Vitus RI-101 Mk II, Integrated Demo
 

Oz, the U.S. rep of Vitus, is an amazing audiophile. I’ve only spoken to him on the phone, and thru email, but he has extensive experience in High End Audio, and is a true gentleman. He knows audio.

Oz sent us a demo (thru our dealer - Tony @ Ellington HiFI) of a Vitus Integrated Amp - the Vitus RI-101 MK II (an entry level Vitus unit). If we enjoy the sound, then our plans are to obtain the Vitus SM-103 Mono Amps - Class A. According to Oz the sound between the two is very different, but the RI-101 Integrated Amp demo will give us a sense of what Vitus is all about. They are competing with the Westminster Labs REI monos.

The unit is all but brand new - maybe 25 hours or so. So, I’m definitely going to have to allow it some more hours before making any comments on the sound. It will be on 24/7 for the next week or so.

I will comment about the mighty small remote that is supplied with the unit. It’s app the same length as an Apple remote, but not as wide. It is thicker than an Apple remote and much more beefy. From what I understand, this isn’t the same remote that is supplied with the 103s.

Both in the pics are Apple remotes. Both aren’t current version though.

The silver one in the photo is the Vitus. I don’t know what the new Apple remotes look like though. :thumbsup:

Are they similar in size?

thats an apple remote, my aavik has same remote

The amp is beginning to open up some - just a little. It still needs some more (many I’m guessing) hours on it.

This said, you can tell the soundstage is there, but it’s like it is being held back. I’m waiting for that magic moment when it becomes life-like. The instrument separation still isn’t entirely right. It’s getting more spacious, but not satisfying at this point.

The piano and violin playback is just beginning to take shape now. Bass is fair. Some of the muddiness is disappearing. Female vocals still sound a little flat.

It‘s barely warm, definitely not hot to the touch - cooler then the Pass 260.8s and EMM MTRX2s.

The Vitus will run all night. We will see what she sounds like late tomorrow morning.

At the beginning of breaking in this amp in it sounded like the Nightmare on Elm Street. Now it's beginning to sound like the Love Story.

I don't think it's at its full potential yet, so I will hold off on further comments until I think I can more fully describe what I'm hearing.

Thanks for sharing Joe, will be good to hear how it progresses - are you using the same external pre amp as when you ran the Westminster amps or are you using the Vitus?

Thanks.

This is an Int, so I’m having to use its preamp. No choice. Mine from EMM is a better Pre Amp. And it is the one I’d be using initially if I purchase the better Vitus Mono amps. If I go Vitus than more than likely I’ll be looking at their entire line down the road …

I’m testing with both DACs: the EMM DA2 V2 and the one in Vitus. A friend told me the DAC in the Vitus sounds like the MSB Ref but is more musical. Though it won’t be as good as our EMM, I’m anxious to hear it. In our previous tests the EMM sounded better than the Select II. But it was very close - the EMM was just more musical …