2. amps-preamps
  3. 135777-10185

Mono Blocks on a Budget, is it possible?

I’m really struggling with the direction to take my system. I have the following:

Legacy Classics speakers
Aurender N100H media player
Schiit Freya tube pre-amp
Schiit Yggdrasil DAC
Schiit Vidar x2 (in mono block mode)

I will be replacing speakers at some point but the rest of the system I love... except the Vidars. Before them, I had NAD 356BEE that was used for the amp. Very clean and I loved it, except it was only 80 Watts. I decided to upgrade to the Vidars. They cost twice as much From a good manufacturer like Schiit so they must be better right? Not really. They are more noisy than the NAD amp and I’m finding myself less in love with them that I though I would be. I was planning the Vidar purchase for about a year and now that I got them I don’t know which direction to take in replacing them. I want to get cleaner mono amps but don’t want to spend more than $3k MAX for both. The Vidars are 400 Watts into 8ohm, are there any options out there for me that are close to the Vidar specs? I’m open to used but mostly I want the amps to sound almost completely clean with practically no distortion. 
xerotrace

Showing 1 response by 213runnin

213runnin
914 posts
 
xero, the problems you are describing may have to do with your speakers, are they 4 ohms and with 94 db sensitivity?  That's a bad combo for many monoblocks if they aren't true monoblock amplifiers.  Or do you have some other Legacy model that isn't 4 ohms?

The other thing is the Nad C356BEE.  I owned that model, and I've also owned the 375 and two 326.  These definitely are a budget design that all have limitations and compromises.  The 356 sound was inferior to the 326 when comparing dynamics and the "in the room" experience.  

I paired the 375 with some simple 4 ohm speakers and the result was puzzling to say the least with the Totem Rainmakers.
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