How about this amp? http://www.audiodigit.com/index.php?section=84
Class T tripath digital amp.
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Senior Member
How about this amp? http://www.audiodigit.com/index.php?section=84
Class T tripath digital amp.
Junior Member
This is VERY intriguing. Having been out of the Car Audio world for awhile (where I got started in this addictive hobby about 16 years ago), I missed the Tripath "Class T" amp developments, but it sounds like newfangled software algorithms are infiltrating even the "sacred ground" of stereo power amplification to great effect, counteracting the distortion that has plagued Class D digital amplifiers in the car audio world. Crutchfield article here is interesting.Originally Posted by rajacat
Looks like Bel Canto has abandoned the 4th-generation Tripath chip of their Evo line for a similar, newer technology in their eOne line based on an "ICEpower" chip. 6 Moons comments that the Bel Canto guy is "equally convinced that the Danish ICEpower engine inside the S300 dances at a more rarefied level than his tweaked-to-the-hilt 4th-gen Tripath motor of the eVo series."
Apparently, this Danish venture has made some waves at CES this month using another proprietary digital switching algorithm called ICEpower, developed by a scientist partnered up with Bang & Olufsen (those "speakers look good first, sound good second" guys -- kind of ironic). A speaker outfit called Sonic Weld that makes powered towers with this technology won a "Best Sound" award or two from The Absolute Sound. While I usually couldn't give two hoots what this bastion of tube ampery nonsense thinks, it's worth watching the digitally-switched and software-corrected amplification tech as it develops, at the least.
Anyone else have any experience with these digital amplifiers and (this is an Ascend forum after all) sonic accuracy?
Edit: Bryston found a guy to argue that all digital amplifiers "suck" (direct quote). Obviously, Bryston's current business depends on people buying high-priced traditional analog amplifiers, but this is an interesting read for anyone interested in "digital" amplification tech.
Thanks,
Adam
P.S. Did you guys hear that David cut his teeth at Oscar-winning pro speaker maker M&K before founding Ascend? David, you should have told us this bit of "street cred," you're too humble!
Last edited by Ad-Rok; 05-16-2006 at 11:24 PM.
Elite Member
While I have nothing against tripath amps in general, it annoys my when a company overstates the power of an amp. At least they provide a graph that shows how much they are overstating it. They list 100W at 4ohm, but their graph shows that at a generally used THD cuttoff of 0.1%, it puts out only 60W into 4 ohms and that's just a rating at 1kHz, not a full-spectrum rating. If we accept 60W at 4ohms, then the 8ohm power output is likely in the 30-40W range.
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