Vitus Master Stereo MP-S 201 ... Munich 2014 Debut

[LL21]

Since I am now on this forum - I would be honored if you as members would enlighten me with some of your favorite tracks which you would like us to add to our playlist for future show.

rgds
Vitus

WOW...what an invitation!!! My personal 'fun' test tracks:


- Sherlock Holmes II: A Game of Shadows Soundtrack (Hans Zimmer). The opening of the album, the drums need to be waaay in the back, the string section only slightly closer but still far back...and the solo oboe in the middle to right halfway thru the opening of the track...you can either 'just hear it'...or you can realize...'whoa, someone is 'playing an actual oboe'. The contrapuntal theme are super, super strong throughout nearly all the tracks...being able to delineate them all is a LOT of fun here...electronic synthesizer mixed with strings, mixed with rickety old strings or plucks or pianos...quite fascinating to listen on a system that REALLY resolves
- Ame 'Rej' or Fabric 15 (deep house): Rapid fire deep propsulsive bass...but on Fabric 15, you also get loads of super-soft, subtle electronic bits WAAAY in the background that you realize is actually not simply an amorphous cloud of background noise...it is ACTUALLY perfectly timed with the beat.
- Rachel Podger La Extravaganza Vivaldi (Channel Classics). Brilliant, bracing opening...in the big rooms with big speakers you hear the entire breadth of the ensemble spreading out before you, about 8 meters across maybe?
- Vivaldi (Reference Recordings)...shockingly clear on systems which can really handle complexity...each instrument really comes forward in its own with its own melody. You can sit back, listen to each individual melody, listen to each space, or listen to the blended whole.
- Clapton Unplugged/Nirvana Unplugged (the opening tracks are loud, clapping, voices, noises, and in my favourite systems, incredibly loud, powerful and YET absolutely natural. 1 or 2 hugely resolving systems with huge power/scale capability delivered the crowd clapping as quite bright (not for me).
- Ivan Moravec Chopin Nocturnes. (I usually use Glen Gould Bach Variations because it is incredibly tough to get that one to sound right...but I admit it is not the best sounding recording)
- Snoop Dogg (Blue Carpet)...rap. Mainly because it is incredibly tough to make Snoop Dogg sound both 'human and organic' (rather than 'stereotypically thin/radio/mp3'ish') and 'propulsive' but I have found this does happen with my favourite systems

 

[Vitus Audio]

WOW...what an invitation!!! My personal 'fun' test tracks:

- Sherlock Holmes Soundtrack (Hans Zimmer)
- Ame 'Rej' or Fabric 15 (deep house)
- Rachel Podger La Extravaganza Vivaldi (Channel Classics)
- Vivaldi (Reference Recordings)...shockingly clear on systems which can really handle complexity...each instrument really comes forward in its own with its own melody. You can sit back, listen to each individual melody, listen to each space, or listen to the blended whole.
- Clapton Unplugged/Nirvana Unplugged (the opening tracks are loud, clapping, voices, noises, and in my favourite systems, incredibly loud, powerful and YET absolutely natural. 1 or 2 hugely resolving systems with huge power/scale capability delivered the crowd clapping as quite bright (not for me).
- Ivan Moravec Chopin Nocturnes. (I usually use Glen Gould Bach Variations because it is incredibly tough to get that one to sound right...but I admit it is not the best sounding recording)
- Snoop Dogg (Blue Carpet)...rap. Mainly because it is incredibly tough to make Snoop Dogg sound both 'human and organic' (rather than 'stereotypically thin/radio/mp3'ish') and 'propulsive' but I have found this does happen with my favourite systems

Thx. again love your explanations too - hope to end up with a huge list of "need to buy" music - the "sad" part of being a manufacture (at least for me personally), is that I seem to hang on to the same number of tracks we use in development - and so it's about time to flip the collection 360degrees

 

[microstrip]

Okay - Whispers heard

Even though being a Viking - I am but human - and make mistakes.......

Firstly let me clear some of the "specs"

700/1400w
is NOT in class A they are peak to peak ratings, and we never gave such irrelevant marketing BS specs before, but are "required" to by some of our partners.
The MP-S201 does about 500W / 8 ohms - and no not 500W in class A - it would be stupid - as it's never needed.

550W power consumption
is rms (required by EU standards) and yes here we made a mistake - this is NOT at full power - this is in "idle" with zero load in mode 2 which is high biased AB.
there is a specific reason we have one power cord for each channel - no single mains outlet (by EU standards) will be able to deliver enough current for the MP-S201 to reach its full potential.

