Schiit Vidar.... Anyone heard one yet?

I had the Freya/Vidar combo. The Vidar did what it said. The only weirdness with it for me was that it got extremely warm. Weird because it’s A/B. My new amp is Class A for the first 3-4 watts and then goes A/B is not any where near as warm. Not by a long shot.

the Freya was a disaster for me but others like theirs. Both items are inexpensive which is great but I feel like both need some revisions to become a good buy. 

I praise Schiit for making decent inexpensive gear. I think the next iteration of both will make them a great value.

I have a Vidar I used while my Sunfire was getting updated.  Nice sounding, smooth, no noticible grain and great bass.  It had plenty of power and control for a set of Revel F36s (huge room, 4500 cubic feet opening to other rooms).  It ran out of power with my Magnapan 3.5s however, but that is to be expected, as most amps do.  In a smaller room, it would have likely been adequate for the Maggies.  

What’s a real drag for me on the Vidar ( and all of Schiit’s stuff) is the power switch around back.  Leaning in, reaching around and groping with your fingers is not user friendly, no matter what fanboys may say.  And leaving the amp on 24/7 will cause the electric bill to grow, much less so their DACs and other components.

The lack of a 12 volt trigger is also too bad.  I’ve currently got 4 Schiit items and want them to succeed, but they need to be willing to make a compromise or two and include some modern features.  My Parasound P5 has the ability to cut the bass from my fronts and route it to the sub and sounds far better in this regard than the Saga pre I tried out.

The LEDs on their products are also ridiculously bright, and it’s clear that Schiit marches to their own drum.  What I keep hearing  about them is that their DACs are their best products and I’d agree with that.  

Those are the products that are most strenuously attacked on forums, so you can tell they’ve shaken up the market.

I use a Schiit Freya with a small single ended tube amp, and both (along with everything else) are plugged into a power conditioner with a timed power up and off feature...I've been using this thing (embarrasingly old Adcom 515 that works beautifully) for many years, and maybe you should try one...many manufacturers make 'em. Also, you can dim the LEDs with carefully applied magic marker...I did that on a Loki (easy) and the Freya (insane...took forever to get the LEDs lined up with the lid when putting it back together, but it eventually they all popped back in). Maybe a carefully applied bit of something could be put on the LEDs without taking the Freya apart...that's what I'd do now of course, and no clue about the Vidar LEDs but I'm sure there's less of them.

Wolf, I realize that there are work-arounds, and one can magic mark the LEDs or buy a device that turns on the Schiit gear, for instance.  There are ways to get the result you want, but I guess my thought is more towards Schiit's approach to things.

It's kind of a "this is how its gonna be and if you don't like it, tough schiit." attitude.  I suppose in a way this is what all companies do at the end of the day, deciding on feature sets at a given price point, using whatever priorities and feedback in making the decisions on what to include and what to leave on the cutting room floor.

But it seems to me that in today's marketplace, customer feedback is more important than ever.  Many people simply hate the LEDs.  Many people hate the rear power switches.  These are just simple things that could be fixed without much ado.  

But it's their sandbox, and they can do what they like.  They do build great sounding products, and that is what keeps people coming back, myself included.  I just ordered the Mimby just because it's on sale as a B stock.