New Nagra DAC announced at CES - list price $65,000

[PGansz]

Saying this while responding to a 5 years+ old post ?...
Was certainly the case at the time with smaller motors and in EU.

One of the reasons I struggle with this site is old as dirt topics appear at the top of the forum ‍- yikes.

 

[gorb]

One of the reasons I struggle with this site is old as dirt topics appear at the top of the forum ‍- yikes.

Old threads such as this one only come up when people post in them.

 

[Littlemoule]

You won’t be listening to it, but it will be a component in the system.
Keith

What no, what do you mean only a component in the system, the shop said I could try them on. They also put events once a year for people to try HE-1 and those are like $40,000 headphones lol. They are openly inviting me to try the Yamaha so I’m gonna spend a few hours there next week. Make my time well worth it. They even told me to bring my own music but in any case picture will be worth thousand words so stay tuned for photos as I chill there with expensive headphones muhahaha

One of the reasons I struggle with this site is old as dirt topics appear at the top of the forum ‍- yikes.

And no this thread is informative and also funny as hell because it jumps to Mercedes all of a sudden and then back lol

 

[MaxBuck]

I mean are you guys telling me that my nagra is a waste of money?

By now, the prevailing view on this should be evident.

Yes.

That is, the sound reproduction you will obtain from this component will be indistinguishable from good $200 DACs. They likely won't be as pretty, though.

 

[Littlemoule]

Well see Purite Audio (Keith?) doesn't believe I will try Yamahas because of their price tag. Yes $8000. But in comparison to price of HE-1, that's nothing lol.
About me being a troll or wanting to learn, is it too much to be both?
When I try the Yamahas, I will login here, and will post pictures while I am at the shop.
But meanwhile, this makes me laugh: Even to a noob like me this feels like lol and wait I was wrong they are $60,000 USD - for a fukin pair of headphones lol and you guys thought Yamahas are expensive :

 

[Human Bass]

The Yamaha flagship was mostly a flop. Too expensive in a very competitive market.

 

[Littlemoule]

The Yamaha flagship was mostly a flop. Too expensive in a very competitive market.

You saying that because you can’t try it? I’m not buying it anyway but This won’t prevent me from trying it though it could be fun.

 

[Purité Audio]

I would try everything, just be aware there are measurement led products based on solid engineering and then their are ‘pride of ownership’ products which almost certainly won’t be technically or in terms of sound quality but better will have caché and a nice case/enclosure.
You have to decide which is right for you.
Keith

 

[Littlemoule]

I would try everything, just be aware there are measurement led products based on solid engineering and then their are ‘pride of ownership’ products which almost certainly won’t be technically or in terms of sound quality but better will have caché and a nice case/enclosure.
You have to decide which is right for you.
Keith

This response I like. Honestly because I am only 1 hour away from that shop, and they have mostly high-end audio and don't care if customers try it, I think I am gonna spend my time in the city with that, it's not like I drink or smoke anyway. So Audio it is lol.

 

[Talisman]

This response I like. Honestly because I am only 1 hour away from that shop, and they have mostly high-end audio and don't care if customers try it, I think I am gonna spend my time in the city with that, it's not like I drink or smoke anyway. So Audio it is lol.

I can't take you seriously because of the constant "lol"

 

[Haskil]

It is interesting to note that the dominant aspect of the quality of both the Stellavox and Nagra product was their mechanical build quality. Nagra's electronics were competent rather than exemplary. Now there's a contentious comment

But it's a fact that the creation of a decent analogue tape recorder was more an exercise in mechanical engineering than electrical. Not a lot of people know that

Bravo !

When we bought a Nagra report tape recorder, a machine that made the Swiss brand famous, we saw where the money was going - quality of mechanical construction of the case, quality of its machining and assembly, as well as that of the rotary contactors and potentiometer buttons...

This rotating machine also had perfectly machined moving parts too, but it cost much less than this new DAC... which, for its part, does not allow you to see where the thing is going at all. money spent to acquire it, because its public sale price is completely detached from its manufacturing cost...

And their reputation came above all from their robustness and reliability in the field of journalistic reporting. The counterpart was their weight on their shoulder! But it was not the audiophile quality of their electronics: they were efficient machines, certainly, but above all efficient, easy to maintain.

The "New" Nagra born with their first tube preamplifier is a completely different story: that of the kidnapping of a reputation to benefit from products that owe nothing to the professional range apart from the quality of mechanical assembly of the case and the rotary contactors .... totally out of place for sedentary use in an audiophile's living room...

Personally, I never took the brand's audiophile devices seriously, precisely because of their excessive price and their marketing positioning which, for me, amounted to intellectual fraud...

Now, yes, obviously they were efficient... but no more than dozens of others much cheaper and much more practical for domestic use!

 

[BDWoody]

About me being a troll or wanting to learn, is it too much to be both?

Yes. Please drop the trollish part. It's not as cute as you seem to believe.

 

[Purité Audio]

Nagra were originally Czech I believe.
There was a period when the one Nagra company made Hi-Fi, I bought one of their PLP preamps, it wasn’t super reliable and the U.K. importer charged a fortune for really the very ordinary valves.
Cute looking though.
Keith

 

[Human Bass]

You saying that because you can’t try it? I’m not buying it anyway but This won’t prevent me from trying it though it could be fun.

Im saying because it had little to no impact in the headphone world. I cant try the DCA E3, but it has been a success, considered by many the best closed planar by far. And waaay less than the Yamaha.

 

[Jukka]

Yep, saw that yesterday...

But let be realistic : @amirm will never get his hands on this. First and obvious reason: same price as a brand new, full option, Mercedes E Class.
Second, there is not any owner (or store) on this earth that will risk to see a potential review where this would measure the same as a 100$ Tone Board. But maybe, I'm wrong.

Anyway, here are the official (and unacceptably poor) tech specs of the predecessor, the HD DAC... I don't see anything stellar (or should worth 30K€):

A Mercedes does come with a dac chip, maybe Amir should test one? Who will drop ship..?

 

[MaxBuck]

I guess I see products like the Nagra DAC as very analogous to Breitling and Rolex watches. They're beautifully designed, impeccably well constructed and convey a pride of ownership and, in some circles, status. But one can achieve the same fundamental output at a fraction of the cost.

 

[Jasperous]

I agree with Blumlein, for that kind of money I want atleast DSD x8192. It it well known fact that after the samplerate exceeds 69 krungavoltrons per linear hexibyte, the spontaneus quasi-modal positron emission occurs in the conductor but only if it is made from 99.9999% + pure cryo silver. This will prevent the time smearing resonance due to heterodyne electron tunneling into the 12th compacted dimension through parasitic flow that happens inside Yau Calabi manifolds.

I was laughing so hard, I fell off the dining room chair.