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Category: Cassette Decks
Title: Nakamichi CR-2 - A Bargain Cassette Deck...	views:393
I purchased a Nakamichi CR2 cassette deck in 1990: it wasn’t intentional, honest - I actually went to an established dealer in southeast London to buy an analogue/vinyl based system. I had a preconceived ‘agenda’ believing that it would be fronted by a Rega Planar 3, having owned an original with an ‘s’ shaped Acos Lustre arm in the eighties, however on audition a Linn Basik won out! (such is life) along with a Creek 3030 and Linn Index speakers. I told the salesman that I also wanted a cheap cassette deck to make tapes for the car: and that I did not envisage spending more than about £100 for such a purchase/use. Whilst he was sympathetic to my idea he enthusiastically suggested that I at least listened to a Nak and so I did. I could not believe my ears, having been used to fairly mediocre cassette decks up to that point. The CR2 made incredibly believable, faithful and involving copies of LP’s (CD was out of my price sphere and desire) and what was more it played back pre-recorded tapes even more realistically. The rub was that the Nakamichi was nearly £400, more than the record deck and much much more than I would ever have considered spending on such an inferior format! But, I couldn’t resist the great sounds and went home with what I found to be a killer ‘budget’ system, lead (ironically) by the CR2. As I owned then a large collection of cassettes (and still do now) this approach was extremely attractive, as it opened up another world of potential music that I could explore – I’m an avid collector of all sorts of styles. I had already started to ‘suffer’ from the invasion of CD in that a number of artists that I liked were no longer releasing new material on vinyl (which was and still is my preferred format) only cassette and silver disc. The Nak meant I could enjoy thoroughly music that I had thought would be unavailable to me. And I owned a piece of audio history, having read over the years about the famous Nakamichi brand, but always believing that: a) it was perhaps ‘over-hyped’ b) I would need one of the top (Dragon?) models to enjoy a real leap in performance (cheap and Nakamichi did not seem to go together and c) I could not afford or justify such extravagance. Less is more? Well the CR2 is a very basic deck in many ways and in 1990 was seen to be up against Japanese models that sported all sorts of extras (auto-reverse, automatic tape calibration, lots of flashing lights/bells/whistles). Virtually nothing is automatic on it, but it gives nothing away in terms of performance and in my view adds a great deal and of course there is less to break or go wrong. This is obviously down to it receiving detailed attention where it is really needed in engineering terms, speed stability for example is spot-on all the time and it will handle even quite badly stretched tapes without problem – quite a feat. Less is more? Cassettes are now very cheap in many stores - especially charity shops - and in America (amongst other countries I have visited recently) new ones are being sold off at prices as low as £0.25p. This means I can exercise my particular vice of wishing to explore every musical area, but inexpensively, thus constantly broadening my horizons. Whatever the calibre of the music, the CR2 really makes the most of the material, which is surely all you really want and should expect? When set up accurately for metal or chrome tapes (which are themselves very affordable these days, if you can track them down) the CR2 really shines in capturing the feel of each and every performance, when I indulge in a little home recording. Less is more? I now use a £3000 CD transport/DAC combination within an active/tri-amped system: it’s at times very satisfying, but I often return to the CR2, at a fraction of the price, for musical enjoyment of pre-recorded tapes and also to preserve certain radio broadcasts for ‘posterity’). Solo piano (like George Winston) is well reproduced, other acoustic instruments equally sound real and believable and electronic/electric music really bounces along with no detail-killing hiss or extra compression. Pitch is always beautifully stable and vocals ‘sing’ just as they should. Less is more? I lashed out on a DR10 3 head Nak last year at much more than the CR2 cost me: it should - in theory - have given me far more enjoyment, but I am still disappointed. Perhaps it’s been manufactured down to a price and is now competing rather unfairly in a market and industry where digital systems and software code have the advantage of being cheap to produce (if not to initially develop)? The CR2 seemed to come from an era where good old-fashioned physical engineering skills allowed it’s strengths to shine through. In so many ways the DR10 lacks the depth, warmth and overall ‘rightness’ of it’s little brother. It also misses nice little touches like the cassette door that lifts out completely for easier head cleaning and a volume level control to allow matching of the output with other sources. I hope it proves as reliable: with one exception when the CR2 inexplicably ‘lost it’s way’ in 1995 for a few days and would not respond logically to the logic controls (we never found out why, but thanks Graham for trying!) it has never let me down. That’s very good value for money for 13 years very hard usage: and I understand that spares/servicing are still available. Many products and manufacturers are renowned for being unbeatable, but are they always justified? In my opinion Nakamichi’s reputation for excellent sound, reliability and build quality is fully supported by my experience of the CR2. Don’t get me wrong - it is by no means perfect and I would not want to give such an impression (when competing with the ultra quiet digital possibilities of CDR, Minidisc and DAT) however for the outlay it is quite simply superb, especially for the playback of pre-recorded material, much of which many of us already own or can obtain very economically. It might not possess the awesome abilities of the legendary ‘professional’ machines that Nakamichi once produced; nevertheless it is lovely piece of kit to use, with a silky smooth transport mechanism and large controls that fall to hand easily. The display is attractive and easy to read and the light behind the cassette window allows the amount of tape that is left to be viewed. The manual controls permit fine-tuning of different makes and types of tapes and it consequently responds well to all sorts, making the most of each formulation – as long as you remember to set it in the first place!

