Nagra BPS phonostage

Jerome W

Jerome W

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Joined
Apr 5, 2013
Messages
1,289
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Near Paris, France
Hello folks,

Just a few words about my discovery of this little box.
I bought a SH unit and received it one week ago.
Initially to play vinyl through my GAT preamp.
But since I just sold an T2 A23 SUT for the EMT XSD15, I first tried it with this cart, into a line input of the Shindo Giscours preamp.
Set at 100 ohms.
And changing cables, I also tried it through the GAT.
In both cases, I am using the BPS as intented by Nagra, with a 9V battery.

I am very very impressed by its performance.
The unit is dead silent ( absolute zero hum or noise on my Altec speakers ! ) and the surface noise on all my recordings is reduced dramatically.
The dynamics and attacks are stunning. The richness and truth of timbres is beyond words. The stereo scene is superb.
The instruments have a very convincing 3D dimension and weight. But not overweight or fat. Just the perfect amount of meat on the bone.

This is a phonostage at the level of quality of the tube phonostage of the Shindo Giscours.
The MC input on Shindo preamps is compatible with very few carts ( ideal with SPU ones).
I can say that I much prefer the sound of the Nagra BPS with the EMT XSD15 than what I had with my A23 Hommage T2 made specifically for the EMT. The Nagra stage, which uses also transformers for MC cart, is more natural to my ears.

This is a gem. Truly.
If you're looking for a world class phono stage, do not look for spending more than this BPS. You can find one on the used market but even at Nagra's list price, this thing is just a stunning value for the money.

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This does not surprise me. I've heard the BPS and have owned my Nagra VPS for 7-8 years now. These phono stages really punch way above their weight class. I've since added a Nagra VFS and MPS to my VPS. Over the years I've used a Lyra Skala, Lyra Atlas, Jan Allaerts MC2 Finish and now a ClearAudio Goldfinger Statement v2.

Pretty sure the BPS and VPS are very similar circuits one solid state and one tube based. I think the (one of the) special thing in both of these phono stages is the Nagra in house wound step up transformers.

This is a older pic, when I still had my Nagra PLL (which is a great preamp btw-It took a Robert Koda K10 to really get something better)

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Jerome...I've enjoyed mine for the last 5 years. I think it must be a perfect complement to the EMT cart which tends to have a fuller sound from what I've read because the BPS with some MC carts can sound a bit thin with thin sounding carts. With my Benz cart (out of commission) and my Dyna cart it sounds pretty neutral and probably with fuller carts it probably let's that meat on the bones come through which speaks to its transparency and resolution. As for dynamics and speed you are spot on. And when unplugged And just on battery power, it's dead silent...agreed.

It definitely punches above its price point for sure. Glad you have gotten to experience it. Fremer actually preferred its sound to its bigger brother the VFS but Fremer is not a big fan of tube sound. He did rate the BPS as Class A which is impressive relative to the company it keeps. The only thing I would have liked is for an easier way to change cartridge loading than to have to unscrew the back and physically change the loading chips but I am nit picking now.

Congrats!
 
jfrech said:
This does not surprise me. I've heard the BPS and have owned my Nagra VPS for 7-8 years now. These phono stages really punch way above their weight class. I've since added a Nagra VFS and MPS to my VPS. Over the years I've used a Lyra Skala, Lyra Atlas, Jan Allaerts MC2 Finish and now a ClearAudio Goldfinger Statement v2.

Pretty sure the BPS and VPS are very similar circuits one solid state and one tube based. I think the (one of the) special thing in both of these phono stages is the Nagra in house wound step up transformers.

This is a older pic, when I still had my Nagra PLL (which is a great preamp btw-It took a Robert Koda K10 to really get something better)

attachment.php
Click to expand...

Wow !
You played with very nice carts !
Jan Allaerts carts are terrific.
 
cmalak said:
Jerome...I've enjoyed mine for the last 5 years. I think it must be a perfect complement to the EMT cart which tends to have a fuller sound from what I've read because the BPS with some MC carts can sound a bit thin with thin sounding carts. With my Benz cart (out of commission) and my Dyna cart it sounds pretty neutral and probably with fuller carts it probably let's that meat on the bones come through which speaks to its transparency and resolution. As for dynamics and speed you are spot on. And when unplugged And just on battery power, it's dead silent...agreed.

It definitely punches above its price point for sure. Glad you have gotten to experience it. Fremer actually preferred its sound to its bigger brother the VFS but Fremer is not a big fan of tube sound. He did rate the BPS as Class A which is impressive relative to the company it keeps. The only thing I would have liked is for an easier way to change cartridge loading than to have to unscrew the back and physically change the loading chips but I am nit picking now.

Congrats!
Click to expand...

Hello Cyril,

Thank you !
Yes, I know you are a happy camper of your BPS and now I understand why you kept it for so long. So much refinement and excellence from such a tiny box is unbelievable. About the load switching, I think that we could let it open for the try out.
 
Jerome W said:
Wow !
You played with very nice carts !
Jan Allaerts carts are terrific.
Click to expand...

Thank you, They are all special and have their unique traits that cause one of them to be better in one area or the other. The Allaerts had that special ability to unravel the music...really sweet cartridge.
 
Thanks for the review Jerome. I have been thinking of trying a BPS for a little while so its nice to read some user feedback.
 
Well a couple of days after reading this a used one came up for sale and it arrived today so I am looking forward to seeing what it can do.
 
So after a few listening sessions my thoughts so far. The timbre of instruments is excellent, soundstaging is also good but not quite as expansive as I was hoping for but I think I put this down to my overly high expectations :rolleyes: It's a very refined sounding phonostage. I would like the top end to be slightly more open and this is where I miss the valve magic of my Audion and Aesthetix. However I think this is very much dependant on my system and taste. Nothing sounds harsh or edgy through the BPS and on that front it reminds me of the Allnic 1201 I demoed some time back. Overall at the price it is a fantastic thing. I am looking forward to hearing it with some other cartridges in the future.

The current system it is playing in consists of:
Avid Ingenium turntable, Audio Note 1 arm, Hana SL MC cart
Karan i180 integrated
Avalon Avatar loudspeakers
 
Congrats! Great phono especially at the price. I agree about sound staging not being as expansive especially in the depth arena.
 
Cyril,
That is a Nagra's specific choice to focus on timbre accuracy, micro dynamics and musicality with a somehow very precised and focused soundstage which can appear "small" by comparison with other high end brands.
There has been a turn though with the Classic Amp which throws a very large and deep image.
 
So this must be where the VPS improves on the BPS...depth and stage. It's as wide and depth and especially focused as it needs to be for me. I've hear ARC and Allnic...The ARC is bigger...but seems to loose some of the image specificity...Allnic has more layering...I still preferred the Nagra VPS in my system for that timbral accuracy, and dynamics mentioned above
 
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