Electric cars are a quantum leap forward in automotive design. Even mid-priced battery powered or EV cars are simply faster than nearly every uber-exotic car on the market. A new Rivian pickup truck (2.5 seconds) with the quad motor can actually win in a 0 to 60 race with a Lamborghini Gallardo (3.4 to 3.7 seconds). Let that sink in for a minute in terms of how we think of what a fast car is in today’s marketplace. EV cars also create no exhaust which helps climate change via no real carbon emissions (let’s not talk about the battery after the car is done as that’s another issue, not that traditional internal combustion engine cars have plenty of toxic elements when they go to the junk heap). EV cars can look a little off beat, especially in the early days but they’ve gotten more approachable in the past few years in terms of aesthetics. Thanks to U.S. government subsidies of $7,500 per car, EVs lease extremely well today but that’s not where the real value is.
If you are willing to pick up a used electric car from a short term lease, you might be shocked to see the value lost in a practically new car. Note, that is a car that you can drive on the 405 Freeway (or your version of that hell on Earth) and bypass traffic, as a solo driver in the HOV lane. That alone makes an EV worth the money for many car buyers. $68 from Amazon gets people like me who refuse to spend a penny with unelected “King Elon” on anything but it will allow you to use Tesla’s admittedly superior network of fast chargers in the event that you are going on a long trip and need some more battery life while wolfing down some Moon’s Over My Hammi at a road trip stop at Denny’s.

Why I Didn’t Buy an EV When I Was First Told To …
Two years ago, my buddy who is the fleet manager at the Mercedes dealer in Santa Monica enthusiastically suggested that I buy an EV version of the biggest Mercedes SUV. He told me on a Friday when my car was in the shop potentially needing over $10,000 in repairs, that I had until Sunday to take advantage of an insane deal to get a $115,000 car for about $900 per month on a 24 month lease. With two kids, a dog and the frequent need to have my golf clubs in the trunk – my need for a big SUV is real but I had objections including the increase from $0 payment to $900. Another objection is that I don’t normally drive all that much as my current big Mercedes AMG SUV is 12-plus years old now but with a mere 83,000 miles on it. I simply don’t drive anywhere which doesn’t make the lease make much sense versus buying a car. I had objections about getting a charger at home which proved to be pretty small objections as we have one installed now and the LADWP paid for the installation eventually. There were other concerns about traveling long distances and charging via Mercedes network but when I visited Volvo to shop for one of their plug-in hybrids, the very low pressure salesman asked an excellent question. “Jerry, how many trips do you realistically make that are longer than 35 miles?” This is the electric range of said hybrid Volvo S90. He got me thinking and the reality is… few, if any, of my trips are longer than 35 miles and if they are – the gas kicks in and you just keep driving. My objections weren’t standing up to the factual realities of the situation.
At the time back in 2023, I couldn’t pop for the car. There was just too much change needed in my headspace in too short of a period but a seed was planted. I bucked up for the $10,000 repair which then led to a $13,000 one next thus I would have been far better off with Mr. Marcus’ advice but I just wasn’t there yet. I wasn’t ready to the leap, even if it was forward.
Roll the tape forward to January of 2025 when only a week into the month, the Palisades Fire started a mere 2,000 yards from our home (aka: the FutureAudiophile.com headquarters). We are the one out of 10 who’s house didn’t burn down of the 4,400 total homes in Pacific Palisades, however my wife’s nearly paid off Mercedes SUV (we had $3,700 left and we had the pink slip) with 51,000 miles was left out during the fire with the roof inadvertently cracked. I had minutes to escape and I just didn’t see this detail as I had other more, life threatening issues to deal with at that moment. With 90 MPH winds in a fire storm, let’s just say my wife’s car wasn’t cleanable and after a somewhat Karen-esque call to a Manager at USAA, the car was thankfully totaled.
Putting a fork in my wife’s SUV put me in the business of researching and buying her a new car. Kevin Voecks, the former face of Revel Loudspeakers, is an EV enthusiast and he suggested that I look at the used market. Holy crap! That 2023 Mercedes EQS was back from its 24 month lease and being sold on the lot for under $50,000. And we bought one. 15,400 miles, four brand new tires, 0-60 in under 4 seconds, three years of factory warranty and stickers to get you in the HOV lane for $625 per month for a few years. This is an insane deal when you consider that the car was close to $120,000 new and that in reality, it was pretty much new now. My objections of the past were emotional and not fully rational as I just needed some time to get over my mindset about what a car is and how it works and/or what you should pay for it.

