NVA Reviews (THIS THREAD IS ONLY FOR STASHING REVIEWS)

All reviews of NVA here.
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Re: NVA Reviews (THIS THREAD IS ONLY FOR STASHING REVIEWS)

Unread post by savvypaul »

Graham (by email)

Upgrade from Rega EAR. I am really thrilled with the NVA Headphone Amplifier which just oozes quality in addition to the weight being reassuring. I connected it to my Marantz CD63 KI Signature CD player and used my Sennheiser HD700 headphones and the sound is superb. I played some of “The Planets” as recorded by Charles Dutoit with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and “Mars” was exhilarating. This recording won the Gramophone Magazine Award in 1987 for “Best Engineered recording”. I have attached the article from the October 1987 edition of Gramophone. It really is an exceptional recording. If only all progressive rock albums of the 70s were recorded to that level of audio magnificence!

View AP10H Headphone Amplifier on the NVA website: https://nvahifi.co.uk/products/nva-headphone-amplifier
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Progmeister (Fri Sep 25, 2020 10:40 pm)
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Re: NVA Reviews (THIS THREAD IS ONLY FOR STASHING REVIEWS)

Unread post by Bencat57 »

This is a review but probably for a very unique system so might not be that useful for many . Apologies but I think it does how the way in which NVA Amps can be used .

I recently had an NVA 20 upgraded and bought a newly upgrade NVA 20 from another on the forum . Being something of a disaster area I had blown up two NVA 20 units one was able to be repaired and upgraded the other was a nice box of parts. This all happened just a covid came in and when Tomasz went back to Poland . So only by the middle of September was I able to get my 20 repaired and I bought another upgrade unit .

In my spare bedroom and playing as I write this (Soul on Ice by Me'shell Ndegeocello for thos interested) I have my DIY (well sort of) Active system it is a Raspberry PI with HiFiBerry Digi + hat feeding a MiniDSP DDRC 24 unit which acts as Digital Crossover / DAC / Pre and DSP unit using DIRAC Live 3.0 . The signal for each speaker unit was then fed to a pair of Fidele Audio modified and matched Quad 405 power amps one each side (Left/Right) powering a stacked pair of KEF 103 Reference speakers from 1973/4 . These sit one on top of the other on a granite board on spikes . The top pair are fully connected with both bass and treble units . The lower pair are connected by the bass units only to add additional low end power .

The two NVA 20 power amps have today been installed in place of the Quads this is a pair of 20 watt units replacing a pair of 100 watt units so on the face of it not the best idea . I will be honest after playing three or four tunes early today I thought I had made a big mistake the sound was narrow and thin and no bass . Voices sounded synthetic and there was no sound stage . After making a cup of tea to calm down and then going through all the connections and settings (this is a long job) I found that I had not made any errors. Two NVA amps were about to be ripped out and sent to the stack for storage .

Then I had a think these were effectively two brand new amps and really had not had any running in except for the testing done at NVA . So I went and had breakfast and took a short walk leaving the music playing at decent volume . A return some hour and half later and things were much improved . Bass was there but not over played it also now had texture I could tell how the string was being played plucked , hammered etc . Voices were now real people and they had also gained texture and emotion . To my surprise the sound that illustrated the most difference was hand claps you now were very easily aware of when they were real and made by people or digital synthetic claps as a backing .

The NVA now sound superb with real natural sound and a very surprising ability to drive the system to very loud levels . The Quads had been excellent but this is sound better in every way , more control more width and depth and a nice ability to hear in to the recording . You can hear the differences in quality of each recording and you are certainly aware when the quality is not of the best but most important the music shines through and you get the enjoyment of that without the faults being highlighted so much that it makes it unlistenable and i have experienced this before . The NVA Amps will be staying put I will just have to find another project for the Quad 405's . Thanks to NVA for all their hard work and if anyoen is interested in hearing what I am hearing this will be my system when the Wam Show returns and anyone is welcome to drop in say hello tell me I am deaf or buy me a drink

Andrew

View NVA power amplifiers on the NVA website: https://nvahifi.co.uk/collections/power-amplifiers
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Latteman (Mon Oct 05, 2020 2:56 pm)

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Re: NVA Reviews (THIS THREAD IS ONLY FOR STASHING REVIEWS)

Unread post by savvypaul »

By Rabski at the WAM forum:

I'm sure Paul won't mind if I state that there are a number of NVA items here for review at present, including a P50SA. The full review(s) will come in the next couple of weeks, but if you want a sneak preview of the P50SA...

As I type this, for an experiment the P50SA is currently a couple of metres away, with my non-oversampling valve DAC, a conventional (and costly) DAC and two different phono stages on the inputs, and my single-ended 845 valve amplifier attached to one of the outputs. That would be a big ask for a passive, as the 845 has been deliberately configured to run with a specific, active valve preamp, so the input stage is not ideal for various reasons.

