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Peachtree Nova 300 Review (Dac & Amplifier)

amirm

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This is a review and detailed measurements of the Peachtree Nova 300 integrated amplifier with DAC and phono stage. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $2,199.

The Nova 300 fits in the same chassis Peachtree has successfully used for last 15 years:

Peachtree Nova 300 review amplifier USB DAC.jpg


It is quite beefy and heavy. Volume indication overloads the LED indicators on the input selectors showing a coarse 8 levels. For this price, I would expect an LED indicator of the actual level.

Back panel shows good quality connectors and rich feature set for a desktop amplifier:

Peachtree Nova 300 review amplifier USB DAC back panel phono.jpg


Peachtree made its name on DACs and had quite a following 10 to 15 years ago. I was curious to see if they had upgraded the DAC subsystem since that time so let's start by measuring that subsystem.

Peachtree Nova 300 DAC Measurements
I fed the unit over USB input, sampled the output from preamp out and adjusted the volume to output 2 volts:

Peachtree Nova 300 Measurements DAC.png


Well, this is quite disappointing. Noise and distortion as represented by SINAD is in decidedly "poor" category in today's market:

Best DAC amplifier review 2021.png


The unit can output higher levels so let's see where peak performance is:

Peachtree Nova 300 THD+N vs level Measurements DAC.png


No luck there as the peak is actually at 1 volt out.

Dynamic range is better indicating distortion is the problem:

Peachtree Nova 300 DNR Measurements DAC.png


At this point I didn't see a need to run more DAC tests and switched to testing the amplifier.

Peachtree Nova 300 Amplifier Measurements
For this test I used the Aux analog input:

Peachtree Nova 300 Measurements Amp.png


Ah, this is very respectable and above average performance:

Best integrated amplifier review.png


SNR is not as good as I like at 5 watt but gets better at full power:

Peachtree Nova 300 SNR Measurements Amp.png


Crosstalk is excellent:
Peachtree Nova 300 Crosstalk Measurements Amp.png


Frequency response shows a peaky filter though:

Peachtree Nova 300 frequency response Measurements Amp.png


Multi-tone results indicate "good enough" performance:

Peachtree Nova 300 Multitone Measurements Amp.png


What was most impressive is the amount of power available from the ICE amplifier module they are using:

Peachtree Nova 300 Power into 4 ohm Measurements Amp.png


Since I am driving two channels, this is over 900 watts of power! Indeed the peaks hit 1000+ watts:

Peachtree Nova 300 Peak and Max Power into 4 ohm Measurements Amp.png


Even at 8 ohm there is copious amount of power available:
Peachtree Nova 300 Power into 8 ohm Measurements Amp.png


Interesting to see little dependency on frequency until we hit a few watts:

Peachtree Nova 300 THD vs Frequency Power into 4 ohm Measurements Amp.png


Conclusions
It is clear from the measurements that the DAC subsystem is a relic that is simply behind times. The product though benefits from using a competent B&O ICE module which has stayed competitive producing far more power than you would expect in a "lifestyle" product of this kind. As such, I expect subjective performance of Nova 300 to be excellent regardless of what speaker you attach to it. I usually don't worry about price/performance in my reviews -- that is yours to worry about. :) But here, the price seems quite high relative to the other internet focused amplifiers which have come out in the last couple of years. Some of those are powerful and all of them cost a lot less than the Nova 300.

Overall, I can't recommend the Peachtree Nova 300 as a new purchase.
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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
 

_thelaughingman

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I'll admit i've been enamored and wanted to purchase a Peachtree Nova after seeing at a friend's house a while ago but could never justify the price. Well there's always better performance to be had at cheaper price based on the numbers of this review.
 
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Vini darko

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Nice range of conections on the back. 2 usb inputs :eek:
Beast of an amplifier and while the dac isn't sota (by a large bit) is that a euphoric distortion profile?
Do you know if the headphone socket has its own amp , or running off the speaker outs?
 

Kachda

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I once bought a Peachtree Audio decco125 SKY amplifier from the Peachtree ebay store. Unfortunately it caused a constant high pitched whine from the tweeters, and had to be returned. Wasn't very impressed with it because of that. It has very high SAF (spouse apporval factor) though.

A few years prior to that, being a complete newbie to good audio systems, I walked into a stereo store and the sales guy was pitching me on of their original amplifies that uses a tube in their pre-amp section. He explained this was to remove the 'harshness' from mp3 files, but at $1500 it was way too much for me back then.
 

Rottmannash

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I assume this uses SMPS-how does this amp deliver such high peak power than some of the other Class D amps measured here? Isn't that usually power supply limited?
 

m8o

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Having the loop out/in feature is _really_ nice and rarely seen in a device like this; really wish my McIntosh MHA-100 had this. For applying analog tone control or eq. Too bad about that DAC perf tho.
 

Freeway

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Just about a decade ago I bought a Peachtree Decco2. The tube thing didn't sway me (quite the contrary) but the early adoption of USB connection, the price I got and it looked kind of cool did. With it and a pair of Epos Epic 1 and NHT B-10d I floated away many a night. Have used it just as a pre amp also.
Anyhow, a few years later while on the phone with one of their people about something, I asked whether it would be worth it to upgrade to the newer model. He said nay. Actually, he said he hadn't. Got to respect that.
 

GWolfman

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Surprised by the ammount of power in this small package. Price makes me cry nonetheless.
 

Sal1950

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Too bad, I always liked the cute little guys with the beautiful wood cases.
 

VintageFlanker

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Ha! This is not so bad after all. But the good amp performance is only related to the Ice 700AS2 inside. Their own part (DAC) is a mess.

Any chance you test the headphones output, @amirm ? Because Peachtree is marketing it as "Top Quality, Class A Headphones Amplifier", if I recall correctly.

Anyway, only based on my own experience, I can't recommend this Nova 300... like: at all. I bought mine 3 years back. I chose to ignore many comments talking about reliability issues at the time. Well, I did wrong. My unit has several problems, like many others: the worst being my SPDIF inputs died only few days after I received it. Support was terrible, but I got my 300 fixed at the end. I sold it because of the meh sound anyway... But the buyer called me back few time after that, to complain about the DAC's issues... :facepalm:

Fixed twice. I don't have a clue if it's still working today. Don't know, don't care.

Peachtree wasted me a lot of time and money. Avoid.

They sell a stand-alone power amp, if you wanted serious power in a really nice looking case

https://www.peachtreeaudio.com/collections/amplifiers/products/amp500

Or get the exact same performance at half the price.;)
 
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Thank you Amir. I have wanted one of those for quite some time. This is exactly why I am very happy we have ASR - now I can compare the price to objective performance, I surely hope no one will ever measure my SMSL A8 (which I ended up buying instead of the Peachtree for AV duties).
 
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About its amp performance? This is basically a 125ASX2 module:
A bit weird it has much better performance inside the Yam WXA-50 (with different Gain, tho)
Yes, as well as the DAC section - not to forget that implementations might vary. I have seen detailed measurements of the A6, they looked good for the price.
 

Helicopter

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Nice to see good power here, but whoof! That DAC.o_O

I could DIY something with off-the-shelf Ice and minidsp boards and get better performance for a fraction of this price.
 
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