Schiit Vidar Amplifier Review

[NTK]

Since hearing the Stereophile class A rated Exposure 2010s amps, I'm wondering what specs make a meaningful difference? For example, the Exposure amp does not have great S/N ratio (68DB) however sound very good.

The biggest deficiency of this amp is its noise. With noise dominated THD+N at 0.18% at 0.1 W @ 8 ohms, the noise voltage is 1.6 mV. (For comparison, the Hypex Nilai has a rated idle noise at 0.027 mV at high gain, which is 35 dB lower than the Exposure 2010S.) If you have sensitive speakers and listen at close distance in a quiet room, you will probably hear hiss. Otherwise, it is just another speaker amplifier.

Exposure 2010S integrated amplifier Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements I preconditioned the Exposure 2010S by running a 1kHz sinewave at 25Wpc into 8 ohms for an hour. After 30 minutes the chassis was very hot, with even the volume control too hot to touch. The amplifier didn't shut down, however. The distortion level was initially 0.035% at...

www.stereophile.com

[Edit] For dramatic effect, here are the Exposure 2010S and Hypex Nilai THD+N plots overlaid on top of each other

 

[AaronJ]

The biggest deficiency of this amp is its noise. With noise dominated THD+N at 0.18% at 0.1 W @ 8 ohms, the noise voltage is 1.6 mV. (For comparison, the Hypex Nilai has a rated idle noise at 0.027 mV at high gain, which is 35 dB lower than the Exposure 2010S.) If you have sensitive speakers and listen at close distance in a quiet room, you will probably hear hiss. Otherwise, it is just another speaker amplifier.

Exposure 2010S integrated amplifier Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements I preconditioned the Exposure 2010S by running a 1kHz sinewave at 25Wpc into 8 ohms for an hour. After 30 minutes the chassis was very hot, with even the volume control too hot to touch. The amplifier didn't shut down, however. The distortion level was initially 0.035% at...

www.stereophile.com

I can confirm that the Exposure is incredibly noisy. I had a 2010S2D which has an AV input, and with 87db efficient speakers I could easily hear it from the listening position 10' away. I had hoped to use the AV input for its intended use but it's far too noisy, same as running any of the other inputs at full volume. Even dialing back the volume to 9 o'clock hiss was still audible from about 1' away in a quiet room. It otherwise sounded fine, but I grew to dislike it. Didn't like how turning power off and back on went back to a default CD input. Didn't like that there was no way to bypass the signal to a headphone amp. The inclusion of a tape loop that doesn't allow function as a pre-out/main-in on a modern amplifier felt insulting. Owning it felt like owning a boat, and I was relieved to sell it.

 

[Bds3151]

I'm listening at about 5' with music playing and don't notice hiss. The Exposure just sounds great to my ears. If I turn the volume way up with no music playing, I can hear the hiss at around 11 o'clock. I tried to use shorting plugs on the unused inputs but it didn't seem to make a difference.

 

[NTK]

I'm listening at about 5' with music playing and don't notice hiss. The Exposure just sounds great to my ears. If I turn the volume way up with no music playing, I can hear the hiss at around 11 o'clock. I tried to use shorting plugs on the unused inputs but it didn't seem to make a difference.

I surely hope you don't hear hiss with any audio amplifier (for normal home use that people charge money for) with music playing.

 

[Bds3151]

So back to my original question, what measurements make a difference you can hear? I would suspect one of these would be distortion over a percent or so?

 

[NoxPlague]

Has anyone tried the Vidar 2 in mono mode? I’m currently using a Vidar 2 in stereo mode.

I have a pair of Monitor Audio RX 6 circa 2010. Specs state 6 Ohms impedance, their power handling is 125 W RMS.

I’m wondering if I’d get any benefit from dual Vidar 2s in Mono mode, but seems like that might be overpowering my speakers.

 

[MajorMajorMajorMajor]

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