Vinyl Asylum: REVIEW: Blue Angel Analogue Audio SA Mantis Phono Cartridge by mosin

Model:	Mantis
Category:	Phono Cartridge
Suggested Retail Price:	$5000.00
Description:	Moving Coil
Manufacturer URL:	Blue Angel Analogue Audio SA
Model Picture:	View

Review by mosin on January 01, 2008 at 16:41:04
IP Address: 69.246.183.42 Add Your Review
for the Mantis

Gentlemen,

In the world of high-end audio, everything is relative; everything is subjective. All opinions carry a certain amount of bias that is based on the user's experience, as well as his accessibility to various equipment selections. Then, there is the synergy or lack thereof, of the system itself. Also, consider the possibility of a perfectly assembled system. If that ever happened, it would most likely contain a few elements that would not play well in some other system. I preface this review with those thoughts because, quite frankly, I hesitate to write anything that may erroneously color another's opinion. In the past, I have been enthralled with various pieces that quite simply don't meet the mark these days, although they did please me at that step of my journey. It all goes to show that ours is a hobby in which we learn as we go, and I feel that I have come a distance over the years, but I also admit that I have miles to go.

However, this is a rare example of a beast of a different colorâ€¦

I have been fortunate enough to acquire a cartridge that exceeds anything that I have ever heard in every parameter of performance whether in sonic terms, or in terms of flexibility. It is the Blue Angel Mantis.

When I ordered the cartridge, I was offered a variety of selections that ranged from cantilever options to body material. I could get a ruby cantilever or aluminum one, an aluminum body or a wooden one. In the end, I chose an aluminum cantilever with a Fritz Gyger II tip mounted in a wild olive enclosure. The maker, Andre Hanekom, assured me that any choice would deliver the same sonic signature, and he kept me informed during the manufacturing process with an ongoing descriptive analysis of the process, and with e-mailed photos. It was very interesting for me to watch a cartridge being hand-built from start to finish, especially knowing that the exact cartridge would soon be mine. After assembly, Andre tested, tuned and played my Mantis for days. When he was personally satisfied that it would be good enough for his own personal use; he shipped it my way.

I fretted because South Africa is a very, very long way from the United States. The anxiousness seemed to be unending until one morning when I happened by chance to be at home, the front bell rang. It was my mail carrier, and she wanted me to sign for a package that was covered with stamps. As she casually handed it to me, I thought, "If she only knew what is in there." I opened it, and was surprised to see the actual size of the cartridge. It is an amazingly small cartridge to be a low-output moving coil, and it weighed in at only 4.1 grams.

I switch cartridges and tonearms around on a frequent basis, so I have honed the task of mounting and aligning down to a few minutes. This time my hands were shaking, so I waited a few hours. The Mantis was special, and I could not damage it! Finally, I did mount it, and the first thing I noticed was that the cartridge's pins are all tilted upward. That caused my Incognito wires to press firmly against the underside of the headshell because they have long insulators around the clips. This could be an issue with some tonearms, so particular attention should be paid to that detail. In my case, it was benefit with all tonearms I tried because it insures that those wires are firmly connected, but it is conceivable that someone might ground an uninsulated pin with careless mounting, depending on the tonearm's wiring scheme. Otherwise, mounting was a snap because the top plate of the cartridge is threaded.

The first time I played a record it became apparent to me that the Mantis is the easiest to cue of all the cartridges I have ever used, bar none. Its diminutive size and the orientation of the print on the nameplate make it extremely easy. Hitting the dead space between tracks is always a given, and I really appreciate that design consideration. Later, I also noticed that the cartridge isn't very dependent on VTA, nor the effective mass of the tonearm. It seems to like everything, but I did keep it off extremely heavy arms, except to briefly try it on an Audio-Technica 1009, which is 18 grams, and it played well. It is now at home on a Magnepan Unitrac which has an effective mass of only 7 grams, but I plan to move it to a Technics EPA500 with an EPA250 wand because it does very well there, too. That setup has an effective mass of 14 grams, which is typical of today's tonearm offerings. The times that I used it with the Technics, it delivered flawless performance, but it does now, too. By the way, I track the cartridge at the manufacturer's suggestion of 1.8 grams. To do otherwise than recommended with any cartridge, in my opinion, is foolhardy. The Mantis loads well at 82-100 ohms with my ASR phonostage. It does not seem to be quite as picky in that regard as the Madrigal Carnegie One that it replaced.

