Integrated Amp Reviews

Six years after Hans-Ole Vitus, the founder of Danish company Vitus Audio, visited the United States to premier his first three products at CES 2004, Michael Fremer went gaga over the company's top-line MP-P201 Masterpiece Series phono preamplifier. Thirteen years later, at AXPONA 2023, it was my turn to be blown away, this time by the sound of a $385,000 Vitus Audio top-of-the-line Masterpiece series front-end and amplifiers that sang through price-commensurate Estelon Extreme Mk II loudspeakers.

In between—and not for want of trying—Vitus's presence in these pages has been limited to show reports. It's time to change that.

Enter the "entry-level" ($20,000) Vitus RI-101 Mk.II, an attractive integrated amplifier that can be outfitted with an optional DAC/streamer board for an extra $5000. The Vitus RI-101 Mk.II is part of the company's Reference series; paradoxical though it may seem, above it sit the Signature and Masterpiece series.

A fully balanced class-AB integrated capable of putting out an impressive 300Wpc into 8 ohms and 600Wpc into 4 ohms, the RI-101 Mk.II boasts an aluminum chassis, fully discrete output stage, and a relay-based fixed-resistor stepped volume control that allows for 1dB volume changes between –80dB and +8dB. Through its RJ45 Ethernet port, the optional DAC/streamer board supports streaming up to 32/384kHz PCM and DSD128 (via DoP, which is to say, converted to PCM). The unit's S/PDIF and AES3 ports support up to 24/192 PCM and do not transmit DSD.

The original Vitus RI-101 was released in 2017, replacing the RI-100. The Mk.II dates to 2020, with optimizations to the power supply, the optional streamer/DAC, and the preamplifier stage. The Mk.II received a new streaming module at the end of 2023. On the amplifier side, the upgrade included output-stage optimization to allow a bit more class-A current, an update to the power supply that allows for significantly more headroom, transformer optimization, and board-layout optimizations with shorter signal paths, thicker and wider supply tracks, and better grounding. The new DAC/streamer board update delivered Roon-ready functionality, upgrades to certain digital power supply lines, a new streaming module that supports higher bit and sample rates, and the top-line ESS Sabre ES9038PRO DAC chip. The Mk.II DAC/streamer supports, in addition to Roon, UPnP/DLNA (via MConnect and similar apps), Tidal Connect, Spotify connect, V-tuner, Qobuz, and more (footnote 1).

Hans-Ole Vitus & the RI-101 Mk.II
All this represents another achievement by Hans-Ole Vitus, the engineer, audio enthusiast, and hobbyist who began playing snare drum in a marching band when he was 12 years old. The die was cast when he got his first all-Pioneer hi-fi system, even before he joined his first rock band at age 15.

At 18, Hans-Ole faced a potential apocalypse when he was seduced by the sound of Gryphon Audio Designs equipment that he could not afford. So he began to study engineering so that he could roll his own. In 1995, at age 27, he began to build his own amplifiers while working as a sales manager for Texas Instruments. When fellow enthusiasts began to request his components, Vitus considered going commercial. His first products—big mono amplifiers and battery-driven phono and line stages that were soon discontinued due to EU restrictions on shipping large battery packs—debuted at the Stockholm audio show in 2003. The design aesthetic that visually distinguished the first Vitus components from their contemporaries continues to this day.

Because only the most basic information about the Vitus RI-101 Mk.II integrated amplifier is available online, I Zoomed with the company's current co-owner and CEO, Alexander (Alex) Vitus Mogensen, who is Hans-Ole's son (footnote 2); COO/co-owner Lukas Birk Eriksen; and Vitus's US representative, Aldo Filippelli. Our discussion was low on specifics because, in Lukas's words, "We do not explain the technology a whole lot. We generally reference the sound instead and let the sound and product speak for themselves."

Alex told me that while the Reference series uses a less-expensive chassis, with thinner plating than products in the higher series, that cost-cutting measure has been offset by the extra attention the company has devoted to internal shielding. Vitus's approach was to "cut/optimize costs where we could without greatly affecting the sound. There is a difference, but it is not that major. We still put a lot of focus on the power from the transformer, where everything starts. It's like the engine in a car. If you lack power, it will affect sound tremendously."

