Viola Cadenza and Symphony

Hi' Hamburger

I own both amps.

Firstly, it's not bottom this set is missing - far better than, for example Pass XA-100.5.

Unfortunately, I have not had the opportunity to test my combination against others combinations in a A-B test. However, I and others had a chance to hear the Symphony up against other similar products, and here was the Symphony clearly the best every time! Soon there will be an online review of my Cadenza, conducted by a respected reviewer, and it is good one.

The keywords that best characterized the combination are: large and a very precise soundstage, with superb control and detail.

The combination has two weaknesses, namely some stupid plastic WBT terminals at the Symphony (ask if you can order some others) and a lack of remote to the cadenza.

You can find more reviews of both amps here:
http://stereophile.com/solidpreamps/1205viola/index.html
www.highfidelity.pl/artykuly/0606/viola.html (Polish)
www.highfidelity.pl/!ev/artykuly/10_12_2006/nr/09.html (Polish)
http://www.lpaudio.it/diffusori/prove.php (Italian - click on "Viola")

Finally - go for it :-)

Hi Chris10an,

I think these amps are quite rare on the market and not many people have heard them, but I am quite surprised at the amount of foreign language (non-English) reviews that you have posted. Thank you for the links.

I discovered that you used to own "a specially built Vitus SS-010 with XLR pre out (for bi-amping)". May I know if the Violas were the ones that satisfied you finally? Could you tell me how the Vitus and Viola sound compared to each other?

I believe you are in Denmark and this country has a great number of famous loudspeakers and amplifiers (eg, Gryphon, Vitus, Gamut). But to see that you prefer the Violas (USA speaks something special about them (???)

Ah yes, no remote-control! I can live with that! ;-)
And I wonder if Viola will entertain request for special WBTs. Cheers

Hello again :-)

New components to a setup, must (also) be selected to make that best possible synergy to the rest of the system.

I could not find any amplifiers, that could deliver all the needs I had to a amp, so I chose to go for a bi-amping solution with the Vitus for the top. The short version is, that I unfortunately never got the opportunity to listen to my Vitus here at home. Therefore I can’t describe all the precise differences and similarities between Vitus and Viola in a well know setup. However, Viola has undoubtedly more punch and a bigger and a more correct and detailed soundstage.

You “forgot” to mention the best Danish speaker brand, namely Peak Consult, who is among the best manufacturers in the world in the ultra high-end class (take a look at Tone Audio or Stereophile). I’m the happy and very satisfied owner of one of their best products, and the amplifiers there have to replace the Vitus, should therefore have a good synergy with my Peak Consult speakers and Wadia source. Today, I only use the Viola to drive my system - the Symphony is that good!

Should I upgrade, it should be to the Legacy model, but it now way too expensive, as Viola sadly has make a dramatic price increase on several model (specially Forte, Legacy, Solo and Bravo) this year. Even with the same price as in 2011, I don’t think I would upgrade anyway, even if I had the money.

Since all of Viola amplifiers are hand built, I am sure that other terminals can be ordered and mounted without any problem, and the charges won’t be huge.

Btw, a Cadenza today, is equipped with 2 XLR inputs, and the extra XLR input has replaced the Fischer inputs.