Nagra VPS phonom stage - how good


I have hjeard very good reports about the Nagra VPS phono stage.

Has anyone heard one or own on. I am interested how it compares to the best out there and against it's price base of 6.5k
downunder

Showing 5 responses by hevac1

I am trying it out right now. It has a very open, wide and deep sound stage. Instruments have thier own space and do not seem to loose it even in complex movements. Vocals are very clear and focused as well.
I have been using it in the hi gain mode to break it in. I will try it without high gain this weekend.
This weekend I will also put it against the AR PH7 and hopefully the Manley stealhead.
The Manley Stealhead seemed to have more pop in the lower end if my memory serves me, but we will see. The AR PH7 has a great sound stage as well so the weekend should be fun.
Hello all,

Well I listened last weekend and this is my opinion between the AR7 and the Nagra VPS:

The gain of the AR7 is lower than the Nagra VPS; to match them I had to set the volume from 60 down to 50 on my AR Ref3 to match volume levels. When in the no gain with the Nagra VPS, I set the volume at 85 or above to be in the listening range I like.

Music I listened to: Classic Records: The Royal Ballet, Dave Brubeck Time Out & Miles Davis Kind of Blue. MFSL: Saint-Saen Organ Symphony Bernstein NY Philharmonic, The Beatles Abbey Road, & Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon UHQR. Japanese Recordings: Rickie lee Jones, Supertramp, Brother Where You Bound. & Deep Purple Machine Head. DCC: JethroTull Aqualong & Elton John Greatest Hits. Standard recordings: Sufjan Stevens, Illinoise & Van Halen 1984 and others since the weekend.

This is the differences between the two units in my system - I used the same interconnects with both units:

First I will start with what I liked about both units. Both units have an open sound stage, depth and space around the instruments. They both handled complex movements easily.

The AR7 was more laid back in the presentation and treated all instruments with equal emphasis. It did not have the punch and excitement of the music that I expected and wanted. It was better with Jazz & Classical than with Rock. Bass did not go as low as I’d like.

The Nagra VPS was much more forward in its presentation and treated the instruments with equal emphasis also but gave more energy to instruments when needed. There was more punch and excitement, depth and lower bass was better. It was very good with all the music I played. I found my self tapping my toes to the music with the VPS.

I have been using the Pass Alpha ONO before this.
Well the Nagra VPS is my new phono stage. Waiting now for the second MC input to show up.
Viper Z
I have emailed plenty of dealers and other who have either lost or forgotten to reply.
All I do is email again and put second request in the subject area and usually get responded to very quickly. How can you make that person responsable for a reply from someone else even if they recommend them. How would they know what that person is doing, how busy they are or if they responded to you in the first place.
I would just email that person and ask if they could find out why I have not gotten a reply from the person they recommended.