After further listening and dialling it in a bit better I’m really liking this ancient thing. It loves jazz and kind makes everything sound like it has a Rudy Van Gelder stamp in the run-off. It has real mid-band presence and punch, forward, dynamic and fun. There is no fizz or tizz at the top, if anything it is a little dark, but cymbals have real weight and sound very real. Vocal sibilance is clean and controlled, it tracks really nicely. The bass is truly visceral. It is very tight and fast. Very ‘flat-earth’.
The comparison to the MP-500 is really interesting. The Nag goes up higher, goes down lower, and is much more detailed. It is just more informative, has more space, exposes layers better, but it lacks the visceral punch and life of the Shure. They are both really good, and I’d be very reluctant to rank them as they are so very different. They each bring a different skillset.
I love the way the Shure does brass, it is so present and has so much body to it. Again reminds me very much of an RVG cut, and why I like them so much. It just has that same EQ and mid-centric presentation. I AB’d a Tone Poet, Wayne Shorter’s ETC, and I prefer that with the Shure to the Nag. With an actual RVG cut, e.g. my Liberty Somethin’ Else I’d go the other way and pick the Nag.
I certainly understand why people like these old Shures so much. It is also a real eye-opener to just how good hi-fi was 55-60 years ago, as that is when this whole TD-124/II, 3009, M44-5 front end dates from!