Schiit Vidar 2 Stereo Amplifier Review

[restorer-john]

AHB2 has a switch-mode power supply tho.

A very high quality SMPS too.

 

[wwenze]

Class AB reliability huh... This reminded me that Swan M200 and M50W were well known for their capacitors dying left right center, yet the comparable products from their competitor Edifier using SMPS and class D didn't have issues

Reliability is just a race to the bottom called the warranty period. Bloated caps are easier to spot than blown MOSFETs tho.

Oh and don't get me started about a through-hole transformer with a broken lead wire... What fail category does that fall under?

 

[Mnyb]

Agree, as far as Class A/B goes, this puts another good option on the table. You have Topping's LA90s with cleaner audio but only 60w. Then you have this, which will probably be transparent for any realistic listening scenario, with more than 2x the power at the same price. I see it as a good addition to a slate of good options, if you are into Class AB.

I buy this over the LA90 every day . it has more power ( the most important spec of a power amplifier ) and seems more robust and serviceable .

If i needed amp i'm probably go class-D but this is not to bad I'm in the rabbit hole of active speakers ....

 

[Mnyb]

LED bulbs and smps seems to last longer for me in Sweden ( never changed a led yet all my pc power suplies outlast the usability of the PC my iPad charger died on my 14y old iPad ) . I thinks its due to two things .

Temperature. It seems to kill everything eventually. No tropical heat waves etc here .

Power grid quality ? Our us members seems obsessed with all kinds of surge protectors and stuff . I do live in cities thou.

SMPS can be better but almost no one are doing it in practice. Its not a technical problem just design accordingly . But then the price gets higher .
No one but audiophiles wants to pay for power supplies

In general people fork up for features and performance, not that many values longevity.

 

[daniboun]

Far too many people on this forum are getting way too hung up on SINAD. On any amp measured that exceeds the 'double zeros' vs the 'double zero' amp, yr not gonna hear a damn bit of difference (provided that yr not a bat or a dog.)

At the risk of repeating myself, ASR is a barometer of performance and if Amir takes time to test it is precisely because commas count here. If you are convinced otherwise then it is better to trust the dythirambic poetry of audiophile sites like Stereophile or others which argue without evidence

 

[JSmith]

Class AB reliability huh... This reminded me that Swan M200 and M50W were well known for their capacitors dying left right center, yet the comparable products from their competitor Edifier using SMPS and class D didn't have issues

Yes agree... simply saying class AB is always more reliable is a misnomer and much too general.

So speaking of the environment, this amp uses much more metal than a comparable and smaller class D amp. That takes a lot more resources, in mining, processing, smelting etc. It also takes up more space and is much heavier, which means transporting of it requires more fuel at every step.

With a small class D, the only major aspect is the metallic case and other metals inside. If disposed of correctly, the metals will be recycled and reused. But once again, recycling the metals from the larger amp will require more resources/power to recycle. Which is better... industry needs to do a better job at recycling/re-using in general, that's for sure. We shouldn't have electronics going to landfill.


JSmith

 

[MacClintock]

At the risk of repeating myself, ASR is a barometer of performance and if Amir takes time to test it is precisely because commas count here. If you are convinced otherwise then it is better to trust the dythirambic poetry of audiophile sites like Stereophile or others which argue without evidence

If two devices are audibly transparent but one is much more so than the other, what difference does it make? It is like drowning if you can't swim and the shore is too far. It doesn't matter if the water is just 3m deep or 1000m, you will drown anyway. Other factors like price, built quality, materials, design, functionality, features, etc, weigh then much more. At least to me and I would say to any sensible person

 

[Bob101]

We've been over this many times in the past with plenty of members weighing into various threads. No need to dredge it all up again- use the forum search.

Will do. Thanks. I was not aware of this topic on ASR.

