I've been playing with the Mani for almost a week, mostly listening with ATX-M50X headphones.
I made a mistake in my first impression post. I thought I had the Mani set for 42db of gain when I wrote that review. It was actually erroneously set at 48db gain. That 48db of gain likely accounted for the brightness issue. Sorry about that.
RFI: None. I have a wireless router setup three feet directly above the Mani.
Hum/Hiss: Making a direct comparison with the Marantz PM8004 phono is not easy because the gain of the Marantz falls between the 30db and 42db setting of the Mani. At the 30db of gain I can bury the volume and hear only a low hiss from the Mani. It is much quieter than the Marantz phono. With 30db of gain, the output is lower than the Marantz phono so the volume must be turned up higher to reach equivelent volume levels. With the Mani set at 42db of gain the Marantz is quieter. The volume of the Marantz is lower than the Mani set at 42db.
Marantz doesn't spec the phono gain. I estimate it to be around 38db.
Bottom line, the relative noise floor of the two phono preamps is dependent on gain settings of the Mani. The Marantz is spec'ed at s/n = 87db. Both are very quiet.
Sound: I have about 16 hours of play time on the Mani over the last week. I set the Mani at 30db of gain for about 8 hours and 42db for 8 hours. The cart is a Denon DL-110 on a Pioneer PL-41. I had to adjust volume levels in order to compare with the Marantz phono. Reconnecting The PL-41 between phono preamps was tedious. The Mani is detailed with a balanced voicing. There is no brightness issue. The Mani sounds very much like the Marantz phono. I found the Mani to be no more dynamic or lively than the Marantz phono. My earlier report of livelyness was due to erroneously setting the Mani at 48db of gain. A louder presentation always seems to fool the listener.
I thought the Mani may have put a liitle more air around individual instruments, improving the soundstage. I got that impression only with headphones. Listening to the speakers, I couldn't tell them apart.
Bottom line, the Mani is a very good phono preamp. It is quiet, detailed, with a balance voice and a very easy listen. It might be slightly queiter than the Marantz, which allows the Mani to put more air around the instruments. The Marantz phono s/n = 87db, so the Mani is performing quite well.
There have been reports of the Mani having hum issues as well as RFI issues. I haven't heard any of that in my setup. My wireless router is only three feet above the Mani.
Having two very good phono preamps, Mani and Marantz, is a nice perc. Now I have both my TTs connected at the same time. That alone was worth the $140.
I am going to purchase a Tascam DR-05 digital recorder to record Wav file snippets from both phono preamps. That will make comparing both pre's more interesting.
Peace.
