Schiit Mani II vs Pro Ject Tube Box SE II?

[RunOutGroove]

I thought that I was pretty much done adding to my system, but I can't help myself from looking at the local internet ads... and I saw a Pro Ject Tube Box SE II selling for a pretty reasonable price. I wonder if it might be a real upgrade from my Schiit Mani II? Incidentally, the Schiit Mani II sounds great to me, but if the Pro Ject Tube Box SE II is likely to really blow my hair back in a way that it hasn't been before, I might want to make the upgrade. I'd be using it with a Yamaha pf-800 table, a Denon DL-110 cart into a Marantz 2270 receiver....

 

[Gigantic]

I've no experience with the Pro-Ject, but upgrading from the Mani II to the Schiit Skoll was a significant improvement in SQ, also using a Denon DL-110 cart.

 

[RunOutGroove]

I've no experience with the Pro-Ject, but upgrading from the Mani II to the Schiit Skoll was a significant improvement in SQ, also using a Denon DL-110 cart.

I'm certainly not in a hurry to upgrade as I feel like I'm already getting good sound with my Mani II (but could it be better?). Since I already dig the Mani II though, it might make more sense to wait for a deal on the Skoll. Thanks for the perspective...

 

[krautmaster]

That particular Pro-ject is pretty old and you have to use stupid little dip switches to set it... I have two Skolls that sound excellent and you can set it with a remote control from your listening chair. If you like the Mani, you'll love the Skoll. FTIW, I also have a Pro-ject Tube Box DS2 that is excellent, but it costs three times as much as the Tube Box SE II.

 

[Trays]

Unless the Pro-Ject Tube Box SE II is a steal and you can flip it if you don't like it, I wouldn't go there. I had a newer Tube Box S2 and couldn't really hear a difference between that and a Mani 2. (Just saying, not based on any serious a-b testing.)

 

[RunOutGroove]

That particular Pro-ject is pretty old and you have to use stupid little dip switches to set it... I have two Skolls that sound excellent and you can set it with a remote control from your listening chair. If you like the Mani, you'll love the Skoll. FTIW, I also have a Pro-ject Tube Box DS2 that is excellent, but it costs three times as much as the Tube Box SE II.

Unless the Pro-Ject Tube Box SE II is a steal and you can flip it if you don't like it, I wouldn't go there. I had a newer Tube Box S2 and couldn't really hear a difference between that and a Mani 2. (Just saying, not based on any serious a-b testing.)

Good to know and this is the whole reason why I ask these kinds of questions here! I figure that I upgrade my audio stuff for basically 2 reasons; one being that I hear some kind of weakness that I want to correct and the other, which is admittedly a far less compelling reason, is that maybe an upgrade would allow me to hear something better in a way that I can't even imagine. It's definitely the second reason that was driving me to think about an upgrade for my phono preamp as I don't really have any complaint with the Mani II that I have and in fact, it sounds better to me than the two I had previously, though admittedly, they were pretty inexpensive pieces. At some point, I may try out this Skoll thing, particularly if I happen to come across one at a great price. That one could be the end-game one for me, with my pretty modest budget and expectations... though I've said the same about other stuff in my system and still ended up upgrading for something else, so who knows?

I think it may just be a matter that the Mani II was so cheap that I figure there must be lots better, but perhaps, as cheap as it is, it's really in a kind of sweet spot for performance and that I wouldn't necessarily hear so much better if I were to spend more on such a thing. It seems that Schiit has cracked the code on how to make really nice sounding stuff for low money...

 

[rothwellaudio]

the Schiit Mani II sounds great to me,

Let that be your guide.

 

[Gigantic]

. Since I already dig the Mani II though, it might make more sense to wait for a deal on the Skoll.

If uou
Like the Mani, you’ll love the Skoll, especially with the DL-110.

 

[tabarddn51]

Hi, Chasing P/Amps to get better sound when you have a great sounding one is going to get you nowhere, maybe a different flovour, but not an upgrade.
You need to understand the correct T/T upgrade path, that is
- 1st the arm ( a good arm with a cheap cart, will always sound better than an expensive car/Phono amp on a cheap arm
- Next the cart
- last the phono amp, preferably one that will let you go Balanced in. Both Project & Schitt have models that can do this.

Cheers

 

[lini]

(...) but could it be better? (...)

A bit, yes - but not really all that much, as the technical performance of the Mani 2 already is very good (not only in relation to its price, but also on the absolute scale).

Might even be smarter to grab another DL-110, if you're happy with that - 'cause who knows, how long Denon will still continue to offer that...

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

 

[RunOutGroove]

Hi, Chasing P/Amps to get better sound when you have a great sounding one is going to get you nowhere, maybe a different flovour, but not an upgrade.
You need to understand the correct T/T upgrade path, that is
- 1st the arm ( a good arm with a cheap cart, will always sound better than an expensive car/Phono amp on a cheap arm
- Next the cart
- last the phono amp, preferably one that will let you go Balanced in. Both Project & Schitt have models that can do this.

Cheers

You're surely right, though I may not be able to help myself buying a Skoll at some point just to satisfy my curiosity about it. I'm certainly not in a hurry to do so though and I'm really slowing down on audio upgrades as it seems silly to keep chasing the dragon... and I'm more into collecting music than the gear anyway. It's nice to know that an inexpensive component can actually deliver such great sound...

As for those TT upgrades, they don't really apply to me as like to have an auto-stop table, where the tonearm isn't interchangeable. On the one hand, it's a real limitation, but on the other, it keeps me from throwing money at too many other TT upgrades! I don't see rewiring my table for balanced outputs either. My table sounds very good as is anyway (though who knows how much better sound I could get?) and besides that, for the really ultimate sound quality, I've concentrated more on the digital side of things and with the Chord Qutest DAC I have, I think that I've pretty much made the last upgrade for that.

A bit, yes - but not really all that much, as the technical performance of the Mani 2 already is very good (not only in relation to its price, but also on the absolute scale).

Might even be smarter to grab another DL-110, if you're happy with that - 'cause who knows, how long Denon will still continue to offer that...

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

Good to know about the Mani II. I don't have enough experience with this stuff to know just how good things get with this, but it does sound very good to me, or at least the chain of table, cart and preamp are collectively sounding good to me.

As far as that DL-110, I wish that I had bought another one when they were cheap because the prices has went up some 40% or so since just a couple of years ago when I got mine. My current one might have about 1/3 - 1/2 of it's life left, by my estimation, so I have a bit of time before I'll need another, but there's going to be a bit of pain buying a new one, unless by some miracle, the price goes down again. I certainly won't be spending any more than what that thing is currently going for on something that needs to be replaced every few years.

 

[PDQBob]

Having fairly recently upgraded from a Mani 2 to a Skoll I will say it is a worthwhile upgrade. That upgrade did a couple of things for me, the first was to help me appreciate how good the Mani 2 sounds. At its price point it is hard to beat. The Skoll presents as cleaner, quieter, and more revealing and is significantly easier to use. The ease of use is almost worth the entirety of the cost to upgrade. I will now stop using the word "upgrade." Happy hunting!