Schiit Mani radio interference?

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Vinyl Addict, Mar 19, 2016.

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  1. dmckean

    dmckean Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Diego, CA, USA
    It does not remove hum, just FM interference. And yes, just measure the width of your chords or just bring them into the electronics store if you have one and fit them there.
     
  2. dmckean

    dmckean Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Diego, CA, USA
    AM radio is harder to deal with, you would probably have to line everything with mu metal foil or something similar.
     
  3. Vinyl Addict

    Vinyl Addict Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    MA
    Update:
    Went through 2 Manis, while getting the feedback issue with both. Returned both and ordered a Lounge Mk III.
    Let it burn in for a bit, and threw on NIN - The Downward Spiral (UK original) and WOW, is all I can say. Drastic sonic improvement over the Mani.
    Did I mention that the Lounge gives me ZERO radio interference or hum. It is dead silent.

    Why didn't I do this earlier?
     
  4. Pastafarian

    Pastafarian Forum Resident

    So is your power amp off at the same time as your preamp?

    I'm wondering about RF in your speaker cable, they're a dam fine aerial. Depending on your power amp design you could be having a sine wave in their, which is a bad idea for your amps health. I only know this because my power amp began to overheat and cut off, then transistors blew, talking to the amps designer gave me an insight, I'm no technician!
     
  5. Vinyl Addict

    Vinyl Addict Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    MA
    No, I always left the phono pre on. With the lounge, I've considered plugging it into the back of the pre or amp.
     
  6. FM radio interference (RFI) is a pretty common problem with phono preamps. Glad you found one that works for you. I think that RFI can even be picked up by the coils in cartridges. It's also well known that interconnects and power cables can act as antennas and pick up RFI, and the use of ferrite cores is the solution (as indicated above). Whether or not the circuitry in the phono preamp is able to reject the RFI or is adequately shielded from it is the issue.
     
    patient_ot and Vinyl Addict like this.
  7. Peter Baird

    Peter Baird Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Connecticut
    I have not had this problem on mine. I do get a slight amount of hum at extreme volumes.
     
  8. Vinyl Addict

    Vinyl Addict Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    MA
    Yeah, I didn't have much of a hum, but I was clearly picking up a local FM station. Sounded like it was on the radio. lol crystal clear reception.
     
  9. Don B Mullis

    Don B Mullis New Member

    Location:
    Bartlett tn
     
  10. Don B Mullis

    Don B Mullis New Member

    Location:
    Bartlett tn
    A Rolls humbuster & ferrite core clamps purchased from Parts Express cured my hum problems. Associated equipment include Denon DP755/SME3009S2 improved/M97Xe, Acurus RL11, Adcom GFA555, Magnepan MMG/SVS sb1000, Interconnects Blue Jeans & Ram electronics, Speaker wire Blue Jeans Belden CL2.

    Hope this helps.

    Don M
     
  11. Vinyl Addict

    Vinyl Addict Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    MA

    A Lounge MKIII preamp took care of my issues.
    :D

    I went through 2 of those Manis. With the Lounge, I don't even hear a slight hum.:shrug:

    Thanks for the reply though. I looked into using the ferrite clamps, but didn't want to have to use a "band aid" on a brand new piece of equipment.
    My problem wasn't a hum though, I was picking up a local radio station through the Mani. It came in clear as day too. You would've thought it was HD radio. :cool:
     
  12. davidavdavid

    davidavdavid Forum Resident

    Regardless of distance from a radio station, a competently designed phono stage/preamp should not hum not should it pick up RF. A few months back I acquired a Schiit Mani and did not pay much attention to the hum and noise as I was busy with work and had not yet embarked on a survey of affordable (for the mainstream) turntables, cartridges, styli and phono stages. So much has been written about, so much praise has been heped upon, the Schiit Mani, that it was definitely one I was going to include in the survey.

    Here's what I have recently experienced.

    The Schiit Mani definitely generates noise and hum in all of 3 of my systems. All of which are in different rooms. I compared the Mani to NAD's PP3i phono stage and would swap it out with the same cables and anyone of my 4 turntables - 2 Denon DP300Fs, 1 Rega RP1 and 1 Pro-ject RPM!. Without fail, I was able to replicate the noise and hum on the Mani, but the comparably priced NAD PP3i was dead silent. The other systems consist of BelCanto and McIntosh hardware respectively.

    The folks at Schiit replaced my original Mani with a new unit and within 2 days of its receipt it was back in its box, fitted with an RMA number for a full refund return, minus the cost of shipping it back to them. The replacement unit was no better than the original. As I was able to replicate the issues on both units, I am given pause with respect to Schiit's quality/testing practices. If my similarly priced NAD phono stage was manifesting similar symptoms to the Mani, I would figure oh well, this is what to expect given my systems and where I live, but as stated this was/is not the case.

    I do need another phono stage and even though the NAD works like a trooper, I do like variety, so later this week a Parasound ZPhono USB should arrive. Two reasons why I went for the ZPhono USB: 1, IT doe not use a wall wart - its power supply internal and make use of more heavy duty 3 prong IEC power cable. 2, the Zphono has a polarity switch, for issues arising from reverse polarity in the system.

    Note: with the Zphono USB 3 prong cable, I should be able to test out EBTECH's Ground Hum X eliminator which sits between the wall socket and the plug as a pass through to assist in the elimination of ground loop hum.
     
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