Pre/Power Amplifiers

Matthieu Latour – recently promoted to Audio Division Director – notes that 'We still have gaps in our ranges and are working to fill them. Our ambition is to continue developing products that offer a complete end-to-end solution from source to amp.'

With the inexorable move towards non-physical media, one wonders if Nagra has plans for streaming or servers. 'A difficult question as we offer top digital recorders, and often music lovers use them to playback in a home environment. It wouldn't be technically very challenging to make a “home” version, though we feel the market is full of questions at this time. We are waiting to see if streaming services take over traditional playback, if standalone servers will become obsolete or if a real hardware player is still needed.

'Another problem is that Nagra components can run for decades, when a computer-based solution is obsolete after about three years. How do we provide customers with a long-lasting solution? We have yet to find a satisfying answer.'

With the niche revival of open-reel, the brand's fans are hoping for a return of the Nagra IV. A new model or a reissued IV-S or TA would be a major coup, but Latour says that, 'It would probably cost a very high price. The big question mark is the heads. Nagra used to manufacture 100% of the recorders in house, including the tape heads, which were unique. I am not sure we could build them in-house today or find suppliers that could build to the same quality.

'Today we still service many analogue Nagras and we still have a few new heads!'