Brutally raw and uncompromisingly pure: The ultimate hardcore analog experience (Turntable tips) 

Nice trigger. 🙂 Nagra build the best recorder, but not the Nagra E, it is the Nagra T. I love your stories of real life in the 1980s, and your british humour makes my day.

Love the way you just ‘look’ at this ‘chat bot’ mate 😆. Brilliant Channel. Love it 👍👍👍👍👍👍

Fun fact, Nagra is Polish for "it will record". Mr. Kudelski, a Polish engineer chose that strange, yet good sounding word as the name of his recorders.

As a sound editor/field recordist for last 35 yrs,been through most of the transitions in tech. During covid i went a bit nuts and grabbed almost every nagra i grew up with! all the 4's,even found a nice IS machine, then i found a E machine and fell in love. so easy to use and teach to helpers on field sessions. Of course when getting payed gigs the Sound Devices boxes come out to play, but i still incorporate a Nagra when possible!

You are a very nice person with your style and presentation, you also achieve what very few do, you throw bait in all your videos and everyone is happy.

I had the privilege to operate a Nagra recorder while working with a woman filmmaker in Massachusetts. You are right about it being the finest recorder made. It was true to life as possible. We used to rent the equipment from a place in Cambridge, and i used it several times. Always a joy to operate. We also used several high-quality microphones 🎤 for the work. Thanks for bringing back fond memories! Art 😅

There aren't other ways to express my feelings about your channel: just lovely. All you say comes from practice experience and carefully listening. And the humour is free! Thank you from one of the thousands who love Nagra machines (all of them)

Thank you for your video !!

You are a hoot! I enjoy watching your channel.

This time I agree with you 100%. Especially the things you said about digital - spot on!

One of the best Audio file . You are Sir

Ohh your sense of humour !!!!!! Love it, and love you 👍👍👍😘😘😘

I finished my 16 by 30 audiophile room a few months ago and I just realized I painted the walls the same color as yours. I love that look.

Beautiful machine.

Nagra is hardcore. I have two Revox decks so I kinda get it. The Nagra is a a deck for pros, not consumers. It requires a professional mindset and, like you explained, must know the pin arrangement of the inputs. I would drool for an A80 as it represents a pinnacle mastering machine. There are stereo Nagra machines, but unless you have megabucks, that’s not happening. Nagra is too serious for non professional use. Mono works for some things, but I prefer stereo for audio reproduction. Nagra build quality is unquestionable. I’ll love my Revox decks and be happy in them thank you.

I understand very little of what you are talking about, but I can't stop watching because you are a very droll and entertaining man indeed!

Digital is lifeless, soulless and stone cold frigid... in other words accurate. I've been saying this for years my friend. Thanks for backing me up.

Yes, indeed, they are the best.

It's a work of art just on that table.😮

I like your posts. Thank you. I would like to confess my brother is a snob. He loves the sound of AB tube amps with huge transformers and lots of power driving huge expensive speakers using an analog source. To him, that is great sound. That is what he was told was high fidelity for years and he internalized it. I have an exceptional ear and the sound of a type D amp playing a digital source better creates the sound of the instruments and voices played through well made medium sized speakers that are properly placed. Yet, nobody is holding them up as them as the best, because they sell for way less and they'd rather sell the more expensive tube amp and large speakers than the solid state amp and the medium sized speakers. In the end, whatever you love is what you should have. When I was 8 I would listen to WLS Chicago on my transistor radio and think I had it made. The truth is it is all relative to what you personally like. Who cares why? The best system is the one that best satisfies you.

Cool and fun video :) For my taste (even if in a different "sport" altogether) i like the engineering and design of a stereo unit like the Technics RS-1500 to RS-1800 models. Good tape control is just so important for good sound (and also, dang those Technics units just looked soooo spiffy & nice!) Cheers! :)

I own two of them; 7,5"ips and a modified one @ 15"ips. Best tape sound I ever heard. You can overdub by bypassing the tape back of the erase head.

Interesting point.. thankyou..

Nagra makes cool looking gear, I've always referred to it as "laboratory chic". Nagra components looks like nice lab test equipment.

I own 2 Nagra E's. They look just as well used as yours. They are in need of some TLC. Maybe this video is inspiring to get started. Parts I have in abundance including the original "in the field" parts supplied with te recorder.

Nagra made a portable On-inch type C video recorder in partnership with Ampex in the 1980’s. 20-minute recording time in the best video quality of the day. In college I got a few freelance gigs with a local 16-mm industrial filmmaker where I operated a Nagra (can’t remember which one) as the location sound engineer. What fun!

