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:
View attachment 126072
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:
View attachment 126073
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:
View attachment 126074
Well, this is quite disappointing. Noise and distortion as represented by SINAD is in decidedly "poor" category in today's market:
View attachment 126075
The unit can output higher levels so let's see where peak performance is:
View attachment 126076
No luck there as the peak is actually at 1 volt out.
Dynamic range is better indicating distortion is the problem:
View attachment 126077
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:
View attachment 126078
Ah, this is very respectable and above average performance:
View attachment 126079
SNR is not as good as I like at 5 watt but gets better at full power:
View attachment 126080
Crosstalk is excellent:
View attachment 126081
Frequency response shows a peaky filter though:
View attachment 126082
Multi-tone results indicate "good enough" performance:
View attachment 126083
What was most impressive is the amount of power available from the ICE amplifier module they are using:
View attachment 126084
Since I am driving two channels, this is over 900 watts of power! Indeed the peaks hit 1000+ watts:
View attachment 126085
Even at 8 ohm there is copious amount of power available:
View attachment 126086
Interesting to see little dependency on frequency until we hit a few watts:
View attachment 126087
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.
------------
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/