Getting into a little more detail, here is the RD100 in situ in my dem room. This £8500 piece is a stunning dac for the money and a full preamp too with analogue inputs (the digital section shuts down when these are in use, it does NOT convert to digital). Functionality and connectivity is of a very high standard, no less than 6 different digital inputs, RCA, XLR analogue inputs and also single ended and balanced output.
Whilst you can obviously plug a decent laser transport into the RD-100 to play all your CD’s, most customers will be interested in streaming music through it using a computer or network attached storage which holds all their audio files. With excellent connectivity options one can use anything from a Logitech squeezebox for this to a Mac mini, PC via USB using a suitable software such as itunes or foobar, or even something more bespoke like a linn sneaky/majik ds or an Olive media streamer.
On first listen the obvious resolution, coherency and sheer fidelity of this unit puts it in the serious grown up league. As much as i’ve enjoyed it over the years the truth is my very own Rega Isis Valve was made to sound clumsy and overly coloured by the RD-100. Like all Vitus pieces it is also supremely neutral and uncoloured, beautifully even top to bottom with wonderful extension and no bass humps, spotlit frequencies or details. Again, in line with the house sound what you also get is strong tonal saturation, very good texture and a very dynamic three-dimensional sound; clinical/analytical this is NOT. One would be forgiven for thinking that there might be valves inside that case and all in all, the overall character is most unlike many other solid state highend dacs; the RD100 is fluid, natural and very ‘alive’ sounding.
To kick off my first week as a Vitus dealer I have already clocked a very early sale of this piece in just the first few days. The DAC side comprehensively bested my customers existing digital source (a very well known 13k streamer !) and he was able to part exchange his now redundant preamp as well to help fund the purchase. The net result ? Not much financial outlay on his part but a highly significant sonic upgrade and one less box to boot.
Whilst the top level Vitus gear can come with eye watering prices, I have to say that the entry level “Reference” range really does seem to offer very good value for money. It seems as though Ole Vitus is trying to pack as big a punch in these items as possible with very high performance per £. I think the RD-100 is going to do exceptionally well here at Lotus. It certainly sells itself at demo and anyone looking for a highend digital source should pop by to me for a listen. I am certain that you won’t be disappointed for making the journey. Feel free to bring your existing dac/cdp to compare.
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