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Schiit Vidar Amplifier Review

amirm

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This is a review and detailed measurements of the Schiit Vidar stereo amplifier. It is on kind loan from a member. The Vidar costs US $699 and nicely comes with a five (5) year warranty. With amplifiers being one of the most susceptible audio products to failure, long warranty is a real value.

The Vidar sports the usual design style of Schiit which in this form factor is attractive:

Schiit Vidar Stereo Amplifier Audio Review.jpg

Despite its narrow width, the Vidar is quite heavy as it uses a linear power supply and class AB amplification topology.

Back panel connectors are fine but I always miss balanced inputs in audio products:
Schiit Vidar Stereo Amplifier Back Panel Inputs Audio Review.jpg

During power testing and such, the Vidar got fairly warm but not too hot and typical of the category. It only shut down once when I ran a sweep causing it to clip at 20 kHz.

I only tested the unit in stereo mode and not bridged.

Amplifier Audio Measurements
As usual we start with our 1 kHz tone delivering 5 watts into 4 ohm load:

Schiit Vidar Stereo Amplifier Audio Measurements.png


We see the typical power supply noise spikes to the left and right of our tone. SINAD (measure of noise and distortion) is dominated by second harmonic distortion though which rises to -80 dB or so in the worse channel. As it is, performance is a few notches above average of some 85 amplifiers tested to date:

Best stereo amplifier review 2020.png


Signal to noise ratio and crosstalk follow the same ranking:

Schiit Vidar Stereo Amplifier SNR Audio Measurements.png

Schiit Vidar Stereo Amplifier Crosstalk Audio Measurements.png


Frequency response is excellent though:
Schiit Vidar Stereo Amplifier Frequency Response Audio Measurements.png


Amplifier Power Measurements
Most important aspect of an amplifier is amount of power it can deliver cleanly. Let's start with 4 ohm load:

Schiit Vidar Stereo Amplifier Power into 4 ohm Audio Measurements.png


We are getting 183 watts which is a bit shy of the 200 watt specification. But that is at higher distortion. If we allow that, we get there as well:

Schiit Vidar Stereo Amplifier Peak and Burst output into 4 ohm Audio Measurements.png


Unlike class D amplifiers with regulated power supplies, class AB amps like Vidar have much higher peak performance for short duration as you see above right.

Using 8 ohm load we actually beat the company spec:
Schiit Vidar Stereo Amplifier Power into 8 ohm Audio Measurements.png


Finally, the difficult test of power versus distortion versus frequency:

Schiit Vidar Stereo Amplifier Power into 4 ohm versus level versus frequency Audio Measurements.png


Nice to see these lines without any strange curves and overlap. This indicates there are no hidden dragons in the design of Vidar, just a standard degradation with frequency.

Conclusions
Seems that Schiit set up to design a straightforward Class AB amplifier with lots of powers and no design flaws. In that regard, it succeeds. You have an attractive amplifier with long warranty and lots of power into 4 ohm load. At US $699, it is priced well.

Overall, I am happy to recommend the Schiit Vidar.

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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

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GXAlan

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wwenze

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Seems solid but Denon and Yamaha amps from the 90s perform better. Is it so difficult to at least match that level in 2020?

Even today there is tough competition in the form of A-S701. 1dB less power into 4ohm, equal or better everywhere else. Costs around the same or even cheaper depending on which part of the globe you live.

We need an "average panther" for situations like this. Hopefully the "lying down panther" isn't what it means.

Let's dig deeper. A pair of Outlaw 2200 = US$798 when not on discount. Lying down panther.
index.php
index.php

I think that's all I can find out of Amir's measured list that is class-AB and 2-channel with a similar amount of output power. Since not too many competition has revealed themselves (even A-S701 is a rare breed) I'd say lying down panther is acceptable for now until proven otherwise later via lots of other big-brand measurements.

Not going to compare class D because those have too much advantages when it comes to linearity at high output power.
 
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Willem

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The Yamaha is an integrated and comes with digital and line level inputs. Therefore it would be a rather better buy I would think.
Did I miss information on output impedance/damping factor?
 

Koeitje

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Is it really that hard to get low distortion + noise from class AB? At least its not crazy expensive.

I'm very interested in reviews of more power amplifiers that are affordable (up to about 1500 for stereo). Especially Rotel has caught my eye, and of course the Denafrips Hyperion. That last one sounds more like something @WolfX-700 might be able to get his hands on. Maybe the conclusion is simply that up until you can afford an AHB2 class D is the only real contender.
 

kaka89

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One can use this amp in mono-mono configuration and get double of the power.
Not sure can any Yamaha do this in the same price range.

Even this might not be the best in class at this price range, I think the price is reasonable.
 

wwenze

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Is it really that hard to get low distortion + noise from class AB?

Yes. Because the linearity of a big-ass (high current) BJT is pretty bad. Even with all the feedback we can dump at it.

It is easier to get linearity in the time domain. Tell a MOSFET to turn fully on for 25% of the duty cycle, it will turn on for 25% of the duty cycle. Plus-minus a bit because the waveform is not completely square. But it is still way straighter than the I/V curve of a BJT.