Do We Bring the Same Irrational Objections to these New School Class D Amps?
Early class D amps (read about how they are changing the hobby here) were called “digital amps” which is a misnomer in that they are really semiconductor-based “switching amps” but it is easy to understand why people would call these amps digital. These early amps had their advantages but audiophile sound was not one of them. They often used a B&O ICE chip which implies an icy-cold sound which isn’t really fair, but fully understandable. These amps are still to this day small, light, powerful, used very little power and ran cool as a cucumber. They changed the world of audiophile subwoofers when Bob Carver put a switching class D amp into a Sunfire True Subwoofer. Distributed audio systems could do more channels of in-wall speakers in ways that made more sense than ever. AV receivers could offer more power without more expense. Class D amps changed the consumer electronics world for the better but audiophiles weren’t really into them.

Looking at Today’s Incredible Class D Audiophile Power Amps …
Roll the tape forward to today and there is a whole new group of class D amps that have now changed the audiophile market. If you are a frequent reader of FutureAudiophile.com, you will know that these GaN (learn more here), Hypex or Pascal chipped amps are also game changing but this time for audiophiles – not the custom installation (CI) world. Today’s modern class D amps have nearly all of the aforementioned benefits including very light weight, low energy use, nearly no heat generated, less metalwork for heat synchs as they are not really needed anymore. The cost is pretty low too relative to other, more exotic and traditional audiophile power amps. The issue for most audiophiles isn’t the feature sets or even performance as much as it is such a radically different way of looking at an audiophile amplifier. They call this, the most glowing sense of the term, “disruptive” in Silicon Valley.
We’ve done the Pepsi Challenge at my house with some of the best class D amps versus both tube and class A power amps and the delta in performance is respectfully narrow. While I use an energy pig, hot AF Pass Labs XA-25 (read the review) in my rack and deal with those issues to get the Nth percentage of performance from said class A amp versus the newer amps. The Pass amp sounds a little better overall and I like owning an amp from my friend, Nelson, which counts in my book. The Pass Labs class A amp sounds little bit more resolved, open and maybe even a touch warm but barely, when comparing it to ADG, Orchard and other class D amps that have made it into my system in recent months. Put your hand on my Pass Labs class A XA-25 amp in my rack and it gets hot and that’s no surprise. The amp draws literally all power from the wall and “cooks it down” (for lack of a better, more engineering-driven term) to a pretty low amount of power output which is how class A amps work by design. Class D amps offer a more modern way of getting almost all of the performance without the issues and grief.
Why Are Audiophiles Caught Up on Class D Amps?
Respectfully, change is hard for many traditional audiophiles. Let’s rephrase, change for some older audiophiles is so painful that they can’t stand it and often want to revive old/dead technologies mainly out of fear. The audiophile elders at the establishment print magazines cling to the past (vinyl, tubes, weird speakers) and promote these technology as high definition and/or highly relevant. I guess some people want to read reviews that delve into past technologies and we deliver there when we can but we are future audiophile and even the most jaded audiophile can see that class D amps are the future even if they resist them. For the love of God, I resisted an EV in 2023 as there were good reasons. Change takes a little while sometimes and I bet that people will come around to these beyond exciting technologies as they evolve. Let’s be frank, I wasn’t ever going to buy one of those early generations of Prius or Honda EV/hybrids that look like they were designed for somebody who never changes the radio station from NPR. Sorry, I need more sex appeal from my cars from that, and I am not alone. Audiophiles feel the same way about their electronics and I fall into that camp too. I want my class D amp to look like Cello or Vinnie Rossi or D’Agostino or Pass Labs. I just don’t want to deal with the cost and issues that come with a more traditional audiophile rack and I’ve not yet found that product but trust me, I am looking.

Improving the Look and Form Factor of Today’s Class D Amps
Today’s class D amps represent some of the most incredible values in the audiophile space for those who don’t have hang-ups about the way the amps look. Argent Pur (read my review of their more snazzy looking GaN amp), an audiophile company known for their expensive silver audiophile cables, has made a much more pretty looking audiophile power amp (mono and stereo) but they are still a non-standard form factor. AMPED America’s AMP 2400 amp (read the review) uses the Pascal chip set and at $5,000 is a full-width component but it lacks that Vinnie Rossi level finish or a D’Agostino or Pass Labs gauge. Orchard Audio’s amps (read Mike Prager’s review of their top of the line $4,995 monoblocks) are a favorite with FutureAudiophile.com readers and their founder is finding ways to make his products have more physical appeal just as the car companies are making EVs that look like real cars. Cars that you want to own. Companies like Buckeye Amps (read a review of their NCx500) and Orchard are hyper focused on value and our core reader needs this as he or she grows their system. This value proposition is unlikely to change in the coming years but the designs will get more and more visually appealing. That trend has already started which has warmed more people up to making the emotional change over.
