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

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

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  1. skriefal

    skriefal Senior Member

    Location:
    SLC, Utah
    The 59dB MC gain is also a little low for any cartridge with an output less than 0.5mV. It looks to be primarily intended as a MM pre-amp. And hopefully a good one at its price.
     
  2. It's really hard to get more gain than this cleanly with IC's, even really quiet ones.
     
    kfringe likes this.
  3. So I just pulled the trigger on one. I don't have a MC cart so all my listening will have to be with my trusty Shure V15mkIV. I didn't hide either; they know they are sending it to Lounge Audio :winkgrin:. I will be checking channel matching and noise with my test gear.
     
    CarterB and Stone Turntable like this.
  4. Pappas3278

    Pappas3278 Forum Peasant

    Location:
    New York City
    Let us know what you find and what you think. Inquiring minds want to know. :D
     
  5. I will. They won't actually ship the unit for about a week.
     
  6. Stone Turntable

    Stone Turntable Independent Head

    Location:
    New Mexico USA
  7. If I were Schiit I would be sending ThurstonX some phono cables and shorting RCA plugs to help him out with de-bugging. Similar things have happened with Lounge and it always ended up being location and quality of phono cables.
     
  8. The Schiit has shipped! :D
     
    kfringe likes this.
  9. Ham Sandwich

    Ham Sandwich Senior Member

    Location:
    Sherwood, OR, USA
    Careful saying that out loud if you have a lisp.
     
  10. :laugh::biglaugh:
     
  11. Schiit just dropped from the mail
    [​IMG]
     
    utahusker and T'mershi Duween like this.
  12. Norbert Becker

    Norbert Becker Senior Member

    Location:
    Philadelphia PA
    Hopefully your Schiit doesn't stink!
     
    morinix likes this.
  13. I'm examining the Schiit as we speak.
     
  14. bajaed

    bajaed Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    Anybody want to talk me out of ordering this piece of Schitt?

    48db and 47k ohms for a 10X5 sound right?
     
  15. T'mershi Duween

    T'mershi Duween Forum Resident

    Location:
    Y'allywood
    Detailed review asap!
    Do you have any first impressions to share? Looking forward to your review! :)
     
  16. I took it apart last night to see the guts. I will be posting more about it tonight.
     
    T'mershi Duween likes this.
  17. Dr. J.

    Dr. J. Music is in my soul

    Location:
    Memphis, TN
  18. Opeth

    Opeth Forum Resident

    Location:
    NH
    Wonder how this compares to the cambridge audio azur 651p, I am borrowing one right now and not very impressed honestly for $229 over my AS-500 built in phono stage.
     
  19. Stone Turntable

    Stone Turntable Independent Head

    Location:
    New Mexico USA
    As much as I want to love the Mani, this positive review (like many of the Audiophiliac's write-ups) is unhelpfully over-the-top and promotional/advertorial in tone — and his wildly slobbery and uncalled-for "LPs sound better than CDs" riff is just going to alienate a lot of digital-phile people for no good reason. Predictably the comments immediately devolved into a nasty digital-vs.-analog flame war.

    Still looking forward to a credible and well-reasoned review.
     
    bluemooze, Colin M, liv3evil and 2 others like this.
  20. Olias of Sunhill

    Olias of Sunhill Forum Resident

    Location:
    Jim Creek, CO, USA
    My feelings exactly about this "review." I learned nothing about the Mani.

    Guttenberg is like two different people -- sometimes his pieces are thoughtful and well-reasoned, and other times they're shameless clickbait hackery.
     
  21. jeffsab

    jeffsab Forum Resident

    Location:
    Portland, OR
    More often the latter.
     
  22. I did some testing on it yesterday. Kind of a crazy power supply design. Also it has a 10uf wima film capacitor in line with the output. I understand wanting to be safe but this is not really needed and is a costly part. The channel matching of the RIAA is spot on. I was getting some weird popcorn noise in one channel but that is with the PCB out of the case. I am going to put it back together and see.
     
    Last edited: Nov 4, 2014
    gloomrider likes this.
  23. eurekaiv

    eurekaiv Active Member

    Location:
    Orange County, CA
    Would you mind checking the input loading on the MC setting? I'm curious if it's really 47Ω.
     
  24. Sure, I'll check. :)
     
    Ham Sandwich likes this.
  25. Ham Sandwich

    Ham Sandwich Senior Member

    Location:
    Sherwood, OR, USA
    Morinix's comments about the Mani are going to be more informative and credible and well-reasoned than Guttenberg's review. Which is ironic given that morinix has a conflict of interest.
     
    T'mershi Duween and Gumboo like this.
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