Schiit Mani - Sent in for repair, no response. Looking for rec's on a replacement preamp

I had my Schiit Yggdrasil DAC in for repair just 2 months after its purchase. They got the job done right (it’s worked for 2 years now), but yeah the process can take several weeks, and they clearly don’t want to talk about it or hold hands.

You have a VPI Prime; it’s a damn shame to pair that up with a $100 phono. The Schiit hype can get out of control and distort perceptions; sure it may be competitive up to a few hundred bucks, but it’s gonna get clobbered by any stage befitting that table. Take the advice of the others here -- yes, Chinook, Simaudio, whatever. Rogue Ares is great too (own it); possibly also the Triton at half the price. Any of those and more over the Schiit! Look at the inside of the Mani; it’s a child’s toy.

I almost forgot I started out with a P75 and Benz Glider L2 10 years ago. It was indeed very nice! I think I paid not much more than $400 used for mine back then; later Mk2 versions should be worth more. I later moved to a Benz PP-1, slightly better, but with that one you'll need to supply your own loading plugs for most MC carts.

'Grats gloco! Haven't had the pleasure of hearing that chinook, but I'm certain it will be a huge upgrade! My Sonic Frontiers Phono 1 SE+ has a very similar topology, and it rocks!

@gdhal 
Yeah to be fair the early fault I experienced with my Yggy, combined with their annoying hype machine and others' critiques of their build quality & designs has soured me on them. The naming thing is stupid too; I didn't even like potty humor when I was a kid. I won't be purchasing anything else from them. The Yggy is a VERY good sounding unit, but today there are other excellent options in that price range which may be even better.

I don’t have experience with those units, but by all accounts they are all very nice. BUT you’ll want to be very careful in matching phono stage to your cartridge -- while ALSO considering future cartridge upgrades; again, your Prime deserves it!

You’re currently using a 5mV MM cart, and that ARC’s gain of 57.5 dB is gonna be WAY too hot for that. That’s far from optimal, for both the phono stage and the downstream preamp (no overload headroom). However, that ARC would be perfect for MC cartridges with outputs from roughly 0.45 mV to 1.0 mV, for which I believe there are many fine choices e.g. Clearaudio, Ortofon Cadenza, Lyra, Benz "medium" output models, etc.

The 834p will do fine in MM mode with MM carts. For MC carts, this unit is said to be improved by bypassing its internal SUT with a higher quality outboard one. But besides that, its MC gain of 70dB might be just a bit too hot for the medium output MC carts that would’ve paired well with the ARC -- here you’d really want 0.2-0.4 mV carts, which is the territory of Koetsu Platinums, Ortofon Windfeld/A95/Anna, Benz "low" outputs, etc.

The Liberty unit is endlessly shilled by its maker here, but honestly it looks really darn versatile. If I had to guess from its specs, it will pair well with a wider range of cartridges than the other 2 stages. Though I love a good tube stage (I run a Rogue Ares Magnum, which I think is fabulous), I’d be tempted by this one in your shoes, given these 3 options. But also, maybe look at the Rogue Triton and Ares.

My Ares has a similar gain structure to that EAR unit (72 dB in MC mode), and it pairs brilliantly with a 0.3mV Koetsu. With a 0.45 mV Ortofon Cadenza it's still good, but slightly suboptimal; that same Cadenza shines on a 60 dB Sonic Frontiers Phono 1. But of course, the Koetsu lacks dynamics and sounds rather lifeless on that Sonic Frontiers!