Schiit Vidar 2 Stereo Amplifier Review

[formdissolve]

These might show up as a returns (under the 14 day trial) on a discount on their "B-Stock" section from people that found they didn't work in their system: https://www.schiit.com/b-stocks

"What is B-Stock and Closeout?
This is a place where we put all the stuff that doesn’t meet our cosmetic standards, or is returned from customers, or we found while cleaning out the shop (no kidding.) Everything we sell here is covered by the full factory warranty. However, all sales here are final. There’s no 15-day return period. There are no trade-ups. If you know what you want, that’s great. If you may need to try a few things, better to go with the regular product listings. "

They don't sell repaired stuff in this section. I've gotten some good deals there.

 

[formdissolve]

Is there a way we can get the measurements in it's bridged configuration as a Monoblock? Curious to see how well it handles a 4ohm load given that mine and most Kef's dip down to 3.2 ohms
Thank you

So what happens if I have 2 ohm speakers? You didn’t rate Vidar for 2 ohms.

No, we didn’t. Because speakers that are rated below 4 ohms are pretty rare. The bottom line is that Vidar 2 will run 2 ohm speakers, but it may run into its protection and turn itself off.

Same for 4 ohms when running monoblocks?

Yes. Again, Vidar 2 will probably work fine at sane volumes, but at higher output, you may trigger the protection.

https://www.schiit.com/products/vidar2 - FAQ section

 

[jruser]

@amirm could we get the 5W FFT dashboard in mono mode by any chance? Interested in these and wondering if mono mode eliminates the mains noise.

 

[Great Sun Jester]

Poor. I've built tube amps with less mains hum!

What mains hum? Zero here, completely silent monoblocs.

 

[somebodyelse]

I'm suspicious about that XLR input, and whether there's a Pin 1 problem. From the internal pics it looks to me like pins 2 & 3 go to the RCA pin for each channel rather than having a proper balanced input followed by a phase splitter. That's only going to work where both hot and cold are active and ground referenced.

 

[Kaiju]

Thank you for the review, Amir.

 

[Kevinfc]

Not a bad product, particularly because it’s US made.

 

[somebodyelse]

It will outlast any Fosi, Hypex or Purifi product and its associated SMPS you can dream up. It will most likely still be working and repairable 40+ years from now. When all your Fosi/Hypex gear is 100ft underground, poisoning the water table with heavy metals, this funny old Schiit amplifier will still be pumping out tunes, most likely running on solar power, inverters and batteries.

I suppose you could bypass the protections from the supervisory microcontroller if that fails, or write your own code for a replacement.

Oversight: microprocessor-controlled monitoring and management of critical operational points, with with relay shut-down for overcurrent, thermal, and other faults

 

[somebodyelse]

Is there a way we can get the measurements in it's bridged configuration as a Monoblock? Curious to see how well it handles a 4ohm load given that mine and most Kef's dip down to 3.2 ohms
Thank you

Power output is only specified for 8 ohm load in mono mode.
https://www.schiit.com/products/vidar2

 

[aschen]

Built nice, measures good enough, has alot of dynamic power, made in USA, repairable/simple, doesnt run on a repurposed generic smps brick.


Seems like a very compelling product to me, id buy in a second if I was in the market for such a thing. I have no problem with amazon ordered high value modern options, or even nicer class D stuff, but I think they are way more disposable than something like this. I guess we will have to check back in 30 years to see if I am off base.

Maybe a wierdo but there are others like me.

 

[WillBrink]

Underwhelming given its price and its competition in the marketplace.

Such as that's made in US with 5 year warranty and similar/better test data? I'm making a list for if/when I make upgrades to system. Thanx.

 

[WillBrink]

"Mains noise was variable depending on how I grounded it." I'm curious about that. What options does one have there and how to approach it?

 

[phoenixdogfan]

To me this amp with its weight, measured performance, size, and price feels like it's from another era. I think we've passed unnoticed into the Class D era, and we're just now discovering that designs like the Vidar 2 are obsolete.

 

[Symphoniac]

How difficult/costly is it to add a trigger input to a power amp? If not too expensive, seems like a very curious omission, as this would likely be a deal-breaker for lots of lazy folks like me, especially at this price point.

 

[terryforsythe]

Such as that's made in US with 5 year warranty and similar/better test data? I'm making a list for if/when I make upgrades to system. Thanx.

If made in the U.S. is mandatory, then I would look at Buckeye Amps. They do source components from other countries. I don't know whether Schit also sources non-U.S. made components, but I would be surprised if they don't. You will pay a little more for a Buckeye Amp but, in my opinion, you get a lot more value in terms of more power and better SINAD.

