Schiit Vidar.... Anyone heard one yet?

I use a Schiit Freya with a small single ended tube amp, and both (along with everything else) are plugged into a power conditioner with a timed power up and off feature...I've been using this thing (embarrasingly old Adcom 515 that works beautifully) for many years, and maybe you should try one...many manufacturers make 'em. Also, you can dim the LEDs with carefully applied magic marker...I did that on a Loki (easy) and the Freya (insane...took forever to get the LEDs lined up with the lid when putting it back together, but it eventually they all popped back in). Maybe a carefully applied bit of something could be put on the LEDs without taking the Freya apart...that's what I'd do now of course, and no clue about the Vidar LEDs but I'm sure there's less of them.

Nice post FANBOY...heh...sorry...I agree with all of that and if the Schiitsters attitude results in amazingly well made and affordable items from California (which is almost part of the USA), they’re pretty much unique in the stuffy and often precious high end audio world. Regarding "frills and nice to haves": I didn’t need a new preamp when I bought my Freya last November (also bought a Loki which is astonishingly good), I was simply curious about it and wanted to try a tubed preamp...had my eye on some Audio Research stuff at much higher prices...but the Freya has 2 balanced inputs plus the others, 3 outs including balanced, and the 3 operating choices (I prefer the tubed with the higher gain and, well, tubes). Anybody else offer all that and a cool 128 step volume system for the price of a pair of good cables? HA...I say keep at it Schiit.

OK...Now I'm seeing "Fanboys" of the concept that it's perhaps tawdry to label people as "Fanboys." That results in anti-"Fanboy" "Fanboys," and there is no way out. Also, the label seems sexist as women are rarely called "Fangirls" unless the actual fanning of someone or something is occurring. I like electric fans as a natural outdoor mosquito repellant as mosquitos don't fly well in wind (learned that from the NY Times)...I suppose that makes me a "Fan Fanboy." Now I suppose some will label me as a "lunatic." On another note, I'm hoping that Schiit will make a single ended tube power amp someday. As unlikely as that might be I can still hope as, after all, I'm a lunatic.