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Compared to the Audia Flight Phono and just as with the Esoteric, it will be more a matter of taste and priorities than which is truly better. I think the Flight Phono is overall slightly more dynamic. It has better bass control and is almost as silent as the Nagra. This should indeed make it the better phono preamp if price were no factor. Yet Nagra's midrange beauty and unique ability to showcase instrumental hues can make it preferable to those who listen primarily to acoustic un-amplified music - especially opera where the Nagra plain shines. The Flight Phono is more polyvalent as it does not round transients over as much but for classical music lovers—like me—the Nagra is enticing. A detailed comparison to the Ray Samuel F117 will have to wait until after I have fully evaluated the latter. Initial impressions indicate that the F117 operates in a realm far more exalted than its price would indicate. Compared to the Nagra, it seems a fight amongst equals - very different sounding but equals nonetheless. The F117 costing $800 to the Nagra's $2.399 should be indication enough of just how exalted I believe it to be. But that's a tale for another day.
Speaking of various musical genres, let’s start with Johnny Cash's last record American VI. "Ain't no grave" is a tale of sadness and deep sorrow with rare interspersed hints of humor. His voice is of rare intensity and even greater urgency than any of his other studio recordings as though he knew all too well that his days were numbered. The voice is aged and thinner but simply grabs hold for attention. One knows Cash wanted one to listen - intensively. Of all the phono preamps I tried this album with, only two conveyed this sense of urgency to the extreme. One was the Esoteric E03 by offering a bare-boned intensity of Cash the man. The other was the Nagra, not as untamed and naked but by focusing on Cash's voice, preserving each little inflection and adding greater weight.

 

On Ella & Louis, Fitzgerald’s voice perhaps wasn’t as open and pure as usual but Louis' trumpet became more golden and intense. Ella's voice darkening just a shade brought out even more sensuality and presence to her vocalizing. Not a bad trade-off depending on your system. One of the areas where I felt the Nagra to fall just a bit short was primarily on Rock. The upper bass boost added weight and kick  but a lot of those recordings—be they James Brown’s Live at the Apollo, U2's How to dismantle an atomic bomb, the Beach Boys' Endless Summer or the Police’s Certifiable live in Brazil—suffer some level of dynamic compression. The Nagra’s slight softening of transients reinforced that. Played through the Esoteric, those discs feel more alive and uplifting. While the Nagra preserves the macro dynamics fully, micro dynamics are fairly good but do incur a slight sense of blurring around the edges. When you go from the E03 to the BPS, you leave raw and primal and move into polished and refined. It’s an amazing combination for Beethoven's Sonatas for violin and piano but not as thrilling on ZZ Top's Tres Hombres.


On large orchestral pieces like Mahler's First Symphony under Solti, I was initially afraid that the slight leading-edge reticence would rob it of some life but if it did, I could not hear it primarily because the tonal resolution on massed strings is simply phenomenal over the Nagra.  While string attacks are a little less precise, all the artistic nuances and harmonic complexity are much better revealed. Over the past few weeks I went back to this disc over and over again for its huge soundstage, powerful foundation to the orchestra and incredible instrumental colors as painted by the Nagra. Although the FirstWatt F5 amplifier is no stranger to this startling realism, the Nagra did the final seasoning and I liked what the chef was cooking up.


Or take the Quatuor Amadeus playing Haydn's Seven Last Words of Christ. If you want to know why the Amadeus are so famous, this is one great recording to find out. Compared to a more modern interpretation, this disc seriously lacks in urgency. The pain supposedly infusing the work is plain absent. Yet if you want to hear the full palette of nuance a string quartet is capable of, this disc over the Nagra can't be beat. You won't feel rushed and might even snooze between passages but string resolution and realism of wooden harmonics are without peer. You will hear bow pressure and how it modulates string action. The Nagra is that good here.

On Tarentule, Tarentelle the conclusion was identical - more wood, less speed but a chance to hear all the nuances between instruments. Which sounded better, the richer more tonally varied Nagra or the faster leaner Ray Samuels F117 which seemed more resolved but not as timbrally elaborate? Over the years I have become more of a fast transient quick reflex type listener. Still, I can't renounce my roots as a classical and vocal music lover. When a component like the Nagra shows up in a more adrenaline-tuned system like mine, it seems to return balance to things.


I need to point out that my comments were based on the Denon DL103 cartridge. I tried the Nagra with my Grado Sonata Reference 1 but they two were too much alike - same upper bass boost, same focus on tone over attack, same warmth for the same reasons. All in all, if I appreciate this tonal enhancement from one component, two went too far for my taste. If you like a lot of sugar and no lemon in your ice tea it may work but it wasn't a good match for me.

When I review the past year, I tested two other phono preamplifiers that were priced like the Nagra. These were the ASR Mini-Basis Exclusive and the SoundQuest Ph1-t with NOS tubes and aftermarket power cord - one transistor, one tube. The Nagra was simply a class above and a much better investment if you desire that touch of tube flavor from a transistor unit. Actually, the Nagra in many ways comes close to the best two phonostages I know, the Esoteric E03 and Audia Flight Phono. In some cases it even bested them and certainly makes for a more sensual reading than Esoteric's primal presentation. In addition, if you believe as I do that step-up transformers have a way with MC cartridges that no transistor gain stage will quite match, the Nagra becomes the completely obvious choice for the money.

If you do not want its touch of warmth, are after utmost neutrality and resolution but can't justify the cost of the E03 or the more civilized Flight Phono, wait until my review of Ray Samuel's F117 hits. It's the perfect answer to your desires.

Should you listen primarily to acoustic instruments or simply desire one of the richest most refined tonal presentations without tube artifacts for under $2.500, then the Nagra BPS tops that list. It actually stands so far on top that it walks away with a Blue Moon award, keeping in mind that it won’t suit everybody's biases and systems. Inasmuch as the Esoteric E03 is the best I know of today in the highly resolved energized category, the Nagra VPS is best of class and value for tonal saturation without the limitations of tubes. True, you'll need to stock up on 9V batteries for those times when you forget to turn it off. But that’s a small concession to make in light of its colossal musical performance.

Quality of packing: Excellent. Little suitcase should last forever.
Ease of unpacking/repacking: Light and easy, a real travel phono preamp to take everywhere and educate friends with about quality analog playback.
Condition of component received: Flawless.
Quality of owner's manual: Good and detailed.
Website comments: Minimal available information.
Human interactions: Helpful and prompt.
Suggestions: New production has 2 gain levels which will be helpful. What Nagra needs to develop now is a rechargeable battery system as convenient as Ray Samuels’. Having to remove a screw to change a 9V battery every few weeks when not left on, though not difficult, is not necessarily fun and can get frustrating when you forget to buy new batteries.
Remark: Stock up on 9V batteries as you will forget to turn the little thing off occasionally. This is a foregone conclusion. The good news is that you can buy a heap of 9V batteries for the price of one of those fancy aftermarket power cords you won’t need.
Nagra Audio website