Review submitted: 2004/2/16

Category: Amplifiers Receivers
Title: NVA amplification (Phono 2; P90 preamp; A80 monoblocks)	views:3678
Over the past 2 months I have seriously upgraded my hifi amplification using exclusively NVA products. The 2 most important things I have to say are: 1. NVA kit sounds excellent. 2. NVA products all represent outstanding value. I can describe the NVA sound only as thoroughly "accurate". This remarkable accuracy – both tonal and spatial - gives an uncanny realism to any music that now plays through the system. Specifically, the NVA kit that I have been most impressed by are: 1. P90 passive preamplifier (£160 'b stock' (due to 'faulty casework'): This was the 1st piece of NVA kit I tried. It was plugged into the power amp section of my then Musical Fidelity A3.2 integrated. I was immediately impressed. I was totally unprepared for The effect of passive preamplification on CD sound: So much of the 'grain' that I had always attributed to short comings of 44.1/16bit disappeared to reveal a far smoother sound, far closer to analogue than I had previously heard. There was a 'master tape' immediacy and accuracy to the sound that was very impressive. 2. SSP interconnects (£2 per cm per pair): After the success of the P90 I ordered some NVA interconnects to go from my DAC to to the P90 and then from the P90 to my amp. NVA produce interconnects to any length. I went for short 25cm lengths. I have always regarded as interconnects as 'tweaks'. Useful tweaks, but tweaks nevertheless. Again, I was fairly gobsmacked when the SSP cables arrived and were hooked up. I felt that they made for far more of an upgrade than any cable has a right to make. Again this upgrade was in the direction of greater tonal and spatial accuracy. A significant feature of the SSP cables is that they are extremely rigid. They have to be bent into the desired shape before being plugged into their appropriate sockets. It seems to be the case that the rigidity of the cables has greater strength than the solder joints at the plugs. I managed to break one of the joints when unplugging them in readiness to move my kit around. To their huge credit, NVA repaired the joint for £1 including postage . (I attempted to repair the joint myself, but managed to damage the plug in my attempts to unscrew it ). 3. A80 mono blocks (£650 the pair including postage for ‘b stock’ models – again reportedly ‘faulty casework). Prior to purchase, I felt that these were a bit of a risk: To fund their purchase I had to sell my Musical Fidelity A3.2 integrated amp that had been functioning as a phono stage and power amp. My main concern was that whereas the MuFi amp is rated at 185 Watts into my 4 ohms Dynaudios, the A80s are rated as 80 Watts into 8 ohms. I am aware that power isn’t everything, but it is something (or perhaps I’ve been reading too much Musical Fidelity !) There is no given rating for the NVA A80s into a 4ohm load. I emailed Richard Dunn of NVA enquiring as to what the A80s would deliver into 4 ohms. His answer was just that they would manage “well over 100 Watts”. Richard is not a man who believes in blinding his customers with the science behind his products! However, inspired with confidence in NVA following the performance of the P90 preamp and the SSP interconnects I placed my order for the A80s. My confidence has been massively rewarded. The A80s have the same sonic fingerprint as all of the other NVA equipment that I have heard: accurate realism. In the case of the A80s this is especially true in the bass, which is wonderfully deep and incredibly well defined. I’m certainly not at all concerned about how many watts I may have lost to my old MuFi! I have also bought the NVA Phono 2 (£360 including separate PSU). I’m repeating myself again here, but accuracy is the name of the game here. I intend to listen to more vinyl through it in the coming months (I seem to be hooked on the sound of CD through the NVA P90(?!)). A run of NVA SP digital interconnect links my CDP and DAC – I suspect digital interconnects make for less of an upgrade than do analogue, but I can’t criticise the SP digital wire. To complete the NVA cabling 2m of LS3 speaker cable (£48) wires in my speakers. This is at least as good as the Chord Odyssey 2 that it replaced (and that I sold on ebay for over £70!). Further to this, NVA recommend that due to the design of their amps, LS3 cable is used for safety. As I stated at the outset these changes have represented a major upgrade to my system. The P90 preamp, Phono 2 and A80 setup has cost £1,298 (including the NVA interconnects). The MuFi integrated amp that they replaced cost £1000 when new, so price wise they are not a million miles apart. However, the sonic difference is light years wide. The NVA system is a huge improvement on the old MuFi A3.2. Some further points regard NVA as a company - an unusual company. NVA sell only on ebay, so auditioning presale is impossible. However, a 2 year full money back offer is available on their products (!). As NVA state, this “OFFER IS QUITE UNIQUE IN THE WORLD OF AUDIO AND HI-FI”. Thus, extensive home trialling is a reality. I have also successfully tested this offer after wanting to trade in some cabling for different lengths of the same cable. (It seems that traded in items are sold with no significant reserve on ebay.) Throughout this post I have referred to ‘NVA’. What NVA really is, is Richard Dunn. Richard now operates the business on his own. Products are made to order, so although they can take up to 14 days to arrive they do possess a kind of hand crafted cottage industry charm! Finally, a comment must be made about Richard Dunn himself. If he is to be judged by his hifi then he is a genius. If he is to be judged by his sales policies then he is reasonable and generous. If he is to be judged by his comments then he has strong views! Whatever one’s view Richard Dunn is certainly a refreshing maverick who comes as a welcome change to a hifi industry that is at best bland (see the adverts and sales blurb in the back of any hifi mag’), and at worst embarrassing (see recent threads on the Musical Fidelity Supercharger). In any event, NVA products sound to my ears, exemplary. It is wholly accurate – surely the aim of all hifi. DF SUMMARY: I can describe the NVA sound only as thoroughly "accurate". This remarkable accuracy – both tonal and spatial - gives an uncanny realism to any music that now plays through the system.