The Vitus RI-101 Mk.II utilizes the same technology as the rest of the Reference series, optimized for an entry-level integrated's restraints of space and cost. According to Lukas, Reference-series technology is "mainly trickled down from the other series." Most resistors and capacitors are the same, save for some of the larger capacitors. Transformer choice is another story. While Vitus eschews the use of toroidal transformers, Reference-series transformer winds differ from those in its higher-level brethren. The Reference series uses "EI" transformers. The Signature and Masterpiece series, by contrast, use UI transformers which, Lukas said, "are more stable with high loads. ... They are even more optimized for delivering higher power without any drop in voltage. We've seen toroidal transformers drop voltage too much under heavy loads in comparison to our Danish-made transformers. Something can sound very impressive, but then you really crank up the volume and the sound quality feels like it drops off."

When queried about design goals, Alex responded, "We always aim for emotions and feeling. We want to give people a genuine emotional experience rather than 'hi-fi.'" He referenced a time at CES, perhaps a decade ago, when a woman entered the room quietly as his father played some orchestral music. After the piece had concluded, she was in tears. Asked why she had been affected so strongly, she replied that it was the first time she'd heard the piece sound like what she experienced when she was present during the recording session.

"Those are the kind of the emotions that we want to capture and convey," Alex said. "That's our end goal, and it doesn't matter whether it's the Reference series or the Signature or the Masterpiece series. Emotion's one thing we don't compromise on. If we don't feel that we can make a product that sounds right by our standards, we're not going to put it to market."

"We want to convey the music's power in the way that solid state amplifiers can, but without harshness," Lukas said. "Sound is dependent on how you design the entire product, not just the output stage. If there's something wrong in the input stage, the whole product will not sound correct."

Vitus recently changed its printed circuit board manufacturer. Slight changes in specs and thickness produced sonic improvements immediately recognized by customers and retail partners. Ditto for changes in parts and component placement. "Minor adjustments actually make a big difference," Alex said. "We're always learning and evolving."

Vitus included Stillpoints feet on some of its past units; then they learned that different customers have different preferences. "Multiple times we have used Stillpoints footers or something else, customers have taken them off and replaced them with others," Lukas said. "Rather than having them pay an extra premium for something that they might remove, we let customers decide what they want to use."

When I mentioned power conditioning, Aldo chimed in. "I'm a firm believer that the Vitus Audio power supplies do very adequate filtering internally," he said. "When I've plugged the units—especially the preamp and the amplifiers—directly into dedicated lines, that has always sounded better than [it sounds] going into any level or make of power conditioner. Dedicated lines deliver much more low-frequency energy. Bass is also faster and more dynamic, and the soundstage is bigger, wider, and deeper. What's most clearly audible is a sense of ease in the midrange and highs that I have not been able to find when I've plugged any preamp, amplifier, or integrated into any brand of power conditioner. When I do use a conditioner on amps, I hear grain in the mid to high ranges. They can work for some digital electronics, but we do not recommend using them with higher power units." (footnote 3)

What you see and get
An interactive feature on the Vitus RI-101 Mk.II's webpage (footnote 4) displays standard and "unique" chassis-color options, which you can mix and match. You can also download the manual, v1.12 at this writing, in pdf form; owners receive it on a USB stick. Much of the manual is devoted to menu explanations (see below).

The RI-101 Mk.II's simple and elegant front includes a relatively narrow, recessed central panel with a display that indicates input and volume. Framing it on each side are larger panels, available in contrasting colors. The left panel contains input, menu, and standby buttons; the right includes two up/down volume buttons—there is no volume knob—and a third button for mute. The menu button allows you to custom name inputs, set the initial volume setting for different inputs, turn the small Vitus logo and off, adjust illumination, engage auto-standby, and more. In this sense, the RI-101 Mk.II is very au courant. Once you select a menu option, the up and down buttons adjust parameters. I made my life simple by sticking to the factory default settings.

The rear panel offers three XLR inputs, two RCA inputs, XLR pre/tape out, easy-to-grasp speaker terminals, "Gnd/Earth" connector (which I did not use), and 15A IEC. It's relatively easy to replace a blown fuse or to use a custom fuse. Firmware is updatable via a USB port.

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Footnote 1: Existing R1-101 owners can have units upgraded at authorized service centers.

Footnote 2: Hans-Ole Vitus has stepped down from administrative operations to focus exclusively on development.

Footnote 3: Aldo acknowledged that he had never tried a Stromtank S 4000, which is designed to handle high current power amplifiers.

Footnote 4: See vitusaudio.com/products/ri-101-mk-ii.