David Solomon Peachtree Audio

The QB9 big advantage would have been s/n ratio, last series, however with the new nova 2.0 platform, we're hitting 111dB A-weighted at pre-amp level. I have been wanting to do this comparison too. Should be interesting.

Rob, somehow I missed this. Thank you very much. Glad to be back. Me, Jim and Andrew are really enjoying the new line. Take care and thanks again for the positive comments.

So interesting. Thanks for sharing.

Me too. Thanks for asking.

Hi Christopher,FYI, we're using a dedicated headphone amp. It'll put out 11.5v direct. Good for most anything outside the 600 ohm variety. Hope this helps, although nothing takes the place of a good listen.

I get that better than most. It was our baby. However, when we come out with our tube buffer that's inserted in the loop, we'll still have 105dB S/N and a black background. Not much way to do it (in circuit) and keep that kind of performance. As much as I love the tube and concept, performance took precedence. Great feedback, Thank you. David

The new 2.0 series will take the place of the current line. And yes, while the 65, 125 and 220 are good values and sound quite musical, the new line is quite a step from anything we've built in the past, including the Grand. The nova150 and 300 will use the ESS reference 9018 and have 105dB A-weighted s/n at speaker level. Great headphone section as well. The 150 will sell for $1500 and the 300 will be $2200. Hope this helps. David

Ross, Thank you for the inspiring comments. So glad you like the Grand. We were really proud of that piece and learned so much doing it. Shortly, we'll have the nova300 which will be the replacement. Tidal still remains my favorite source for everyday use. It's such a wonderful service and sounds great too. Add on Roon and it's almost all music lovers will ever need. It also works well combining my high res recordings from my HD.

We are working on a system in that range. Top secrete at the moment. And probably not what you'll expect. ?

Thanks for the comments. So glad to be back home at Peachtree. FYI. The sona is made in California. We'll be sending a lot more out for review.

Good question. Both analog. We're using the new I. C. E.