Benchmark uses class-AB with class-A feed-forward correction amplifier. This shows the standard feedback-only method is simply not enough.
 

maty

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Doodski

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Seems solid but Denon and Yamaha amps from the 90s perform better. Is it so difficult to at least match that level in 2020?
The Yamaha and Denon amps of near every period and comparable price do not include the linearity of this Schiit Vidar.
Schiit Vidar Specifications:
Stereo, 8 Ohms: 100W RMS per channel
Stereo, 4 Ohms: 200W RMS per channel
Mono, 8 ohms: 400W RMS
Frequency Response: 20Hz-20Khz, -0.1db, 3Hz-500KHz, -3dB
THD: <0.01%, 20Hz-20KHz, at 100W RMS into 8 ohms
IMD: <0.01%, CCIR, at 100W RMS into 8 ohms
SNR: >115db, A-weighted, referenced to full output
Weight: 22 lbs; 10 kg.
Power supply capacitance available: 40,000 micro Farad.

Even today there is tough competition in the form of A-S701.
Yamaha A-S701 integrated amplifier specifications: (The specs are cooked by limiting output power or only providing peak wattage.)
Minimum RMS Output Power (8 ohms, 20 Hz-20 kHz) 100 W + 100 W (0.019% THD)
High Dynamic Power/Channel (8/6/4/2 ohms) 140 / 170 / 220 / 290 W

Frequency Response 10 Hz - 100 kHz +/- 1.0 dB
Total Harmonic Distortion (CD to Sp Out, 20 Hz-20 kHz) 0.019% (50 W / 8 ohms)
Signal-to-Noise Ratio (CD) 99 dB (input shorted, 200 mV)
Weight 11.2 kg; 24.7 lbs.
Power supply capacitance available: 24,000 micro Farad.

A overview of the amplifier layout, heat sink design, power supply capacitance and the PCB quality shows the Schiit Vidar to be a superior amplifier.
 
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Bear123

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Seems as though the "crappy" Denon 3500 is better than this since it has 7 channels instead of only two, along with bass management, room correction, subwoofer eq, all the various surround modes, wifi, etc etc etc etc, lower SINAD despite all the complexity, and its cheaper. You then have to spend more money for a separate DAC with better performance, only to end up with a dirtier signal than a cheap Denon AVR. I don't understand the reason for a product like this to even exist.
 

Doodski

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Seems as though the "crappy" Denon 3500 is better than this since it has 7 channels instead of only two, along with bass management, room correction, subwoofer eq, all the various surround modes, wifi, etc etc etc etc, lower SINAD despite all the complexity, and its cheaper. You then have to spend more money for a separate DAC with better performance, only to end up with a dirtier signal than a cheap Denon AVR. I don't understand the reason for a product like this to even exist.
Compare the Denon AVR-X3500H to the Schiit Vidar in a top view. Then look at the specs. The Schiit Vidar is a Corvette and the Denon is a economy car with power windows and lane sense etc etc. There's simply no comparing the two units. They are apples and oranges and the Schiit is a vastly superior product in regards to construction integrity, amplifier design and output.
D_AVR-X3500H_slide_3_na.jpg

Schiit-Vidar-internal.jpg

Denon specs:
DEnon.png
 
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pma

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Sorry, this is very poor, that forest of mains related lines spreading to infinity. I do not get @amirm strategy of components recommendations. Purely based on THD+N (SINAD) 5W/1kHz/4ohm number? This is a very poor measure of amplifiers quality, to me, and one of the reasons I am loosing any interest in the ASR forum, similarly as @restorer-john did before.

Schiit Vidar Stereo Amplifier Audio.png
 

digicidal

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I'd also argue that the form factor and finish is worth a bit more in the Denon vs Schiit comparison as well (not to mention the warranty should you need it). I've had reasonably good luck with my Denon components... but on the one I did need service - after a few days of trying I just wrote it off. It wasn't worth all the hassle of being passed around the phone-bank, etc. Luckily it still functioned as a basic AVR with missing features.

I think many of the comparisons mentioned are apples to oranges (or at least very different apples). Are there better amps? Sure. Are there cheaper ones? Sure. Is this still a relatively compelling balance of performance-cost-appearance-support? I'd say so, but many might disagree 'round these parts.

@pma - I think it's more a case of "a reasonable product for the price" in this case... not a "OMG this is an incredible amp - get it now!" recommendation. It's possible to "recommend" anything that's not a scam or a ripoff and still be true to the ideal. Otherwise, @amirm would literally be spending all of his time editing past reviews anytime there was an incrementally better offering in a category. Either that or not recommending much of anything at all... which seems to be more in line with you and @restorer-john 's way of thinking. Perfect (or nearly so) is a great goal for an engineer... for a consumer however, it's often a bit farther down on the list.
 

twofires

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Interesting. Schiit stuff seems to consistently fall into the same category for me, that category being "nice enough to buy if starting from scratch, but not quite nice enough to replace the roughly equivalent gear I've already got".

FWIW, I would also like to see some Rotel Class AB stuff in for testing. Anyone in the US have anything recent to send in? I'd happily send my RA-1592, but being in Australia the round trip for the amp would outweigh the cost of the amp itself.
 

JohnYang1997

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Sorry, this is very poor, that forest of mains related lines spreading to infinity. I do not get @amirm strategy of components recommendations. Purely based on THD+N (SINAD) 5W/1kHz/4ohm number? This is a very poor measure of amplifiers quality, to me, and one of the reasons I am loosing any interest in the ASR forum, similarly as @restorer-john did before.

View attachment 58939
Power per dollar with acceptable performance (transparent).
 
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