To be honest, before I set in motion the discussions that eventually led to this text, I did a small research to get a taste of the sound of Naxatras. It's not hard to find relevant material on YouTube, and one can access the relevant profiles at Discogs and at Bandcamp, as well as the Magnetic Fidelity profile on Soundcloud to get a taste of their style and sound. I found the sound interesting and pleasant, although I recognize that the genre Naxatras seems to serve (rock/psychedelia) is not heard very often in an audiophile's listening room. For the experts, "III" is considered to be representative of the group's course and, perhaps, their best record to date. One can, of course, find some reviews, on the Internet, of which the most interesting, in my opinion, is Chris Katsibas' at in Rockinathens.gr, by Panos Drolias at Rockhard.gr and Tatiana Maroulli at Greekrebels.gr. These are all in Greek language, but one can google "Natraxas III" and find English language reviews here, here, and here.

In this part, of course, we will not deal with Naxatras III applying musical and/or artistic criteria, but we will limit our scope to the technical side of the two available analog media.
The album is a very well-cared production, in a triple-gatefold format and interesting graphics from Christopher Toumazatos (Chris RW). From this point of view, it is a valuable acquisition for any record collection and -for sure- it justifies the views of vinyl fans who believe that “the feel of a real vinyl album cover” is unsurpassed. I did not get the CD in my hands, but I'm pretty sure it will be somewhat less sensational in comparison to the vinyl version, if only because of its smaller dimensions.
The Duplicated Master version is, clearly, more spartan and includes a good quality wooden box, an insert with the track list and info about the "III", and a certificate of authenticity signed by Jesus Agnew. The six sides of the album require two half track/15ips ATR Master reels with the characteristic iridescent blue color.
The album was listened through a Linn Sondek LP12 turntable (featuring a Linn Karma cartridge and a Linn Ittok tonearm) and the Rotel RHQ-10 "Michi" phono preamplifier, while the tapes were played back through the aforementioned Tandberg TD20A SE. The rest of the system was what we usually use in avmentor's listening sessions, including the Melos Plus Series Line preamplifier, the Parasound HCA-3500 power amplifier and the ATC SCM-50PSL loudspeakers.

Listening to Naxatras III records, the first thing that becomes clear is that this is a production that has its own distinct sound identity. In some of the reviews I read, it is stated that there is something about returning to the sound of the 70s, a phrase that is - probably - quite descriptive if we are talking about the aesthetics of the group's compositions, but not at all accurate if it refers to the sound of the album. We would be very lucky if the majority of the super-bands of the past were recorded in the way the “III” was recorded. That way, the corresponding albums would sound like that and not as a misty over-compressed mud (with few exceptions, of course). The result would be far more descriptive of what the artists were capable of, at the time.
The "III" offers a sense of immediacy and proximity, it sounds complete and well-balanced and pleasantly surprised us with its dynamic contrast. Here, the concept of balance is crucial. The seven, in total, tracks are far from being uniform in their dynamic profile, including both parts with extremely high energy, impressively filling the space between the loudspeakers and parts of exceptional serenity, where you can actually "hear" the space where the recording took place. The absence of compression is obvious and the end result offers a high level of realism allowing to feel like you are indeed in the same room with the group without much thought. Given the type of music, this could also be somewhat oppressive with some recordings, but to the astonishment of all those who listened to it, this is not the case at all. It is very likely that this impression is due to the way in which the recording was made, by taking audio from instrument amplifiers, direct mixing into two channels without a multi-channel recording, to the minimal and fully proportional nature of the whole chain, or due to the abilities of the musicians themselves and, of course, Agnew. Most likely, all of these factors have played their part in the final result, which is really remarkable.
The LP's cut and pressing is one of the best that has fallen into my hands in recent years and can only be compared with specialized, audiophile super-cuts such as some from Mobile Fidelity, Stereoplay, Opus3 and ESA Records, with an emphasis on the first two, because they tried to create some pop/rock cuts and pressings to appeal to audiophile listeners who have a preference for these specific music genres. Surface noise is extremely low and at times inaudible, leaving, during some fade-outs, the (minimal) noise of the master to gradually appear into the foreground. The record pressing appears to be of excellent quality, as the records did not have any kind of mechanical deformation that generates very low-frequency noise. Generally speaking, Naxatras III is a record that can offer a turntable/tonearm/cartridge system a difficult task, given that it is so quiet that easily reveals any tracking problems. There were, indeed, some parts where the LP12 sounded a little bit rough and edgy. Stereo imaging offered a sense of discipline and minimalism with right-sized sound objects and without seeking to dazzle the listener by overstating details, movement or the feeling of air. The final result serves well the natural sense created by the recording and seems to be fully aligned with the analog medium potential.

