Systemic Development > Amplification and Preamplification

Digital amp and Preamp

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TopRound‎:
Just a commentary..

I heard a very expensive digital amp and preamp, it was digital not class D, the amp and preamp were designed to work together via some type of single wire connection.

It sounded very good, nice tone big space and images, but after listening to several different tracks of different styles of music something I noticed was that everything sounded the same.
Different artists at different recording venues all started to come out sounding like it was part of the same recording.
My takeaway was that the digital processing was taking the signal and processing it in such a way that every signal that went thru that "filter" came out sounding very similar.
It wasn't bad sounding but after a while I started to get a little bored.

This is just something I noticed in this situation, perhaps a different system would sound different but in this case this was my takeaway.

It sort of started a way of thinking that kind of made me leery of DSP in speakers, does DSP do something similar to a signal that it affects it so much to alter it and re-imagine it in a different light than the original?

I don't have any answers, just more questions

HAL:
TopRound,
Not all digital is created equal. 

I heard early Class D amps that were expensive and sounded very flat.  Have heard inexpensive DSP sound not so good. 

Modern offerings have come a long way and the new GaN technology Class D amps sound very good and follow what is in the recording. 

Modern DSP for speakers depends on who is doing the DSP.  Textbook DSP filters are not the best sounding styles and from my experience Linear Phase processing sucks for crossovers.  Modern DSP's use A/D's and D/A's with very good sounding filters and the filters for the crossovers use improved topologies that reduce filter distortion. 

I hope to take a system with these improvements to Lone Star Audio Fest in June 2023 to demo what is possible with new DSP Technolgy and GaN Class D amps.  Should be a fun show.

TopRound‎:
This was a little different
you could pair a tube pre with a class d amp and get very good results.
This was a digital amp and digital preamp, I think the whole thing was in the digital domain, then used dacs to try and sort it out.
I'm not saying it sounded bad, but rather it left such a stamp on the music that it altered it
sort of like having every part of you meal deep fried, in the end they all taste alike

GDHAL:

--- Quote from: TopRound‎ on February 17, 2023, 08:47:48 AM ---........ it altered it
sort of like having every part of you meal deep fried, in the end they all taste alike

--- End quote ---

 :rofl:
This made me smile.  :lol:  :thumb:

You have a way with words at times, Mike. :D

Response Audio:
Digital has come a long way. I remember some of the first to hit the market. Very expensive and only so-so sonically. The GaN stuff is amazing. I have some new modules coming in a couple weeks to start prototyping our new hybrid.
I do agree that Class D usually (to me anyway) can be a little stringent without tubes in there so where.

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