The Virtuas Audio Stereo Power Amplifier SS-010

I’ve grown accustomed to big beefy amps
providing the muscle that flows through my
music system. For years I called the huge
Electrocompaniet Nemo 600-watt mono amps my
reference, and for most of this past year the
Nemos were supplanted by the even bigger BAT
VK1000s. My rather large (20’ x 26’) listening
room has always made good use of mega powered
amps, and Heaven knows that my Escalante
Fremonts, with their direct coupled dual 12”
woofers, really enjoy being driven by the big
boys. So when the opportunity to spend some
time with an amp from Vitus Audio came up, I
was excited to say the least. After all,
nothing embodies big, bold, beautiful power
amps like the designs of Hans Ole Vitus.

In the
beginning …
I first saw the Vitus gear at the 2004 CES. I
was immediately struck by their massive beauty
and gorgeous sound, powering a room-dominating
pair of Sound Lab Ultimate-1s. The quality of
the metalwork and the attention to aesthetics
and functionality were unlike anything I had
ever seen. The whole system was linked
together by the equally impressive cables
designed by Anders Grove who at the time was
with Argento Audio. I kept thinking that the
Rowlands, Krells, and Halcros of the world
were going to be put on notice and that the
Vitus gear would soon be ascending to the top
of the US audio marketplace.

But a year went by and I was back at CES and
back in the Vitus room and I realized that
during the past year I had heard nothing about
Vitus Audio. I hadn’t heard about dealerships
lining up to have a chance to carry this
stunning line of products. There was no Vitus
dealer in my hometown of Chicago. And even
stranger, I hadn’t seen any reviews in the
“major” publications proclaiming Vitus’ gear
to be among the best money could buy, which is
certainly what I thought of them.

I asked the main man himself, Hans Ole Vitus,
“what happened?” He went on to tell me all
about the dark side of the business and some
of the pitfalls of not having good enough
representation and the politics of audiophile
journalism. I won’t go into the details of
this but I’m sure that many of you can read
between the lines.

Fast forward another year and Vitus was back
for the 2006 CES, but things were a little
different. First, Vitus Audio has taken over
distribution of their products in the U.S.
and, Focus Audio, one of the few loudspeaker
manufacturers whose design aesthetics are
comparable to Vitus’ are handling distribution
in Canada. Vitus already has dealers in New
York and Los Angeles and may soon have dealers
in Florida and – be still my beating heart –
Chicago! Second, gone were the trademark
Argento Audio cables that Vitus demoed with in
the previous shows. Anders Grove the original
designer of the Argento cables was now
producing the new Vitus Audio “Andromeda” line
of cables. And third, there was a new
prototype of a smaller, more “affordable” amp
called the SS-010.

The
SS-010
The SS-010 is the smallest amp in the Vitus
line even though it weighs a whopping 77 lbs!
Its smaller size may prove to be more of an
attribute than a disclaimer compared to the
other Vitus amps, the SS-101 stereo amp and
SM-101 mono amps which are nearly twice its
size. But don’t let the fact that the SS-010
is smaller in stature compared to its siblings
fool you, it is in no way a small amp. In
fact, though rumored to produce only 25-watts
per channel, the specifications listed on the
Vitus website describe the power output as
“Enough!” They ain’t kiddin’ folks. This baby
is a flat out beast! I mean when I replaced
the gargantuan BAT amps with this unit it was
like David giving Goliath an ass-whippin’. The
soundstage was more open, the images clearer
and more focused, and the biggest shock of all
was that the bass was actually better defined
and deeper.

But
wait, there’s more!
Not only is the SS-010 a wonderful stand alone
stereo amp, it can also be used as an
integrated amp, meaning that you don’t even
need a preamp to use it. The unit offers two
line level inputs: one balanced (XLR) and one
unbalanced (RCA). Volume level and input can
be selected from the front faceplate or via
remote control. I did not have a remote to use
during this review so I won’t comment on its
use.

As an integrated amp I’d have to say that the
SS-010 is by far the best sounding one I’ve
ever heard. But the fact is this unit was
actually designed to be an amplifier with
volume control capability that also gives you
the flexibility of using preamps with balanced
or unbalanced outputs. So I did most of my
listening with my Classé digital front end
going through a BAT VK31SE preamp and into the
balanced input of the Vitus amp.

