Schiit Mani 2 Review - Is a phono preamp worth it? 

Or it could also be my own PC/SVS speaker setup.

You don't have a shitty ear. Everyone's ears are different. I prefer A as well.

thanks man!!@@JDJohnston9906753

Just connected my Mani 2 tonight to my vintage Pioneer SX-1080 receiver. I'm a bit disappointed as I now how some serious woofer flutter when I turn up the volume with the mani 2. No matter what dip settings I use on the bottom. Some settings make it better than others but If I turn it up loud enough I get the flutter in all settings. Never had any flutter before I connected the Mani 2. Elac Solano speakers and Elac Varro Reference 10" sub with a Rega P3 50th Edition turntable.

@@tima.478 well, it took me a ton of research to settle on the Mani 2 - and it was down to a sub-$200 Ifi Zen and the Mani 2. I suppose for the price it only needs to outperform my Pfantone from RadioShack I bought for probably $20 over 20 years ago. It arrives Monday. I'll keep you posted.

Update: I solved my woofer flutter problem with 4 IsoAcoustics Orea series (Bronze) isolators under each corner of my Rega P3 50th Edition TT.

@@tima.478 That's good you fixed the issue. Over all, how do you like the preamp? I just got a chance to A/B the Mani 2 against this video and my two other phono stages. It kicks the crap out of the PP440 (as it should, since that's a $15 preamp). I felt my 20 year old RadioShack Pfantone preamp was a tiny bit more detailed but that may only be because it's considerably brighter. A tiny tweak of my EQ settings seemed to reveal plenty of detail in the Mani 2. As for this video, I can only guess he must have made an error somewhere in the digitization process on the Flash Dance tune, because it sounds mono to me, and nothing like what I'm hearing on my end, with a much lower-end turntable.

I do like the Mani2 even though my Pioneer's built in phono stage is extremely close in sound. Evidently this old receiver has pretty good phono. I'm definitely going to keep the Mani2 in case I need to make adjustments down the road, when and If I ever change the cartridge. The Rega P3 50th comes with the Exact2 cartridge which retails for close to $700, so I'm in pretty good shape for a while. Mani2 is hard to beat for the price and I do like the premium look and feel. Great build quality! But man is that front led light bright. It's like a prison yard spotlight, lol. I have something sitting in front of it on my rack to block the light...I leave it on at all times. I'm a big fan of leaving certain electronics powered on. A simple box like this I never turn off. Glad you're getting some good enjoyment out of yours, as well. 👍@@ray_notes8170

same here. I hear more detail. B is warmer. A is brighter. I guess I could see how A could lead to listener fatique, but I still prefer the brightness and detail I heard in sample A.