Equipment Recommendations - The Home For New System and Upgrade Advice

Anyone else have any experience with Chi-fi?

I recently picked up an Ayima A07 to power my ELAC B6.2 as computer speakers and I gotta say it's pretty good. For $70 I don't think you can go wrong. No features to speak of, but the sound is pretty clean and there seems to be plenty of juice. I haven't even gone past 10 o'clock on the knob.

Amazon product ASIN B08CJZGT6H
 
folsom_lives said:
Anyone else have any experience with Chi-fi?

I recently picked up an Ayima A07 to power my ELAC B6.2 as computer speakers and I gotta say it's pretty good. For $70 I don't think you can go wrong. No features to speak of, but the sound is pretty clean and there seems to be plenty of juice. I haven't even gone past 10 o'clock on the knob.

Amazon product ASIN B08CJZGT6H
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I own and love a KingKo KA-101 Pro!
 
Ok. I'm back again. Was looking for pre-amp recommendations a few months ago but then my system started working fine again. Now it appears my Mani has finally Schiit the bed and I'm getting no sound out of the right channel. I got the system hooked up to my built in preamp but the sound is no comparison. If it works fine for a few more weeks I'm going to assume the bum pre-amp was the culprit and buy a new preamp.

My current system is U-Turn Audio TT witch Grado Blue3 > Schiit Mani 1 (dead!) > Onkyo TX-8020 > Elac B2

I know it's a modest system and to be honest, I don't see my dumping a whole lot of cash to make major upgrades of components, so keep that in mind with recommendations.

With Christmas holidays with the kids and what not I'm really trying to stay around $200... Maybe $250. My considerations are the Schiit Mani 2 (I know it failed me but while it was working I was happy with the audio quality and everyone seems to agree the Mani 2 is a big upgrade from the 1), Cambridge Audio Solo (I know it's MM only but that's fine for me), iFi Zen Phono.

I know none of these are sexy options but right now I'm looking to at least get back to where I was with the Mani. Last time you all had me leaning to the Musical Fidelity LX2-LPS but that price range doesn't seem to be in the cards right now.
 
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dbarila said:
Ok. I'm back again. Was looking for pre-amp recommendations a few months ago but then my system started working fine again. Now it appears my Mani has finally Schiit the bed and I'm getting no sound out of the right channel. I got the system hooked up to my built in preamp but the sound is no comparison. If it works fine for a few more weeks I'm going to assume the bum pre-amp was the culprit and buy a new preamp.

My current system is U-Turn Audio TT witch Grado Blue3 > Schiit Mani 1 (dead!) > Onkyo TX-8020 > Elac B2

I know it's a modest system and to be honest, I don't see my dumping a whole lot of cash to make major upgrades of components, so keep that in mind with recommendations.

With Christmas holidays with the kids and what not I'm really trying to stay around $200... Maybe $250. My considerations are the Schiit Mani 2 (I know it failed me but while it was working I was happy with the audio quality and everyone seems to agree the Mani 2 is a big upgrade from the 1), Cambridge Audio Solo (I know it's MM only but that's fine for me), iFi Zen Phono.

I know none of these are sexy options but right now I'm looking to at least get back to where I was with the Mani. Last time you all had me leaning to the Musical Fidelity LX2-LPS but that price range doesn't seem to be in the cards right now.
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mani 2, imo.
 
dbarila said:
Ok. I'm back again. Was looking for pre-amp recommendations a few months ago but then my system started working fine again. Now it appears my Mani has finally Schiit the bed and I'm getting no sound out of the right channel. I got the system hooked up to my built in preamp but the sound is no comparison. If it works fine for a few more weeks I'm going to assume the bum pre-amp was the culprit and buy a new preamp.

My current system is U-Turn Audio TT witch Grado Blue3 > Schiit Mani 1 (dead!) > Onkyo TX-8020 > Elac B2

I know it's a modest system and to be honest, I don't see my dumping a whole lot of cash to make major upgrades of components, so keep that in mind with recommendations.

