CD PLAYER/PREAMPLIFIER + POWER AMPLIFIER NAGRA CDC + PSA WOJCIECH PACUŁA Translation: Krzysztof Kalinkowski

Nagra is a synonym of Swiss audio. Although in the country of bankers also other renowned companies found their place, like Goldmund or Ensemble, still the Nagra is their best recognizable brand. And Nagra is completely not an audiophile company, if we understand by this a small manufacture, close to the heart of every audiophile. If we would try to describe the direction the Swiss are going to, then we should say it is reliability, fidelity and integrity. Against appearances such a combination of characteristics is very rare. To lead to it, it took fifty years of flawless, honest work. Nagra, belonging to the Kudelski Group was founded in 1951, by a Pole, Stefan Kudelski, who led it with an iron hand the next forty years, until 1991, when his son, Andre Kudelski took over the lead. The company is mostly known for its tape recorders, that starting from the first one – Nagra I – until the Nagra IV, were all objects of desire for war reporters, field reporters, etc. After all this is Switzerland… This stereotype is quite used, but in this case very true, as if made especially to fit Kudelski.

From the beginning Nagra is bound with the audio world. One of the most important points in its history was the presented in 1992 (I think, that the retirement of the “analog” Stefan Kudelski a year earlier is not without coincidence with that date) digital tape recorder Nagra D, and later in the version DII (24/96 x 4) and was quickly regarded as a reference point for other designs. Not very user friendly, in times when Pro-Tools allows for recording, mixing, etc, on a small laptop, it could look like an anachronism. But then… From the beginning of the 80-ties Kudelski Group, in its division Nagravision, got affiliated with the vision world, including the digital one, binding itself closely with the Canal+. And for this world a vision recorder was constructed, that also wasn’t very user friendly, but became a reference point. User friendliness is for the Kudelski something derivative, ancillary to the main requirements, fidelity and reliability.
But despite the quick and deep immersion in the digital world Nagra did not propose any CD player. Having in its consumer products department a portfolio of power amplifiers and a preamplifier, on all demonstrations, expositions, shows I visited the music was played from the mentioned DII recorder, with an addition of a DAC that we tested in the No. 10 from February 2005 (test - HERE), and in No. 11 we presented it in combination with the power amplifier MAP, comparing it to the Ancient Audio Silver Grand (text HERE). However until last year, when the first rumors about an ongoing construction of a CD player appeared, the company had no player. This is a bit strange, as the digital carriers became de facto a standard, and for sure a big success that everybody profited from, already in the mid 80-ties. The company explains this by mentioning two reasons for that: first it was about the construction of a proprietary device from the beginning to the end – including a drive, etc, and later about the uncertainty about the future of the Compact Disc standard in the face of SACD and DVD-Audio. The second argument is plausible for me, but the first isn’t. Even such small companies like LINN prepared their drives, absolutely top notch, proposing much earlier the player Sondek CD12. And LINN is a company that grew up on an analog turntable when Nagra dealt with the digit for a long time. And the construction of a proprietary drive was discussed, what would be logical, but it ended with a modification of the Philips CD-Pro2M. I know, I know – a phenomenal modification, but nevertheless a modification..

Anyway, Nagra proposed a CD player in times, when the death of physical formats is being announced, twenty-five years after the Compact Disc standard was announced. But it could be, that the top offerings of a given philosophy appear in its years of dawn (at least when talking about consumer market). Nagra proposed the player in three versions: like a transport – CDT – as a player with fixed output level (with the option to choose the level – 1V or 3.5V) – CDP – and the tested version – CDC – where we have a preamplifier integrated with it, complete with a headphones amplifier and a beautiful modulometer. I mentioned the drive: even a quick look at the price list makes us realize one thing – the most important elements, that constitute 90% of the value of the device, are the enclosure, the power supply and the drive. I could convince myself of this, when the company representative demonstrated the player moving it by holding the opened tray…

