Source: Press Release, Last Accessed: 2023/11/02

With more than four years of R&D efforts, Nagra’s new ambitious phono stage is finally in production and first units are shipping worldwide. The HD Phono is the ideal companion to the Reference turntable and Reference MC cartridge.
Nagra’s first phono stage was derived from the Nagra IV-S reel to reel microphone preamplifier stage. It later evolved into the phono section of the legendary Nagra PL-P preamplifier. Ever since, Nagra has worked and improved that original design with the creation of the Nagra VPS. In 2020, after years of extensive research and countless listening sessions, the company introduced the Nagra Classic Phono. The HD Phono follows the introduction of the Reference turntable and Nagra MC-4 moving-coil cartridge.
The HD Phono is a two chassis design in which the delicate phono stage circuitry is isolated in its own CNC machined aluminum chassis. It is dual-mono, pure Class A with 100% tube stages. In addition, it incorporates remote control cartridge load adjustability from 5 to 390 Ohms, with steps as fine as 5 Ohms for smaller values.
The HD Phono features a new generation of input transformers. Following the original VPS transformer and based on the Nagra IV-S microphone input transformers, the HD Phono’s transformers are a fourth-generation design featuring 26 dB of gain. The new transformer’s core is made with Cobalt and is cryogenically treated over the course of several weeks to improve performance. The transformer itself is hand wound in a very delicate process requiring watchmakers’ type of skills.
A second chassis serves to house a massive super capacitor external power supply. Super capacitor based power supplies provide all of the advantages of battery-based power supplies with the added advantage of accepting and delivering charges much faster and with higher current load and cycle stability than battery-based power supplies, the company says. This power supply is based on those of the HD Preamp and HD DAC X but features a number of innovations which make it even more silent with improved performance. Both chassis are suspended in a system incorporating a damped, constrained layer platform coupled to four isolator-damped towers, providing superior vibration resistance.
Connectivity includes two MC inputs on RCA, one MM input on RCA and one option input for future custom transformers.

For more information: https://www.nagraaudio.com/

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