Just returned from a really enjoyable day spent w Mani (aka WBF member Manisandher) and his well thought thru system featuring the Animas horns.
I'd been meaning to get together w Mani for a year or so, and finally today happened. Mani was a fantastic host, genuinely friendly and enthusiastic, living in a lovely house w multiple rooms to listen to music in, and happy to feed me pizza and unlimited coffee refills. A very good start to any day LOL.
My main interest for visiting Mani was to reappraise the Animas. It's no secret that my estimation of them was pretty poor. IMHO they sounded rough and terse at the UK dealer (on Modwright SS), and vague and congested on Traformatic SETs at Munich show. A big dissapointment to me both times.
But many have extolled their charms, so Mani was now my chance to hear them in an optimal system. Would I go home again scratching my head, or discover why owners love them?
Well, I've had as close to a 180 on them as I could imagine. My previous reservations on a strident treble and hazy bass pretty much gone. Indeed the sound was earthy, more mids centered, certainly no spotlit higher frequencies. Good levels of stage depth, and a nicely extended agile bass. Like Mani, I am really not too bothered by subterranean bass, so the Animas extending nicely to approx 40Hz is pretty sufficient for most listening sessions.
Like all good horns, they had great jump factor, real dynamics, but missing some of the teeth clenching feeling I get w some horns. Texture and density was fantastic, and representation of depth and air, esp around vocals, was first rate.
Critically, these attributes were replicated totally differently on each different track. Each song we played had proper tonal, timbral and ambient differentiation, but presented differently each time. As you would want.
So while a Chopin piece and a jazz piece w walking bass were replete w acoustic clues, the Rush track we played sounded as challengingly flat and compromised as it ever has done.
This is really critical I'm finding. So many spkrs seem to impose a presentation, sometimes subtle, sometimes sledgehammer. The Animas really sounded v different on every track.
I was also pretty impressed how soulful they sounded on his all-digital and SS amp setup. The Animas I heard prev on Modwright were a lesser animal.
It certainly helps here that Mani has gone the extra mile in optimising the feed to the Animas, a Phasure bespoke PC-based server and dac, and special First Watt F5 derived Class A monos, all powered by an industrial grade 15kVA isolation transformer/PS Audio P10 mains conditioner.
I've heard SS sound great on horns (Bakoon on Liszts), but it was great to know there is life outside tubes on horns.
In conclusion, the day was a total delight, the Animas have totally flipped in my estimation, they are huge fun, subtle, dynamic, differentiated, and pretty much full range for 95% of music preferences, plus hugely room friendly. I've even come around to liking their looks. And of the horns I have listened to in the last 4-5 years, they shade some marvellous others I've heard (maybe only second to Liszts on Bakoon, but these are 3-4x the price, and at 7' high, not practical in my space). I still absolutely love Blue58's sound w his AG Duos, he again has worked hard to get the most out of them, but it was special to hear bass that wasn't Class D. I can only imagine what triodes on Animas would do across the whole spectrum.
A wholly fun and informative day, meeting Mani being a big added bonus.
* we listened to music over a wide range of genres and styles, mainly 24/96*
Ottmar Liebert: One Guitar/track Not One Not Two
Peppino D'Agostino: Acoustic Guitar/track Desert Flower
Aimi Kobayashi: Chopin Piano Sonata No.2 B Flat Minor
Op.35 I. Grave: Doppio Movimento
Kari Bremmes: Mannestein/track Du Har Sett Dem
Stepkanna Trio and Vintskevich Duo: Notes From The Underground/track Give Me Five
Rimsky Korsakov: Exotic Dances From Opera/track Dance Of Tumblers
Mahavishnu Orchestra: Lost Trident Sessions/track Dreams
Yes: The Yes Album (S Wilson remaster)/track Starship Trooper
Genesis: Selling England By The Pound (N Davis remaster)/track Dancing With The Moonlit Knight
Rush: Retrospective and MFSL remasters/track Tom Sawyer
Nils Frahm: Spaces/track Says
Jacques Loussier: Satie HDCD/track Gymnopedies Gnossienes
I'd been meaning to get together w Mani for a year or so, and finally today happened. Mani was a fantastic host, genuinely friendly and enthusiastic, living in a lovely house w multiple rooms to listen to music in, and happy to feed me pizza and unlimited coffee refills. A very good start to any day LOL.
