Interesting view - but doesn’t fit all! In my case I want fit and forget, but am well aware that there are levels. My current system, which has evolved over many years, is very simple (only 4 components, store/renderer, DAC, power amp, speakers) but hardly cheap (I guess somewhat in excess of £50k if new today), and is fit and forget as far as I am concerned, with no interest in fiddling with cables etc. Music played through it sounds wonderful to me, far better than through cheaper systems that preceded it…I have no desire to change anything other than sime aspects of room acoustics which I know are limiting, but awaiting some structural work before doing anything further to address.
I can understand but I am looking from a different perspective. Yes, your £50k system may be fit and forget as you don’t look at different cabling, isolation or racks to further optimise or improve the sound. However, I am suggesting that an expensive setup such as your £50k system will have the room for improvement with further optimisation although I am aware not everyone wants to fiddle or improve the current system, cheap or expensive.
I am also suggesting that a system made up of cheap components and/or speakers will be impervious to changes in cabling or other accessories so fiddling is not required. Although there may be a difference when a cable is swapped, the difference would likely be negligible.
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Have you tried adjusting the filters and maps in your DCS to better suit the Humboldt? What’s best for Vitus might not work well with Humboldt, given their different operating principles and priorities in their presentation.
I have but the filters and map’s are very subtle, and certainly not going to influence enough to reduce the kind of brightness/top end the humbolt has.
Plus after the 2 cable changes i was happy with the top end the humbolt had.
But as said, i much prefer the sound stage on the vitus, and when i re introduced the vitus last night, i soon realised this, and would certainly miss it now. Plus i also love how the voices sound on the vitus, this also was an obvious difference.
But as i keep saying, you couldn’t really go wrong with either, as its close.
My findings over the last few days, prove that for me, as one minute it’s the humbolt, the next it’s the vitus. It all depends on the track you are playing.
But overall on the system i have, the vitus just slightly edges it for me, plus i would have to add a considerable amount of money to swap over, and there’s just no point in doing that here at all, not to mention i also feel other things would need to change, as i have just got music xlr’s for my dcs, and phono stage, and the humbolt likes rca’s better.
The other concern is that i have been told, and now also seen a review mention that, if you plug in more than one source, it has an effect on sound quality, now i haven’t tried this myself, but that’s a bit off a worry with an integrated amp, and someone with 3 sources they want to plug into it.
I have tried to pick out what each is slightly better at, and after that it’s really down to personal taste here.
Cheers dunc
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I think you’re making a wise decision, as you appear to be hearing a difference rather than anything substantially better that would be worth the outlay.
And just to bang my transparency is an illusion drum – the rock button on the Vitas and the other option are surely just 2 different colorations that Vitus have found to give a sound they believe is attractive. This isn’t aimed at you Dunc, I just think there is a lot of waffle talked about transparency when there is absolutely no way we can be truly sure if a system is fully transparent.
I hope you get great pleasure from your excellent system for many years and you can relax, sit back and enjoy the music.
.sjb
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Transparency is a hard one certainly, as what exactly is it, as it’s not like once we reach 100, we have Transparency is it.
But you can get a glimpse of what a certain bit off kit is doing, if you can use that bit of kit correctly without something else in the system. Like i could with my dcs dac for instance.
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Bypass the analog preamp and connect dCS directly to the power amp with silver cables. That’s maximum transparency, and that’s what I’m doing.
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I would of said that poorly designed or poorly made equipment that uses cheap or low quality parts or doesn’t have a short well designed signal path/circuit probably wouldn’t be as transparent/resolving/clear as equipment that had all these sought after attributes.
Hi End equipment tends to be expensive for a reason, but I realise it isn’t always the case and price isn’t always a guarantee of audio nirvana.
I think that transparancy is a different thing to the flavour/sound or what the filter is doing.
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Done that, tried it, and loved it, that’s why my 500 kit went. Only problem i also have a turntable, plus occasional tape deck, so need a pre amp. As i am not going to use an A to D converter into my dac, and then turn it back from D to A
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Have you ever tried the bypass function on Vitus by setting one of the preamp inputs to unity gain, allowing you to use the volume control of dCS? However, using the bypass doesn’t equate to a direct-to-amp connection, as the preamp is still in the way, and you won’t achieve the same transparency. Still, it’s as close as you can get.
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No i haven’t as didn’t know that i could.
Will have to try and do it, and see how i get on
I would also be interested to know how effective the AV bypass feature is in the Vitus.
I will definitely try it.
I will put the output down to 2 volts, and turn the volume down on the dcs.
Then set the input to fixed, and see how it goes.
If it does bypass the pre section in the vitus, then it will certainly be very interesting to here what difference there could be.
That’s a great feature to have on the vitus, as you can adjust each input separately for many different options
Just use the Vitus on your TT and the Humbolt on your digital
Problem solved 
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Err no. Lol
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Just tried doing the by pass and i couldn’t get it work, so must be something wrong, as had just one speaker working, and then after switching it off, and then back on, nothing.
Will try again at some point when i have more time, as what to carry on listening to the humbolt tonight, as it could be the last time i get the chance before it goes back, and i have a few things i want to try.
Just realised i never set the volume to 0.0 db, it was - 75 i think, so that explains it i think.
Anyway will try when i can as the humbolt is running now.
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It’s all ready to go back to the dealer tonight.
It’s been interesting have both to complete against each other.
But what i have already said, is still how i feel.
I am not sorry to see the humbolt go, unlike some kit i have had over the years, and i guess that really says it all.
Yes it’s nice but for me no real inpovement, just slightly different. Both have strong points that beat each other, but overall it would come fown to cost, and whichever one fitted in best with your system, and taste.
For me that’s the vitus sia030
Cheers dunc
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At least you’ve scratched the itch, and it’s always good to know that what you already have is the right thing for you. Hopefully the knowledge gained will let you relax and just enjoy what you have without FOMO.
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I have been more than happy with the vitus.
All this stems back to when i sold my 500 gear, i was going for the humbolt, but the x demo one i was going to have, went out and the lady had it.
Been waiting this long for the dealer to get his replacement, and obviously i went for the x demo vitus instead.
But i was interested in trying the humbolt still, and glad i have, as like you say the question has been answered now for me, plus the vitus was quite a bit cheaper than the x demo humbolt, so that’s an added bonus that doesn’t normally happen.
The vitus is certainly here to stay i think, unless maybe naim can make a supper intergrated to beat it, but can’t see that happening any time soon really, or i get the masterpiece intergrated from vitus, but that’s very expensive
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Something I have been contemplating, for analogue sources, to save my current practice of bringing in preamp by swapping connections. With my old Bryston amps it was very easy, the input selection switchable between balanced via XLR or single ended via RCA, meaning I just had to flick a switch to swap between my digital source with no preamp, and a preamp for analogue sources. The MF only has the one pair of RCA inputs, meaning physical swapping, which is a bit of a pain, though not a daily thing. I have two analogue sources, one an AV feed for main channels when watching a music video or movie benefitting from best sound quality, the other music creation. I am a bit hesitant to go for an ADC to be able to use my DAC direct into power amp for everything, because I suspect latency might become an issue for such sources.