While this concept has zero to do with the sound of my system, I don’t love investing in audiophile components that are not full rack width. For me they just don’t feel like they are as serious of an audiophile component while looking somewhat silly in my professional audio Middle Atlantic rack. They need custom faceplates that cost a few hundreds of dollars each which is an annoying extra expense but just a small issue. Expect more and more companies to make full-sized class D audiophile amps in the coming months and years. Do they need to put lead bricks in them to make them “audiophile heavy”? That feels like it would be a bad idea but making an amp that looks like it is high end audio is a key part of winning over audiophiles to a new way of thinking about things. Just like plating of your food impacts your reaction to the dish, the look of your audiophile electronics (or your EV for that matter) is important. The good news is that it is improving as these, often new companies, develop with more and more evolved designs.

Final Thoughts on Class D Audiophile Amps …
Nearly every reviewer on staff has asked for a class D designed amp at one point or another in recent years and I understand why. Respectfully, reviewing amps can be hard to do in that the best amps don’t have a sound per se. So what do you talk about if the amp is neutral? There are design elements but what do you say about the downside? Heat? Weight? It is often the same few objections repeated over and over again and for good reasons.
Today’s class D amps tell a far more interesting editorial story. They bring a whole new narrative to one’s audiophile system. For many of us, the idea that a $5,000 amp with bleeding-edge new technology is somehow better than a $20,000 amp with a vintage technology, is hard to digest in ways that that guy in the Gallardo feels when the Rivian blows him off the road in an non-exotic electric truck.
Class D amps aren’t for every audiophile but every audiophile should know all about them. For younger audiophiles coming up in the hobby, the sound that you can get without the historical design bullshit, is going to be very compelling.
On the uber high end, don’t be surprised when the big boys soon start looking at ways to make new school class D amps for the big-dollar audiophile electronics companies. Jeff Rowland dabbled in a Pascal chip based amp for about $30,000 but it is unclear if that is still a product that is being made or sold today. America’s current president’s purely absurd, mind-numbingly ignorant tariffs don’t impact the prior administration’s efforts to build not one but seven “gigabit factories” to make semiconductors in the United States. Not solely relying on Taiwan for semiconductors is a brilliant strategy if one really wanted to Make America Great Again. If traditional amps were already more expensive and loaded with downsides, perhaps the self-inflicted economic wound forced upon us by the current administration might force change adverse audiophile companies to look to soon-to-be American made semiconductors for their amps. There has to be some upside to the profound stupidity of a global trade war that extends beyond new ocean front real estate being available for Americans to buy in Greenland, right?
We all will come around to new technology on our own personal timeline. As I type, I got a notice to check in for my flight tomorrow to go to the AXPONA show in Chicago. For audiophiles of all levels, I suggest that you take a quick listen to what these exciting, new companies are doing with very cool new technology as it has changed the world of audiophile amplifiers very much for the better. Will you be trading in your CH Precision monoblocks for a pair of $2,600 Orchard Audio amps? No, you will not but even if you already own crazy high-end audiophile amps, it is part of the fun of the hobby to see how these new technologies are pushing audiophile boundaries. The audiophile hobby isn’t good with accepting change but friends, change is here in the amplifier category and we should all be at least aware of it.
What amps are you rocking these days? Have you had a chance to hear any of the new class D amps? What technologies? What brands? What did you think? Would you buy one? What would a company need to do to convert you to a class D amp? Share with us your thoughts on the matter. We will approve your comments ASAP below in this article.
First a comment on the EV and then on Class d….
Thank you for the tip to seriously consider a preowned EV because for most of us, the depreciation when buying new is too great of a risk for a car that we may not love…especially for more than 3 years since we as Americans in general like new cars every 3-5 years.
I suspect that for Class d, part of the issue is the “I know the sound I want” phenomenon that affect all of us…I want accurate…but I also want lush. I want musical but what they heck is musical when the same concert can sound different in different venues and on different nights. And I want the best, latest and greatest but I don’t want to pay too much for something that “may be a fad”.
