Vitus RI 101 Mk 2 Review


128x128georgesallit325

George, thanks for sharing this. What were your specific reasons for bringing it to the Forum's attention? Thanks.

My trite response is because people would be interested in reading it. As you may guess I wrote the review.

Being more serious, I have an interest in amplifiers. In particular, more expensive, well-made and good sounding amplifiers that normally cost over  $10,000. I have seen changes in the audio industry with the rise of corporate owners and less of the singularly minded designer/owners. In my view, this has led to a lot of 'safer' sounding amplifiers. They sell well as they do not offend. But they also risk not sounding superb. A safer sounding amplifier will be a surer financial bet for the venture capitalists. But for me, the best sounding amplifiers have come from singularly minded people like William Z Johnson at ARC, building tube amplifiers when the world was going transistor. Julian Vereker at Naim building dynamic and fast-paced amplifiers when the world was happy with even sounding amplifiers that were safe but not that exciting. 

Was Hans Ole Vitus a similar designer and do his amplifiers sound superb as a result? In my view, yes and they are different as they are very dynamic, fast-paced and musical. Probably why some Naim users like them. Also, I am aware that due to changes in the USA (and the UK) dealers have become less common and audiophiles have to rely more on word of mouth, reviews etc. I am a user and write on a UK forum and the reviews are not influenced by advertising.

The other reason was, I was unfair on the amplifier previously as I did not leave it long enough to fully warm up. I believe a day is needed to really hear what this amplifier can deliver.

I read the review on the Wam earlier. 😄

Good writeup on an amp from a great high end manufacturer. Cost of entry is rather high as the entry level RI-101 mk2 costs more than $10,000 already. I don’t think I’ve come across a negative review on a Vitus amp unlike other brands. They must have done something right I guess.