Thanks to this little gizmo, LPs sound better than CDs or FLAC files (phonograph pre-amp)

CNet ^ | 2 November 2014, 12:05 am AEDT | Steve Guttenberg

[Olog-hai]

I’ve lost track of how many Schitt headphone amplifiers and digital converters I’ve reviewed, but their all-new Mani phono stage is a very different kind of product. Mani amplifies the minuscule voltages generated by a turntable phono cartridge, so your LPs can be played over AV receivers, desktop powered speakers, boom boxes, etc. The little Mani’s all-metal chassis measures a scant 5 × 3.5 × 1.25 inches (127 × 89 × 32 mm).

It works with moving-magnet (MM) or moving-coil (MC) phono cartridges. Mani has four user-selectable “gain” modes (30-, 42-, 47-, and 59-dB), so it’ll sound great with any cartridge you pair with it. Cartridge impedance loading can be set to 47 Ohms for moving-coil cartridges or 47,000 Ohms for moving-magnet cartridges. If you’re using an AV receiver or a turntable with a built-in phono preamp, the Mani would be a logical upgrade. …

[Jonty30]

Great!

I’ll look really cool playing my LP’s, while riding the subway.

[ArmstedFragg]

Apparently he’s just discovered the RIAA curve... about 60 years after the fact.

[Captainpaintball]

This is why I prefer the pretentiousness and snobbery of the old school audiophile, like *Stereophile*, and the more mainstream (and defunct) Stereo Review and Audio, and the rest.

Today's "audiophile" is nothing like it was in the past. (www.reddit.com/r/audiophile , if you haven't plotzed yet today)

[edpc]

All your music sounds like Schitt.

[FredZarguna]

I would have to say that the manufacturer’s name is about as good an argument as you’ll find for why engineers/inventors should not do their own marketing.

[Secret Agent Man]

/southpark

[AnotherUnixGeek]

So anyone hoping high-resolution formats will totally knock out LPs is dreaming; with a great turntable analog is fully competitive and possibly better than high-resolution digital.

That's nice - fully competitive. If the LPs are maintained perfectly, free of any surface flaws or dust. I remember how carefully my dad used to slide his best LPs out of their rice paper sleeves, with his fingertips only making contact with the center label while the palm of his hand braced the edge of the heavy yet oh-so delicate 180g or 200g vinyl. This after careful adjustment and verification of the turntable speed, alignment of the arm and cartridge, adjustment of the needle tracking angle, replacement of the needle before it was needed to make sure no microscopic damage could be done to any groove.

And then, inevitably, a barely detectable click-click-click during a quiet passage in the music of a newly purchased LP. I'll stick with my FLAC rips of my old CD collection and a USB DAC. Excellent, clean sound every time without having to obsess over the care and feeding of vinyl substrate.

[Company Man]

ANALOG ROXORS!

[Lurker]

Some people will just never get it. You’re one of them.

[wastoute]

But man you could get a couple really great plays from new vinyl. Like you say, though, between tracks one still heard the click click... IMHO, the music industry screwed up. There is nothing like live music. Stars should be GIVING the media crap (MP3, CD, vinyl, whatever) away to generate demand for live performances. Absence of any decent music is probably as much to blame for Rap crap as anything. There are a number of decent musicians who are struggling while a very few make mega bucks, perhaps just because the moguls would rather deal with fewer people. We would all be better off if great live music was available and inexpensive. It should be about the music on both sides of the stage, not the bucks.

[OftheOhio]

Your dad got it, I’m surprised you didn’t. There is a “presence” with lp’s that you don’t get with any other medium. Reel-to-reel was very close and even 8-track had it somewhat. Nothing since does, cassettes destroyed hi-fi, and cd’s are little better than those. Separation, I don’t know what you call it. It definitely was a more true sound as far as instruments were concerned. Sure there was the scratchiness, so what.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Some people will just never get it. You’re one of them.

You're referring, of course, to OCD, which is a necessary side-effect of trying to be an audiophile while listening to music embedded on vinyl.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

There is a “presence” with lp’s that you don’t get with any other medium.

Maybe. But the maintenance headaches aren't worth it, and even the finest care will not prevent degradation of the medium over time. But I do miss the large format artwork on LPs.

[entropy12]

I converted at home about 200 of my favorite LP’s to MP3 files, using a Sony turntable and a kit bought on eBay. When I listen to that music on my Sansa MP3 player, there is great separation, amazing clear sound and no scratchy blips. There were many steps involved in the conversion process, but none too difficult.

[OftheOhio]

I just get the feeling something was truncated in that conversion. At one point in my younger days (before jet engines) I thought I could probably hear to 25,000 hertz.
I was under the impression that cd’s are limited to 15 Khtz.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Nothing since does, cassettes destroyed hi-fi, and cd’s are little better than those.

Also, I think you may be referring to something which has nothing to do with the CD medium itself - the rise of CDs was accompanied by the rise of the Walkman and other portable music players - producers started applying compression to their music to make it jump out of cheap portable headphones, and the dynamic range or the "presence" you refer to suffers as a result.

Get a good remastered CD from Mobile Fidelity or some other reputable source, rather than a mass-market release CD, and do an A/B comparison with your favorite LPs. You might find the space and range you want exist on both, and while the CD is far easier to maintain without worrying about sound degradation, a lossless FLAC rip is far easier to store and preserve than even the CD.

[rusty schucklefurd]

Re: “I would have to say that the manufacturer’s name is about as good an argument as you’ll find for why engineers/inventors should not do their own marketing.”

I thought maybe this was a satire post until I went to C/nets website to verify that was the name. Is there some special way to pronounce it rather than the obvious? On the other hand, the name IS easy to remember.

[OftheOhio]

Thanks for the info. I still think I’m stuck in the 70’s music wise. It wound be grand to get the old Garrard zero 100 turntable rocking again. I’m still using my giant 5 way Op 9 speakers from 1972. I once saw an “Allied” tuner/receiver from the 50’s that had automatic scanning. I really couldn’t believe the advanced state of the art it represented and it was a tube amp at that.

[Flatus I. Maximus]

> There is a “presence” with lp’s that you don’t get with any other medium. Reel-to-reel was very close

Which is interesting, because the vast majority of the music on those lp's was recorded on multi-track reel-to-reel tape first, and then cut into the acetate master disc used to make the metal molds used to press the vinyl disc. This "presence" you speak of is an artifact of the medium.