drumstix18

You can see it on Crutchfield's website. http://www.crutchfield.com/p_731DACIT/Peachtree-DACiT.html?search=Peachtree+Audio+VENDORID731&searchdisplay=Peachtree+Audio

Chris - nice review. How would you compare the DAC.IT to Arcam's rDAC (with and without the PSU upgrade).

After using these for almost a month, here is an update. Firstly, I still love them. I did end up switching out the tips for a slightly larger though different shaped set (also included in the box) and that changed a couple of things. Noise isolation improved from its already good state. Bass significantly improved across the board and now I would even recommend this for Rock and Pop listening.

This is a first impression review. Firstly, the fit is just perfect. My ears are small and the smallest earbud tips work the best. BTW, you need to tug pretty hard to remove currently installed tips. The infinitely adjustable loop is probably the coolest and most useful feature. I've always had problems with earphones falling out and I know these won't. They provide some pretty good passive surrounding noise isolation (not active-cancellation). So far, I've sampled some Diana Krall, Sypro Gyra, Adele, Neon Trees, Black Eyed Peas and Muse playing off of my iPhone with 'Sound Check' turned on. Jazz and lighter rock/pop sounds fantastic and well balanced across the frequency spectrum. There's not a lot of bass on most rock, pop (fine by me). Midrange seems pretty clear. Highs are a touch bright for my taste. As an iPhone handsfree unit, they work just fine. Vol Up/Down and Play/Pause controls on the inline remote work just fine. By far, the nicest set of earphones I've listened to. For most people, this will be an excellent upgrade over Apple's white buds.

Chris, excellent work with the CA website. This is my first post, though I've read up a lot from here. I've been looking to add an outboard DAC at the ~$1000 price point. I've heard a Lavry DA10 at a friend's place and that's what triggered the desire. Firstly - do you have a formal review of the Peachtree iDac yet? I've tried to find one anywhere on the net, there does not seem to be one. Secondly - I ended up getting a unit anyway, as well as an Arcam rDAC. I ran an informal shoot out between the rDAC, iDAC and the built-in DAC on the Marantz NR-1601. My first impression is that the rDAC over USB is no better than the NR-1601 over optical. The NR-1601 actually has very tight bass and good dynamics (surprising for a cheap receiver) and a lot of headroom, especially in this bi-amped mode that I am running. The speakers create a pretty wide soundstage, though not deep (that could be a factor of speaker placement). That said, the speakers cast an enveloping sound field with sounds appearing to even come from behind me at times (e.g. Run Like Hell from Pink Floyd: Pulse), through either DAC. Enter the Peachtree iDAC - By this time, I had a lot of expectation from this unit. I tried out through USB and optical connections and could not find any significant difference other than a perceived drop in bass impact. Kick drums sound slower and laid back than both the rDAC and the built-in DAC. The iDAC may be creating a slightly wider soundstage and marginally better imaging, but I could not really tell for sure. For all practical purposes, the built-in DAC in the NR-1601 sounds the best to me especially considering the price point. The results (at least to my ears) surprise me enough that I contacted Marantz to find out what DAC vendor they use and anything about their implementation. Turns out it it is the AKM AK4358VQ, which apparently, is the same DAC chip that is used in their higher end models including the AV7005 and SR7005 - so in other words probably not a highly regarded vendor. The USB implementation is adaptive. It may be that the analog section of the NR-1601 itself is poorly implemented and that's the reason I can't tell much of a difference between the 3 DACs, but it certainly sounds better than the HK AVR7550HD and HK AVR3600 that I've had in the past both of which are way more expensive units. Also the NR-1601's reviews confirm that most people like the way it sounds. I've been hearing a lot more detail than I've ever heard before and that happened with just ALAC files, Pure Music (memory mode), the Marantz and my Paradigm speakers. Of course, it could be speakers themselves and if so, I now know I can't get any better sound with these speakers without significant $ investment. Lastly, it could be my ears, in which case, I'm glad I don't have to spend any more money . The only place where the iDAC might do a better job is with compressed files (streaming audio like Spotify) using the upsampling function - but a 1000 bucks just for that is not yet justifiable. BTW, I've called out only the differences that I noticed. The midrange and treble performance of all 3 DACs were very similar to my ears. Based on all the above, I'm unable to justify using an outboard DAC unless there is some other unit that will do much better than the iDAC. That said, sadly, it means that I now extremely curious as to what I might be missing . Any ideas, thoughts, experiences to share?