Maybe i shouldve used a welder analogy. or carb vs fuel injection. Sold, im gonna get me one to play with.
A looooot of heat depending on the amp lol, I can prob give myself a tan with some of my class a tube amps
I would say it depends, while my preference is class a, I have heard some excellent class d designs, so I would say it comes down to the amp and not the topology most of the time, but in theory class a is ideal yes sound quality wise
Yes for sure, imo it’s already at the point where they go head to head in the higher end and you are seeing more manufactures take class d amps to higher and higher levels (although they and up being pretty expensive, so this doesn’t account for cost or sound per dollar for a/ab vs d)
That’s why I wrote “these are rules of thumb, not set in stone” lol. You can make a total crap sounding class A amp pretty easily.
I’m actually running class D monoblocks on my 2ch rig. Though there’s likely a Pass class A amp in my future.
At the very high end, unfortunately the prices go bananas not only because of hardware costs but simply because people are willing to pay for having “the best”. Class D has no business costing as much as class A or A/B. The modules are all very simple, available off the shelf to anyone (including you or me) and don’t cost much. And you don’t need the hardware that A and A/B do. People paying a ton for class D are paying for bling.
Missed that lol, and yes there can be poor class a (lots of examples of these)
Noice, I have a first watt f8 on the way, will be curious to see how it stacks up against my j2, the j2 is just an excellent amp (as are most first watt amps)
I think it depends on how high end, like the top of the top of the top yes it does get pretty ridiculous.
If they are just using average hypex or ICE module implementations then that’s kinda a raw deal, but I’ve seen some pretty crazy designs around these modules that would most likely justify their price (going pretty nuts with their power supply or input stages or whatnot bypassing some aspects of the modules, and also I would assume that these more complex implementations do have some r&d behind it). I guess you could think of it in terms of high end dacs, while yes they might use a cheaper chip itself, the rest of the components and the quality of implementation can justify the cost imo
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I’m very interested to hear your thoughts on the f8
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Very cool. I keep thinking about First Watts but they’re so picky about speakers. I prefer amps that have a wider range of synergy.
True, true. I suppose it’s to some degree a personal bias. To me, for most implementations, class D should have a pretty big price advantage. If going for the Nth degree of goodness, then I don’t think anything beats class A so I can’t see the value of crazy expensive D. YMMV of course lol.
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Yes it can really depend what sounds good with them, although mainly I’ve been using mine with currently some spatial audio x5 and bmr philharmonitor, but trying other speakers I have/had it really did well with a decent amount of them (to an extent lol)
I could see that for sure, I might have a similar bit of bias when it comes to dacs as I kinda prefer a more interesting dac design in the higher end rather than like a common dac chip. I semi recently got in a jadis js1 mkv to demo (pretty sure it uses dual 4497) and wasn’t as excited about it as another dac I got in at a similar time (although this isn’t the best example as the jadis didn’t really end up being up my alley lol, but I don’t know if that’s the fault of the chip or preferences, although I do really think they could have gotten better results with a higher end dac chip, I think ess/analog devices/burr brown tend to better in higher end dacs if you have to pick a off the shelf chip. Ended up lacking spatially for me which is a no no and was picky with pairing, but when paired correctly it did have really good timbre and flow, fun sound, but in the end I’m a sucker for spatial recreation and if it can’t do it well it’s not a dac for me lol)
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Oh cool! How do you like them?
I hear you. Common chips to me are “meh”. Just because they’re common lol. I look for something I consider special in some way (this is the case with everything not just DACs or audio gear). Probably not the optimum thought process given that implementation is probably 90% of end result but it is what it is. Thanks brain lol.
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Yeah, interesting dacs are why I ultimately gravitated towards Chord when I got my Hugo TT2
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Curious to hear your thoughts. 
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I read through this whole thread while listening to my new LS3/5A’s. These are the most expensive speakers I have ever owned and listened to, so my opinion is of course limited by that exp. Running them off of my Bifrost II and Sprout100.
I have been going through some instrumental Blues and Jazz and some of my favorite acoustic tracks and vocals so far. My ears are in heaven… I love these for my desk setup.
I only have to wonder how much better others claim they sound on Class A or A/B amps compared to Class D amps, because I am hearing music like I never have from speakers before with my setup.
I have NO regrets buying these, thanks Zero Fidelity for this recommendation…
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For shits and giggles, pull them out to the front edge of your desk (so there’s no screen between them), pull your chair back a few feet and, listen to them there. I bet they sound even better. Just so you get an idea of their potential.
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It will certainly depend on which amp you end up choosing, but when I switched from a Class-D amp to a Class-AB amp and finally to a Class-A, I felt it was quite transformative (in my experience with my particular BBC monitor).
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Apparently these also work well for rock/metal and even electronic music (which is not common with ls3/5as). Might want to try that soon – at a non-dangerous volume. 
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I am currently doing a marathon Van Halen listening session in memory of Eddie. Sounds GREAT!!!
RIP Eddie Van Halen 
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Fucking JINXES, all of you bastards 
I swapped out amplifier and DAC this morning, decided to go with Shiit BF2 > Sugden Headmaster > Line Magnetic 216ia running Triode with w/ some fresh 12AX7’s (NOS Hewlett Packard). I had to toe the speakers in almost a full 2 inches before I could get them to disappear on my little desktop triangle.
I’ve been speaking about SYNERGY in components for a while and this is EXACTLY what I’m talking about, just because someone tries one single combo of equipment it does NOT mean that anything in that chain will reproduce the exact same way in your system and room, you have to experiment with it yourself. 
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Does anyone have a headphone recommendation that is in the same ball park sound wise as these speakers?
Do you really want a thin bottom end? I mean these are small sealed box speakers which do have limitations. Yes the midrange is supposed to be exceptional and the high end of impeccable performance but you can only make a sealed 51/4 do so much…
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Hd600/650/6xx would be my rec
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