I’ve owned four Class d amps over the past 10 years…and in between them, a number of Class A and AB amps. Each sounded “great” while I owned it and was replaced with a “better” sound, class be damned…hmm, were my tastes and preferences changing?
I think we all agree that there is a synergy between amps, speakers, rooms music and ears…and there probably isn’t a one size fits all…and even if it did, our itch to try new things would probably result in the need to change things up in a couple years anyway.
I currently own a Lyngdorf TDAI 1120, class d…and for now, I can’t imagine going back to Class A, AB or tubes…but then again, never say never.
PS…the Lyngdorf replaced an XA25
Yet again, a leftist political agenda masquerading as an audio site. eVs make NO sense at all. Not until we have 60 new nuclear power plants to recharge their batteries and better technology than lithium ion batteries. Buring natural gas to run steam turbine generators to then charge eV batteries makes as much sense as rearranging the furniture on the deck of the Titanic. It doesn’t do anything concrete to mitigate climate change. Please start a political site separate from your audio site and keep them far, far apart. At least Class D is starting to make sense with Purifi and Hypex modules, but most audiophiles are firmly in the camp of Class A, Class AB (with biasing toward Class A for the first 10 Watts) because they sound better. In another ten years or so, Class D might catch up. We will see and hear.
Oh Ross, you’re so well informed.
MAGA people believe what the believe. Facts be damned.
We like facts around here.
Since you insist mixing a hobby with politics…
Your statement about tariffs and MAGA indicates you are ill-informed by your ideology. It is you who has no command of the facts.
Like Iran, China is at war with the US if you know it or not. Unlike Iran, China has been strategically positioning itself to win the war without firing a shot. See Sun Tzu.
Look at the evidence:
China’s trade surplus with the US at the end of 2024 was $295 billion per US Census Bureau.
China’s has a trade surplus with all US trading partners. Funds are fungible. Virtually all US trading partners run trade surpluses with the US to pay for their trade deficits with China. Look at the numbers. Per Google, China’s surplus with the whole world for 2024 is $992 billion. US trade deficits with the whole world at the end of 2024 was $916 billion per the US Census Bureau.
More facts. The world bank has recently reported that the tariffs other countries put on US goods should be reduced. If you want to investigate tariffs in detail you can go to World Bank Data. Another source of data on trade is the Federal Reserve flow of funds accounting on the Fed’s website.
China is using its trade surpluses to buy US companies, and US farmland next to military installations.
China uses its trade surpluses to purchase ports and port management companies in the US and around the world… Think choke points.
China used the Panama Canal to choke off or impede US exports and the US Navy.
China taking over 90% of medical supply production as we found out during the COVID, the China Virus after China purposely exported COVID out of Wuhan to the rest of the world after shutting down travel from Wuhan inside China.
China stealing US technology and trade secrets.
Using trade surpluses to open Confucius Institutes on major US university campuses for spying, propaganda, and gaining admission of Chinese technology students.
China stealing the South China Sea trade routes from US allies by building interlocking, militarized Islands and claiming 100-mile national sovereignty from the islands.
China test-firing missiles over our allies like Japan.
China building the largest Navy in the world and arming with modern weapons like 5th generation fighters.
Interfering in US elections with fraudulent documents and fake ballots to get Biden elected. Check the recent release of FBI documents.
China is complicit with US deep state actors in the FBI to hide China’s election interference.
China forming alliances with state actors like Iran, North Korea, and Russia.
Hillary and Obama sell uranium to Iran and Russia?
China spying at the highest levels of the US government and nothing is done? Eric Swalwell sleeps with a Chinese spy. Diane Feinstein employed a Chinese Spy driver for 20 years.
If you insist on mixing hobby with politics and your ideology, at least get YOUR facts straight. A broad and sweeping statement is not a fact.
That’s so funny.
A MAGA guy lecturing about fact.
Here’s a fact – we had the number one economy in the world before a 6x bankrupt, nepo-baby who has 34x felony convictions to his name – not to mention one for sexual abuse in a civil court. His Daddy gave him $440,000,000 of the family slum lord money and still couldn’t come close to beating the S&P with his performance.
Even if we were getting ripped off by say China – perhaps there was a more elegant way to deal with it than treatening like Roy Kohn (sp?) the NY lawyer.
We live in a global economy.
America First is total bullshit. Need proof? Trump just bombed IRAN. SO MUCH FOR AMERICA FIRST.
