Home auditioning...

[slowGEEZR]

My dealer came by yesterday and retrieved the Nagra gear. I'm estimating I listened to that gear for 20 - 25 hours, so I got a pretty good handle on its sonic picture. It excels on clarity and has great dynamic swings, as well as a great soundstage as far as image size and width. It really brings out those little musical queues, such as being able to detect which cymbal is struck and even which part of a cymbal is struck. All those things that seem hidden in the recording with my other gear are very clearly heard with the Nagra amp and preamp. So far, I haven't heard any other amp/preamp combo in my system sound so clear.

The negatives are few. My psychological predisposition to thinking that 60wpc is not enough power! I think at very high loudness levels, I started to detect a little hardening of the sound, or was it just so loud that it hurt my ears? It's kind of a moot point, as those sound levels were so high I would never listen, as I don't want hearing loss! There was enough power to feel the bass in the floors and my stomach, so that should be sufficient! I also believe there is more to be had in soundstage depth, though I must admit that my Adona racks are currently situated between the speakers and that may be affecting that aspect of the soundstage. Once I select which amp and preamp to purchase, I will buy the correct/corresponding cabling so that I can move the rack along a side wall, away from the speakers. I also wonder if there is more to be had in the imaging, as can the images have more of a 3-D effect? That is one aspect I am anticipating with the AR combo.

I installed my Krell KAV 400xi integrated after the Nagra was gone and noticed immediately the extreme clarity was missing. It's almost as if I placed some cotton in my ears. Before listening to the Nagra gear, I had thought the Krell was very clear, boy was I wrong! This single revelation has made it worthwhile to have an in home audition. The soundstage also seemed more closed in with the Krell, but to be fair, this was straight out of storage and turned on, with no time really to warm up for any length of time. The Krell may open up some after a while.

Next, will be the Audio Research gear. I'll report my reactions after listening to it for a while.

[cmalak]

Steve...thx for the write-up and sharing your experiences. Do you know if the Nagra gear was already broken in? Same with the AR equipment you are going to be auditioning next? Just want to make sure that you are listening to what the gear can do once it has reached optimal playback conditions

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by cmalak

Steve...thx for the write-up and sharing your experiences. Do you know if the Nagra gear was already broken in? Same with the AR equipment you are going to be auditioning next? Just want to make sure that you are listening to what the gear can do once it has reached optimal playback conditions

Cyril.......Break in is the big question mark, especially for the Acoustic Research gear which typically takes well beyond 250 hours for the specialty caps to settle. Trying to do a home audition of AR gear fresh out of the box will not reveal a true sonic experience. One can surmise that an incorrect decision could be made under those circumstances.

[slowGEEZR]

Yes, I am concerned about that and so is the Audio Research dealer, so he has been playing the pieces in order to have a fair shootout. The Nagra gear is the other dealer's demo gear and is well broken in. I'll be contacting the AR dealer this week to check on break-in time for the AR pieces.

[cmalak]

Dan/Steve...you are absolutely right. The suggested break-in time on the new Reference gear (Ref 5SE and Ref 150) that you are going to audition is closer to 600 hrs, although you will get a good dose of what the gear is capable of at probably 300-400 hrs. Just wanted to highlight it for you Steve to make sure you have a fair chance to compare the gear properly

[slowGEEZR]

Thanks Cyril, I appreciate it. Luckily, I'm not in that big of a hurry, so I can let the dealer break in the gear properly, without too much anxiety on my part, before I audition it. I'll tell you though, the form factor and convenience (light weight, stackable) of the Nagra gear is wonderful. The only downside to the design, in my view, is that the inputs are on the left side of the preamp and the outputs are on the right side. I think I can special order it built with the outputs to the rear, which I would do, if I decide to go with the Nagra.

[cmalak]

Steve...as I mentioned. I own their BPS preamp and have heard the PL-L pre at my dealers along with their CD player. Very detail adn resolving but still highly musical and natural sounding. I like their gear a lot. The Audio Research gear has many of the same traits but again it will come down to preference. Enjoy the auditions. This is half the fun

[slowGEEZR]

Due to some unexpected money issues, I've put the Ref5SE and Ref-150 purchases on hold and instead purchased a pair of Pass Labs XA-100.5 mono amps and an XP-20 pre, on which I got a fantastic deal.

[Still-One]

Originally Posted by slowGEEZR

Due to some unexpected money issues, I've put the Ref5SE and Ref-150 purchases on hold and instead purchased a pair of Pass Labs XA-100.5 mono amps and an XP-20 pre, on which I got a fantastic deal.

Wow, that is the kind of issues to have. Those are great products and do not need to take a back seat to too many set-ups.

Keep us posted.

Jim

[cmalak]

Originally Posted by slowGEEZR

Due to some unexpected money issues, I've put the Ref5SE and Ref-150 purchases on hold and instead purchased a pair of Pass Labs XA-100.5 mono amps and an XP-20 pre, on which I got a fantastic deal.

Steve...congrats on the Pass amp and preamp The XA100.5 got a raving review from Robert Harley I believe a few years back. I am sure the combo is great. Enjoy!