As
I said before, the openness of the soundstage
was one of the first things that I noticed
when I put the Vitus amp into my system. This
was extremely apparent on the first live
recording that I listened to, Kenny Loggins’
Outside: From the Redwoods [Sony]. As
you can tell from the title, this entertaining
concert recording took place at an outdoor
concert venue amongst the redwood trees of
Northern California. The Vitus amp helped to
re-create the spaciousness of the surroundings
while still rendering the fine details of the
music. The ninth track, “Love Will Follow,” is
a duet with R&B singer Shanice. Her
mellifluous voice oozes out over the audience
and does not come across as breathy or
splashy. Instead, her and Loggins’ vocals are
rendered with body and texture, which gives
substance to the lyrics.

Another
of my fave live discs is Kurt Elling’s Live
In Chicago [Blue Note]. I love this disc
like I love deep-dish pizza, and considering
that I come from Chicago, that means I love it
a lot … a whole lot. To borrow from ESPN’s
Stuart Scott, Elling’s voice is “as cool as
the other side of the pillow,” and his
rendering of the classic “Smoke Gets In Your
Eyes” is simply mesmerizing. This is where the
SS-010’s ability to throw a believable stage
is important. This amp accurately reproduces
the scale and detail of the performers and
their instruments with the ambience of live
space. The tempo changes on track five, “Night
Dream” are also handled particularly well with
this amp. The dynamics of the drum and piano
solos are rendered flawlessly. And speaking of
dynamic piano, it doesn’t get any better than
Ahmad Jamal on Live At The Montreal Jazz
Festival 1985 [Atlantic]. “Yellow Fellow,” the
fifteen minute long opening track is a true
test of system dynamics, and the Vitus gives
this in spades. Of particular note was the
rapid-fire percussion work of Seldon Newton.
The Vitus amp seemed to give this performance
a shot of energy.

But easily the most striking facet of the
SS-010’s performance was its stunning bass
performance. One of my favorite discs for
testing a system’s bass is Michel Jonasz'
two-disc live concert, “la fabuleuse
histoire de Mister Swing” [WEA
2292-42338-2 II]. The track "La Temps Passe"
is a showcase for some deeply layered
synthesizers and misseur Jonasz’ decidedly pop
vocal styling. The synthesizers often drop
down to levels only detectable by the
inhabitants of Dante’s Inferno (now that’s
deep). But the Vitus amp allows the tones to
keep their musical character. In other words,
the bass sounds like its part of a piece of
music and not just simply the residue of what
was supposed to be music. That’s pretty damned
impressive for a 25 watter folks.

Conclusion
Let’s understand something here. The Vitus
Audio equipment is not your run-of-the-mill
high-end audio gear. Hans Ole Vitus has built
equipment that is aesthetically, functionally
and sonically superior to most of what
represents the high-end. I purposely did not
dwell on any technological aspects of this amp
because in my opinion, when you’re spending
this kind of money on equipment of this
quality, only the emotional impact of the
music it provides is of any relevance.
Besides, if you really want to talk specs,
give Vitus a call or shoot him an email. He is
one of the most down-to-earth persons I’ve met
in this industry. Believe me, there are many
designers out there who make so-called
high-end components who act as though their
proverbial “poo-poo” is without aroma. This is
not the case with Vitus.

And
I’m not kidding when I say that this stuff
will dramatically improve the visual appeal of
your listening room. It’s just that well
built. In fact, when my girlfriend first saw
the Vitus amp she turned and asked, “why can’t
all of your stereo stuff look like this?” But
more importantly, it will heighten your
appreciation for the very nature of music and
particularly live music. Publisher Clement
Perry, often speaks of a state of mind he
calls “Audio Hell,” where reviewers reside
when they become exposed to gear that lifts
them to a state of euphoria and then destroys
them when they are forced to come to grips
with the fact that they can never possess the
gear that they love. As I prepare to ship the
SS-010 back to Denmark, I know where it is
that I will be residing for the next few
months …

Features:

• Based on the same topology used in
  our SS-101 monaural amplifiers.

• Dual Mono design for perfect
  channel separation.

• Build in linestage, for using 2
  sources without the need for an external preamp. This also   gives the option of bypassing
  poor sounding digital volume controls, used in most CD-Players and DAC's. This linestage
  can be bypassed.

• All internal wirering with
  Andromeda Cables by VA.

• Custom designed AC transformers.

• Beautiful simplistic Danish design

• 2 individual inputs – non balanced (RCA) and Balanced
  (XLR)

• Zero Feedback.

• Ultrahigh bandwith.