Here is Buckeye's warranty policy: https://www.buckeyeamp.com/warranty. It is not 5 years, though.

I recently assembled a Hypex Nilai DIY amplifier in the U.S. Does that count as made in the U.S.? I think the Hypex Nilai500 DIY stereo amplifier also is a very good value. It is easy to assemble and takes little time (seriously, it was easier to assemble than a lot of models I built at 9 years old). It performs extremely well.

 

[DSJR]

I go with @restorer-john here as regards potential lifespan (as soon as I see amps laden with banks of electrolytic caps all stuck in place and miniature ic's all but welded to the miniature amp boards I wince for similar reasons he does I'm sure). In the 90's we had AVI with similar simple easy to service belt-n-braces design and (usually) reliability in the power amps at then fair prices (still higher then than this £899 Schiit amp).

I doubt many of us will still be here in forty to fifty years time to test the longevity of Class D amps compared to trad models like this which 'measure' so much better than most 1980s amps and earlier (1980's was my 'yesterday' so my opinion is distorted because of this as to me it wasn't that long ago). The 80's was when US made valve/tube amps with estimated sinad of 40 were regarded as reference standard for 'sound quality) (yes YOU, tech reviewer guru Martin Colloms with your IEC listening room!).

I wonder if Jason may look again in time and tweak it further. Thing is I doubt it's 'sound' any different whatsoever A proper trigger input really would be great and not just on amps like this one...

 

[Joe Smith]

While I still think AB amps can sound good, and current ones may have more longevity than some of the Class D amps, I think the Vidar's price point is too high. Schiit has this odd hole in their lineup - you can get a "baby" amp for $150 or $350 or this for $800...they have no power amp in the $400 - 500 range to compete with the Hypex 2-channel amps. So for me, their offerings currently miss the sweet spot for many users. I'd be a lot more inclined to give the Vidar 2 a try if it cost about $500.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Actually, it does.

It will outlast any Fosi, Hypex or Purifi product and its associated SMPS you can dream up. It will most likely still be working and repairable 40+ years from now. When all your Fosi/Hypex gear is 100ft underground, poisoning the water table with heavy metals, this funny old Schiit amplifier will still be pumping out tunes, most likely running on solar power, inverters and batteries.

I would buy this over just about anything right now. It's an honest, well designed US made power amp at a good price. What more do you want or think you are 'entitled' to?

In 40 years I'll be 104 years old. My tunes days will be long over. In the time I have left this amp will use more electricity, and cause issues that way. While some amps do stick around and get used for long periods of time, even quality ones are in the minority as in most of them will be thrown out, stored away or otherwise not used long before 40 years comes around. I already have a one class D amp 14 years old or will be later this year. I have another that is I 22 years old. Both still work. Class D and switching supplies don't scare me. Nothing wrong with the principles. Like anything some may be cheaply made and unreliable. Really tired old argument.

 

[Entropy]

Thanks @amirm for the review.
Looking at this very well build amplifier and then it’s measurements makes me ask was it so difficult for Schiit to better the noise performance after a few iterations of this amplifier.
It’s not like that AB topologies haven’t crossed 100db SINAD.

Voicing/Sound. Jason mentions it frequently. Whether you believe it or not is up to you, but Schiit certainly has the engineering chops to up the objective performance, but choose not for the sake of other priorities.

While I still think AB amps can sound good, and current ones may have more longevity than some of the Class D amps, I think the Vidar's price point is too high. Schiit has this odd hole in their lineup - you can get a "baby" amp for $150 or $350 or this for $800...they have no power amp in the $400 - 500 range to compete with the Hypex 2-channel amps. So for me, their offerings currently miss the sweet spot for many users. I'd be a lot more inclined to give the Vidar 2 a try if it cost about $500.

Probably a lesson learned from Ragnorak, which was a poor-selling mid-power product. Although it was significantly more expensive than a midrange power amp, I have a feeling they're averse to something in the midrange, mid-power bracket.

 

[daniboun]

Thanks for the test Amir. Class AB, why not. You don't have to worry about any type of load dependency. Plus no increasing distortion in the higher frequency registers but on the other hand you don't have to worry about that either with many modern class D amps.That with class D amps in roughly the same price range as the Schiit Vidar 2.Long-term reliability and here durability is the other issue. That aspect of class AB vs class D that restorer-john brought up in #33.

The new class D amplifiers with PFFB implementation worthy of the name are not really affected by load dependence...
The latest Class D amps are full of tricks and continue to amaze us. )