Tripath made some clever digital amplifier ICs in "class-T" as they called it. Seemed to have a better performance than class-D at a comparable price. Went bankrupt in 2007, but I think this had more to do with mismanagement than product quality.
I thought I heard a rumor than the technology was bought by Cirrus Logic, but they don't seem to have launched Tripath products yet, so I don't know if the purchase went through.
Does anyone know what the status of Tripath and class-T is?
\$\begingroup\$
\$\endgroup\$
6
-
\$\begingroup\$ Does anyone know what the "Class T" modulation scheme is? \$\endgroup\$ – endolith Jul 18 '11 at 16:01
-
1\$\begingroup\$ @endolith "It is an implementation of Class D amplifiers, but is claimed to improve the control scheme to create more efficient and higher quality audio amplification." from wiki en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Class_T_amplifier \$\endgroup\$ – Kellenjb Jul 18 '11 at 16:28
-
1\$\begingroup\$ and "Currently available implementations use a loop similar to a higher order Delta-Sigma (ΔΣ) (or sigma-delta) modulator, with an internal digital clock to control the sampled comparator." \$\endgroup\$ – Kellenjb Jul 18 '11 at 16:29
-
2\$\begingroup\$ Does class-t really deserve its own tag? Doesn't seem like it would ever be used again. \$\endgroup\$ – Kellenjb Jul 18 '11 at 18:29
-
3\$\begingroup\$ @kellenjb - I think the purpose of the tags should be that you can lookup things easier, rather than creating collections of questions for that tag. In that sense I see no harm in having lots of tags with only a few questions attached to them. They're not in the way of nobody. \$\endgroup\$ – stevenvh Jul 19 '11 at 3:08
|
Show 1 more comments
\$\begingroup\$
\$\endgroup\$
4
I can't speak about Tripath directly, but I can about Cirrus Logic. I used to work for Cirrus, and I know the guy who invented their Class-D technology. They certainly did not get their Class-D stuff from Tripath. In my opinion, their Class-D stuff is superior to what Tripath was offering.
After I left Cirrus, Tripath tried to sell me on their technology several times. But I never got the impression that they knew what they were doing, technically. It seemed like they were more of a marketing company than anything else. Either that or their entire business plan revolved around getting bought by a bigger company. But this is just pure guess-work on my part.
-
1\$\begingroup\$ Well, marketing companies can also successful, look at Microsoft; marketeers and lawyers :-) \$\endgroup\$ – stevenvh Jul 18 '11 at 15:20
-
1\$\begingroup\$ The T-amps seemed rather highly regarded by the golden-ear set. I think they were the first switching amplifiers that got any traction with audiophiles. \$\endgroup\$ – markrages Oct 20 '11 at 19:17
-
\$\begingroup\$ @markrages: But is that due to them being better, or having better marketing? \$\endgroup\$ – endolith Oct 20 '11 at 19:38
-
\$\begingroup\$ @endolith I work in both the pro-audio and audiophile industry, and in my opinion it was mostly due to marketing. I've heard many other switching-type amps that sounded better but never went anywhere. \$\endgroup\$ – user3624 Oct 20 '11 at 21:23
\$\begingroup\$
\$\endgroup\$
I've used a Blaupunkt PA2150 with the Tripath TA3020-ES chipset (150w x 2) and have to say it makes a great tweeter/mid amp. I dunno if I'd use one for a sub amp though, maybe a single 6x9 amp, but not sub. Running 4 tweeters off it along with a 2-way tweeter/mid speaker and it sounded great. They don't overly color the signal, and it sounds a tad more natural. I was even able to to leave my head unit's 1khz and up freq settings nearly flat (0) in the eq settings as it wasn't needed. Class D this amp is not. Definite audiophile on a budget. Think of it more as a Class A with a Class D power supply. I have a handful of vintage late 70's solid state Class A/B amps and the Blaupunkt PA2150 is right up there with it. It's a very dynamic sounding amplifier with a near 3D sound stage. Class D amps are very flat and 2D sounding, where all the music sounds compressed and flat. If that's all you've ever heard, you wouldn't know any better. The Class T stuff however has lots of depth and musicality. I liken Class D to flat, warm beer that's been sitting in the sun for a day. While it's technically still "beer", it doesn't taste very good. The Class T Tripath stuff was more like chilled champagne just poured from the bottle.
