- Nagra announces a new ‘Compact Player’
- No CD here, though: it’s a distinguished combination of transmitter and DAC.
- At £6k (around $8k / AU$11.3k), it’s still cheaper than the brand’s alternatives.
Nagra is at it again: the Swiss high-end audio brand has just introduced new Hi-Fi hardware that will burn a hole in your bank account… but this time only a medium-sized hole.
Money without purpose
We love providing practical shopping advice on the latest tech products here at TechRadar. But sometimes what we love even further is to enjoy the most outrageously luxurious, high-end, high-end offerings on the planet. That is what we bring you in these columns of Purposeless Money; You can read the entire series here.
This is the Nagra Compact Player, presented as a music streamer and DAC that uses the brand’s custom technology and design. I’m talking power regulation, a clock generator, and a small, simple bar design: everything you need (and nothing you don’t) for natural sound.
The brand presents this new release as an alternative to the Nagra Streamer, but with a DAC for space-conscious buyers.
The device plays from the Connect services of Spotify, Tidal and Qobuz, as well as AirPlay 2 and vTuner, as well as playback from local storage thanks to a USB port, and has support for various music management applications such as mConnect and Roon. However, as it sounds in the press release, it can only be controlled from a smartphone.
A solid price to pay for audio greatness
The Nagra Compact Streamer is not for light money, hence the “Money without purpose” part of the headline. In the UK, it will sell for £5,998, which converts to around $8,000 or AU$12,000. It’s fair to say it’s not a budget pick.
However, as part of Nagra’s Compact family, it is not a super premium model neither. These devices are designed to be smaller and more affordable than other offerings from the company.
The Nagra Classic Amp, for example, costs more than double that price, and you’ll need to add a ‘0’ to the end of the Compact Streamer’s price if you want to purchase multiple devices from the brand.
So while the Compact Streamer may seem like a premium option, it’s actually a reasonably affordable option for audiophiles on a mid-budget who want an all-in-one device.
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