That being said, the duplicated master was at a completely different quality level, despite the fact that the listening conditions were not ideal, with the TD20A SE being a little bit lossy towards the highs (as reported on the measurements page), slightly depriving the feeling of air. Moreover, Magnetic Fidelity tapes are optimized for magnetic heads with a 0.75mm gap between the tracks but TD20A SE has a 2mm gap, and according to Jesus, this incompatibility reduces the signal to noise ratio by 2-3dB and can cause a slight amplification of low frequencies, due to magnetic flux leakage known as the "fringe effect ".
With all the above in mind, the tape sounded much better than the record, offering more tangible mid-band details and even lower noise than vinyl. The impression you make is that the result is more complete and more realistic, compared to the LP version, with the latter sounding somewhat insufficient, mechanical and empty, even though the tape reproduction, through the TD20 SE lacked some information towards the very high frequencies. The overall impression of the stereo image was not different compared to that of the LP, but the focus of discrete sound objects became clearer, and there was a feeling that the end result was more disciplined and more present.

A Conclusion

As far as Naxatras III is concerned, for both the LP and the tape release, there is no doubt that we are dealing with a reference-level production in every respect. The two media are of very high quality with the LP being one of the best we've heard in terms of cutting and pressing. If you are interested in this particular music genre, even a little, you should definitely get it. And even if you are not a fan of analog audio, there are, also, a CD as well as downloadable file versions, which deserve your attention.
The comparison between the vinyl record and the first-generation copy of the master tape does not leave much to the former, even if it is a very attentive work at all levels. Clearly, from the sound quality point of view, we preferred the tape.
As far as the whole experience is concerned, it was the first time we had the opportunity, the time and sufficient information to get a good idea about the potential of a fully analog recording today. The conclusion is that this potential is very high given that anyone involved has deep knowledge of the process and targets for the best possible result. It is also clear that, as a set of processes, an analog production is much more demanding in terms of the conditions to be met, from the creation of the first master and the cut/pressing of the record to the creation of the first generation tape copy.
Although the requirements for a high-quality turntable system are pretty much known today, because these products are active on the market for decades and there is a continuous line of technology evolution, magnetic tape playback especially at such a high level, opens up a new field of work and reflection for the industry, as the evolution of the tape machines, the design approach and the knowledge about what affects their quality stops in the 80s.

Given a top-quality tape production (and it appears that there is already a constant flow of releases), what choices are there, right now, if one has access to some of them? The obvious solution is to buy a new R2R device, but, for the time being, the market is rather immature to support the demand with down-to-earth machines. Alternatively, the solution of a second-hand device is a much more "easy" option, with the quotes emphasizing the need to implement a proper maintenance and adjustment process and, also, to adapt the evaluation tools available to us today to the unique properties of these devices.
Our experience of the TD20A SE re-commissioning has been particularly instructive: A master copy tape can be an excellent (probably the absolute) analog source but its playback should be done with respect and awareness of the many parameters that determine the performance of the respective machine because compatibility requirements between tape machines are much more complex. To my experience, most of the audiophiles are somewhat spoiled and are not psychologically and in terms of knowledge ready to face such a challenge, at least for the time being. Digital technology rarely requires regular maintenance and adjustments, and even in the era of CD players, the idea of a serviceable device with parts that need replacement simply took the form of a rare, unpleasant experience of a faulty optical head. If a turntable and a tonearm/cartridge system look demanding and complex, what can one say about the needs of a tape machine in mechanical and electrical settings?
Nevertheless, the final conclusion is that if one wants to have the experience of analog sound at the highest possible level he should aim to listen to tapes that have emerged as direct copies of an analog master, under optimal conditions, through the curation of a (probably) small tape collection and a quality tape playback machine. Is this a complex task? Clearly yes; an expensive one? For sure; One that needs dedication? Certainly. But when all these adversities were capable of preventing audiophiles from ever searching for higher fidelity?

Listening Sessions Recording

The following recordings were made with a DV-RA1000 Tascam master recorder (using 24bit/192kHz sample rate) and you can download them to have an impression of what the device under review sounded like. It is obvious that any recording of this kind could not be absolutely transparent but, according to our experience, the majority of sound attributes we listen to, during the actual listening sessions, are preserved. No need to say that you should use these samples cautiously and for informative purposes only. Do not rely on them exclusively to make any buying decisions. The file format is .wav, so expect that the zipped files will be quite large (even if the clips are about a minute or less long. You could use an ABX listening tool like the ABX plug-in for foobar2000 if you want to make some more elaborate experiments. Contact us if you have any questions.

Listening Sessions Recording TOC
Track #01	Naxatras III, LP, Linn LP12/Linn Ittok/Linn Karma, Rotel RHQ-10.
Track #01	Naxatrtas III, Duplicated Master Tape, Tandberg TD20A SE.

Naxatras III Magnetic Fidelity LP / Duplication Master
More Information
Magnetic Fidelity.
Agnew Analog.
Naxatras, profile at Bandcamp.
Naxatras III at Discogs.
Naxatras III, Duplicated Master.

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