Big-name tube amplifiers often don’t come cheap. Being the preserve of dedicated audiophiles, those delicate hi-fis put their glass components on show to tell you just how pricy they really ought to ...

Nagra’s $24,500 PREAMP II-S is considered one of the company’s more affordable preamps. That alone tells you exactly who this is for—and who it isn’t.

I then tried out just about every mic I own through it - from vintage Neumanns, AKGs, and Schoepses to beyer M88s and M500s, as well as a cheap" Groove Tubes AM11 - and compared the results with the ...