It's an unfair 'test' really and I did it just for a 'why not', but against my expectations it's sounding excellent. It seems completely unfussy and it's very, very 'clean', with a vanishingly low noise floor. I know the Seiden switches well. They're among the best available in terms of contact quality, insulation, sealing and lack of crosstalk. Audio Note resistors are also taking over where the now unobtainable Shinko tantalums left off. Together those components are as good as you'll get within the bounds of common sense and reasonable budget, and better than a great many well-regarded makes would bother to fit. The slight surprise here is how damned quiet it is in other ways. Plumbed in as it is, it's (most unfairly, and not as recommended) surrounded by transformers, valve circuits, assorted power supplies and more than a few mains cables. Considering the construction, I would have anticipated some noise problems, no matter how small, but the noise floor of the 845 (which I have worked very, very hard to get as low as possible) is all that's audible. I'd have also expected a more two-dimensional and tonally 'flatter' presentation, but that's not happening either.

The last plus point is that I normally get the hump with switched attenuators, as in my setup they have an annoying habit of being either too quiet or too loud when you want the volume down for late-night listening. This one seems to have a much more sensible adjustment range and I presume a lot of care has been taken over resistor selection to get sensible volume steps at the quiet end of the range.

Negatives? Fingerprints and dust, mostly. Gloss acrylic is the company's 'look' and I'm rather a fan of the minimalist, clean approach. However, you'll need a duster close at hand if you're as OCD as I am about grubby prints and dust. Depending on the setup, 23 positions may be a touch tight, but a quick try out will show if the settings work as well for you as they seem to here. The price seems a fair bit at first glance, but it's not. A quick look at a few component suppliers and you'll get a bit of a shock. By the time you take into account casework and all the odds and ends, it's decent value. Especially in mind of the sheer time and pain involved in all the soldering.

If your system has enough gain for a passive (non-transformer) preamp, and most do, I'd put the P50SA a (very) long way up the list of options.

https://www.hifiwigwam.com/forum/topic/ ... nt-2638266

View the NVA P50SA passive pre-amplifier on the NVA website: https://nvahifi.co.uk/products/nva-p50s ... eamplifier
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Re: NVA Reviews (THIS THREAD IS ONLY FOR STASHING REVIEWS)

Unread post by petermanc1234 »

Got my A60 mk2 upgraded to S300 spec, nearly 3 weeks ago. My setup is all NVA kit. I use a Gyrodec S.E with a Orbe platter upgrade kit, a tecnoarm 2 and a clear-audio concept moving coil and that is it . Before the upgrade the sound was detailed just as i like it, I like a good sounding bass with weight behind it. This upgrade has finally given me what I have always craved for in a system and some lol. Everyday I will play music on it. My cartridge now is starting to sing. I now feel I can stop looking for a good amp I have found it. Cheers Paul and Tomasz for a great produce.

View the NVA S300 stereo power amplifier on the NVA website: https://nvahifi.co.uk/products/nva-arti ... -amplifier

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Re: NVA Reviews (THIS THREAD IS ONLY FOR STASHING REVIEWS)

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NVA AP10H HEADPHONE AMPLIFIER £475
Chris Frankland
Hi-fi World December 2020 issue
5 globes - outstanding, among the best

VALUE - keenly priced.

VERDICT - this headphone amp has a detailed, dynamic and tuneful sound with great bass power and weight.

FOR - detailed and dynamic with good subtlety. Packs a real punch at the bottom end.

AGAINST - no adjustment for headphone impedance. No balanced outputs.

View AP10H Headphone Amplifier on the NVA website: https://nvahifi.co.uk/products/nva-headphone-amplifier
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Re: NVA Reviews (THIS THREAD IS ONLY FOR STASHING REVIEWS)

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NVA LS7 SPEAKER CABLE £900 PER 2M SET
Chris Frankland
Hi-fi World December 2020 issue
5 globes - outstanding, among the best

VERDICT - great sound, tight fitting banana plugs and lacking any serious flaws.

FOR - not too bulky or stiff. Excellent sound quality.

AGAINST - nothing to speak of.

View the NVA LS7 speaker cable on the NVA website: https://nvahifi.co.uk/products/nva-ls7- ... us-lengths
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Re: NVA Reviews (THIS THREAD IS ONLY FOR STASHING REVIEWS)

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https://nvahifi.co.uk/

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Re: NVA Reviews (THIS THREAD IS ONLY FOR STASHING REVIEWS)

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slinger (Tue Nov 10, 2020 3:35 pm)
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Re: NVA Reviews (THIS THREAD IS ONLY FOR STASHING REVIEWS)

Unread post by savvypaul »

Detailed review of P50SA, S150, M300 system on the WAM forum...

https://www.hifiwigwam.com/forum/topic/ ... mplifiers/
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Re: NVA Reviews (THIS THREAD IS ONLY FOR STASHING REVIEWS)

Unread post by savvypaul »

Jan, by email
LS3 Jumper Cables
I’m really impressed by the effect they have. I replaced the non stock silver jumper cables with the ls3 and the sound was open, articulated, detailled it’s just amazing. With these jumpers speakers are able to perform as intented by Samy penttila.

Thanks,
A very happy customer

View NVA LS3 speaker cables on the NVA website: https://nvahifi.co.uk/products/nva-ls3- ... us-lengths
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