The Nagra player is constructed in a way that the whole drive is in solid, aluminum block, that rides out of the enclosure like the trays do in a standard player. This is not the first implementation of that idea, let us remind the devices from Naim, Pioneer with the Stable Platter Mechanism, or – first of all – Sony, that in some products of the QS series proposed exactly the same solution: the drive was moving with the tray as a whole, with a separate puck. Most probably this is the right way to go (so maybe it is worth of thinking about the Sony as high quality drives for example for the Audionemesis DC-1 converter). However Nagra brought this idea to a logical extreme. The player is however not tested on its own, but in a set with a stereo power amplifier PSA „Pyramide”, which mono version (two monoblocs) I tested not so long ago for the “Audio”. This is a logical setup, that exists in 90% of sold systems. The built-in preamplifier allows for this. A tube preamplifier PL-P can of course be added, but this will significantly increase the overall costs. The mentioned amplifier is built according to a company patent, with a stabilized impulse power supply and a single pair of transistors per channel. And it has that unique looks…

DESCRIPTION

I must confess that the interpretation of the Nagra system was not easy. I tell it even clearer: I could not find a key to my impressions. It was clear from the beginning that we deal with SOMETHING, but some elements were visible, that testified about the choices made, it was almost audible, how the designers scream: “This is MY opinion, and I share my view!”… This is not a system that could be described as “neutral”. In the classic meaning of this word, when we think “no additions of any kind from itself”, Krell and LINN devices are much closer, also those tested in this issue of “HIGH Fidelity OnLine”. No, Nagra is not a neutral system, what can be surprising in the first moment, as this is a company strong in the professional market, but what can be much better understood, if one deals a bit with hi-end devices. After hearing a few such systems one begins to see a constant, something true for all those systems: while keeping very high fidelity, on a level that is not even a small dot on a chart of the Milky Way for budget systems, all rely on a set of characteristics, without trying to colonize the sun, and proving that they can handle everything best. Their designers always try to show, that in the sound elements X or Y are most important, that a combination of Y and Z are even Q gives the best effect. Because talking about hi-end we do not talk about neutrality, this does not exist – at least in absolute terms, and we are talking about those here. At least I think so. One thing that can be determined - does a system sound natural, does the physiology of the sound raise the heartbeat, make gooseflesh or make us flush, does the system “cheat” us for a moment, do we get carried away by the music. There is no other way for the hi-end, for music. Only when the sounds coming from the speakers or headphones create emotions similar to the live event, then, and only then, the whole makes sense. Surprisingly enough, the contacts with good and best systems show, that this does not have to be achieved in one ways.

I remember the case of one forum user, that could not forgive me, that a player I tested that had a slightly “loosened bass”, and still was regarded by me as one of the best CD players in the world. I did not read it myself, I did not follow the thread, but my friends mentioned this and that from time to time, probably to get me going. But I knew one thing for sure: this man probably did not hear any classy piece of equipment, and in addition des not know how to read tests. The mentioned departure from neutrality, similar to those of the Nagra – and there are some, of course – are completely inaudible from the perspective of a budget system, I am completely sure, that nobody would notice them, as the sound would of such class, that one could only change discs and hope that his or hers home system would sound like that. The case makes sense only when we compare the given characteristics to other devices at the same price level or more expensive ones. That is the case with the Nagra. Because the Nagra also isn’t a master in bass control – it is mostly a characteristic of the player, but the amplifier doesn’t help it either. Maybe this is not even a slight washout, as it was present in the Lektor Grand Ancient Audio, but it comes more from a conscious decision. The bass of the Nagra system is powerful, big and mighty, regardless of the music played – if it is a contrabass from the disc The Route of Chet Baker and Art Pepper (Pacific Jazz/Capitol/EMI, 92931, SBM CD), or the powerful low notes of the synthesizer in Homescape Nguyên Lê Duos (ACT 9444-2, CD). The bass is always springy and dynamic, but also more powerful than it would seem from the logic of the given music. So it is worth to think about speakers that do not reproduce this sub-range in a too fluent way.