She’s frightening!

Thanks so much, you are giving us lost knowledge on the subject of Analog Tape recording.

Like your humour....keep on

Hainbach introduced me to this piece of amazing technology.

In the 80's, when my brother and I were first learning to play guitar, we would sit around the living room jamming with friends. My dad gave us a reel-to-reel deck. An Akai. I still have it but it doesn't work. I have about ten tapes of us jamming. I would love to convert them to digital but I would have to get the deck repaired or buy a working one. I'm not sure it's worth it. We weren't very good. Too bad nobody makes cheap new ones.

I’m from the South of America. And the heat is brutal:)

Nakamichi Dragon anybody.... :) I feel a backlash a coming / great presentation highly informative - greetings from Ireland

Nagra is so good that no company thought to make plugin base on it yet.

It sounds like fun, and I considered equivalent of using a film camera to take pictures. And my friend has some vintage Leica cameras for exactly that.

Banana sockets !!!!! Brilliant !!!! God, I feel old 😀😀😀😫😫😫

Ah Nagra! It's Christmas soon isn't it? Tease audiophiles time...

I find your channel fascinating. And I'm wondering your opinion on tascam portastudio, model 488... cheers!

‘Just a taste of the fun you’re going to have’. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😘

5:37 - What's with all the 'white space' above the VOLTAGE LINE INPUT?

My Philips N4407 reel to reel tape recorder also has Din connectors and they do sound pretty good

Here to contribute to your RU-vid stats. I distinctly remember hearing “… 7 and a half i.p.s…” but can’t recall any of the other quoted specifications of the machine. 😂

I have a Nagra IS ("Idioten Sicher") obtained from a flea market held by DR, the Danish National Broadcasting Corporation for like £50. Back in the day, when these machines were brand new, they went for something like £6000. Quite a bargain. The (pretty well-known) danish journalist who sold it to me claimed it was virtually indestructible! I had an epiphany of the Earth being destroyed and the only thing left would be a spherical cloud of Nagra recorders...

Re passing the audio from your DAW through the Nagra E ‘warm up’ ten sound. I was technical manager of a major pop studio in the 1980s, when mixing to PCM1610, PCMF1 or DAT, often the stereo mix would be passed through an A80RC 1/2” running at 30ips on route to the digital mastering machine,

interesting and entertaining look at this piece of equipment. i hope your tongue-in-cheek review gets some ebay sellers a few more sweet sweet audiophool bucks.

Come to Canada, you'll love Nagra Falls!

Nagra Vs Studer? You can't go wrong with either imo.

You can get banana plugs from most "electronics" and hifi stores in Sweden.

I’m from south east Kent, but I’m with you on pronunciation of bus, bath & castle. Admittedly I grew up in a coal mining village.

What is your professional opinion on Tandberg machines? Were they considered top range? I got a TD20a, including remote.

In the real old days they recorded in 35 mm film. Talk about a big buck thing ! I know i am on my way to audio hell. With little or no money because i live in seattle for the reason i love my grandaughter, I have found that if you take an old sony stero betamax covert it to audio you almost sound like you know what your doing. Love yourshow. Best Regards Jack.

We're all entitled to our opinion, as far as tape recorders go, I much prefer Tandberg which can produce good highs even at 1-7/8th IPS tape speeds. Crossfield bias eliminates the self-erasure of highs due to the bias signal that occurs on normal tape recorders.

Probably my last comment just for the nostalgia trip if nothing more. I have a Tandberg TD20SE and for a home audio enthusiast, that's what I would call myself, they're a pain in the ass. Instead I did use my Nakamichi Dragon quite a bit. They're stored out in the garage and my wife wants to throw them all in the trash...

18ips is best if you are trying to sell your modified Studer C37 with its 50 Hz AC synchronous capstan motor to a customer that lives in a country which uses 60 Hz mains. Tim could spin a yarn.

Audiophile went to a Steely Dan concert. Said it wasn’t accurate enough.

10:36 I guess that'd fit the bill perfectly for those wanting to save their treasured mono records - be it 33 1/3 rpm LPs or gramophone shellacs or other such media. Oh you say so yourself at 12:27 !

I haven't watched the video yet, but howabout going to a concert.

Nothing sounds better than a NAGRA........ except a DAT. So I understand it was originally a Polish company, or Mr Nagra was Polish (though Nagra is a name often found in India). Steve McQueen (the Hollywood actor) came across an early tape recorder by the company when filming on location in Poland. Impressed with its quality, portability and robustness he took one back to the LA studios, where it quickly became the de-facto kit for live sound recording for film. Now whether this was before or because of pilot tone and the Nagra's ability to record synchronised sound or whether that came later as the demands for using it for film work I'd be interested to find out. Its interesting that it ends up in Lausanne, where its pedigree of ultra precision design could be compared to a Swiss Watch. And its interesting that Stellavox, though adopting a similar aesthetic and making machines of comparable quality, never really made inroads into Nagra's main customer base, film and tv. I always thought the E was a bit of a step backward compared to the III and IV in all their variants. An attempt to make a 'cutdown' cheaper and easier to run version of the industry workhorses. Its interesting to see Nagra's trademark precision styling in modern context. Compare its internal circuit board with that of a laptop to see how far things have progressed.

Really cool. Weird AI woman explaining was a disturbing interlude…

I gave my Nagra away to a friend of mine who's an analogue freak. I do most of my stuff in box anyway.

What's the tune in the end called? It sounds awesome...

Weird idea, what about using two of them for two separate channels and playing together in stereo channel 😅

12:55 I can't believe sound engineers slate audiophiles all the time when they themselves come up with gimmicks of this sort...

Her voice is amazingly good…, almost sounds real????👍

I'm fairly certain your technical consultant prefers the 10.5 inches, and something older with VAGRA. I mean NAGRA! Damn spell checker. 😉

I have no idea what you're talking about, but I appreciate the presentation and video quality

Obviously a NAGRA centric video, Yet no mention of Stellavox?

Love the girl. That kind of thing would be perfect for my channel but everyone Avatar provider I've looked at are ridiculously espensive. Which one do you have? (I won't poach her from you.)

I love this channel for the information, but also for mocking the analog audiophile nonsense.

*There's only one ultimate Nagra portable recorder - This is the Nagra IV-S-TC (Time Code) version. All others pale in comparison.*

Reel to reel is a pain in the arse. Nagra might be OK but it aint a Studer. Sticky shed anyone?? Revox tape machines are fine until Rifa madness sets in and the whole thing goes up in a puff of acrid electrolyte smoke.

Hmm? I can buy banana plugs at the nearest 'hifi store'.. (and I'm in continental Europe, in the EU even)

I'd actually forgotten DIN connectors existed.

What about Studer.

Sounds like you're from Macclesfield and looks like your Paul's twin brother but was born 15 years earlier. Cheers from Flour Bluff on the Texas Gulf Coast

1:06 I suppose Uher will think otherwise... :D

I want a Studer studio r to r

Miss my Revox A77

A pity it is mono. I will have to design some synchronising circuit to use two for stereo 🤣🤣

Thou art deliciously contumelious, you digital scapegrace you.

That AI femme-bot blathering on about the Nagra is straight up disturbing.

Uncle Grumpy is that your digital girlfriend? A bit on the young side.

Grown up M3GAN is creepy

Pesayta, not pessetta, por favor.. I'm right because I'm from the South. Lol. Sorry, couldn't resist. Love your output. One thing. Your lovely end fotos are rather spoiled by that modern black plug...

I’m more of Nagra Turntable guy! Nagra R2R are great, but there is so limited reel content and tape wear out after about 50 plays.

Interesting use of AI for the company-provided information. It's almost real but not quite.

No r in castle.

Wow and flutter issues?

Nice video,...but what's the point???

Any so-called audio file that believes that tape and vinyl are more accurate or sound better closer to the original performance then the best digital methods offer is an audio fool.

If you want the really correct pronunciation of Nagra, ask a Pole. BTW, it means "It will record".

Just use 2 and then play your tapes like 2 monobloc dac's lol.

I have a 2008 Cadillac DTS with factory tweets and two 10-inch JL woofs in that big spacious carpeted trunk powered by a Rockford Fosgate punch 500 amp... I'm truly sorry my friend, but you and all your equipment has lost to me. I am the undisputed king of perfect audio experience.

I like your immitation of an AI head listening

Shitpost 1. (noun) any content on the internet whose humor derives from its surreal nature and/or its lack of clear context. Differs from a meme: whereas a meme's humor comes from its repeatability, a shitpost is funny simply because it isn't a predictable repetition of an existing form. Shitposts can become memes, but memes cannot become shitposts. 2. (verb) to create such a post

sounds like ass but looks cool

I can never tell if you’re trying to be informative or condescending.

Excellent! I'm looking for one now in Canada. Is the Meltron E the same machine?

I bet the Female/Male-tag for naming input/output of connectors will offend the LGBTH people today.

Easy servicing? No thanks, I don't want any electronics that needs servicing during its useful life 🙂.