GaN amplification: The future of high-performance audio

GaN (Gallium Nitride) amplification uses a cutting-edge semiconductor material known for its high efficiency and superior performance. Originally developed for demanding applications like aerospace and telecommunications, GaN technology allows amplifiers to deliver potent power in a compact, thermally stable design, ensuring exceptional audio performance and reliability. 

In the 1990s, GaN played a crucial role in making Blu-ray technology possible by enabling the development of blue laser diodes that produced 405 nm light directly without the aid of other optical mechanisms, a significant technological achievement. 

Experience unmatched audio performance with GaN technology:

• High efficiency: GaN-based amplifiers offer greater power conversion efficiency than silicon MOSFET designs with no thermal drawbacks. Four times faster turn-on switching speeds and twice as fast turn-off results in reduced switching losses that produce heat as a byproduct.    

• Compact power: GaN’s higher switching frequency and low thermal discharge allow for designs with fewer associated components. This results in less space required for the semiconductors and the elimination of thermal reduction supplements to reduce amplifier chassis sizes.
• Improved thermal performance: GaN amps inherently run cooler than MOSFET-based Class-D amplifier designs, providing higher reliability for amplifier longevity and installation flexibility. 

• Superior audio quality: The incredible transient response of GaN semiconductors enables nearly perfect reproduction of the incoming audio waveform. Accurate tracking results in less ringing distortion that requires negative feedback to eliminate from audibility, which has always been the nemesis for audio fidelity in Class-D amplifier designs.  

  In GaN designs, there is virtually no turn-off overshoot of the waveform, which also masks details in the audio signal.  

  Higher operational switching frequencies, 800 kHz compared to 400 kHz for traditional Class-D MOSFET amplifiers, inherently reduce distortion to improve audio quality.   

• High-End Audio without the High-End Price: GaN semiconductors are now found in some of audio’s cost-no-object high-end amplifiers, and it is little known how difficult it is to implement GaN devices correctly into an audio architecture. AudioControl engineers have overcome tremendous obstacles to incorporate GaN into the new Bijou series, and the results are clearly audible.  

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