First Listen: Peachtree Audio Nova 220SE integrated amp/DAC/headphone amp

Recently I received and installed in my reference system a pair of GoldenEar Triton One loudspeakers, which by any rational standard would have to be considered ‘giant killers’ of the first rank. Priced at £5,000 per pair, the Triton Ones routinely do things that loudspeakers priced at two, three, or even four times higher might find difficult to match. At the same time, I was keenly aware that part of the success the Triton Ones enjoyed in my listening room was surely attributable to the AURALiC electronics suite with which I was powering them—a suite consisting of AURALiC’s VEGA digital audio processor (£2,890), TAURUS Pre preamplifier (£1,790), and MERAK monoblock power amplifiers (£4,180 per pair). While the AURALiC kit is far from the most expensive gear one might choose to own, the fact is that the suite costs more (£8,860 in all) than the high-value GoldenEar speakers do.

For me this observation led to one essential question: Does anybody out there make a combination amp/DAC that is to the world of high-end audio electronics what GoldenEar’s Triton One is to the world of top-tier loudspeakers (that is to say, a killer performer at a sensible price)? Well, I’m pleased to say that I think I’ve found an answer and it is called the Peachtree Audio Nova 220SE (£1,490). I’ve just installed a review sample of the Nova 220SE in my reference system (where it is temporarily taking the place of the AURALiC components that normally reside there) and the sonic results I have achieved—with the GoldenEar Triton Ones—have thus far proven to be extremely promising.

The Nova 220SE arrives, packed in a fabric protective bag supported by moulded foam padding within a sturdy, double-boxed carton that also includes a power cable, a nicely fashioned remote control unit with batteries, a well crafted user’s manual, and a CD-ROM containing the Windows driver ASIO software needed in order to play PCM files at 192/24 resolution in PC environments (Mac environments do not require a driver).  If you’ve ever seen Peachtree’s entry-level Nova 65SE or 125SE amp/DACs then the look of the bigger Nova 220SE will at once seem familiar, yet different.

The general shape is similar, but after gazing at the 220SE for a time one realizes that the 220 SE is a fair bit taller than the 125SE or 65SE and that its colour scheme is different from any prior Peachtree amplifier. The earlier and smaller Novas all had matte silver faceplates (picture a soft, almost camera-like satin silver finish) with silkscreen logos, and rounded wood-veneered MDF chassis sleeves finished in the users choice of rosewood, cherry, or black. In contrast, the 220SE instead sports a 6mm thick, graphite grey-finished brushed aluminium faceplate with engraved logos, plus a gloss black chassis sleeve (the only colour/finish available). 

In terms of functionality and connectivity options, I would term the Nova 220SE “elegantly minimalist”, yet certainly not Spartan (it’s much too posh-looking for that term to apply).  There are a total of five inputs, four digital and one analogue:

• One asynchronous USB and one coaxial S/PDIF input, both with support for digital audio files with resolutions from 16-bit/44.1kHz to 24-bit/192kHz,
• Two optical inputs with support for digital audio files with resolutions from 16-bit/44.1kHz to 24-bit/96kHz, and
• One analogue input.

Outputs are likewise very simple:

• One stereo analogue preamplifier output,
• Stereo speaker taps fitted with 5-way binding posts, and
• One faceplate-mounted 6.35mm headphone output jack.

The DAC section of the Nova 220SE is based on ESS technology and uses ESS’ Hyperstream Modulator for jitter reduction.

The preamplifier section of the Nova 220SE is a discrete class A circuit lifted directly from Peachtree’s more-than-twice-as expensive Grand X-1 integrated amplifier (in case you were wondering, this borrowed circuitry from the flagship Grand X-1 is what makes Peachtree’s SE—for Special Edition—models truly special). One interesting signature Peachtree feature is that the front end of the Nova 220SE provides a user selectable triode tube buffer stage that—get this—can be switched in or out of the audio signal path on the fly.

The power amplifier section of the Nova 220SE is a class D amplifier based on current generation ICEpower modules that, trust me on this one, sound far, far more refined and accomplished than earlier-generation ICEpower modules used to do. The class D amp section also offers dramatically better power output and current drive capabilities than the far more modest class A/B amplifier used in earlier generation Novas.

Power output for the Nova 220SE is a decidedly stout and ample:

Speaker amplification:

• 220 Wpc at 8 Ohms, both channels driven, 20 Hz 0 20kHz at less than 0.2% THD.
• 350 Wpc at 4 Ohms, both channels driven, 20 Hz 0 20kHz at less than 0.2% THD.

Headphone amplification:

• 1170mW at 32 Ohms at less than 0.1% THD.
• 182mW at 300 Ohms at less than 0.1 THD.

I use a Window/PC-based music system and installing the Peachtree Windows driver was child’s play. I literally went from 0-to-playing music in under two minutes flat, with no hitches or glitches of any kind.

While I think the specifications of the Nova 220SE alone would make it compelling for many, the real draw is the unit’s sound—and what a mesmerising sound it has proven to be thus far.

I connected the Nova 220SE to the GoldenEar Triton One loudspeakers that are presently in residence in my reference system, and the resulting sound flat out bowled me over from the outset—especially once I flicked on the tube buffer circuit and gave it a couple of minutes to warm up.

What caught my ear, first and foremost, was the Nova 220SE astonishingly broad and deep soundstaging that was so intensely three dimensional that I momentarily felt like getting up from listening chair to go introduce myself to the performers who magically appeared before. What also appealed to me was the way the Nova managed to sound revealing, but without becoming overstressed or overtaxed by the hard work of musical information retrieval.  With some high-resolution amps, you get gobs of detail, but at the price of an ever-so-slight quality of edginess through which the amp telegraphs to listeners the fact that it is working really, really hard to extract all that content from the musical material at hand. With the Nova 220SE, however, you get probably 98%+ of the information, but with absolutely zero edge or other sonic histrionics.

The other thing you’ll notice early and often is that the Nova 220SE offers power to spare, so that you really have to watch yourself to avoid turning up your system to higher levels than are really advisable (either for your ears or for your neighbours). The amp section is so robust that it never really seems to be working all that hard.

Is the Peachtree truly the equal of things like the AURALiC suite I mentioned at the front end of this blog? Well, no, it’s not; you really do get some extra sonic goodness (and connectivity options, and digital file decoding options, and power output, etc., etc.) for your money with things like the AURALiC gear. But with that said, you do get the sense with the Nova 220SE that you are not so much stepping down, per se, as moving laterally into a somewhat differently flavoured but still very satisfying form of sonic excellence. There is, too, the matter of the Peachtree’s phenomenal value-for-money factor, which if not off the charts is certainly way up there.

Finally, if you marry up the GoldenEar Triton Ones with the Peachtree Nova 220SE, you wind up with a smashingly good high-end audio system that costs a tick under £6,500 (cabling not included). If you stop to think about it for a moment, that sum is less than some folks spend on interconnect cables alone! The funny part is that, at least as heard in my room, the Triton One/Nova 220SE combination is producing a sound that’s better in virtually every way than about 90% of the sounds I’ve ever encountered at high-end audio shows (and no matter what the cost of the gear in those demonstration rooms might be).  If that’s not rock-solid value, then I don’t know what would be.

Watch for our upcoming Hi-Fi+ review of the Peachtree Audio Nova 220SE. Until then, I wish you happy listening.