From an audiophile perspective, we are screwed by the organge guy and even if you don’t agree with us/me (perfectly fine – unlike Trump and the 2020 voting for example) you can’t just move all AV manufacturing to the United States overnight.
Some companies already had that in place. That was the point of the story.
I purchased a Buckeye Hypex NCx500 2-Channel a couple of weeks ago. It sounds great driving various types of speakers. The fact that it is small, light, easy to move, and energy efficient (and so does not put out much heat) is a huge bonus.
Great amp man!!!
Buckeye and Orchard make some killer values.
Interesting article. I have been sold on Class D for some time. Put simply, they are getting so darn good for a decent price. Some time ago, I got an Underwood HiFi, Class D amp, using GaN transistors. I was very curious what it would do, or better put, how it would do it. I use the Harbeth SHL5plus XD2 speakers, and it was simply beautiful how they worked together. I am compelled to listen to a recording all the way through, the beauty and the joy is unbelieveable… my first record was Beethoven’s 9th, and I simply loved it… you know, the big smile that will not go away.
I could compare class D to AI in that it is moving THAT FAST.
New Buckeye Hypex amps have bridges the Gan-FET performance gap. Both super low cost. Exiting times.
Don’t tell the OK Boomer print magazines but you don’t HAVE TO spend a fortune to get great sound. Sorry.
There is something about an amplifier that gets hot, or even warm that adds to the experience for me. It’s totally a tactile/emotional thing but it’s real for me. It’s like an old 60’s muscle car with a manual choke that needs to warm up a few minutes before it’s ready to go. Class-D is great, the designers should just put a small heating circuit on it to trick people like me. 🙂
I like my amps like I like my corpse(s). Nice can cold.
(I can see this being used in a deposition, already… 🙂
If I had a car that ended up with $10k repairs just to end up needing another $13k I certainly wouldn’t have bought that brand again.
You push Class D hard. Do any of your staff have Class D in their “reference” system? I can’t recall one of you off the top of my head using one. Either way trying to shame or being condescending to readers isn’t going to encourage anyone to purchase Class D. Anyone ever reading your reviews should know by now your view on Class D well before this article came to print.
I wanted to upgrade a few years back my power amp. I would have loved a lightweight amp like Class D. I tried a couple but ended up with a Mark Levinson 534 on a deal. The best sounding Class D I tried was a Bel Canto which I really thought was quite an improvement over units I’ve heard in the past. I’ve heard a good number of Class D at Axpona as well. The Bel Canto came close but I still liked my current amp that I upgraded from. Some of what I heard in audition could have been synergy or lack thereof with my preamp.
From hanging out on some forums my impression people are trying the Class D some fall into your camp and think everyone should have one others like myself are not hearing it yet. Not to say the Class D is bad it’s like any audio decision, it’s preference. I can only speak for myself when I say my preference is based solely on how something sounds to me. To be fair I should also mention in my amp search I also auditioned other A/B which were sent back. So I’m in no way trying to bash Class D, it just doesn’t work for certain people and/or systems..
You are correct that higher end companies are offering Class D, most recently I saw Constellation and Bryston. I’m not sure what power supply the Bryston has it weighs 58 lbs. maybe they didn’t get the lightweight memo, LOL
Staff here, my Paradigm Founder 120h use class D to drive from 300hz on down, While some of our readers can afford to look for that Nth degree of refinement, Class D now really allows audiophiles of all discretionary income levels to get performance at price points and/or in size packages that give up very little performance wise in comparison to just 10 years ago.
It’s good for all audiophiles for tech to move forward, and if the ability to have options powered speakers that stream or compact all in one class D amps bring more “future audiophiles” into the fold, that’s pretty great.
Legacy Audio iv-series. Class D and loving it!
NICE!!!
I bet that is VERY DYNAMIC
It is just insane as far as I am concerned. Class D to me is like AI to computing – all the expensive good looking hardwares that we used to stare at looking almost virtually at every semi-conductor and sniff before we installed have come to ruins.
Today cheap (only in price tag), even DIY tiny audiophile Class D amp board has brought down Great Babylon (insanely expensive mammoth nice audiophile gears), even like Iran just did to almighty untouchables America and spoilt Baby Israel (whether we would admit it or not as it’s all about sentiments here). It is just heart-wrenching that such time tested and hardened Goliaths could possibly fall at the feet of not even half-sized David’s. But it’s all happening, whether we like it all not. Now what can be done is what you’ve mentioned concerning chassis. I am looking at all wood vintage crafts that can aesthetically boost our ego.Well seasoned crafted and polished as rather real decorative furniture like the era of the gramophones. For the chips and chipset plus the surface mounts has render the Class Ds almost invisible.
