinfool]

My class K and S amps (kerosene and steam respectively) still sound good... until they run out of fuel.

 

[byacey]

My class K and S amps (kerosene and steam respectively) still sound good... until they run out of fuel.

Class W/C (Wood / Coal) is a good alternative too..

 

[GreyBeard]

I remember those... they called the power amp "Digital Energy Conversion Amplifiers" .... heheh...
They were actually pretty good. I don't remember anyone really complaining about the sound. The speaker was decent and they had good clarity. But I think they were heavy as hell and I think the knobs used to come off very easily.

I played in a band that had 2 of those PV digital amps on a 4 way system. The PV's were on the high mid and horns. We thought they sounded OK until the horn amp went down and we replaced it with an old Phase Linear 400. The difference was night and day. The Phase was much cleaner. Todays modern Class D amps sound every bit as clean and full as the QSC-Plx's RMX's and older USA's I used before Class D came around.

 

[agedhorse]

One thing about a 440hz square/triangle/sawtooth wave is that it's made up of sine waves of harmonically related frequencies.

 

[NOVAX]

Your ears don't hear in digital.

 

[Rolling Thunder]

Nothing that develops any appreciable power output though.

Yeah, bass amps require higher wattage and to have, say, a 500w Class-A amp is crazy.

 

[MrHeadfirst]

I was a “if it doesn’t have tubes and weigh 40 lbs it ain’t good” guy.....
then I bought a Mesa D800. just my humble opinion, but a quality class D is lacking nothing in my book.
this little amp embarrasses anything else I have owned. It makes my SVT3 pro look like a practice amp. Nothing but love for them. Plus, you can carry it under your arm. Lol

 

[BassNugget]

Yeah, bass amps require higher wattage and to have, say, a 500w Class-A amp is crazy.

25-30 watts Class A is a lot, and you can heat a room with them. I can't even imagine.

 

[NeonVomit]

I mean, there might be a difference, but I've never noticed it and for sure the audience has never noticed it (and really doesn't care) so, like, whatever. I'll keep tossing my 5lb Mesa Subway D-800 head into my carry-on and travelling without a second thought. I've played countless shows all around Europe with it and it's never let me down, so certainly can't see the point of dragging a 30lb head around when this one does the job just fine.

 

[SteveCS]

I dunno, I've heard many musicians that attempt to run their amps output full square wave into the speaker load.

Thankfully the laws of thermodynamics dictate that such conditions often don't last very long!

 

[el murdoque]

I might not be expressing that well. If you have a synthesizer set to produce square wave output and you press the middle C key, it will produce a distinct square wave at 440 Hz. It's not arbitrary.

The C key producing a sound wave in the pitch of A sounds pretty arbitrary to me.

 

[808State]

I wouldn't worry too much about the frequency of A or C

lets all meet in the middle around B

Wait.. what was the question again ?