It’s available in black, but we felt compelled to buy the classic Schiit matte silver version. Those minor issues aside, the Vidar looks very cool - it’s got a raw, industrial, futuristic look, like that of a Cylon from the original Battlestar Galactica TV series. Like other Schiit producs we’ve used, the Vidar is well-built, but it’s also clearly hand-built - our Vidar arrived with a loose screw on the top casing and some small dents on the heat sinks. The Vidar is relatively hefty, at 22 pounds, though its size is somewhat inflated by large metal heat sink fins protruding from either side of the Vidar’s case. At 9” x 13” x 3.85” it’s relatively compact for a power amplifier, but perhaps more importantly the Vidar is longer than it is wide, making it easier to fit two units on a single shelf (more on that later). Like nearly all of Schiit’s audio gear, the Vidar has a simple design, centered around a single sheet of thick, stiff aluminum. Today, we’re looking at a first for Schiit - their first dedicated loudspeaker power amplifier, the Vidar.

Budget-minded audio fans have been following this company for years and, if this is your first time hearing about them, we welcome you to the club. California-based Schiit trolls the audiophile world with attractive, made-in-the-USA-for-real amplifiers and DACs that are far more affordable than their similarly-performing competition. This is the part where we have to say yes, that really is the company’s name and yes, it is pronounced like you think it is. As an audio reviewer, this first paragraph is like a rite of passage: our first review of a Schiit product.

Power amplifier reviews