At first listen, the Mantis blew the Carnegie One right out of the water. Now, consider that the prized collaboration between Van den Hul, Lukaschek and Mori is legendary. It was described as being the most neutral cartridge ever made by some reviewers, and most of them had a personal sample ready to compare against any newcomers. I happen to own two of them, so I thought that maybe the mounted one had a severe performance issue. After all, it had been recently checked out, and a channel imbalance was found. I switched to the other one, and the result was the same. The Mantis was in a completely different league. The difference was like that of a Ford Fiesta when pitted against a BMW M5. It was a no-brainer. I have a wide variety of cartridges, but none come close in overall satisfaction to the Blue Angel. Those cartridges include moving coils, like the Denon 103 and some I have been loaned, like Mori's flagship piece, the Sony XL55, and the ruby cantilevered Denon 103. Also, almost every Grado conceivable is around here along with a slew of others like offerings from Audio-Technica, Signet, Grace, Nagatron, etc., etc. I even have virtually any ADC worth a mention, including the Astrion. The Empire EDR9 that some people rave on about? Yawn.

So, what does it sound like?

It is musical from top to bottom, and both those are extended. The bass is full, but it is tight. Details can be picked from the bass registries that escape all other cartridges that I have ever heard. The bass on the Robert Plant and Alison Kraus "Raising Sand" album seemed a bit muddled before, but the Mantis found an ungodly amount of wonderfully defined bass buried in the grooves. It was there before, but somehow it just wasn't all that clean. The lows on "Way Down Deep", a cut on Jennifer Warnes' "The Hunter" absolutely floored me. They were always extremely impressive, but now they have added detail and weight that boggles the mind. An equal level of performance goes for the highs, a cymbal sounds like a cymbal, a bell sounds like a bell, but there is nothing startling that will take from the experience. Nothing is edgy or out of place. There is no tizzyness. It is simply right, but it is all there in all its glory. I could give specific examples, but there really isnâ€™t an album in my collection that doesn't benefit from the way the Mantis handles highs and transients. They are simply amazing. The middle of the spectrum is as wonderful. Female vocals have the proper weight and warmth without artificial sibilance. It is possible to hear Nanci Griffith's voice on "Storms" with most of the sibilance gone which reveals a character to her voice that I haven't heard previously. Emmylou Harris' voice is more defined to a point that each of her records is startlingly fresh to my ears, although I have been listening to her music routinely for thirty years. Somehow, the Blue Angel wraps imaging and detail into one very pretty package, too. For example the background vocals on Linda Ronstadt's "You Tell Me that I'm Falling Down" found on "Prisoner in Disguise" are well-defined, and have their place on the soundstage. It is easy to pick out Maria Muldaur as one of the backup singers, and she is standing right where she should be. The stellar performance of Jascha Heifetz at the famous 1958 Chicago performance has few equals, but on side two of the record during the quiet part someone can be heard hammering outside the theater. It was possible to hear it only with headphones before, but now I can catch it. The violin never sounded so good on vinyl before, either. Fritz Reiner's orchestra is in its proper place, and it is readily apparent that it is. Everything is at the proper speed, and instruments are interpreted the way they should be. People still talk about that performance after all these years, and it is easy to see why. Tchaikovsky's Concerto in D never sounded so good. Speaking of violins, Josef Sakonov's "Meditation from Thais", a 1972 Decca release, has a piece composed by Sternhold called "FÃªtes Tziganes" that is nothing short of thrilling. The Mantis reveals the nuances of Sakonov's violin on this piece that rival any recording I have ever heard. But, you're a rocker, you say? Ok, what kind of rocker are you? Listen to Waylon's "Honky Tonk Hereos", and you are there. You may even reach up to the bar for another beer. Listen to Pink Floyd's "The Wall" and when the girl in the background says, "Want to take a bath?â€ you'll be game. It rocks, so trust me on that. I would be remiss if I didnâ€™t say that it does jazz, too. Rickie Lee Jones and Diana Krall are as close as I come to jazz, though. The Mantis makes them shine, and that works for me. Blues notes coming from ECâ€™s guitar are to die for. â€œFloating Bridgeâ€ from â€œAnother Ticketâ€ is like hearing it played from the best seat in the house at some small venue. Every note is defined and each single little sound appears to be intact. It is as near perfection as I have ever heard.

