Desperately Need Cartridge Help

Schiit has upgraded the Mani to eliminate the RF issue. You likely won’t have an issue. I’d only recommend the Schiit for MM cartridges, not for MC.

The Vincent PHO-8 sounds better than the Lounge- I’ve heard both long term. I’ve previously owned the Vincent.

 

As @HiFi Guy mentioned, about 12 - 18 months ago Schhiit did a "silent" upgrade on the Mani to fix the RFI issue. If RFI is a concern, buy new, or a recently manufactured used sample. The thing to look for is the revision of the PCB (printed in the silk screen). The version you want is Rev. v1.20.

BTW, not trying to steer you toward the Mani, just wanted you to know the RFI issue has been solved, in case you're still considering it.

Personally, I'm loving my DIY CNC Phono right now. It will take a significant upgrade to beat it. That's the benefit of DIY, you supply the time and labor and there are no distributor/dealer mark ups. So, you get a lot more for your money, but I realize it's not for everyone.

 

I realize this post was made before we knew the input capacitance of your Yamaha, but I missed this and wanted to circle back. The only reason I would avoid an out of production cartridge is the lack of quality replacement styli. It is very rare for a cartridge to go bad and easy to check before purchase with a meter.

Of the out of production vintage cartridges, the Shures, in general, have the best aftermarket stylus support. JICO makes several models from basic bonded conicals and ellipticals all the way up top their SAS (Namiki microridge stylus on a boron cantiliver) and NeoSAS (same Namiki microridge on a sapphire or ruby cantilever) models. They are reasonably priced, readily available and best of all, JICO seems to have really done a great job of reproducing the original design of the Shure suspension. Also, there are other suppliers of less expensive styli for the Shures - Kyowa (bonded elliptical - again with a suspension that matches the original) and the new EVG/Thakker/Black Diamond nude ellipticals. Lots of options.

As I type this, I'm listening to my $18.99 Kyowa VN35E on my V15 Type IV and eagerly awaiting the arrival of my JICO VN45SAS. The Kyowa sounds surprisingly good, given the cost, but I know the SAS will take things to another level. I'll keep the Kyowa on hand, and maybe order one or two more, for playing those thrift store records of dubious quality, and use the SAS for the rest.

 

Not a fan of either, you can look at my profile to see what I use.

 

Have you thought about a step up into the Yamaha? For the cost of the 2m black you could have a Hana el and a step up?

 

The Yamaha has a MC input stage so no external step-up required. The OP was considering the Hana SL in the opening post. The MC input stage does have a small electrolytic capacitor in series to block the leakage current from the parallel bipolar transistors, so that will somewhat compromise the sound, but might still sound good.

 

For some reason I stopped getting notifications on this thread so I've missed a few of these. Thank you all for the great replies. Glad to hear that the Schitt fixed the RF issue as otherwise it seemed to get very good reviews. In the interim as I was continuing to search and read reviews one of my searches uncovered a Vincent Pho-8 for essentially the same price as the Mani...so I figured I'd give it a try. Its not ideal since it isn't adjustable but hopefully sounds better than my Yamaha preamp. Looks like its capacitance is about ~350pf so I think I'll stick with my Ortofon blue and see how the sound changes. If it sounds good I'll then maybe I'll consider the Shure V15 while I think about a future preamp that has load and capacitance controls. I think most folks also prefer the MM of the Pho-8 over the MC so I think I will hold of on an MC until I upgrade the preamp again. Funny how I came here asking about cartridges for which I have def. learned more, I actually ended up learning about preamps! I am definitely going to be able to make much better decisions on the next steps based on everyone's inputs and I have read them all even if I haven't replied. To HiFi Guy thanks for the DIY recommendation. I am actually very much into DIY in many areas but electronics is not my thing. I can do basic wiring and basic soldering...but mostly my soldering ability leaves a lot to be desired and I would absolutely destroy a circuit board! It would be great fun though for sure.