But frankly speaking I did not want to start with that. Because the “key” is most important here. Being able to recognize some aspects of the music played, I was unable to explain to myself some choices made by the Kudelski engineers. The solution came with the disc Vivaldi: Laudate Pueri with the brilliant Magda Kalmár, accompanied by Liszt Ferenc Chamber Orchestra (Hungaroton Classic, HDC 11632, CD). This woman sings like a goddess. The piece I like best, an indispensable element of my sonic education since 1994, when this disc entered the market with the aid of Sony Classics is the explosive, absolutely heavenly interpretation of In Furore. This analog recording is from 1973 but is sounds like a classic jazz recording from the 50-ties – with depth, cleanness and continuity, connective tissue completing the transmission. Nagra played this fragment in a brilliant way: not neutral, but in a way that I sat like being enchanted, listening to the pieces one after another. Undoubtedly, the bass was a bit stronger than usual, because the contrabass gave the whole a weight I did not notice before. It was also clear that the treble is not ultimately resolving, neither the midrange. But in general, the energy of every sub-region, incredible cleanness in the dynamic contrasts and absolute absence of glassiness – although the system has a strong upper midrange – made the soprano of the Hungarian singer explode in our room, we had exclusive rights to her, although just for a moment, a short moment. A second lock opened with a different kind of disc, although also with a female vocals, the disc Carmen McRae Carmen McRae (Bethlehem/Charly, CDGR 129, CD). This is a mono recording, where the voice is incredibly full and natural. And the Nagra did not loose any of those elements. Those recordings can put a spell on anybody in this rendition – just because they sound so natural.

And despite this, or maybe due to this, it is not a system for every occasion or for everybody. If the way it sounds reaches us, then – just like with another specialist of its own “voice”, Accuphase – we are shot down and nothing can save us. But it is equally possible, that we’ll say from the beginning that this is not for us. We should not allow anybody to make us believe that some company knows all the solutions for everything and everybody – this is not true! The Nagra has a not so resolving sound. And the latter is true for the CD player and the amplifier. The sound played is clean and clear, but only if we do not compare them with something really resolving like the Ancient Audio player or the power amplifier from Luxman. The sound from the Swiss combo is without a clear attack, without something that could be called a wave of sound. We just get sustain, something that fills the sound. This does not allow for a clear picture of the instruments. Let’s take as an example older recordings, but good for such kind of presentation, namely the disc Blues of the group Breakout (Polskie nagrania, PNCD 940, mini-LP CD): both the bass lines and the guitar hits were in some way generalized, shown in a similar way. It happened also with the voice of Nalepa – badly recorded, but changing from recording to recording, that was played by the Nagra a bit better than the average for this disc, as if the system would want to show it in a way making us listen to the disc with maximum pleasure.

And actually here is everything about – pleasure. One of the reasons for such playing is the emphasis on the midrange and slight withdrawal of the treble in the player. The amplifier plays the latter part of the sound spectrum much stronger, but the effect of the round midrange seems to be coded for transmission in the player. For such kind of sound great support comes from the midrange being phenomenal in the player. In terms of drawing depth, showing the planes, micro dynamics, this is absolute top. This is not clear from the beginning, because the treble is quite general, and not as strong as the midrange, but after some time, when we get used to the tonal balance, we recognize the magic happening in the midrange. The power amplifier is on the other hand a devil of dynamics. I heard this characteristic before, in the PMA monoblocs, the mono version of the tested pyramid, that I reviewed for “Audio” (6/07), but here it was even stronger present, as if it would not be as well-mannered as the monoblocs. The sound attack in the PSA is instantaneous and only the Krell EVO 402, unrivalled in that aspect, had greater dynamics. But the Nagra adds something to that: vividness. I do not know how this was done, as the vividness comes mostly from a softer treble, but the Swiss power amp, and with it the whole system, show the sound in a vivid-dynamic way. This is almost an endemic connection, and this makes the sound so attractive. If I say, that looking at the pros and cons, I think that the stereo power amplifier was more to my liking than the mono version, will this be a sacrilege? Even if it is two times cheaper? I hope not – because it is a fitting partner to a CD player of the CDC class.

It is not a universal system, it even doesn’t try to be. But maybe this is not what life is about? The workmanship of the player is phenomenal. In the amplifier the aluminum top is a bit annoying, but this is a matter of taste. Together, the devices present a specific, thought through vision of the world. This is a big thing, because it testifies, that this is not just blind luck of the designers, but it comes from experience and conscious actions. In some way the not fully satisfying resolution can be a hurdle in broad acceptance of the system. But this only comparing with the best, the state of the art of hi-end. Comparing with anything from the 50000zł price range will probably bury the other system. And if it will turn out, that this is that what we are searching for, then it will probably bury also us.

