New Digital Amp

[inteificio]

Hi,
Rotel have released a new digital amp, the RB-1092.

£1600 for 500w of juice.

Has anyone had the pleasure of hearing one yet?
The reviews seem good but mostly concentrate on the size of the amp as opposed to the performance. I would like to know what to expect when the demo-unit comes into the local hifi shop.

While I am here, how does a digital amp amplify an analog signal?

Peter

 

[I-S]

While I am here, how does a digital amp amplify an analog signal?

This is a question that arises because of marketing terminology.

The term "Digital Amplifier" is often used to refer to Class-D amplifiers (I prefer the more accurate "Switching Amplifier"). Class D amplifiers can be broken down into two distinct groups:

Analogue Class D. These are amplifiers like the Zap Pulse, Tripath (eg bel canto), ICEpower, etc. These generate PWM from an analogue input signal by comparing it to a triangle wave.

Digital Class D. Examples of digital class D include D2Audio, S-master, etc. These amplifiers are designed around the recognition that PWM is essentially a two-state system (and hence why even analogue class D amplifiers are sometimes referred to as digital), as is the PCM (or DSD) of digital storage. Thus, somehow, it must be possible to directly translate from one to the other. A digital class D amplifier performs the functions of a DAC, EQ, preamp AND power amp in one package, and can attain higher performance than even one of these on their own.

 

[Nomoretweaks]

What kind of class D are TacT/Lyngdorf amps?