So well spotted by some of you - your comments are correct - and should hereby be cleared up. As for the more specific specs on this "subject" we are still working on them. The MP-S201's we had in Munich - was PROTOTYPES - final product will be finished by next week - and then we will do our detailed measurements.

Intelligent Class A
Do we regulate the BIAS - YES
Do we regulate the BIAS as others - NO
All we do, it measure the temperature on the output devices - and regulate the BIAS slightly - to maintain a specific temperature on each device with in a few degrees C to maintain the sound "signature" if you like we are known for.
This is controlled by a high end CPU (Cortex) with our own OS. We do not use DPS's for such control - as DSP's has a different usage all together, but yes - we use a lot of DSP's in other areas - and in products not released yet - these are for future products - and possible under a different brand name all together.

On a personal level - I find little usage for specs. When I first started Vitus Audio - our power rating was listed like:

Enough
More than enough
More than you will ever need..

Power ratings alone tell nothing, and as such useless information

As someone already mentioned (and no we pay NOONE for spreading ANY information) we will remove all specs from all our material in short future for the same reasons.

As for "the sound" it's all subjective - some like them blond, some like brunets - I have my personal taste - and all the products we make follow what I want. When customers has a similar taste and hence love our products - we feel honored - when customers has a different taste and prefers other manufactures products - we obviously respect that

As I have said many times - the main reason I started Vitus Audio, was the simple fact - that I could not afford either Gryphon nor Boulder - whom I respect a great deal. We do our own thing - we do not follow trends - we do not "cave in" to make sales - and yet with the specs on this amplifier - I honestly jumped right in...

As I started this post.. I will end it

Even though being a Viking - I am but human - and make mistakes.......

Rgds
Vitus

Vitus,
Great to have your straight answers, assuming what you really feel about specifications for consumers. As far as I know Vikings did not need specifications to build longships ...

For recordings : Dmitri Shostakovich : Symphony N° 8, op.65., III. Allegro non troppo, Concertgebouw Orchestra, Bernard Haitink DECCA 411 616-2. Power, scale and dynamic contrasts. Orchestral sections should have the correct size and power, you should feel the music hall.

 

[LL21]

Thx. again love your explanations too - hope to end up with a huge list of "need to buy" music - the "sad" part of being a manufacture (at least for me personally), is that I seem to hang on to the same number of tracks we use in development - and so it's about time to flip the collection 360degrees

I have updated with a few more explanations so each Album now has one. Thanks again for your time on the Forum.

 

[GuillaumeB]

- Ame 'Rej'

Nice track! Can't beat a nice bit of techno from time to time. Will work on a short playlist and post here!

Guillaume

 

[Vitus Audio]

Vitus,
Great to have your straight answers, assuming what you really feel about specifications for consumers. As far as I know Vikings did not need specifications to build longships ... Hehe - I guess it runs in "our" blood

For recordings : Dmitri Shostakovich : Symphony N° 8, op.65., III. Allegro non troppo, Concertgebouw Orchestra, Bernard Haitink DECCA 411 616-2. Power, scale and dynamic contrasts. Orchestral sections should have the correct size and power, you should feel the music hall.

Thx. Much appriciated

 

[Vitus Audio]

I have updated with a few more explanations so each Album now has one. Thanks again for your time on the Forum.

Excellent

 

[Vitus Audio]

Nice track! Can't beat a nice bit of techno from time to time. Will work on a short playlist and post here!

Guillaume

Indeed - love the latest yello and trentemoeller - but so much more of that kind to be explored for sure

 

[Jazzhead]

I have updated with a few more explanations so each Album now has one. Thanks again for your time on the Forum.

LL21 great read , love the dissection .. Thanks .

 

[LL21]

Nice track! Can't beat a nice bit of techno from time to time. Will work on a short playlist and post here!

Guillaume

Guillaume - Agree!! I happen to have a difficult-to-find single CD with several versions of Rej. I love this thing and it took me several months to find!

 

[GuillaumeB]

Guillaume - Agree!! I happen to have a difficult-to-find single CD with several versions of Rej. I love this thing and it took me several months to find!

I do a bit of djing from time to time and I love Âme's work. Really into the techno - deep house fusion. As Hans Ole says there is just so much to explore, every day literally hundreds of great tracks are released!

Guillaume

 

[Bodhi]

It's good to have such a respected Manufacturer and music lover on board contributing to our forum. To say the least, there have been some ignorant and quite nasty accusations made in this thread including toward me. Imho anyone who gets caught up arguing over specs...especially specs on a green prototype are like two fleas arguing over the dog their on. It's pointless. Anyone who has heard Vitus amps, and the MP-S201 at Munich and who is partial to their sound knows what i'm talking about. Said it before, but what matters is the sound which I have well described in my review of the SIA-025. I have not heard the MP-S201, but on all reports it sounds amazing and is capable of driving even amp killers like the Apogee Scintilla and Magico Q5 with ease.