With Christmas holidays with the kids and what not I'm really trying to stay around $200... Maybe $250. My considerations are the Schiit Mani 2 (I know it failed me but while it was working I was happy with the audio quality and everyone seems to agree the Mani 2 is a big upgrade from the 1), Cambridge Audio Solo (I know it's MM only but that's fine for me), iFi Zen Phono.

I know none of these are sexy options but right now I'm looking to at least get back to where I was with the Mani. Last time you all had me leaning to the Musical Fidelity LX2-LPS but that price range doesn't seem to be in the cards right now.
Click to expand...
In that price range I would go with the Mani 2. You liked the Mani 1, and reviews indicate the new version is a big upgrade. I've also seen posts here about Cambridge and iFi components failing
 
dansomeone said:
In that price range I would go with the Mani 2. You liked the Mani 1, and reviews indicate the new version is a big upgrade. I've also seen posts here about Cambridge and iFi components failing
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I've seen first hand accounts of Mani components failing too ;). Mani 2 is my gut instinct because I liked my Mani 1. The temptation is always there to try something different though.
 
dansomeone said:
In that price range I would go with the Mani 2. You liked the Mani 1, and reviews indicate the new version is a big upgrade. I've also seen posts here about Cambridge and iFi components failing
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Ya @dbarila I've had experience with the Cambridge. Very bright to my ears. Fairly one dimensional. It's a pass. The Mani 1 is much better, so I can only assume the 2nd version will deliver.
 
HayesWeighsIn said:
Ya @dbarila I've had experience with the Cambridge. Very bright to my ears. Fairly one dimensional. It's a pass. The Mani 1 is much better, so I can only assume the 2nd version will deliver.
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@dbarila The only other one out there I’d consider would be the Darlington Labs MM-5. I’ve not heard it, but the MM-6 really impressed me and it comes with a money back guarantee.
 
HiFi Guy said:
@dbarila The only other one out there I’d consider would be the Darlington Labs MM-5. I’ve not heard it, but the MM-6 really impressed me and it comes with a money back guarantee.
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I forgot there was a MM5. I did enjoy the MM6 when I had it on the tour. I'll definitely give it consideration. Besides one very bad Audio Science review it seems to be well praised.
 
dbarila said:
I forgot there was a MM5. I did enjoy the MM6 when I had it on the tour. I'll definitely give it consideration. Besides one very bad Audio Science review it seems to be well praised.
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You can’t tell much by specs anyway. They can be useful for checking compatibility, but they aren’t going to tell you how something sounds.

I can tell you that when I bought my first system I bought each component that had the best specs. It sounded pretty bad, and I know it then. Even on a budget I could have done better, but I thought specs told the story- so just like the ASR crowd.

I learned quickly though. I was 14 and went to a HiFi show, my first one. NAD was demoing their 3020 integrated- which is now a classic. As soon as I heard it, I knew I’d made a mistake by buying a Pioneer receiver. The NAD sounded big and made music. The Pioneer sounded like a stereo. It wasn’t even close.
 
HiFi Guy said:
@dbarila The only other one out there I’d consider would be the Darlington Labs MM-5. I’ve not heard it, but the MM-6 really impressed me and it comes with a money back guarantee.
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Do you know what a typical lead time if ordering direct from the Darlington website? Now I'm strongly considering the MM5 with mono switch. I was just reading back over my impressions of the MM6 from the tour and I seemed pretty impressed by the mono switch.
 
dbarila said:
Do you know what a typical lead time if ordering direct from the Darlington website? Now I'm strongly considering the MM5 with mono switch. I was just reading back over my impressions of the MM6 from the tour and I seemed pretty impressed by the mono switch.
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When I ordered my MM-6, I was emailing with Keith and he said that they generate labels in batches, which means there is a 2-3 day delay before a product actually leaves them. Given the winter weather, I'd expect a bit more of a slowdown once something leaves as well.
 
trickyseven said:
When I ordered my MM-6, I was emailing with Keith and he said that they generate labels in batches, which means there is a 2-3 day delay before a product actually leaves them. Given the winter weather, I'd expect a bit more of a slowdown once something leaves as well.
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Got it. I didn't know if when you place an order with them if they need to build it and you get on a production schedule or if they had them in stock. They sell the base models on eBay so those are probably in stock but I didn't know about adding a mono switch.
 
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