 

[Drengur]

I know this is an English-speaking forum, and most of you guys are from the USA. Made in America is not the badge of reliability everywhere in the world, as seems to be the opinion here. Perhaps you guys export all the bad stuff and keep the good stuff to yourselves? It is also good to not purchase promises, as they tend to be broken regardless of nationality. Labor-costs should not be too much of a worry in the USA as well, at least it seems that the people on the factory floor won't become rich with the wage-standards over there. I don't mean to be disrespectful, but all this discussions on this forums following every product from China and The United States... it gives off a rather nationalistic vibe.

Coming from a country that manufacturers little to nothing, and where everyhing is imported anyways (whereby the cost of transport overrides most guarantees in terms of overall cost) I see little value in this particular amplifier compared to others. If it was imported by a dealer here, and the price would be close to what can be found on the mainlands, I would consider it on grounds of performance.

I have two dead Schiit products if anyone want's to put them on a pedistal "See thems there audio gadgets Billy Bob? They were made right here, in the god-loving all mighty U.S of A. Sure, now, them did fail. But I'll take good-old american failure over thems made in China I'll tell you. When it failed it sounded like a bald eagle being shot with a .50 on the fourth of July. *crying* Sorry Billy Bob, I just love the USA so god damn much."

This probably would have been worded better if I had an iPhone...

 

[Sokel]

With 19 dB of gain the LA90D still has around 117 dB of SINAD, around 29 dB better than the Vidar 2:

View attachment 367113

Extrapolating it to 26db gain,let's say another 2db down?
So it would go to 27db better SINAD.But 27db better on what?Distortion or noise?
It's both in our comparison but what messes Vidar most is this big H2 and as we know single H2 will be heavily masked with music.

I have a gut feeling (more than a feeling since I have compared stuff with vastly bigger SINAD difference) that listening to both with some typical 2-way 85db sens speakers at 2-3 meters (with EQ for RC and the works) at 75-80db average level with classical (so more than 105db for peaks) Vidar would have a slight upper hand,or else there would be no difference.

On the other hand with nice,big (and I mean big) 100db sens horns LA90 could become more handy.

Comparisons are better considering the whole gear.

Edit:Forgot RC.

 

[AaronJ]

all this discussions on this forums following every product from China and The United States... it gives off a rather nationalistic vibe.

Deleted. Apologies in advance to the mods.

I would be happy to discuss this with you over private PM to keep politics out of this thread.

 

[terryforsythe]

single H2 will be heavily masked with music

It has been a very long time since I heard an amplifier with a significant second harmonic (it was even higher than the Vidar's). What I do remember is that it sounded "sweet". Some people like that sound, some people don't.

Also, psycho acoustically people do get used to a particular sound signature, and start to prefer it. When I first moved away from the high H2 amp to a more neutral amp, at first the more neutral amp sounded a little "dry". The more time I spent with it, though, the better it sounded to me. At some point I then tried the high H2 amp again and, to me, it sounded worse than I remembered. That probably is because I had become use to the sound signature of the more neutral amplifier.

As a side note, I hypothesize that the psycho acoustic aspect of getting used to a sound signature is why some people are so convinced that burn-in is needed for all of their equipment. The longer they listen, the better it sounds to them. Little is due to the equipment changing, though, but more due to how their brains interpret the sound.

 

[Sokel]

It has been a very long time since I heard an amplifier with a significant second harmonic (it was even higher than the Vidar's). What I do remember is that it sounded "sweet". Some people like that sound, some people don't.

Also, psycho acoustically people do get used to a particular sound signature, and start to prefer it. When I first moved away from the high H2 amp to a more neutral amp, at first the more neutral amp sounded a little "dry". The more time I spent with it, though, the better it sounded to me. At some point I then tried the high H2 amp again and, to me, it sounded worse than I remembered. That probably is because I had become used to the sound signature of the more neutral amplifier.

As a side note, I hypothesize that the psycho acoustic aspect of getting used to a sound signature is why some people are so convinced that burn-in is needed for all of their equipment. The longer they listen, the better it sounds to them. Little is due to the equipment changing, though, but more due to how their brains interpret the sound.