And finally, as we have said everything, let us mention two more things. CDC is a version not only with an active preamplifier, but also a headphone amplifier. This is a very good component, but it cannot stand a chance when comparing to the Leben CS-300 or Cary CAD-300SEI, or the headphone section of the Nagra preamp, tested by me some time ago PL-P. It is just not the same league. But if we compare the CDC output with the Edgar SH-1, a splendid device, it will turn out that the Nagra is better. But also here some rules must be obeyed: AKG K701 sounded too mellow, without any aggressiveness, with strongly withheld treble. It was the same with the Beyerdynamik DT-990 Pro. It was just as if somebody would put a blanket on our head – warm, nice but boring. But it was completely different with the Ultrasone PROLine2500 - here was the attack, snap, treble, etc, so I would go in that direction. The ultimate combination would be the Nagra with the Ultrasone Edition 9..

And the next thing – the puck. I was not sure if I should write about it, as I feared being laughed at, but I checked the case very thoroughly and ask somebody that does not believe in such things for verification. It all started with the fact, that I liked the Nagra puck very much – it was flat, engraved, and very aesthetic. Looking at the solid, but very nice looking puck of my Ancient Audio Prime I decided to buy the Nagra clamp. I placed it on my player and listened to some pieces to feast my eyes. Incredible – the sound changed significantly! I didn’t go mad; there was a real change in the sound. Even worse – the puck, although it fits the Polish player perfectly worsened the sound. In my player it smoothed out the edges, on the Lektor Grand it sharpened the sound, and in both cases it flattened the stage. I know that this is only physics, and there is probably an explanation for this, but it made us look at our players with fear: there is something that worsened the sound, and then maybe there is also something that can better it… The case is still in development phase, please do not scratch me from your reading list, but I promised you some time ago, that I will write the truth and the truth only, even if it will be not very convenient. This time it is not convenient for me. But this was the way I heard it. And let somebody say that this is not magic!

DESCRIPTION

CDC

The Nagra player exists in three flavors: as a transport CDT, as a classic player with a fixed output (high or low level can be chosen) or as a player with an integrated preamplifier and headphone amplifier. We’ve got the most expensive version for testing.

The device is placed in a small, ingeniously designed enclosure from thick, perfectly matched aluminum elements. This kind of enclosure was made famous by the Nagra tape recorders many, many years ago. In the hi-end sector from such enclosures profit also the tube preamplifiers PL-P (and its line version PL-L). Frankly speaking I like such restraint – that is why I like the amplifier Leben CS-300 and the Ancient Audio Prime. Such kind of miniaturization was possible in this case mostly due to putting the power supply in an external, separate aluminum box, that is connected to the main unit by means of a shielded cable and a LEMO plug. Why do only the Swiss do that? I really do not know… Anyway, in the power supply we have a transformer with a symmetrical 12V voltage. It is split into eight individual stabilized circuits. The biggest part of the main unit is taken by the worked out, solid drive. Its basis is the Philips CD-Pro2M module. It was placed on decoupling elements and an incredibly rigid frame – which elements were anodized green. It turns out, the decoupling elements, named Alpha GEL, were supplied by a supplier working for the NASA, and it was designed as decoupling for the Mars Rover mini-robot sent to a Mars mission. Quite impressive, isn’t it? To further minimize the vibration, the whole drive section is placed on an extendable, solid tray. It is quite heavy and moves with ideal precision, so its motor is quite big and loud. But this is a positive noise, we feel the hi-end. The disc is clamped to the drive by a small puck from aluminum with an engraved company logo on it. One more thing – the disc is lit with red LEDs, what allows exchanging the disc even in complete darkness. The display – a very low noise one – is placed on the tray. We have two lines at our disposition, so the communication is quite readable. So it is a pity it does not read the CD-Text, it would be nice to have this feature.

Next to the tray we have a splendid modulometer, that shows the signal level just after the converters, still before the signal level adjustment. Next to it is the volume control knob, and next to this the switch for the drive control. At first the user can be confused, as besides the big switch we have two more, smaller dip switches, that control the tray and allow skipping between tracks. However the confusion is of short nature – it is clear, that the Nagra was designed by professionals, for whom ergonomics is a saint thing. And besides that the unit can be controlled by means of a remote – a metal, big and quite user friendly unit. This is not the end of course, because below there is a balance knob (also motorized), a switch that allows to switch off lighting and display and a switch that activates the line output on the back or headphone output on the front panel.