To me, it is this simple, those who jump at a raw spec sheet and try to seize on a couple of errors by attacking the product are trying to find ways to deal with their own jealousies or commercial bias. Those people would likely never buy a Vitus product anyway, which is fine. But to turn the thread into a point scoring match is completely pointless. The bottom line is that VA is continuing to grow and expand based on satisfied customers like me. I have no commercial affiliation with VA and am not a paid stooge as one member suggested. I am just a happy customer. In fact, I plan on buying more Vitus Sig Series products in future!

Onto music, one cd to consider is Tony Bennett "Playing with my friends". It is a RBCD, but sounds very good. Tony obviously spent a lot of time and care getting the recording and mastering perfect. Homage to a great crooner and his friends.

 

[Rob.Petersen]

Rob what I was doing was comparing the best stereo offerings from 2 Danish high end power houses. Is that fair enough?

Frankly, no. The Gryphon to which you refer is half the price of this new Vitus. If price is not a salient issue when comparing two products, then why not compare the Vitus, to Bel Canto's "best" stereo amplifier? I'm sure we'll all feel much better in knowing we haven't blown off $100K+ when we could have spent $4K. A bit ridiculous. Let's not become over zealous fanboys. Given it's Vitus and given it's pricepoint, I'd fully expect it to perform at a very high level regardless of whatever else is going on. The product stands on it's own merit.

 

[Bodhi]

Frankly, no. The Gryphon to which you refer is half the price of this new Vitus. If price is not a salient issue when comparing two products, then why not compare the Vitus, to Bel Canto's "best" stereo amplifier? I'm sure we'll all feel much better in knowing we haven't blown off $100K+ when we could have spent $4K. A bit ridiculous. Let's not become over zealous fanboys. Given it's Vitus and given it's pricepoint, I'd fully expect it to perform at a very high level regardless of whatever else is going on. The product stands on it's own merit.

I think you have completely missed the intent of my comparison Rob going by your emotive response. Did I not describe the Gryphon Mephisto as "another great amp"? Is that not good enough? I realize it is uncomfortable for you, and maybe you think I am a "fanboy" as you described, but it is a fact that the best stereo amplifier being offered currently by VA has quite a bit more power and capacitance than Gryphon's top amp. The comparison is fair given they are the top two Danish high end amp manufacturers. I am making no value judgments about the sound (of the Gryphon) at all! The Mephisto in all respects is a reference amp and well beyond my means. So again, why argue over which is better? It's like 2 fleas arguing which dog they're on!

 

[Rob.Petersen]

I don't recall arguing over which is best - thanks for putting words in my mouth. I simply agreed with someone else that your comparison was not on. So now, do you want to continue wasting time on this!?

 

[audioblazer]

Moving on , Hans these are the songs I love
1. Hallelujah , Kurt Nilsen, my favourite version
2. Tears of a clown by Nnenna Freelon - live , such emotion
3. Era- The Mass . The Mass
4. Era -The Mass . Don't you forget . Enjoy the whole album
5. Van Cliburn , Tchaikovsky piano concerto no 1
Allegro non troppo e molto maestro . Long winded title with a lengthy presentation of 20.50min but what a piano piece

 

[Bodhi]

I don't recall arguing over which is best - thanks for putting words in my mouth. I simply agreed with someone else that your comparison was not on. So now, do you want to continue wasting time on this!?

Actually the words were between the lines for all to see. I made my comparison on perfectly valid criteria as I described which you chose to ignore. Member's views are not made valid or invalid by your edicts. Anyway, If you are really that vested in your time, why post such a wordy retort?

 

[LL21]

I do a bit of djing from time to time and I love Âme's work. Really into the techno - deep house fusion. As Hans Ole says there is just so much to explore, every day literally hundreds of great tracks are released!

Guillaume

Fantastic! I have not pretended to be a dj for many years, though I used to goof around in college at it. I have a number of Ame albums. Konrad Black (Watergate), Fabric 15, certain remixes by Pastaboys, and Dennis Ferrer...and the list goes on...

 

[audioblazer]

In our enthusiasm , sometimes we are our worse enemy & make it looks bad for the manufacturer

 

[Hyperion]

- Snoop Dogg (Blue Carpet)...rap. Mainly because it is incredibly tough to make Snoop Dogg sound both 'human and organic' (rather than 'stereotypically thin/radio/mp3'ish') and 'propulsive' but I have found this does happen with my favourite systems

I didn't know you were a hip-hopper Lloyd