RMAF12: Peachtree bringing the rain

David Solomon and Jon Derda of Peachtree Audio put on a marvelous show. A far cry from the passive “drive-by” approach to doing product demos at audio shows, these guys put on a dog-and-pony. They stand up. They stand in front. They show you what they’ve got, tell you about it and about what you’re gonna hear — and then rotate you through the room, system by system, and price-point by price-point. It’s compelling and these gregarious guys are worth spending the 30 minutes with — because, let me assure you, the systems they put together are worth your time.

Speaking of systems. Boy, howdy. I can’t remember the last time I heard a Peachtree-run demo that was actually a single system. Here at RMAF, there were three, arranged across 3 of the four walls of a rather capacious ballroom off the ground floor here at the Denver Tech Center Marriott. Big room! Which is exactly what you want when you’re showing with big speakers.

And Peachtree brought the big guns, for sure.

System 1 – “You don’t need to spend $100,000 to drive $100,000 speakers” system

• 15″ MacBook Pro w/ AudioQuest DIamond USB and Amarra (now only $189!)
• TAD Reference One Loudspeakers: $78,000/pair and 300+lbs each
• Grand Integrated X1 (new USB receiver, mod available for current customers at $250): $4499
• Shunyata Hydra power conditioning and cords
• Shunyata Python Speaker cables

System 2 – The “It’ll play 121dB clean” system

• 13″ MacBook Pro w/ AudioQuest Diamond USB and Amarra
• AppleTV streaming Spotify and MOG from iPhone 4S (did lots of these demos)
• Zu Audio Definition Mk IV: $12,800 pair (base finishes — cool custom gray paint job kicks them up to 14K)
• Peachtree novaPre $999 in Gloss Black
• Peachtree 220 $1399 in Gloss Black (add $100 to each unit for wood finishes)
• Shunyata power conditioning
• Zu speaker cables, interconnects, and power cords
• Solid Steel rack

System 3 – “The most relevant system for music lovers”

• AppleTV streaming MOG from 15″ Macbook on System 1 and from David’s “cool new iPhone 5”
• Peachtree decco65 $899 gloss black
• Peachtree Design5 speakers $999 pr retail , $700 pr when purchased with a Peachtree Integrated
• Kimber Kable 12TC speaker cable
• AudioQuest Optical cable
• Sanus Ultimate Foundation Stands (these kick ass)
• Solid Steel Rack

Peachtree’s Jon Derda had fun story to tell from the show:

Very cool thing happened on day 2. David Chesky came in, listened to all three systems, and said out of all of these systems that the $2,000 system was the most relevant system for music lovers. “Great job”. Of course David Solomon asks if he can quote him, and Chesky says sure!

I’ll admit, that system doesn’t do everything, but when its set up properly I sometime say to myself, this is all I need.

Now that the USB-Wars seem to have ended and the asynchronous camp (led by the crew over at Wavelength) have emerged victorious, we’re seeing a lot of different manufacturers sort through the extant offerings for an upgrade that fits their approach and enhances their sound. Peachtree has been offering USB on their products for years now, and it’s a credit to them and their team that when they hit on something new and better, We The Consumer, get to enjoy it. So, say hello to the newest mods from Peachtree.

Our new USB to SPDIF converter dubbed X1 ($199) is basically what we built into all of the new units: decco65, nova125, novaPre, GrandPre X1, Grand Integrated X1. It’s (of course) based on the XMOS chip. Two discrete oscillators, galvanic isolation, etc. We were using a Tenor system on Grand prior to the move to XMOS. After some tinkering we found that the XMOS used significantly less CPU resources and ended up sounding a bit better.

The #1 reason we came out with the X1 is for all of our customers who have Novas, iNova, Decco2, etc. where the stock USB was either 16/48 and 24/96 adaptive. We want them to have a simple and affordable Peachtree created solution to upgrade the integrateds and DACs they already own to higher resolution and asynchronous without the need to ditch their units and start over. You’ll see a little table on the brief that shows exactly what sampling rates the old units support via internal USB and what happens when you add an X1. With all of the new mainstream artists coming from HDTracks, Mumford and Sons, Beach House, Bob Marley – it’s more important than ever that we support these additional sampling rates via USB.

Availability and info for the X-1 should hit the site shortly.