An added benefit is that the Fritz Gyger II stylus tracks perfectly, and pops and clicks are reduced to the point of being negligible. Also, the tip design is good for several thousand hours. Best of all, it seems to pick up less dust as it plays, and it plays perfectly at every place on the record. There is no dance, inner groove distortion or anything like that. It is an extremely competent design from all aspects that come to mind.

What do I really think about the cartridge?

Having listened to the Mantis for a fair number of hours, just over one hundred, one thing that Mike Fremer said about it still lingers in my mind, "I liked this clean, open-sounding, tonally honest cartridge." I believe â€œtonally honest" are the key words here, and possibly the key words to his entire review. Sure, some cartridge maker can get more weight, sizzle, whatever, here or there in his offering, but it is hard to beat "tonally honest", damned hard. The Mantis extracts music from the grooves, nothing more, nothing less.

Gentlemen, the Blue Angel Mantis is money well spent. If you ever have the opportunity to audition one, take it. But, be forewarned that if you don't have the price of admission, you should take a pass on that opportunity because its impressive attributes will stick in your mind, and you will leave the room in a miserable state.

The Blue Angel Mantis is a spoiler, and recovering from not having one would be a very hard pill for this audiophile to swallow. Fortunately, funds for its replacement, should the need ever arise, have been pre-approved by "The One Who Must be Obeyed"...and, that's really saying something.

-mosin

Product Weakness:	None, really. The cartridge pins should receive particular attention when mounting the cartridge, though.
Product Strengths:	No glitches anywhere to be heard anywhere, and it is involving musically. It is tonally correct. It is also tonearm friendly, and sounds right with all my system combinations. It isn't fussy about VTA, either.

Associated Equipment for this Review:

Amplifier: Various from APT in mono to PS Audio. Power ranges from 150 to 200W. All are solid state.
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): ASR phonostage with CJ linestage switched between setups
Sources (CDP/Turntable): An idler of my own making with various tonearms.
Speakers: KEF and Magnepan
Cables/Interconnects: DIY, Incognito and VdH ICs, and a pair of 6N Tesla treated speaker wires along with some DIY ones
Music Used (Genre/Selections): Various (See review)
Room Size (LxWxH): 30 x 20 x 8
Room Comments/Treatments: Two systems are used, one is moderate, but the other is slightly bright with no special treatments to either.
Time Period/Length of Audition: 100+ hours
Other (Power Conditioner etc.): PowerVar noise filters
Type of Audition/Review: Product Owner
Your System (if other than home audition): (see above)

Amplifier:	Various from APT in mono to PS Audio. Power ranges from 150 to 200W. All are solid state.
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	ASR phonostage with CJ linestage switched between setups
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	An idler of my own making with various tonearms.
Speakers:	KEF and Magnepan
Cables/Interconnects:	DIY, Incognito and VdH ICs, and a pair of 6N Tesla treated speaker wires along with some DIY ones
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	Various (See review)
Room Size (LxWxH):	30 x 20 x 8
Room Comments/Treatments:	Two systems are used, one is moderate, but the other is slightly bright with no special treatments to either.
Time Period/Length of Audition:	100+ hours
Other (Power Conditioner etc.):	PowerVar noise filters
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner
Your System (if other than home audition):	(see above)