Schiit's First Phono Preamp - The $129 "Mani"

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by anede001, Jun 3, 2014.

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  1. bluemooze

    bluemooze Senior Member

    Location:
    Frenchtown NJ USA
    ? :)
     
  2. DigMyGroove

    DigMyGroove Forum Resident

    I meant to write Pluto!
     
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  3. DigMyGroove

    DigMyGroove Forum Resident

    Correct, I typed in Mani by accident.
     
  4. H8SLKC

    H8SLKC Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston, MA
    Orbit Special with (presently) Grado Blue, no hum. Goes to show how complex hum can be...


     
    liv3evil likes this.
  5. Doc Diego

    Doc Diego Forum Resident

    Location:
    Nevada
    Have a Mani arriving tomorrow, will hope for the best. To be used with several vintage tables and a Jolida passive preamp. I'm surprised by how many phono preamps I've gone through in the last ten years; Cambridge 640, Musical Fidelity V90LPS, BellariVP130, Lounge V. II. Currently on my main system a Monolithic with a separate PS and an Art DJ with a 12v PS for a second TT(mainly mono). Downstairs home theater has a Graham Slee Communicator, which sounds great with an Ortofon OM40 Gold. Apparently I'm looking for an elusive perfect vinyl sound on a beer budget! All of these preamps have sounded good, several even better than good. I hope the Mani in my third system just lets me feel the music not the equipment.
     
    patient_ot likes this.
  6. johnny q

    johnny q Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bergen County, NJ
    The reports of RFI and extraneous noise are very disappointing. These issues are being reported all over the web so it is not isolated and obviously based in fact. What is even more disappointing, is the lack of attention the parent company is giving this and the snarky sentence fragments their (so-called) tech support provide. Perhaps the owner is too busy doing his stand-up routine on the various forums to care. Shame, because the Mani sounds great at it's price level. I personally do not have an issue with RFI. However, anytime a cell phone in the house rings or receives a text or voice mail - a buzzing noise comes through the speakers. This does not happen on my other system (sans Mani) or the phono preamp that preceded the Mani. I should be able to email them for advice, but I loathe to do that based on the runaround they put me through when I had issues with some of their other gear. I wouldn't expect anything else unfortunately......

    There is a good article on another forum (Google is your friend) and the guy said he was able to diminish the RFI greatly by using "cheap Monoprice cables." Check it out :)
     
  7. Jack Flannery

    Jack Flannery Forum Resident

    Location:
    Houston, TX
    Mine continues to be dead silent. I hope Schiit can manage to isolate them better.
     
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  8. patient_ot

    patient_ot Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    Can't remember if I said this here or not, but my Mani was dead silent (three cities, three states) until my most recent move. Now I'm getting some minor RFI (not audible when most records are playing). My unit is a few years old, so out of warranty by now. I've cut down on the RFI by using some ferrite bead clamps on the wall-wart, but a Swagman linear power supply might be in my future. The fact that I know the RFI is there bothers me.
     
  9. patient_ot

    patient_ot Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    That's a new one. Never heard that before. Bizarre.
     
  10. johnny q

    johnny q Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bergen County, NJ
    patient_ot and Vinyl Addict like this.
  11. RPM

    RPM Forum Resident

    Location:
    Easter Island
    I thing there was a thread on this but can't find it. Link?
     
  12. patient_ot

    patient_ot Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    You can buy ferrite bead clamps on Amazon very cheaply. Sometimes they come in a big variety pack of different sizes. The ones I ordered were all the same size, 3mm inner diameter I think. Some people will do a double wrap of the cord around the clamp before closing it. For that you need a larger size. No link, sorry.
     
  13. Doc Diego

    Doc Diego Forum Resident

    Location:
    Nevada
    My Mani arrived today, no noise/hum, dead silence between tracks. Only have an hour on it so far but enjoying the sound. May add more later as it warms up and I try different tt/cart combos.
     
