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.
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Over the past 2 months I have seriously upgraded my hifi amplification using exclusively NVA products.
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