[Ableza]

  So, I was planning on getting a Freya for Genelec 8040B's.  Is this a waste of cash since the Genelecs are powered by class D?  Can I stop refreshing the schiit site and just enjoy what I have?

​Sending your powered monitors the best possible signal means the sound you hear is the best they can do.  Using a genuine preamp is always preferable to using a receiver or some other device as a preamp if your goal is a clean, powerful signal.  What you do is up to you, of course, but I say the only thing you have to lose by trying is time and a little money.  And one should *ALWAYS* enjoy what they have. 

 

 

[valiant66]

If I'm not mistaken Class A amplifiers have been around since the first half of the last century, so at least 60 years. I don't think Class D has been around more than a decade, at least in domestic hi-fi use.
 
I reckon there's a lot of development and refinement left in Class D, and the perceived performance deficiencies will be overcome one by one. By the time Class D has been with us 60 years, no one will question its credentials.
 
It's just that we are at the early stage of its development, climbing the steep side of the bell curve.
 
Considering the short timeline for Class D, I'm amazed at how far N-Core has come.
 
And considering the breadth and depth of design experience shared between Jason and Mike, I'm pretty sure IF they decided to put their minds to it, they could design a Class D amp even better sounding than that.
.

 

[bigro]

  So, I was planning on getting a Freya for Genelec 8040B's.  Is this a waste of cash since the Genelecs are powered by class D?  Can I stop refreshing the schiit site and just enjoy what I have?

Surprisingly Their are a alot of powered monitors that use class D. Mackie is one of the few that i have found that use Class A/B in their MR and HR series.  I don't think it is a waste. A pre amp gives you connectivity and centralized volume control as well as  a tube gain stage which may sound nice with those genelacs. 

 

[dmckean44]

  Bringing it back to Schiit, what are the compromises* in Schiit's circlotron and Pivot Point topologies?  Or are they both the same as class A in that regard?
 
*Besides being unmeasurable according to Stereophile

Class A simply isn't possibly for a 65 WPC desktop amp. Such a thing would smoke and melt. You'd have to ask Jason about his topologies, all I know about it is what he's written in this thread. To my knowledge, he's never written a white paper on it or anything like that.

 

[jacal01]

​If you are just wanting to wake up, get a clock radio.  It works.  Trust me on this.   Save the Schiit for when you are awake.

ORT

Worst. Response. Ever.

Maybe if you're a morning person who only needs a less-than-gentle nudge in the general direction to bounce out of bed to take on the world and breakfast, a radio alarm streaming whatever is good enough.

Me, I need real motivation to face the day. Nothing, not anything, can beat a properly rendered musical piece that starts out gentle, whispering you out from your dreams and lullingly pulling you along into its majestic finale with vaulting lyrics and pounding drums, daring you to continue lying semi-comatose in your bed while the beat beckons.

Three of my all time favorites:
Indian Sunset - Elton John
Song of Our Ancestors - Steve Miller Band
25 or 6 to 4 - Chicago

Hell, even a canary in an eastern exposure window with the cage cover still open to the night window to let in the coming sunrise is still better than a steamin'... er, streaming radio alarm.

 

[sludgeogre]

Worst. Response. Ever.

Maybe if you're a morning person who only needs a less-than-gentle nudge in the general direction to bounce out of bed to take on the world and breakfast, a radio alarm streaming whatever is good enough.

Me, I need real motivation to face the day. Nothing, not anything, can beat a properly rendered musical piece that starts out gentle, whispering you out from your dreams and lullingly pulling you along into its majestic finale with vaulting lyrics and pounding drums, daring you to continue lying semi-comatose in your bed while the beat beckons.

Three of my all time favorites:
Indian Sunset - Elton John
Song of Our Ancestors - Steve Miller Band
25 or 6 to 4 - Chicago

Hell, even a canary in an eastern exposure window with the cage cover still open to the night window to let in the coming sunrise is still better than a steamin'... er, streaming radio alarm.