I switched over with the help of worthless energy consumption which now degrades for me the enjoyment of power guzzling gears. I could say more but enough for now.
Uh… ok…
Love reading so many of the “fact” based audiophile discussions! LOL. I’ve been in this hobby now for about 57 years. I got into it with my first Heathkit build at 13. I’m still in it and get paid to design audio products to this day, and I’ll probably never retire because I love it so much. I’ve also been a “car guy” since about as long. as a recovering car club member I’ve participated in autocrosses, BMWCCA club track days, and seem to always have a car in the driveway or garage that I am working on for myself or a family member. So this article struck a familiar chord.
I too have adopted an EV as my daily, and although it’s just one of five cars and three motorcycles in my family of four, I can’t see buying a gas car ever again for day to day driving. Maybe a weekend sports car with a drop-top and a six speed manual, but actually experiencing an EV on a regular basis exposes the extreme levels of inconvenience, excessive complexity, and performance compromises that we live with with gas cars, and which we just take for granted. Ironically, I loved many of these traditional things too. Now, I find that the arguments against EV’s from gas car proponents are mostly based on ignorance and incorrect assumptions. They are not based on experience, just opinions formed without a basis to actually make a rational judgement. They just don’t understand.
Likewise with Class-D. It is interesting that almost no one out of the engineering community seems to be able to give even a simple description of what class D is, least of all understand its value. Virtually all of the arguments I’ve been given as to why ClassD is “bad” are invalid without the basic understanding of how it works. But not everybody is technically oriented, so this can be forgiven. As you have pointed out, there are some really good sounding class-D solutions out there. There are also some things that Class-D does better than Class A or Class AB that has nothing to do with efficiency. And it’s getting better every day. I once participated in a listening session that pitted an very expensive tube amplifier against a really inexpensive class D chip amplifier from Texas Instruments. Of the group, only 40% could make out anty difference, and half of them preferred the <$3 T.I chip. Every technology has its pros and cons. However, thanks to the myriad of preferences of the wide variety of folks in the audio community, I suspect that there will be long and fruitful lives ahead for everything from Single Ended Triodes to GaN and whatever is next. It's not the technology that makes something great as much as it is the execution. I just wish some members of the community could learn how to set aside their pre-conceived biases and open their minds to new ideas.
There is a quote I have on the wall in my office which I use for inspiration that applies here: "Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible." – Frank Zappa.
First Zappa quote of the day!!! 🙂
The key for me is how a class D amp sounds, not how it looks. Class D is clearly a more efficient technology but efficiency is beneficial if it wields the same result. I have not heard a class D amplifier that sounds as good as one of the amplifiers from Dan D’Agostino, which to me is at or near the pinnacle of what an amplifier can sound like, but there are a lot of class D amplifiers I haven’t heard. Of course, everybody has a different opinion of what is best, but I have a certain sound preference that I like and I would love to be able to find a class D amplifier that achieve that sound. Are there class D amplifiers that can produce that same neutral, and full sound? I would love to be educated and hear your recommendations. Thanks.
I’ve been lucky enough to hear and review many class D amps.
I’ve done the Pepsi Challenge with amps from Pass Labs and say Orchard Audio. Class A vs. Class D and the differences are slight, sonically. Do I own Pass? Yes. But the point is that the delta is small.
I saw Dan D in Munich. We’ve not reviewed their gear here yet. Perhaps someday. CH Precision went up today. 🙂
Thanks.
I can see a not-too-distant future in which powered speakers containing preamp, amplification, and DSP functions are the norm. Add in room correction or EQ software and you’re done. The appeal of products that simplify audio reproduction for the typical consumer is they are easy to understand and install. Your spouse is more also likely to give the go-ahead signal.
Such a product is a good place to start for many audiophiles.
Dutch and Dutch makes products like this WITH Room Correction. PSB too (including the functions of a Node streamer) in a $1,200 pair of small, colorful speakers. PSB Alpha IQ. We reviewed them. Cool as hell.
The audiophile elders will hate it. Younger audiophiles will not.
There are likely more Amazon Speakers or Sonos speakers sold in an hour than in the audiophile world, in a year – to hammer home your excellent point