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Final impressions. To confound lazy one-size-fits-all hopes, DAC direct on the ceramics could give way to the Jazz. Whilst the longer path was energetically a bit more chilled to show less quicksilvery reflexes and less extreme lucidness, it again compensated with more heft, downward anchoring and follow-through on musical punches. This speaker handled that without shedding resolution. It made for the quintessential choice between speed and plusher comfort. With the Aptica's greater focus on exactitude coupled to suave smoothness whilst running off a 1MHz bandwidth transistor amp with advanced SMPS, the body and dynamic enhancements of the Jazz did become a possible complement. Where to set that balance, exactly, depends on the listener. Unlike a diet where losing pounds is harder than gaining them, here it just means taking out or adding the right preamp.


In the end however, I most fancied the Nagra in fixed mode direct into the Crayon CFA-1.2, with the latter's passive attenuator as volume control. On Rafael Cortés' Cagiñi [Herzog Records], the opening track's very long intro sports solo Flamenco guitar before the refrain adds drums, overdubbing and subtle space atmospherics. In DAC-direct mode, Rafael's multi-hued tone modulations exhibited the widest range of nuance. Spinning up another favourite disc for the same inquiry albeit into multiple very well-recorded exotic string instruments, I felt the same about Hector Zazou & Swara's In the House of Mirrors [Crammed Discs]. The Uszbek tanbour and Indian slide guitar featured brilliantly exposed harmonic on-string action and very finely drawn decays. This covered both ends of these introspective tonal events with equal alacrity.


That this heightened presentation remained richly textured to show off minor bloom rather than get lean, sharp or metallic as happens routinely with increased detail magnification and this type of speaker was probably a credit to Andreas Koch's advanced DSD conversion technology. If that's what people mean by 'more like analogue', the observation leading to it is spot on! Here I would simply add that to maximize this particular lead which the HD DAC ultimately proved to have over my usual DACs from Aqua, AURALiC and Metrum—in other words, to get the buyer-by-proxy's money's worth—asked for a transducer of greater magnification power than my tone-wood soundkaos Wave 40. Doing a double cross with the Metrum Hex in equivalent amp-direct mode confirmed something else. With it, the enhancements of the Nagra Jazz preamp were mandatory to end up with a similar dose of succulence. To return to a prior mention, those folks who have compensated for PCM's needly bits with particularly valve power amps could find that Nagra's conversion to DSD nets certain very similar qualities even from fast transistor amps. By the same token, highly accurate speakers with keen timing which otherwise might exhibit minor metronomic attributes will behave more fluid and elastic.

Relative to the 4-in-1 MPS, for the Jazz preamp the compact stock power supply was in no audible way inferior regardless of whether I used the MPS's AC or DC option. With the HD DAC I felt mostly the same though I would grant the MPS a rather minor advantage on subjective contrast ratio - what we might call image pop over against the background and as a 3D extrication from it. The primary appeal of the MPS for these particular components would seem to be elimination of extra power cords and not having to house a total of three small PSU with red power LEDs. In short, the MPS is mostly a functional not sonic decision. Again, that's said to be different for Nagra's phono stages.


After the DSD flavour already distilled, what struck me as the perhaps biggest surprise and boon of the HD DAC was its remote-controlled analog volume. Whilst one ideally would want an impedance-compensated buffered pot, in practice I still ended up favouring bypassing my usual Nagra Jazz preamp even over 6-meter long interconnects. Though there's no balance control, analog input or more than 11dB of gain, the HD DAC makes a very compelling case for preamp adieu if those aren't items you need. Add what amounts to at least €2'000 worth of onboard headfi amplification if you duplicated it externally; and the €20'000 ask begins to look more reasonable against a basic Jazz preamp getting €10'750. The math obviously doesn't work out that way but one could nearly claim that the actual 'DAC portion' clocks in at €8'000.


To keep this anchored in reality, a highly detailed converter like the Sabre-powered AURALiC Vega already pretty much uncovers all the data there are to be retrieved. The primary difference of the HD DAC is its shift in gestalt. The presentation gets more organic and less 'choppy'. That's not the razzle-dazzle type difference of a quick sale. This is for listeners who inquire not only into the music. They inquire into themselves as well and how the experience feels in their body. It's where test-bench warriors and graph hunters stop. Arguably it is though where the real magic begins. In plain speak, it's a further reduction of subliminal user effort which renders the act of listening easier and as such, longer. The secondary difference is greater audibility of recorded venue ambiance (which implies that it must first be recorded to then reappear as heightened audible space during playback).

PureMusic Audio Setup
Audirvana Preferences
The HD DAC supports exclusive access, direct and integer modes and obviously native DSD. Since there's no digital attenuation, there's no intermediary PCM conversion of DSD signal; nor any resolution loss even at very low playback levels where digital attenuation tends to wash out. The customized FPGA-based Amanero USB transceiver is so well implemented that the HD DAC categorically refused to benefit from any offboard USB bridges I had on hand like SOtM's two-box battery-power solution or Audiobyte's equivalent Hydra X+. As you'd expect for its haute engineering, this machine needs no external help. Here one-box integration doesn't mean compromise.



Conclusion. Audio Technology Switzerland's Nagra HD DAC is a truly full-featured very modern über DAC with remote-controlled analog volume to support amp-direct use; and a very good headphone amp that's ideal for Sennheiser's flagship HD800. With its FPGA engine, future firmware advances are an easy upgrade away via micro SD card. 32bit/384kHz data acceptance with 5.6MHz upsampling and 72-bit processing plus superlative fit'n'finish guarantee pride of ownership and compatibility with all current file formats. Based on my exposure to other Nagra decks and my subsequent introduction to this project's team leader and chief architect Philippe C., I suspect that the HD DAC might be the very best product from this iconic company's audio division yet. As is typical for upscale Swiss manufacture, the price isn't for the faint of heart. That said, given its exceptional showing as a DAC/preamp, prospective buyers without analog sources or the desire/need to beef up the sound should seriously contemplate using the HD DAC amp direct and doing away with a separate analog preamplifier. With DSD being a hot topic in 2014's hifi news, Nagra's HD DAC is timely. By converting all input data including Qobuz/WiMP 16/44 subscription streams to DSD, shoppers keen on the format's sonic gestalt needn't fret over chasing down DSD releases of obscure music at obscure sites; or what to do about their current possibly massive PCM collection. The HD DAC treats all of it as direct-stream data to make for a much simplified analog reconstruction stage. If that's the glorious future... then that future is here now!


For a second take on the HD DAC's full potential, click here.
Audio Technology Switzerland website