The inside is also beautiful. A big part of the space is taken by the tray. To the right of it we have four PCBs with all the circuits. On the bottom there is a PCB for the servo and the digital receiver. There is also a big DSP present. It is not used for anything blameworthy – according to the company materials no upsampling or interpolation is used, based on listening sessions a classic 16bits 44.1kHz signal with 8 times oversampling is being converted. So it is probably just a part of the ultra-precise PLL loop connected to the very precise, mechanically and thermally controlled VCXO clock (Voltage Control Crystal Oscillator). It is also mentioned, that from the beginning the signal is led in a balanced way, avoiding grounding problems. A separate PCB houses the converters – Burr-Browns, one for each channel. It is however unknown what IC those are, as the whole is covered with a gold plated shield. The PCB is also shielded from beneath. In front of the converter we have the preamplifier module, it is based on ICs and a big, classic, Japanese Alps potentiometer. The balance potentiometer is also Alps made. Mechanically this is a beautiful solution, although electrically – it depends on the taste. In the best players with preamplifiers I know, the volume control is resolved with resistor ladders – integrated ones (like Ancient Audio), or discrete but keyed with transistors (like dCS or EMM Labs). But obviously it was decided that this way is better. The outputs – all sockets come from Neutrik and are soldered into a small PCB close to the back plate. The whole looks incredibly professional, without the form surpassing the function, but when I recall the beauty of the Jadis JD1 Mk II/JS Mk III player, that was tested in the No 33 issue from February 2007, where tubes glow in the output, in the power supply, I cannot decide what I like more – the minimalism and miniaturization of the Nagra or the baroque wealth of the Jadis…

PSA

The stereo power amplifier PSA (Pyramid Stereo Amplifier) from Nagra has a specific, extremely characteristic looks. The whole looks like a pyramid – maybe not like the Cheops pyramid, but like the spaceship pyramid from the Rolland Emmerich film Stargate. It is divided in 1/3 height between the steel-grey base and an aluminum top. The lower part is a specifically shaped heat sink – extremely massive and effective. And it is needed not even due to the power amplifier, although the output power is quite significant, but due to the power supply: Nagra uses a stabilized impulse power supply in all its amplifiers, controlled by a very complicated logic circuitry. The setup of the PSA is a full dual mono. It can be seen by the layout of the power supplies and power amps on both sides of the pyramid. All traces on the PCBs have been covered with gold, just like all soldering points. SMD was used, but the elements are big, high quality, and in the critical places very nice big capacitors from WIMA were used. Also the big capacitors in the power supply are not nothing, those are of Aerovox make.

Looking at the back plate we see that we have only a balanced XLR input at our disposal, and if we want to input an unbalanced signal we should use the interface supplied by Neutrik. The latter company was the supplier of all XLR and RCA sockets. The beautiful speaker terminals were supplied by WBT. The signal goes from the sockets by very long balanced cables (looking like Klotz) to the front, where they enter the preamplifier PCB on two sides. Besides this connection and the very long speaker cables the sound path is surprisingly short. On the input we have one IC per channel the OP176 from Analog Devices. This is a very nice IC that combines the assets of bipolar and MOSFET transistors. A problem can be that this is a mono IC, and the input signal is balanced. So maybe I didn’t see some amplifying elements that are there. From here the signal goes by a short ribbon to the controlling transistors that are placed near the power transistors – a single pair of MOSFET transistors from the company Exicon. The speaker terminals are screwed near the transistor feet, but there is also a protection circuit present.

Looking at the design, it is hard not to have the impression, that most of the circuitry and space (about 4/5) is taken by the power supply, and the amplifier is just an add-on. And frankly speaking, we like that! Everything looks very professional; it is Switzerland after all, so the pyramid cover does not look professional at all. It is made from thin aluminum, bent in a way that the contact point is in the back, but it is not as solid as the base or the circuit itself. It has been glued with bitumen mattes from the inside, but it does not change the aesthetics in any way.

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