The Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista Vinyl S is a new phono preamplifier, designed primarily for use with the brand’s own integrated amplifiers.
Vinyl has been big business for quite some time now, and phono preamplifiers in particular remain popular. Many modern integrated amplifiers or preamps still lack a built-in phono stage. That trend is starting to shift somewhat, but even then, the built-in option is often not the highest quality. In situations like that, a device such as the new Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista Vinyl S becomes essential. The unit is a “distilled” version of the flagship Nu-Vista Vinyl 2, though by no means a watered-down one. It is fully balanced and built with a discrete layout, featuring eight 7586 nuvistor tubes (visible in the screenshot on the small plug-in board). Compared to its bigger sibling, it comes in a more compact chassis designed to match the recent Nu-Vista series. According to the manufacturer, the phono preamp is primarily intended to be paired with the Nu-Vista 600.2 and 800.2 integrated amplifiers.
Class A
In terms of inputs, you can choose between 2 × balanced XLR and 2 × standard RCA. Naturally, settings such as gain, capacitance and resistance are adjustable, and several equalisation modes are provided. A two-stage subsonic filter is also available. Altogether, the Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista Vinyl S should deliver excellent performance with both MM and MC cartridges. Internally, it uses a three-stage Class A amplifier circuit built with transistors. The first balanced gain stage is handled by the aforementioned tubes (or tubelets, as they’re quite small). For EQ curves, you can choose between RIAA, Decca and Columbia.
The Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista Vinyl S is priced at £5,499.