Ayre MX-R VS Vitus SS-010

It would be good to know what speakers you are using. Without knowing this factor it would be difficult to make a recommendation.
However, having heard both, I would go with the Vitus!!
Small wattage as it may be but it has more body, bloom and sophistication that the Ayre cannot compare.Ayre is a great amp but the Vitus is in a different league.

Audiozen: Sorry but I totally have to disagree with you. Vitus for sure is a very good product but for sure it does not trunch Boulder, FM Acoustics and Goldmund for e.g.

I have replaced the SS-010 with the Boulder 865 and couldn´t be happier. A huge step up in speed, resolution, stageing and controll. The trade of is a bit more coldness and the 865 is a bit thinner sounding than the SS-010.

As for pre-amp: I would look at the Ayon Spheris which is to my ears the best sounding tube pre available with a state of the art phono section on board. Wasn´t to impressed by the SL-101 - regarding it´s price tag.

I had the smaller Vitus in my listening room for nearly 1 month.

My speakers are easy to drive : 98db Horning Agathon Ultimate but the Vitus could not make them sing.
It lacked the power to drive the bass drivers, it also sounded harsh. In fact i also had a AMR AM77 at the same time that was much better (but i bit dark / soft) and a ModWright KWA150 that was much much better for a fraction of the Vitus price.
I neded with the ModWright not because of the price but because of the sound.

Vitus is overrated imho.

@all: Any hype seems problematic (audiozen? how does that SS amp compare to a Berning Quadrature Z? See, that's what I mean - its impossible to know all top rated items)

@chris10an: without being indiscreet, could you elaborate about your experience with Vitus? I would actually like to know, looking into this as well. thanks

the ultimate in values at present time after 6 years researching everything:

vitus + focal scala + siltech cables
sasha + pass lab
b&w 802d + classe