  14. Longshot

    Longshot New Member

    Location:
    Raleigh, NC (USA)
    First post - thanks for all the tips, comments, facts and opinions !
    I was concerned how the low-cost Mani would work with my Marantz AVR, Planar 3 w/ GT, Delrin Platter & MP110 - the verdict after a few weeks:
    - no hum, noise, RFI, issues, i.e., dead quiet even at high volume w/o input
    - the wall-wart is cheap but Schiit admits that and in my setup is not a detriment (so far). An integrated Corcom filter & shielded cable shouldn't add more than $10 cost, imho, and might solve many customer issues
    - the front LED is way too bright
    - highly recommended 4.7 / 5 stars
     
    Wounded Land likes this.
  15. CarloM

    CarloM Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Drove out to Newhall / Santa Clarita last Thursday and picked up a Mani. Been running it through it's paces on 2 'tables. One is a Pro-ject Debut Carbon Esprit SB with a Hana EL LOMC cartridge (47K ohm, 59db gain), the other is an original Pro-ject Debut Carbon with an Ortofon 2M Blue (47k ohm, 48db gain). Both setups were upgraded to acrylic platters. Both setups have sounded fantastic and no noise/hum to speak of. I'm using stock RCA/ground cable that came with both Pro-jects (the SB's were nicer I suppose to justify the costs and vanilla RCAs to the receiver (Audioquest Towers en route from Amazon). I have it near a lot of other A/V home theater and gaming equipment that I would have thought would be a breeding ground for interference. Not a peep so far.

    Have played everything from laid back Dire Straits/Wilco, to 60s and 70s classic rock from Beatles to Zeppelin, to 80s pop like The Cars, and 90s grunge, and even put in a metal album. It's passed with flying colors all weekend, whether driving the MM or the MC cart at the various settings.

    I'll echo the universal complaint. That freaking front LED. But I can easily turn it to the side so I don't see it. I wish they'd use a lower output blue LED though.
     
  16. Bill

    Bill Senior Member

    Location:
    Eastern Shore
    A little piece of strategically placed electrical tape will tame the LED.
     
  17. John Woo

    John Woo Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Singapore
    could be that i have a brightly natural lighted living room by day and by nite running ceiling LED lights, i do not find the LED from the Schitt Mani as bothering.
     
    dbsimon88 likes this.
  18. Wounded Land

    Wounded Land Forum Resident

    Glad you're liking the Mani! Out of curiosity, have you tried a lower gain setting with the 2M Blue? I'm running a 2M Blue into an NAD 316BEE and the lowest gain setting (30dB) was the right call for me.
     
  19. skimminstones

    skimminstones Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kent, UK
    How do you rate it to the cambridge? same, slightly better, significantly better?
     
  20. bluemooze

    bluemooze Senior Member

    Location:
    Frenchtown NJ USA
    Tell us about the midrange you heard please? :)
     
  21. CarloM

    CarloM Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    I have not tried lower gain levels. Using it at 48db keeps my receiver at the same volume level as the other devices I have input into it, so I'm afraid using it much lower will require having to boost the amp power. But next time I move the Mani to the other table with the 2m blue I'll experiment and let you know. 90% of the time the Mani is on the table with the Hana EL.
    The Mani doesn't, in my experience, accentuate any particular spectrum of the sound. It just sounds..."punchier" than going directly into my built in phono preamp on the receiver. Better instrument detail and separation. I don't think it brings out any one part (lows, mids, or highs), at least not at the expense of the other ends of the audio spectrum. I find it to be an overall balanced presentation.
     
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  22. JustGotPaid

    JustGotPaid Forum Resident

    Any Mani users missing not having a rumble/subsonic filter?
     
  23. Nephrodoc

    Nephrodoc Forum Resident

    I am using a Mani on my Sl-1210 with a KAB ProS30 cartridge. No issues at all.
     
  24. RPM

    RPM Forum Resident

    Location:
    Easter Island
    Not a Mani user, but I miss it on any brand that omits it.
     
  25. Wounded Land

    Wounded Land Forum Resident

    No issues.
     
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