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Nagra vs Audio Note

Mozart

Mozart

pfm Member
I’m considering a valve DAC. A Nagra Classic DAC and Audio Note DAC 5 have come up - both are used/demo units and less silly money than before though still a bit silly. Of course I need to do my due diligence and check their credentials.

Does anyone have any experience of these makes and or valve DACs?

Which out of the two would you go for and why?

I’m after holographic warm detailed sonics.

Thank you.
 
Audionote have a massive following in UK , it may be easier to get the audionote upgraded or repaired than the nagra possibly
 
Good point. Other consideration is whether all that DSD processing and upsampling might make the DAC sound more edgy, digital glarey. I don’t know if Nagra steered away from the traditional digital sound with this DAC.
 
i supect resale may be a tad easier too . nagra is pretty niche . just a gut feeling . audionote are at every show in UK so get a big following
 
No experience with Nagra. Owned a AN DAC3 for 10+ years. Absolutely brilliant! Just use a AN CDP now. Lovely for the money.
 
Audio Note, undoubtedly. I've had a DAC 3.1x Balanced for over 10 years and have had no desire to change it.

Ignore the protestations of the measurements brigade - no oversampling DACs sound much more natural to me.
 
I had the Nagra Tube DAC and also spent a bit of time with a Nagra Classic DAC while the Tube DAC was back at the factory being upgraded. I used it with the Classic PSU which adds another 50% to the cost and 5% to the sound quality. The Classic DAC is not a valve DAC, but a solid state (and therefore cheaper) version of the tube DACs. It also didn't sound nearly as good for that reason (although I generally prefer solid state).

The Nagra DACs are very nice sounding, but over the long term I found them a bit bland and over-priced for what they do. Nagra gear also tends to be a little short on dynamics and excitement. I was fortunately able to sell mine for a reasonable price and after going through a few others, ended up with a Chinese made Matrix X Sabre 3 at about 1/10th the price of the Nagra which to my ears sounds better.

If you really do want a Nagra, I would suggest looking for a used Tube DAC instead of the solid state Classic DAC, but really I would suggest giving both a miss.

I can't comment on the Audio Note, not having heard one, but I have always liked Audio Note gear so that would be my preference of the two if those were the only options.

The best valve DAC I have heard (and owned) is the Aesthetix Pandora, but there are plenty of others out there.
 
Mozart said:
Other consideration is whether all that DSD processing and upsampling might make the DAC sound more edgy, digital glarey.
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Generally it's the other way around, DSD makes the top end sound 'smoother'.
 
Mozart said:
Good point. Other consideration is whether all that DSD processing and upsampling might make the DAC sound more edgy, digital glarey. I don’t know if Nagra steered away from the traditional digital sound with this DAC.
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Modern DACs in order to offer all the formats (>24bits and DSD) will upsample and this is where they start to fall down. If you want holographic soundstage then look for a good NOS DAC. There is nothing special about Nagra, plus I have heard horror stories about reliability issues and being charged huge sums of money to get units fixed outside of the warranty period. Therefore I would go down the AudioNote route, and as its UK based it will be easy to get it looked at if something does happen to it.
 
G T Audio said:
Modern DACs in order to offer all the formats (>24bits and DSD) will upsample and this is where they start to fall down. If you want holographic soundstage then look for a good NOS DAC. There is nothing special about Nagra, plus I have heard horror stories about reliability issues and being charged huge sums of money to get units fixed outside of the warranty period. Therefore I would go down the AudioNote route, and as its UK based it will be easy to get it looked at if something does happen to it.
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Do you still make valve DACs?
 
Mozart said:
Do you still make valve DACs?
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Not currently, although I have gone back to using my 15 year old Tron Seven GT DAC but with a new power supply and a new valve audio output stage. I did this purely for myself and for my own personal listening. Although its limited to 16bits and 44.1KHz it produces the best sound I have heard from digital.
 
I have a Beogram 7000 CD and it uses the same Tda1541 but it’s not holographic and wonder if it’s because it oversamples or lacks valves.
 
hifinutt said:
Audionote have a massive following in UK , it may be easier to get the audionote upgraded or repaired than the nagra possibly
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The reverse is true here in SE France.
kernow said:
I'd go Nagra because it'll be built better and won't be back for repair within three years
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Quite a while back, my local dealer stopped stocking AN for reasons linked to poor SAV which he attributed, admittedly, to the importer of the time.
 
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