I was impressed to read in the latest Stereophile magazine (December 2011) that their ‘Budget component of the Year’ was a dead heat between the Oppo BDP-95 Universal Blu-ray player and the Peachtree iDecco D/A integrated amplifier.

This gong resonated on a few levels. Firstly they are both products that we have a lot of respect for. Secondly it shows the shifting sands of this industry. Stereophile (as the name implies) is a die hard hi-end Hi-Fi publication. To give this award to a Blu-ray player (admittedly one that does a damn fine job of playing CD’s) and an amplifier designed to get the best out of your digital sources (and admittedly one that also does a sterling job of replaying information from analogue sources) it gives some idea of where this industry is headed.

This award coincided with a question raised by Hometheatreequipment.com whether Universal Players such as the Oppo BDP-95 has killed the audiophile source component. It was not long ago that the industry rightly preached that while your stock standard DVD or Blu-ray player had the ability to play CD’s, they did such a poor job of doing so you also needed a dedicated CD player. Products like Oppo and the Marantz ‘UD’ (Universal Disc) players have changed this. While the CD performance may not reach the lofty heights of the more expensive Krell, Meridian, Musical Fidelity or even Marantz offerings they do perform as well as any comparably priced CD player. Plus you get Blu-ray, DVD etc thrown in.

The Oppo has created its own industry with various modifications being released on the market. We have not had the opportunity to test the new NuForce mod on the cheaper BDP-93 which is reported to be excellent, but we hope to do so soon.

The Peachtree really points us to the future of audio. While this amplifier uses an ‘old school’ valve pre-amplifier pre-driver stage and has traditional analogue inputs (for CD, Tuner etc) it incorporates a high quality Digital-to-Analogue converter for the burgeoning number of digital sources. It also features a high quality headphone amplifier for all those headphone devotees out there.

Its been a good time for Peachtree. Their iDac D/A converter was a runner up in the above ‘Budget Component of the Year awards’, and the iDecco was also listed in The Absolute Sounds (considered by many as the bible of hi-end audio) ‘High-End Audios Buyers Guide.’

At the same time the unheralded Peachtree product has to be their Design 5 speakers. These small bookshelf speakers are nothing short of amazing. Team these with a good amp and source and they are capable of reproducing gorgeous music. At $995 a pair these are one of the bargains of our industry.

We have now received our first shipments of the stunning Peachtree bookshelf loudspeakers. While these could be considered as ‘new’ releases they are in reality not new. It is a couple of years since Era speakers arrived on our shores, and were recognised as one of the finest budget bookshelf speakers on the Australian market. Era was a sister product to Peachtree, the trailblazing electronics company who have successfully merged both the old (analogue) and new (digital) formats into their integrated amplifier range. The original Era speakers have now been re-released under the Peachtree Audio label.

The best news is the price. When it was announced that the Era models were to be discontinued they were re-priced at substantial discounts to help clear stock. The new Peachtree range has been launched at the previous ERA clearance prices. This means that the top of the range Peachtree Audio Design 5 bookshelf speakers still sell for $999 a pair (which coincidently is the same price as they are in the US), instead of the initial release price of $1,699. If you need an indication of the value this speaker offers, I believe that at $1,699 this speaker was a bargain.

AVGuide.com has recently reviewed the Peachtree Design 5’s, and in doing so have referred back to the legendary BBC LS3/5a speakers of decades past. I know the LS3/5a well, and am willing to stick my neck out and say that the Peachtree Audio Design 5 is a better speaker. It shares the detailing and accuracy (particularly thought the midrange and upper registers), it has the same uncanny sound-staging but it has a better bass presence, and overall I find it to be more ‘musical’.

The other model of note is the smaller Design 4, which are selling for $699. There are not many quality speakers on our market at $699 – but set these up with the right electronics and these can really sing.

The Design 4’s can form part of what could be considered to be an ideal starter pack for the modern market when partnered with the Peachtree iDecco integrated amplifier ($1399). The iDecco features 2 analogue and 3 digital inputs – with a high quality Sabre DAC for the digital inputs, a high quality headphone amplifier, a valve pre-amplifier stage and an in-built iPod dock. This makes a compact, high performance, relatively inexpensive system cable of handling both the newer digital and the legacy analogue sources we use today. Not only is this a very flexible system, but it has the performance of a proper Hi-Fi component system, something that id surprisingly rare at these prices.

Peachtree have garnered a worldwide following for their Nova integrated amplifier, which is was of the pioneers of the current wave of amplifiers which are equally comfortable switching between either digital or analogue sources.

They have now released their new iDecco, which is being billed as the world’s first ‘Tube Hybrid Integrated amplifier with a ‘Pure Digital’ iPod dock’. There are a number of facets to this product:
· It is first and foremost a very good quality 40 watt MOSFET integrated amplifier.
· Like its bigger brother it features a Class ‘A’ triode valve preamplifier.
· It also has a high quality headphone amplifier.
· Very importantly, it houses a very high quality 24-bit/96khz Digital-to-Analogue converter.
· Finally it features an iPod dock. It is this dock, along with the quality of the in-built DAC, which sets this product apart. Most iPod docks operate via the analogue output of the iPod, using the iPod power supply, DAC and output stage. The iDecco accesses the digital content directly, which is fed to the on-board DAC. If your material has been recorded in an uncompressed format, your iPod can now perform to the levels of a CD player, and beyond.
As well as the iPod dock the iDecco has one analogue and three digital inputs.

This is a great sounding and very versatile amplifier, selling for $1,499. It is ideal for small format systems where a good deal of your music is sourced from digital sources, be that an iPod, or more possibly, a computer or NAS drive.