T-Class amp recommendations

[ian_heys]

I've used the Topping VX2 as a USB DAC/AMP for PiCore in the past. It has additional switchable optical and RCA inputs.

I used it to enhance TV sound and to listen to LMS Music and Radio.

I now use HDMI/Jivelite from the PiCore and a single optical TV output to the Topping and external TV Speakers.

Very versatile and well built.

[satkinsn]

So here's a question: the company that developed the T amp went under a decade ago.

Where are all the "class T" chips coming from in 2017? Checking the web site of Cirrus Logic, which bought the intellectual property of Tripath, shows no sign of the chips being available new.

And yes, they're pretty wonderful. I have a few of them, most especially the Trends Audio 10.1, which was an audiophile darling several years ago. I use it in my basement system, where it drives a pair of PSB B25s reasonably well.

s.

[s2kiwi]

I'm running a few.

I started with these 15w boards
and was surprisingly impressed. Cheap bare boards, but sound quality is surprisingly good and unbeatable for the price.

Now I've switched to a higher power 100w board like this style. They seem slightly warmer. They do feel slightly less refined than the 15w board, but the extra volume control allowed me to level the volumes across multiple rooms easier so worth the trade off. Still the quality is astonishingly good for the price and I think the extra powere of the 100w option would probably be a better fit with the speakers you are trying to drive.

For what it's worth, I've added a £5 DAC and a £5 PiZero to each board to make stand alone units for each room of the house. It's astounding you can get this quality sound in a standalone player for under £25.

[drmatt]

Seems likely that "class D" was not copyrighted by them, only their own implementation was protected, hence the clones. They are the future of amplification in the same way that digital cameras eradicated film...


Transcoded from Matt's brain by Tapatalk

[Jeff07971]

So here's a question: the company that developed the T amp went under a decade ago.

Where are all the "class T" chips coming from in 2017? Checking the web site of Cirrus Logic, which bought the intellectual property of Tripath, shows no sign of the chips being available new.

And yes, they're pretty wonderful. I have a few of them, most especially the Trends Audio 10.1, which was an audiophile darling several years ago. I use it in my basement system, where it drives a pair of PSB B25s reasonably well.

s.

There is obviously plenty of Tripath chips still around all of Hifimediy.com s "T" series amps use them as well as others

[d6jg]

All of the HiFiBerry Amps and the like are Class D aren't they ?

[Jeff07971]

All of the HiFiBerry Amps and the like are Class D aren't they ?

Apparently (via google) the HifiBerry use TI's TAS5756M chip which is quoted as a class D

Of course the Tripath was a Class D with extra enhancements others may have reverse engineered the "enhancements" so who knows whether these re the equivalent of class T or not.

For anyone who's interested here's the Tripath patent https://www.google.com/patents/US5777512

Also looks like the patent has expired

[Julf]

"Class T" was just a fancy name for tripath's class D stuff. Class D is much older than tripath.