Review submitted: 2007/8/14

Category: Cables and Interconnects
Title: NVA Sound Cord	views:3047
Been using the NVA sound cord for almost a week now if I am being very very picky the sound-stage is (not small) but a touch smaller then some other cables (bad bit over) I will not even talk about price yet, as a stand alone cable it is just the best I have ever used (and I have used far far to many from £10 - £250) I feel at last I can stop ******ing about with interconnects. Maybe I kept trying because deep down something was not quiet right. I will not slag of my expencive Ecosse over the last 3 years it has killed many many well rated cables. But the Sound Cord gives me everything the Ecosse gave me except the very large sound-stage. For me that is a very fair swap for the amazing Musical-ness I now get with the Sound Cord. Maybe its synergy I don't know. I can still do the hifi bit if thats how I want to listen to music, but the key word now is musical and that goes for whatever crap me and my wife fancy. Over the last week we have been listening to so much more music and so much less hifi. And here is the killer Richard/NVA sell this cable from £7ish - £12ish depending on lenght on ebay. Now I know many people do not think interconnects effect the sound but most people do upgrade from the stock lead you get in the box. If you spend lots on cable or if you are just upgrading from the supplied cable,at £10 this is really really worth you giving a try, you never know like me it could save you £100s or even £1000s I now have about 5 cables to sell on ebay the cheapest one left cost me 3x sound cord the dearest would get me 15 sound cords. I wish I tried them years ago, oh well better late then never. Ps. I have none whats so ever connection with Richard or Nva, except ofc the Sound cord :)

Review submitted: 2008/6/5