My main interest for visiting Mani was to reappraise the Animas. It's no secret that my estimation of them was pretty poor. IMHO they sounded rough and terse at the UK dealer (on Modwright SS), and vague and congested on Traformatic SETs at Munich show. A big dissapointment to me both times.
But many have extolled their charms, so Mani was now my chance to hear them in an optimal system. Would I go home again scratching my head, or discover why owners love them?
Well, I've had as close to a 180 on them as I could imagine. My previous reservations on a strident treble and hazy bass pretty much gone. Indeed the sound was earthy, more mids centered, certainly no spotlit higher frequencies. Good levels of stage depth, and a nicely extended agile bass. Like Mani, I am really not too bothered by subterranean bass, so the Animas extending nicely to approx 40Hz is pretty sufficient for most listening sessions.
Like all good horns, they had great jump factor, real dynamics, but missing some of the teeth clenching feeling I get w some horns. Texture and density was fantastic, and representation of depth and air, esp around vocals, was first rate.
Critically, these attributes were replicated totally differently on each different track. Each song we played had proper tonal, timbral and ambient differentiation, but presented differently each time. As you would want.
So while a Chopin piece and a jazz piece w walking bass were replete w acoustic clues, the Rush track we played sounded as challengingly flat and compromised as it ever has done.
This is really critical I'm finding. So many spkrs seem to impose a presentation, sometimes subtle, sometimes sledgehammer. The Animas really sounded v different on every track.
I was also pretty impressed how soulful they sounded on his all-digital and SS amp setup. The Animas I heard prev on Modwright were a lesser animal.
It certainly helps here that Mani has gone the extra mile in optimising the feed to the Animas, a Phasure bespoke PC-based server and dac, and special First Watt F5 derived Class A monos, all powered by an industrial grade 15kVA isolation transformer/PS Audio P10 mains conditioner.
I've heard SS sound great on horns (Bakoon on Liszts), but it was great to know there is life outside tubes on horns.
In conclusion, the day was a total delight, the Animas have totally flipped in my estimation, they are huge fun, subtle, dynamic, differentiated, and pretty much full range for 95% of music preferences, plus hugely room friendly. I've even come around to liking their looks. And of the horns I have listened to in the last 4-5 years, they shade some marvellous others I've heard (maybe only second to Liszts on Bakoon, but these are 3-4x the price, and at 7' high, not practical in my space). I still absolutely love Blue58's sound w his AG Duos, he again has worked hard to get the most out of them, but it was special to hear bass that wasn't Class D. I can only imagine what triodes on Animas would do across the whole spectrum.
A wholly fun and informative day, meeting Mani being a big added bonus.
* we listened to music over a wide range of genres and styles, mainly 24/96*
Ottmar Liebert: One Guitar/track Not One Not Two
Peppino D'Agostino: Acoustic Guitar/track Desert Flower
Aimi Kobayashi: Chopin Piano Sonata No.2 B Flat Minor
Op.35 I. Grave: Doppio Movimento
Kari Bremmes: Mannestein/track Du Har Sett Dem
Stepkanna Trio and Vintskevich Duo: Notes From The Underground/track Give Me Five
Rimsky Korsakov: Exotic Dances From Opera/track Dance Of Tumblers
Mahavishnu Orchestra: Lost Trident Sessions/track Dreams
Yes: The Yes Album (S Wilson remaster)/track Starship Trooper
Genesis: Selling England By The Pound (N Davis remaster)/track Dancing With The Moonlit Knight
Rush: Retrospective and MFSL remasters/track Tom Sawyer
Nils Frahm: Spaces/track Says
Jacques Loussier: Satie HDCD/track Gymnopedies Gnossienes
Last edited: