Mr. Venkat has recently tied up with NAT Audio from Serbia and their products are now available through AV Lounge, Chennai.
NAT Audio specializes in tube gear.
Weblink
NAT Audio
THE FULL SET UP
I had the pleasure of auditioning the NAT reference tube mono block amplifier 'Magma' along with the NAT reference line stage control (preamp) Magnetostat.
I heard it at three stages,at about 20 hours, at about 75 hours of burn-in and serious listening two days back after it had done around 120 hours.
I have heard quite a few high-end tube amplifiers including Siltech SET amps, and was wondering what more could another amp of a similar pedigree offer!
The NAT Magma is a DHT (Direct Heated Triode) SET amp pumping out 170 watt of power in Pure Class A.
"Before going into the technicalities, I will just share my listening experience"
After hearing to this amp for about 15 odd minutes, I was reminded of the scene from the movie 'Ratatouille' where the food critic is transported to his childhood after taking a bite of the Ratatouille dish served to him. The dish cooked is so yummy and homely that he forgets about his being a critic and gets transported to his childhood when he ate the Ratatouille made with love and care by his mother.
The predatory audio critic getting ready for audition
This amp just instantly shut my critical auditory instincts and made me focus on the music.
It transported me to the adrenaline driven youth were the focus was on enjoyment.
I was so driven that I threw out my audiophile instincts on source quality, and grabbed the ipad from Venkat (Roon based streaming), and started searching through my favorite songs from his hard disk.
What was not there, I picked up from youtube.
Soon I was listening to a wide variety of songs from Mughal-E-Azam, Guide, Anand, MS Subbulakshmi (Baja Govindam), some of my fav. Tamil, Hindi and English tracks, and Illayaraja gems.
It played anything I threw at musically. Speakers simply disappeared from the room.
Let me be frank, some of these youtube songs were very ordinary recordings and some of them were mono tracks, but nothing mattered.
Later after my palate was satiated, we did some listen to a number of audiophile recordings, single mic recordings (a blend of jazz, country, vocals and more).
Everything sounded great and magnanimous.
I have to give praise to the speakers here as well. It was the same Rosso Fiorentino Siena tower speakers that I had listened to before with other amps and have always been impressed with how musical it sounds. The NAT with a similar character is a match made in heaven with the Rosso speakers.
Simply put, the stage simply comes alive and brings the listener closer to the music.
This experience was an absolute revelation. The NATs are truly involving and without a shred of doubt among the very best that I have heard till date.
What about any negative aspects, I simply could not find any within my auditory abilities.
It is a great achievement and a must listen for music aficionados.
I will again reiterate, it was an experience and not an audition.
The Gear in its entirety: I have also mentioned the MRP of the products as provided by Mr. Venkat as a number of forum members were interested in it in the review I had penned last couple of times.
Transport: Rockna WD Net (network transport) - 8L/
DAC: Rockna WD Signature Balanced DAC - 14.85L (with NAT Audio Vaccum Cord)
Preamplifier: NAT Audio Magnetostat Reference - 12L (with NAT Audio Vaccum Cord)
Power Amplifier: NAT Audio Magma New - starts @ 30L, topend 33L
Speakers: ROSSO Fiorentina Sienna towers - 16.40L
Cables: Purist Audio Design Neptune series for all cords, balanced interconnects and speaker cables – prices vary, so not listed.
NAT MAGMA NEW MONOBLOCKS:
NAT MAGNOSTAT preamp
NAT Audio specializes in tube gear.
Weblink
NAT Audio
THE FULL SET UP
I had the pleasure of auditioning the NAT reference tube mono block amplifier 'Magma' along with the NAT reference line stage control (preamp) Magnetostat.
I heard it at three stages,at about 20 hours, at about 75 hours of burn-in and serious listening two days back after it had done around 120 hours.
I have heard quite a few high-end tube amplifiers including Siltech SET amps, and was wondering what more could another amp of a similar pedigree offer!
The NAT Magma is a DHT (Direct Heated Triode) SET amp pumping out 170 watt of power in Pure Class A.
"Before going into the technicalities, I will just share my listening experience"
After hearing to this amp for about 15 odd minutes, I was reminded of the scene from the movie 'Ratatouille' where the food critic is transported to his childhood after taking a bite of the Ratatouille dish served to him. The dish cooked is so yummy and homely that he forgets about his being a critic and gets transported to his childhood when he ate the Ratatouille made with love and care by his mother.
The predatory audio critic getting ready for audition
This amp just instantly shut my critical auditory instincts and made me focus on the music.
It transported me to the adrenaline driven youth were the focus was on enjoyment.
I was so driven that I threw out my audiophile instincts on source quality, and grabbed the ipad from Venkat (Roon based streaming), and started searching through my favorite songs from his hard disk.
What was not there, I picked up from youtube.
Soon I was listening to a wide variety of songs from Mughal-E-Azam, Guide, Anand, MS Subbulakshmi (Baja Govindam), some of my fav. Tamil, Hindi and English tracks, and Illayaraja gems.
It played anything I threw at musically. Speakers simply disappeared from the room.
Let me be frank, some of these youtube songs were very ordinary recordings and some of them were mono tracks, but nothing mattered.
Later after my palate was satiated, we did some listen to a number of audiophile recordings, single mic recordings (a blend of jazz, country, vocals and more).
Everything sounded great and magnanimous.
I have to give praise to the speakers here as well. It was the same Rosso Fiorentino Siena tower speakers that I had listened to before with other amps and have always been impressed with how musical it sounds. The NAT with a similar character is a match made in heaven with the Rosso speakers.
Simply put, the stage simply comes alive and brings the listener closer to the music.
This experience was an absolute revelation. The NATs are truly involving and without a shred of doubt among the very best that I have heard till date.
What about any negative aspects, I simply could not find any within my auditory abilities.
It is a great achievement and a must listen for music aficionados.
I will again reiterate, it was an experience and not an audition.
The Gear in its entirety: I have also mentioned the MRP of the products as provided by Mr. Venkat as a number of forum members were interested in it in the review I had penned last couple of times.
Transport: Rockna WD Net (network transport) - 8L/
DAC: Rockna WD Signature Balanced DAC - 14.85L (with NAT Audio Vaccum Cord)
Preamplifier: NAT Audio Magnetostat Reference - 12L (with NAT Audio Vaccum Cord)
Power Amplifier: NAT Audio Magma New - starts @ 30L, topend 33L
Speakers: ROSSO Fiorentina Sienna towers - 16.40L
Cables: Purist Audio Design Neptune series for all cords, balanced interconnects and speaker cables – prices vary, so not listed.
NAT MAGMA NEW MONOBLOCKS:
NAT MAGNOSTAT preamp
