Class D Amplifier

Class D Amplifier
The latest technology in amplifier design is Class D, which has generated a lot of emotions on both sides of the art vs. commerce divide.  Often mistakenly referred to as a “digital” amp (hence the D), not all Class D >Amps are, strictly speaking, completely digital, though there’s definitely a lot of digital signal processing going on.

Class D is an incredibly efficient Way of amplifying audio.  In essence these >Amps generate their own waveform (a square wave, to be exact) which divides the Frequency portion of the audio spectrum into sounds you can hear and sounds that are too high to hear. There’s still the same kind of positive-negative waveform treatment going on, except that the negative portion is now basically made up of unused high Frequency signals. So in theory, by interpreting half the wave form (as a Class B or Class AB does) as the full wave form, and using what is in essence a “dummy” circuit to complete the cycle between positive and inaudible negative, you’d theoretically get the best of both worlds—clean, linear sound and efficiency that’s so good you can make the >Amps super small. These >Amps also generate virtually no heat—the enemy of all things electronic.