Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista Vinyl 2 Phono Preamp

Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista Vinyl 2 Phono Preamp

Previewed on the UK Hi-Fi Show Live ’23, Musical Fidelity’s a lot anticipated Nu-Vista front-end elements – a DAC and phono preamp – see the latter main the cost

Visitors to Henley Audio’s room on the UK Hi-Fi Show Live at Ascot’s Grandstand again in Sept ’23 will have already got seen three new objects from Musical Fidelity, all partnering the Nu-Vista PRE and PAS amplifiers [HFN Mar ’23]. The new M8xTT turntable [HFN Dec ’23] has already premiered in these pages and that is adopted right here by the Nu-Vista Vinyl 2 phono stage and Nu-Vista DAC, each priced £9999.

In distinction to the UK-designed amps, the DAC and phono preamp each hail from Heinz Lichtenegger’s long-standing technical partnership with Slovakian firm, Canor. Neither product is strictly a shrinking violet and each distinction with the diminutive ‘Box’ sequence of partnering model, Pro-Ject. At 22kg the Nu-Vista Vinyl 2 is huge. Very huge. It would not match into my rack cabinets, and dwarfed my Yamaha M-5000 energy amplifier [HFN Aug ’20]!

At Your Discretion

That mentioned, the Nu-Vista Vinyl 2 is not merely huge for the sake of it, for there’s a deal of expertise hosted inside that more and more familiar-looking aluminium enclosure. The circuitry is balanced all through, promising superior sound high quality and enhanced noise rejection, however there are inevitably extra elements required with additional calls for on actual property. Moreover, in frequent with different MF merchandise, ICs give option to discrete elements wherever doable, the corporate stating that IC op-amps ‘don’t are likely to sound so impartial, dynamic or vivid’.

The preamp’s internals comprise three distinct amplifier phases that contribute to the eight MM/MC acquire choices on provide. RIAA equalisation is achieved by passive circuitry specified by two separate blocks, and the Nu-Vista Vinyl 2 additionally gives Decca and Columbia EQ curves. Musical Fidelity’s conventional 7586 nuvistor valves act as a ultimate, absolutely balanced buffer stage. Four gadgets are used per channel, with all sides laid out on a separate PCB.

Power is offered by a low-noise PSU circuit fed by an encapsulated toroidal transformer. The IEC enter socket is industrial grade and incorporates a DC blocker and EMC filter. Each channel has its personal energy provide regulation whereas the separate, greater voltage provide for the nuvistors is additional filtered and controlled. However, there’s (or might be) the choice of powering the unit from a partnering Nu-Vista Uni PSU – mentioned to be coming later in 2024. This will bypass all of the AC provides within the Vinyl 2, including additional filtering and regulation for the promise of even higher efficiency.

The outboard PSU sockets are clearly marked on the Nu-Vista Vinyl 2’s rear panel. Here you may additionally discover 4 inputs – two on balanced XLRs and two on unbalanced RCAs – plus balanced and unbalanced outs which might be unswitched, so can be utilized concurrently. Operation of the unit is easy and intuitive, aided by a front-panel show greater than your common smartphone. The left-hand rotary selects the enter, whereas the suitable steps by means of choices within the menu, at the side of ‘Enter’ and ‘Back’ buttons beneath it.

Born To Be Mild

Each enter might be set to MM or MC and this, together with the acquire, loading, response curve and subsonic filter settings, is saved and remembered. For MM, good points of +40dB, +43dB, +46dB and +49dB can be found, together with load capacitances of 50-400pF, in 50pF steps. The enter impedance is fastened at 47kohm. For MC, the acquire choices are +60dB, +63dB, +66dB and +69dB, with loading supplied over 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 400, 800ohm, 1kohm and 47kohm. Unusually, the subsonic filter has two settings – ‘Mild’ and ‘Standard’. The former setting corresponds to the IEC normal of a 6dB/octave roll-off at 20Hz, whereas Standard sharpens this to 18dB/octave.

By method of housekeeping, the menu additionally lets you change between ‘gentle’ (white background) or ‘darkish’ (black background) choices for the show, and set a brightness degree. In the bottom setting, the show will change off and solely come on for 3 seconds when a parameter is altered. All of the features of the unit might be managed by the provided IR distant handset.

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March 5, 2024 at 12:20AM