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The Dodd Audio battery and charger kit does look DIY without any enclosure or power management circuit. There’s no user manual on how to charge and prevent overcharge/discharge. When I asked Seth Krinsky, a quick answer returned: "You shouldn't be able to screw up the battery connection and you can leave the charger attached. Unless you deplete to nothing, you won't be able to hear the trickle charger." Although I was skeptical at first, it turned out to be true. The information about it on the Virtue Audio and Dodd Audio websites is the same. It’s plug and play.


"With this 2-battery system the Virtue amp can run an average of 4 to 5 hours at high levels without needing a charge. With the charger engaged it can also charge the batteries while playing with little to no discernable difference in sound quality. So with this system the amp can actually play continuously. We ship with a variety of chargers.


"Each has been tested to ensure that no audible noise can be heard when listening to music with the charger attached. The battery kit is fairly well protected against accidental shorting. It also has an in-line fuse. However, please be mindful that this is a high-current device. If you want to wrap the whole thing with Duct tape or put it in a box of your choice, feel free!" Hot of the press: "After hearing of two batteries becoming distended from over-heating, Gary decided to no longer sell the bare battery kit. We have ordered fire-proof welded steel boxes which will cost another $100 and are available to all customers. This bumps the battery kit price to $249 all in."

The 24v battery is in fact two 12v/5Ah units wired in series to keep capacity at 5Ah=60w/hour. The SLA batteries are Power Sonic PS-1250 retailing for ca. $20/ea. at places like atbatt.com. The battery charge adapter is a Canadian Soneil 2403SRE rated for 24v/1.5A. It is available at batterystuff.com for $54. Of course DIYers can put together a battery charge kit themselves but considering all the leads and plugs required to configure a complete kit, they’d most likely end up paying what Virtue Audio charges. To not interrupt the flow of our narrative, more details on battery management are dealt with in this Side Bar.


Single amp + JT Power: First I had the Virtue Two.2 go solo—without preamp and as a single amp—powered by the JT Dynamic PSU to drive my Apogee Centaur Minor. Alternate digital sources were a Philips DVP-9000S and a Restek Radiant CD player coupled to an Assemblage D2D/DAC. I did not expect the new Virtue to make such a huge improvement over its point.1 predecessor. It’s basically the same tiny amp standing 5" short and occupying a compact footprint of 5’ x 2.75" yet it had the Apogees sing in perfect harmony. Some magic was afoot. It had me seriously question any remaining reasons to keep my monster preamp and monoblocks that weigh 60 pounds each and sold for 40 times the price. Of course that could have been a mental impulsive flash at the spur of an adrenalin upsurge. To react impulsively is normal for someone who listens to music with emotional attachment.


With the Two.1 before I also had had that impetuous twitch but as soon as I’d turned back to the Symphonic Line RG3 and RG4, the spasm had left. The tube-like warmth and unrestrained musicality of the Symphonic Line were unique and addictive. Harmonics were so natural that they came from real instruments with real ambience in real surroundings. Nuances of air, textural clarity and sonic richness were so well balanced that musical involvement became magical. While the Virtue Two.1 could drive my Apogee without a blink, it had lacked that magic touch. Now the Two.2 was a far closer call - so close in fact that I seriously checked for Symphonic Line’s online Blue Book value which duly chilled me off. Alas I’d told the wife just the night before that I’d be ridding us of these bulky components for good money and refurnish the family room. Now I hoped she hadn’t taken me serious. I’m sure she heard it all before. I always have qualms parting with anything in my audio collection, especially Symphonic Line gear which in Canada is so hard to find. Further justification (for not selling!) became top priority. I started looking for faults in the Virtue.

Single amp + battery power + tube preamp into the Apogee Centaur Minor: Eagle-eyed and whale-eared as I might think I am, I’m also fair. Instead of punishing the Virtue Two.2 for a job well done, I gave it more ammunition to fight its way through my hidden agenda. I took down the JT Power and hooked up the Dodd battery. Not only that, I added the Dared SL-2000A remote-controlled tube preamp. Two things were instantly apparent - the absolutely silent noiseless background (never before with this humble tube preamp); and a tonality that was perfect balanced across the spectrum. Harmonics were natural and rich. Imaging was well proportioned and focused. Details were indubitably appointed and layered. I couldn’t single out any one attribute as the most noticeable improvement. They all were important and the improvement was wholesale. Of course my ears didn’t forget that it was only a <$1.000 tube preamp but how it managed to be so quiet left me clueless. It had real chemistry with the battery-powered Virtue. I enjoyed warmth without the hum. Attacks were clean cut while the tailing off was naturally atmospheric. In terms of dynamic power, this was nothing shy of the $249 JT Dynamic Power - clout without the physical stout. Even the bass was awesome. If the Apogee Centaur Minors were my only speakers, I could hardly justify to my wife to hold on to the Symphonic Line.

Bi-amping + battery power + tube preamp driving the Mark & Daniel Diamond+: M&D’s Diamond+ is the most unforgiving monitor-sized model in the Maximus range. It’s power hungry and so analytical that it will seem unmusical when matched to the wrong amp. To remain fair, I emailed Seth Krinsky for reinforcement and he sent another 2.2 plus Dodd battery for biamping. The amp already had 50 hours on it. All I needed to add was another 50. After that I’d set the Virtue amps up in vertical biamp mode through the Dared SL-2000A’s dual preouts. I didn’t use the jumpers to bypass the volume pots but saved them for inter-channel balance. I set the volume knobs to 3:00 for a start. The Symphonic Line comparator system connected to the Diamond+ via OCOS biwire as did the Virtue system.


Drive was clearly the Symphonic Line’s forté. With 300w/4Ω at its disposal, the RG4 MkIII delivered full bandwidth dynamics with ease. It had enough muscle to thrust out the lowest octave through the M&D mid/woofer’s long-throw motor. The biamped Virtues were underpowered. The midrange and low frequencies were throttled back by the Super X-Max mid/woofer. Virtue needed help from paired M&D Maximus subwoofers where the sub-out jacks came in handy. Now that was a fair comparison. 


Sonics diverged like north and south. The Virtues brought out the studio-monitor traits in the Diamond+. I elsewhere expressed my feeling that from their inaugural Ruby to the most recent Diamond+, Mark & Daniel has progressed through technical improvements into higher resolution. The Virtues had the sonic acumen to delineate textural details and instrumental localization. The "Scherzo" from Mendelssohn’s String Quartet in E-flat Op.20 played by Gil Shaham and the Sejong Soloists [Canary Classics CC-008] must have been the most revealing pizzicato bravado yet it came not at the expense of musicality. Romanza – Music of Sverre Jordan [2L-065-SACD] offered a great variety of musical moods conceivable from piano and soprano which veered from melancholy to romantic and even deliberately farcical.


While every note of the chords was articulated with dexterity, I never felt robbed of musical involvement. Instead one could argue that in pieces like "Capriccio" and "Grotesque", the technical brilliance actually added to a deeper emotional attachment to Turid Bakke Braut’s dashing keyboard wizardry. Likewise for the Norwegian soprano Hilde Heraldsen Sveen whose technical affluence complemented her spontaneous expressiveness in the vivacious "Og se hun" and "Syng mine strengjer" as well as the heartbreaking "Isblomar" and "Tårar". The Virtue bi-amps did a good job synergizing musicality and high resolution.
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