Hi All, <br /> Hope you don't mind me chiming in as I feel like you're all talking about my 2nd child. First, I'd like to sincerely thank Chris for a wonderful review on the Nova. We had many discussions while Chris was doing what seemed like hundreds of hours of listening. As you can see at present,we don't even advertise here, although this will change because as I've started reading the many posts on CA, you are my people and I'm so glad to find you! Your comments and desires are important to me as you are the crowd I want most to please. <br /> I had mostly "not" been reading the site because I'm the only sales and marketing we have in the USA and as you can guess, it's a very big country and not enough time to even get around. <br /> As a point of interest to some, we started the company because we figured out 4 years ago that this whole computer audio thing was here to stay so we'd better get busy improving the experience before the whole industry figured out the same. We thought we could bring something to the table that was missing, other than another iPod dock. We also wanted to invite the millions that use a music management system on their computer to join us in the world of high end audio. <br /> So we started the company with as good sounding technology as we knew existed at the time. The original Decco used a simple Scott Nixon 16/44 DAC... Not because it had the highest number, rather when we listened, we heard a musicality we had not experienced from another. I still love that DAC although its specs were not the best. During this time, we were the Musical Fidelity distributors (7yrs) and had sold thousands of really impressive DAC's. We had a chance listened to everything on the market many times over. Some great, some hype but most that were dry and unmusical. Most f them were good DACs for CD transports, but not computers as they ave their own seperate challenges. <br /> We learned much while at Musical Fidelity and even more designing and producing the original Decco. <br /> When we learned enough, we did everything we could to make the Nova a much better working and sounding unit. We'll continue in that path because we love this stuff and want great sounding gear in our own home. When we design product, it's for us first and I'm almost as passionate about sound as I am family. We designed the Nova in a way that sounded best to our ears and got us involved in the musical performance. While it does sport good numbers, it was the sound and interaction w computers that won us over.<br /> Last year at CES, we used the Nova as a DAC for a $300k system and compared all week long to a 30k CD player. Some liked the CD player a little better, some liked the Nova a little better, but we did make the point that this was a really good sounding DAC worthy of being in a system of this caliber, which was the whole purpose of the setup... <br /> Using the ice cream analogy from above... I like vanilla....Hope you do too, but if not, buy DAC that's more chocolate...or whatever flavor you like. We don't try to hit a number for number sake and never will. We chose the 24/96 Sabre DAC because when the design was done, we liked the way it sounded and how it handled high jitter info from computers, AE, Sonos and the like. By the way, the DAC board is no toy. It has over 450 components around the DAC chip itself. On top of that, we have 11 regulated power supplies and each input is transformer coupled so your switching power supplies and multiple grounds would have little or no affect in the bit stream. <br /> Bottom line is we made the best unit we could make at the time... and we will get even better as time passes. <br /> <br /> <br /> I appreciate the passion on this site about the review. I have had the Audiophile bug for 30 plus years now and understand and appreciate your comments. We have a passion as well that we hope translates through our product and we appreciate any comment, positive or negative as we learn something from them all. If you Google Peachtree Audio, you'll likely come up w more than you want to know from impartial parties on sound, build quality and our relentless pursuit for great customer service and product satisfaction. Hope you'll be impressed with everything about our company and product. This is our never ending goal.<br /> <br /> There were some specific questions throughout the posts that I thought I would answer. Hope it helps. <br /> <br /> **Does the USB input handle 24/96? <br /> <br /> No, at the time, we didn't want to pay for the Async code as most music on computers at the time (and still today) were not burned or downloaded in a higher bit rate than 16/44...and we wanted to keep the cost down. Personally, I have about 2500 CD's, none of which are anything above 16/44 and I've transferred most of them to a hard drive. According to the RIAA stats, that's what most of you have too. <br /> When we designed the Nova, you would have been hard pressed to find anything recorded and available in 24/192 outside of a wonderfully recorded Scottish Nose Whistle band in 24/192 and even now, 24/192 is just catching on for people who want to listen to somewhat less eclectic music. We will be doing 24/192 in future products because there will be more and more content available and ESS has some great sounding DAC's that will accommodate. <br /> <br /> **I'm wondering how the Nova & Decco pre-amps differ from each other.<br /> <br /> The preamp in the Nova has a "class A" 30 ohm output that's far superior to the original Decco. I think it makes a great preamp and the tube buffer really adds to the experience. If you like that kind of flavor... <br /> <br /> **Can you tell me whether there's room for a Apple Airport Express in that empty space that they have for the Sonos?<br /> <br /> The Airport will fit into the slot, but when you use the optical out, it prevents it from being inserted. So it will be outside of the Nova, but it's so small, it's fairly easy to hide. <br /> <br /> **And whether they've taken any steps to control potential noise from putting a wireless device *inside* the chassis, so close to the signal path (or if they intend the Sonos to be run via Ethernet for best performance)?<br /> <br /> Quite a few... The DAC is galvanically sealed so nothing from the outside gets in except 1's and 0's. When at CES this year, we had a whole Apple network done wired and wireless w/o a hitch or any interference. (2 Apple TV and 1 Airport Express controlled by our iPhones)<br /> <br /> ** I'd love your thoughts on the Nova iDecco, when it's available. Saw it in Vegas at CES and it seemed very promising. Not sure how it's different from the Nova (other than half the output power). Does it use the same DAC section, for example?<br /> <br /> The iDecco and Decco 2 are available now. The DAC and preamp in the Decco 2 and iDecco are exactly the same as the Nova. They both have about half the inputs and about 1/2 the power of the Nova. <br /> <br /> Lastly for peace of mind, when we sell a unit through our site, we give you 30 days to see if you love it as much as we do... If not, we want it back please! This is our baby, and we only want it in a home where music is loved and our unit cherished. <br /> <br /> Hope this answers at least some of your questions. Please don't hesitate calling or writing any time if you have a question or comment. I get them all and answer every one personally. [email protected] <br /> Best to you all, <br /> David Solomon<br /> Peachtree Audio