Peachtree Audio Nova

Into this void drops the Peachtree Audio Nova hybrid tube, high current, digital amplifier. The Peachtree brand is all about improving the sound from digital sources, whether it’s a computer, music server or CD player. But are the "square" zeroes and ones of digital audio a poor fit in those round tube sockets?

The Nova is the successor to Peachtree's first attempt at such a product, the Decco. The new Nova has more refinements, more features and more power. Available in Piano Black, Cherry or Rosewood finishes (these last two use genuine wood), the Nova is a serious piece of hardware, weighing at just under a metric ton (OK, 26 pounds) with its large toroidal transformer. Around back you'll find five digital inputs including two coaxial and two optical.

There's even turntable support, if we add a phono preamp to one of the three analog ins. Easiest of all is the galvanically isolated USB connection, for plug-and -play use with my computer, and thereby iTunes, Windows Media Player and a whole world wide web of online content.

I'm a PC these days, and Win XP plays well with the Nova, responding with a rapid series of word balloons informing me, "Found New Hardware," "Audio DAC," "Audio Device," "Human Interface Device" and seconds later, "Your New Hardware is Installed and Ready to Use."

Adding a stylish, nimble Mac Mini as a dedicated music server is also a terrific option. My computer automatically silenced the multimedia speakers wired through my soundcard, which was fine by me as I had matched the Nova with era Design 5 ("D5") premium bookshelf speakers, connected with Straight Wire Musicable (spade termination).

Peachtree Audio and era offer the same wood finishes on amps and loudspeakers, for a classy, coordinated look. If your desk is cluttered, there are also the excellent but smaller D4 satellites (also reviewed in July/August 2008 and the link mentioned earlier).

Making iTunes More Tuneful

So did I hear an improvement? Hell, yeah! With a whopping 80 watts per channel, the Nova plays sick loud, with power to spare. Yet even at the highest volume, distortion was minimal. The elusive warble of an electric guitar was rendered, and many of the compressed digital tracks I played revealed some detail of the recording/mix that I had never heard before. As you might expect, Peachtree recommends ripping CDs into Apple Lossless format, but even smaller, lower bit rate files can benefit greatly from The Nova. My digital music has simply never sounded better than it does via the Nova; more natural and less "processed," with newfound subtlety, character and nuance.

The twin vents on top had me worried about potential heat levels, but after several days of continuous use, this was a non-issue, partly due to Peachtree's use of smaller, less power-hungry tubes, and cool-running, solid-state transistors in the back end output.
 
Versatility is key here, and the antisocial, headphone-wearing crowd benefits from the warmth of the tube section as well. As soon as you plug your ’phones into the Class-A headphone output, the speakers automatically cut off. If you want to add a subwoofer or outboard amplifier, the Nova features a variable preamp-output. All switching is discrete, so you can use the small, rubberized, supplied remote, or a learning remote.

The Aux In of the Nova doubles as a home theater bypass so you can have the best of home theater and two-channel in the same system. Simply take the left/right Pre Out from your receiver and connect to the "Home Theater" bypass on the Nova. A selector switch on the back panel converts the third analog input from Aux to "Home Theater Bypass," shifting the left/right mains load from your receiver to the Nova, freeing it to more efficiently power the center and surrounds.

Or, need more juice for left and right? The Nova can also accept an outboard amp. This modular design, and the flexibility to play nice even with multichannel gear, illustrates the "above and beyond" nature of the Nova. About the only thing missing is direct connection to an iPod. Which brings us to…