Ayre MX-R VS Vitus SS-010

Audiozen, there's no such thing as king nor is there best in this audio dreamland we live in. All there is, are synergy and preferences. Try to rely less on hearsay and trust your own ears. Having said that, given these two options, Vitus would be my choice.

It would be good to know what speakers you are using. Without knowing this factor it would be difficult to make a recommendation.
However, having heard both, I would go with the Vitus!!
Small wattage as it may be but it has more body, bloom and sophistication that the Ayre cannot compare.Ayre is a great amp but the Vitus is in a different league.

Audiozen: Sorry but I totally have to disagree with you. Vitus for sure is a very good product but for sure it does not trunch Boulder, FM Acoustics and Goldmund for e.g.

I have replaced the SS-010 with the Boulder 865 and couldn´t be happier. A huge step up in speed, resolution, stageing and controll. The trade of is a bit more coldness and the 865 is a bit thinner sounding than the SS-010.

As for pre-amp: I would look at the Ayon Spheris which is to my ears the best sounding tube pre available with a state of the art phono section on board. Wasn´t to impressed by the SL-101 - regarding it´s price tag.

I had the smaller Vitus in my listening room for nearly 1 month.

My speakers are easy to drive : 98db Horning Agathon Ultimate but the Vitus could not make them sing.
It lacked the power to drive the bass drivers, it also sounded harsh. In fact i also had a AMR AM77 at the same time that was much better (but i bit dark / soft) and a ModWright KWA150 that was much much better for a fraction of the Vitus price.
I neded with the ModWright not because of the price but because of the sound.

Vitus is overrated imho.

@all: Any hype seems problematic (audiozen? how does that SS amp compare to a Berning Quadrature Z? See, that's what I mean - its impossible to know all top rated items)

@chris10an: without being indiscreet, could you elaborate about your experience with Vitus? I would actually like to know, looking into this as well. thanks