Not really I am afraid. I would wait because the vitus synergy is really really lovely.
replace my old Mono's with Devialet 400 , do you think it's a good idea?
- Thread starter pelo911
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Not really I am afraid. I would wait because the vitus synergy is really really lovely.
I had a similar problem when I was seeking to upgrade my Carmel 1s to Kipod passives which are rare and hard to find. I seriously considered changing to Magico but resisted, stayed patient and kept looking.It took me nearly two years but I then found a pair through Shark hifi in Kansas and after doing the requisite due diligence I bought them and had them shipped over to the UK. I am delighted with them and really glad I persevered so my advice is to keep looking for the Vitus pre. One will turn up and when it does be prepared to compromise on price and location. I am sure it will be worth it.
right , i can wait to find Vitus Pre
or to sell my Vitus Amp
and get different Amp and Pre
Focal owners told me they get good result with AVM MA.8 , Soulution 530 integrated or 501 or 711 , Constellation Centaur
other i can consider?
LL21 , gave me many great advises
he think that it's not so good to mix brands of cables
my cables:
acoustic zen silver reference ii XLR interconnect from the DAC to the PRE
Cardas Clear speaker cable
wireworld platinum USB cable
Amps to Pre , Tara Labs The 0.8 XLR
power cords for the amps Purist Canorus
and he recommend on Transparent XL
what brands/models people usually using with Focal Utopia?
We have an old saying that patience is a virtue so if you like the Vitus sound, and they are very good amps , my advice would be to keep looking for the Vitus pre.
Yes it is the case that mixing cables from different brands is not a good idea. I am a great fan of Entreq cables in conjunction with their ground boxes but they are not readily available in the US. Stillpoints are the US distributors for the ground boxes and demos can be arranged but whilst they can get you the cables I am not sure if they are doing demo deals at this stage, They certainly work well with Vitus amps but I don't have any info on how they match with Focal. I have no reason to believe that they would not work well and they are very user friendly. Transparent audio as Lloyd suggests have an excellent reputation and are readily available used and ex demo in the US so should be a good buy subject to what Focal users say.
Hi Pelo.
I have only heard the Soulution amps at the Munich High End show so I have obviously not heard them at their best. To me it was a very different sound from that of the Vitus amps and I found it too cool and uninvolving compared with Vitus My advice would be to hear Soulution amps before you buy.
I have only heard the Soulution amps at the Munich High End show so I have obviously not heard them at their best. To me it was a very different sound from that of the Vitus amps and I found it too cool and uninvolving compared with Vitus My advice would be to hear Soulution amps before you buy.
i asked few Focal dealers , they said Solution have the best grip and performance with Focal Utopia
and the second after that , Accupahse .
the Vitus only 50-100W , i'm afraid it's too week to drive the Maestro in the dynamic they can play.
i guess this is why you chose Krell (very powerful) , and other owners too.
i saw this add:
https://app.audiogon.com/listings/f...finish-2015-10-01-speakers-94087-sunnyvale-ca
he using alpha dac reference directly to the amps , without Pre
if good idea to do the same?
then i'm getting much better DAC then what i have now , and not using my Pass Labs XP-10 Pre since this model not "keep up" with the level of the reset of the system.
https://app.audiogon.com/listings/f...finish-2015-10-01-speakers-94087-sunnyvale-ca
he using alpha dac reference directly to the amps , without Pre
if good idea to do the same?
then i'm getting much better DAC then what i have now , and not using my Pass Labs XP-10 Pre since this model not "keep up" with the level of the reset of the system.
Hi guys , i saw Magico S5 for sale for $18K
i'm thinking to replace the Maestro
anyone here had a chance to compare both?
i'm thinking to replace the Maestro
anyone here had a chance to compare both?
