Here we revisit the amp burn-in station with two Classic Amps scheduled to go to work.

In for service I spotted an MPA from 1999, Nagra's first transistor amp whose integrated module in the front could be removed to convert into a straightahead 250wpc power amplifier.

The next three photos are of Nagra's transformer winding room which, since my last visit, had grown by three or more new machines to keep up with the company's growth.




Finally we return to the listening room, this time set up with production HD Amps.

Asking Matthieu about the fate of the Melody and Jazz preamps, he explained that a revised Jazz moving into the deeper chassis of the new CHF13'500 Classic DAC would become the new Classic Preamp. To round out that line beyond the new CHF17'500 Classic INT, there will also be a Classic Phono. Exploratory work on a full-width tubed HD Preamp to complement the flagship monos was underway already but no ETA on the books yet. Depending on progress, Matthieu thought it far more likely that the Munich Highend 2016 would see a Classic system showing either Classic DAC plus INT; or a threesome of Classic DAC, Classic Preamp and Classic Amp. Either way, Nagra were seriously busy building out their two developing ranges.

Before I booted my review loaner into the trunk of our compact Volvo, I took this final close-up to show the big amp's decidedly purposeful power rails and high-current connections.


Cracking into the box once home, I set aside the power cord, owner's manual and gloves and instead perused the 3-page test and measurements protocol document signed off by SGO. Aside from checking off certain functionality items and things like proper bias current trim (150mA), it contained actual figures to show conformity with Nagra's target values for this product. My sample showed 0.044/0.032% THD+N at 8Ω/100w/1kHz for the l/r channels. That was better than the <0.1% allowed tolerance. Ditto for 100w/10kHz crosstalk (-74.4/75.1dB for l/r channels versus the <-65dB target), frequency response, IMD, inter-channel phase difference (-0.015° vs the ±0.2° target) and 8Ω SN/R (109/107dB l/r versus a >100dB target). Clearly our Swiss were sticklers for quality control and actual test-bench performance quite exceeded their self-imposed minimum requirements.