As one of the world's leading specialists in advanced alloys and precision grinding of diamonds, Nagaoka is one of the few that both develops and designs all parts of the pickup itself. With a history dating back to 1940, Nagaoka can safely be considered one of the most traditional producers in the field.

Nagaoka's model portfolio of pickups is all in the MP (Moving Permalloy) series where the magnetic circuit is very short to get as close to an ideal pickup as possible. The use of very powerful magnets (samarium cobalt), boron needles and UT58 aluminum in combination with extremely high precision in diamond grinding and construction of the pickup housing make the MP series transparent and perfectly balanced pickups with fantastic tracking ability and high resolution.

The entire MP series is of the Moving Magnet type, where changing pins is affordable and easy. Nagaoka also offers the MP series mounted in headshell with SME frame. As everything is developed and produced in-house, Nagaoka can offer its pickups at very competitive prices.
The Nagaoka MP series regularly scores high above their respective price ranges in tests conducted by international HiFi magazines.