Schiit Vidar Impression Thread - UPDATED WITH REVIEW (CHECK FIRST POST)

Discussion in 'Power Amps' started by Rotijon, Jul 17, 2017.

  1. Mark Harlan

    Mark Harlan New

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    Thinking about a pair of Vidar fed by my 3 month old Mjolnir 2. Currently using a Parasound 2250, 450$ used powering Vandy 2 CE in a 12x 12 Mcave. Balanced from Oppo to amp is my goal.
     
  2. gbeast

    gbeast Mighty Moral Power Ranger

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    I am really curious how much the saga is holding the Vidar back. I used it as a pre into my Mogwai and of course to no surprise, it didn't sound nearly as good as my amp alone.
     
  3. zerodeefex

    zerodeefex SBAF's Imelda Marcos

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    Saga is transparent as hell. More transparent than Freya I've found.
     
  4. gbeast

    gbeast Mighty Moral Power Ranger

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    I believe you. I am def not drawing conclusions because adding a preamp to the Mogwai doesn't really make sense. But it made me curious after trying it. Also because I thought I heard some of the Sonic traits of The Saga carry over to the Mogwai.
     
  5. zerodeefex

    zerodeefex SBAF's Imelda Marcos

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    Depends on which mode you're using as well. In tube mode both contribute a little coloration to gear downstream. I found it pleasing, though.
     
  6. rlow

    rlow A happy woofer

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    I have Saga right now with Vidar and Gungnir Multibit. Love the sound I'm getting so far, but have been considering moving up to Freya, one reason being so I can go balanced interconnects from the Gungnir Multibit. Do you think there would be any/much sonic benefit?
     
  7. cizx.6

    cizx.6 Just couldn't stay away...

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    the question is whether SE outs from Gungnir are worse than XLR in to SE outs from Freya. without two vidars for full balanced all the way, the whole "balanced means something" argument is in question. Schiit's undermining its own message, kinda.
     
  8. schiit

    schiit SchiitHead

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    Nope: http://www.superbestaudiofriends.or...iscussion-for-noobs-and-boobs.733/#post-18953

    Those who pound the table and insist "it must be balanced!" ain't us. We do some balanced gear, but balanced vs unbalanced is almost always a discussion of tradeoffs, not universal truths. Which is why we provide both balanced and SE outputs on all of our stuff, and do our best to make sure they both sound good (summing to SE in the case of the DACs, to preserve much of the benefits of the hardware-balanced DAC topology).

    Bottom line, choose the sound, not the topology.
     
  9. Darren G

    Darren G Friend

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    A manufacturer who listens to their gear, who makes stuff they'd enjoy listening to vs selling specs, what a thing!
     
  10. cizx.6

    cizx.6 Just couldn't stay away...

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    Okay. But, "preserve most of the benefits of hardware-balanced" sounds like equivocation. It's not as good if it only has most of the benefits. This is, I think, where some people are choking. You may chalk that up to audiophile nervosa and OCD, but the message is still there. Vidar only maintains that pure hardware benefit in balanced mode, yet you're telling people to use it SE unless absolutely necessary.

    These are mixed messages. Maybe you underestimate the power of your marketing or just your casual posts, but a lot of people don't want to feel like they're making a compromise. Necessary or not. Silly or not. People don't want "most of the benefit." They want all of it.

    /soapbox off.
    I'm sure most people won't be able to hear a difference.
     
  11. zonto

    zonto Friend

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    It's still a relevant question though for people using one Vidar. Would Yggdrasil/Gungnir Multibit --> XLR (preserving all the benefits of the balanced DAC topology) then using summed SE from Freya sound better than using SE from Yggdrasil/Gungnir Multibit (summed) to Saga to Vidar? Would the former prevent any possibility of a ground loop because of the XLR in the chain? Does the much higher gain from Freya and resulting potential loss of transparency negate the benefit of using XLR out from the DAC?
     
  12. schiit

    schiit SchiitHead

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    That's because there are actual, measurable benefits to hardware-balanced for a DAC, as covered in our chapters, FAQs, etc.

    That's VERY different than "balanced is always better." We've never taken that position. If people choose to decide that "balanced is always better," it's due to an internal dialogue, not to our marketing.
     
  13. cizx.6

    cizx.6 Just couldn't stay away...

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    Yes, this is still an open question.
     
  14. Nbees

    Nbees Acquaintance

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    Amp hoarders might wind up trying a vidar, and maybe some of them own those other brands. Bel canto is class D which is sort of a different animal.....Pass labs and Bryston are multiples of the vidars price. Comparison wise if the vidar eclipses similarly priced class AB amps in its price sector, then it should be considered a success....Huge 5 figure class A amps from Pass aren't really on the same turf.
    The amp that probably has more in common with Vidar is the Job systems 225. Both are compact size, relatively affordable direct marketed dc coupled class AB power amps, except the vidar has protection to shut down if inordinate amounts of dc happen at the inputs, the job just passes it right on to your speakers.
    I own the Job 225 as well as a good class D amp (CIA), and have used but don't currently own Pass.
     
    Last edited: Jul 31, 2017
  15. Nbees

    Nbees Acquaintance

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    The gist I got from the schitt camp was to use Vidar SE stereo, and xlr mono. There are some companies that hail xlr/balanced as superior but most offer both. 2 of their preamps are SE only. All 3 of their preamps have passive output options. Some folks might tell you the input impedence of the vidar SE is not optimal for a passive. Are they recommending the buffer option on their preamps for vidar.
     
  16. cizx.6

    cizx.6 Just couldn't stay away...

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    That's not a gist, that's the only way it works.
    XLR is for mono block. RCA is for stereo.
     
  17. Nbees

    Nbees Acquaintance

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    And either way would be good. Is it suggested to use 2 of them xlr, and not bother with SE.
     
  18. PoochZag

    PoochZag The Shadow knows - Friend

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    That is not what is being suggested. From earlier in this very thread:
     
  19. Nbees

    Nbees Acquaintance

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    I only will need one. Maybe they didnt want to make seperate stereo and mono versions like some companies do. BTW what is the gain for stereo SE use?
     
  20. zonto

    zonto Friend

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    Please visit and read each tab of the product page before posting here again: http://www.schiit.com/products/vidar.
     

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