I used to wake up to Napalm Death and Vital Remains songs in college before a final. Jarring myself out of bed always helped when I only got a few hours of sleep before a test. Works great!

 

[Matias]

Nothing wrong with the sound quality of good class D. Preconceptions are a hard thing to change in people's mind.

 

[FrivolsListener]

  I used to wake up to Napalm Death and Vital Remains songs in college before a final. Jarring myself out of bed always helped when I only got a few hours of sleep before a test. Works great!

 
Egocentric Molecules by Jean-Luc Ponty, from the album Cosmic Messenger, was my go-to piece in college days.  (It's on Youtube, I just checked, and it isn't exactly a piece to show off your speakers with.  It will jar you awake, though.)
 
 

  Nothing wrong with the sound quality of good class D. Preconceptions are a hard thing to change in people's mind.

 
Other than, to quote @Baldr, "they sound like ass."   I heard one before I knew what it was, in a high-end audio shop.  It was nasty -- lots of hash and artifacts at the edge of my hearing, and it left a bad taste in my, um, ears.

 

[madwolfa]

  Ha. Jeremy Clarkson on Top Gear once called them The Laziest Design Firm in the world.

 
Don't fix something that works, right?

 

[StanD]

   
Egocentric Molecules by Jean-Luc Ponty, from the album Cosmic Messenger, was my go-to piece in college days.  (It's on Youtube, I just checked, and it isn't exactly a piece to show off your speakers with.  It will jar you awake, though.)

Sounds like you like Jazz Fusion. You like any of these, Dave Weckl, Weather Report, Chic Corea, The Mahavishnu Orchestra?

 

[nedifer]

Me, I need real motivation to face the day. Nothing, not anything, can beat a properly rendered musical piece that starts out gentle, whispering you out from your dreams and lullingly pulling you along into its majestic finale with vaulting lyrics and pounding drums, daring you to continue lying semi-comatose in your bed while the beat beckons.

 
I can relate at a certain level.  My most memorable waking musical moment was one Sunday morning in Ithaca, NY after a lake effect storm had dumped 24+ inches of fresh snow across the region and nothing was stirring outside.
 
The day broke with a beautiful gentle sunrise and I awoke to Rudolf Serkin's sublime interpretation of Schubert's piano sonata in b-flat, D. 960.
 
I lay in bed, listening to the whole thing while watching the sunrise unfold through the dormer windows at the head of my bed, at peace with the world.
 
It was playing on a clock radio....

 

[franzdom]

Sun Raa and his Arkestraa

 

[hornytoad]

   
Egocentric Molecules by Jean-Luc Ponty, from the album Cosmic Messenger, was my go-to piece in college days.  (It's on Youtube, I just checked, and it isn't exactly a piece to show off your speakers with.  It will jar you awake, though.)
 
 
 
Other than, to quote @Baldr, "they sound like ass."   I heard one before I knew what it was, in a high-end audio shop.  It was nasty -- lots of hash and artifacts at the edge of my hearing, and it left a bad taste in my, um, ears.

Generally speaking, class D does sound like ass but there are a few exceptions ,very few I might add.  

 

[FrivolsListener]

  Sounds like you like Jazz Fusion. You like any of these, Dave Weckl, Weather Report, Chic Corea, The Mahavishnu Orchestra?

 
I have some Weather Report, and I probably need "The Essential ... " or "The Compleat ..." on Dave Weckl and Chic Corea.
 
I probably should be embarrassed that I don't know The Mahavishnu Orchestra.

 

[Oveja Negra]

When I was in college, I used to wake up to Steve Vai's Liberty, which was always great cause it is both melodic and epic. So epic that if someday I own a country, it will be my national anthem (yeah, no lyrics, only music). It never failed to give me the impulse I needed to fail at the tests with dignity.
 
Regarding Class D amps, it's kinda accepted they sound good at medium/low volumes and are disappointing when delivering their max power?
 
I listen in a daily basis all kind of music via my Genelecs M030 (internal discrete amp) and not even in a million years I'd rate the sound they produce as crappy.