Here the H2 is at around -90db.Klippel test's best result is at around -70db,so I expect it to be inaudible.
It's even hard with more evident distortion patterns as here,where someone can try 40db and 60db SINAD (cause of distortion alone,not noise) in Topping's tube and transistor modes on the fly and as the thread goes not much difference is there.

Amps are different of course,there other things at play too.
I think it comes down to use cases.

 

[terryforsythe]

Amps are different of course,there other things at play too.

Noise is the other side of SINAD.

In my family room I have two LA90Ds driving my midranges and tweeters in an all active setup. A Hypex Nilai drives the woofers. I cannot hear any noise, even when putting my ear in the midrange and right next to the tweeter (concentric drivers). In my office I have KEF LS60s. In those speakers the internal amps have a higher level of noise than the amps in my family room - I can hear a little bit of hiss when putting my ear up to the tweeter. But, at my listening position the hiss is inaudible. So it may be a non-issue.

 

[mhardy6647]

And now the LEDs proudly state lifetimes that they never achieve. The internal switching supplies are deliberately designed to overheat and fail prematurely. I write the date I install LED globes on the base and rarely do they achieve more than 2-4 years. All of the autopsies performed by me show the LEDs themselves don't fail, the SMPS supplies in the caps die (caps mostly).

Nothing has changed, the bulb makers are at it again.

Shades of the Phoebus cartel!

 

[Cogito]

Compared to the likes of Emotiva's BasX A2 amp, it's pricing seems a bit uncompetitive. I do like the industrial look though.

 

[mhardy6647]

Having invoked the Phoebus cartel... even though I imagine that ASR folks'll know all about it... just in case...

Phoebus cartel - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I was typing on my phone earlier (which is never pretty), thus the delay in adding this tidbit. Sorry!

 

[Steven Holt]

At the risk of repeating myself, ASR is a barometer of performance and if Amir takes time to test it is precisely because commas count here. If you are convinced otherwise then it is better to trust the dythirambic poetry of audiophile sites like Stereophile or others which argue without evidence

Well, now. I have immense respect for Amir and ASR. Thanks to ASR, I have several pieces of gear, all excellent and modestly - priced. But that's not my point. As I will tell anyone who will listen, SINAD is important -- up to a point. But there is an audible limit to its importance. Anyone who buys an amp based solely on the number of zeros after that 'comma' is being foolish, if not an outright fool. As for me, I would be delighted to own the VIDAR 2. PS Hope PSG does well this year, great team.

 

[Sean_S]

I think this amp is overpriced.

 

[Prince Valiant]

Nice improvements from v1 to v2.

I know this is an English-speaking forum, and most of you guys are from the USA. Made in America is not the badge of reliability everywhere in the world, as seems to be the opinion here. Perhaps you guys export all the bad stuff and keep the good stuff to yourselves? It is also good to not purchase promises, as they tend to be broken regardless of nationality. Labor-costs should not be too much of a worry in the USA as well, at least it seems that the people on the factory floor won't become rich with the wage-standards over there. I don't mean to be disrespectful, but all this discussions on this forums following every product from China and The United States... it gives off a rather nationalistic vibe.

Coming from a country that manufacturers little to nothing, and where everyhing is imported anyways (whereby the cost of transport overrides most guarantees in terms of overall cost) I see little value in this particular amplifier compared to others. If it was imported by a dealer here, and the price would be close to what can be found on the mainlands, I would consider it on grounds of performance.

I have two dead Schiit products if anyone want's to put them on a pedistal "See thems there audio gadgets Billy Bob? They were made right here, in the god-loving all mighty U.S of A. Sure, now, them did fail. But I'll take good-old american failure over thems made in China I'll tell you. When it failed it sounded like a bald eagle being shot with a .50 on the fourth of July. *crying* Sorry Billy Bob, I just love the USA so god damn much."

This probably would have been worded better if I had an iPhone...

It's an additional reason, or was if you prefer, not the only reason. Clearly you intend disrespect, no point in the faux preface to the contrary.