You will have to listen carefully. Magico speakers are very different from each other - just because one of them is a good match does not imply any synergy between those brands.
yes i must hear the S5 (there is no Magico dealer in my town)
as far as i understand the S3 and the S5 similar (not the same)
i have tech question:
i got answer from Barkley about using their reference DAC as Pre:
"Our DAC’s do an excellent job of driving power amplifiers directly.
However, for best performance we recommend that the input impedance of the power amplifier be 5K Ohms or greater.
The Vitus SM-101 amplifier appears to have an input impedance of 10K Ohms for its single ended input which should work very well with our DAC’s.
However, the balanced input of the SM-101 appear to have an input impedance of 600 Ohms which is too low to be optimum for our DAC’s."
my Pass XP-10 spec:
Overall Gain:
-73 dB to +10 dB
Volume Steps:
83
Input Impedance:
96k bal, 48k single-ended
Output Impedance:
1000 Ohm bal, 150 Ohm single-ended
Power Consumption (W):
10
i'm using XLR cables
that's mean i use the wrong cable and i must use RCA with the Vitus?
i thought maybe to try using Tube Pre (ARC 5 SE for example) or the Reference DAC without Pre
i just not sure if they match to the Vitus amp.
i got answer from Barkley about using their reference DAC as Pre:
"Our DAC’s do an excellent job of driving power amplifiers directly.
However, for best performance we recommend that the input impedance of the power amplifier be 5K Ohms or greater.
The Vitus SM-101 amplifier appears to have an input impedance of 10K Ohms for its single ended input which should work very well with our DAC’s.
However, the balanced input of the SM-101 appear to have an input impedance of 600 Ohms which is too low to be optimum for our DAC’s."
my Pass XP-10 spec:
Overall Gain:
-73 dB to +10 dB
Volume Steps:
83
Input Impedance:
96k bal, 48k single-ended
Output Impedance:
1000 Ohm bal, 150 Ohm single-ended
Power Consumption (W):
10
i'm using XLR cables
that's mean i use the wrong cable and i must use RCA with the Vitus?
i thought maybe to try using Tube Pre (ARC 5 SE for example) or the Reference DAC without Pre
i just not sure if they match to the Vitus amp.
pelo911 - I'm certain that when Berkeley advised you that the balanced input of the Vitus SM-101 amp has an impedance too low to be optimum for their DACs, they were talking about the capability to drive the amps directly from the DAC without a preamp. When you use an active preamp like your Pass XP-10 the relatively low 600 ohm input impedance of the Vitus amps is not an issue to be concerned with. So you are fine using XLR cables from the DAC's output into the Pass preamp. Hope that this helps, and enjoy the tunes!
i'm using XLR from the Vitus mono amps to the Pass XP-10 Pre
and another XLR from the XP-10 to the Luxman DA-06 DAC (and now i will try to use Lumin A1 instead of the Luxman)
Your current XLR connections should be fine! If you decide to try the DAC directly driving the Vitus amps without the Pass preamp, then you should switch to RCA interconnects between the DAC and amps.
Since you are using balanced cables you want a DAC that is truly balanced internally, and you want it to be capable of driving the 600 ohm balanced input impedance of your amplifier.
I don't know about Berkeley, but the Bricasti M1 does that. It has 14.5V rails, not just 5V which DAC chips trying to drive the outputs tend to have, which means it can drive any power amplifier without any current issues, and as John Atkinson's measurements in Stereophile indicate, it is fully capable of driving 600 ohms. Doing that, you can dispense with your Pass Labs preamp and related cabling.
I recently sold an M1 DAC to a customer in Houston. Contact me via email or PM for details if you wish.
I don't know about Berkeley, but the Bricasti M1 does that. It has 14.5V rails, not just 5V which DAC chips trying to drive the outputs tend to have, which means it can drive any power amplifier without any current issues, and as John Atkinson's measurements in Stereophile indicate, it is fully capable of driving 600 ohms. Doing that, you can dispense with your Pass Labs preamp and related cabling.
I recently sold an M1 DAC to a customer in Houston. Contact me via email or PM for details if you wish.