Graham Abbott has published a review of the Nagra VPS Phono Stage at Soundstage! His conclusion:
The VPS delivers what Nagra’s promotional literature describes as a “sumptuous” sound. If you like your records to sound like the analog recordings they are, with a rich, deep tonal palette and soundstaging that delivers the original recording venue each and every time, then look no further. In fact, if you’re a collector of Blue Note records, you really must consider the Nagra VPS; I played a lot of Blue Notes during these listening sessions, and have never heard them sound so great. Lee Morgan’s Search for the New Land (LP, Blue Note BST 84169) and Herbie Hancock’s Empyrean Isles (LP, Blue Note BST 84175), among many others, just blew my mind. But the VPS is no one-trick pony; it served all types of music equally well, from intimate chamber music and jazz to bombastic symphonic works and gritty rock’n’roll. The Nagra never failed to get to the heart of the music.
The VPS has been very well engineered, and will probably prove as reliable as a Swiss bank vault — something you should expect for $5995. This phono preamplifier taps that lustrous, rich analog experience that vinyl enthusiasts love; it drives home the joy of listening to LPs, and that makes it pretty good bang for the buck.
You can read the full review here.
