Bee-Fizzle

Sounds like a very interesting piece of kit. Have you tried it with Roon? Can it run Roon Server, or can it function as a Roon end point if you have a server somewhere else? How do you rate it as a DAC? How does it sound? Would love to hear a bit more about it from your own experience.

Thanks

Don't mind the box count if they are compact. Don't have room in the TV cabinet to add full size components though unfortunately. My wife is pretty cool with my hobby but draws the line at changing the furniture to suit!

Thanks for the recommendation, I see you are based in Perth. Would you be prepared to bring it up to mine for a listen? I'm based in Butler 6036. If you are please pm me with your phone number and let's see if we can't tee something up!

Hi Jeremy, welcome to the forum! Im a relative newcomer here too, but you are posting in a very audiophile based forum centred largely around domestic and high end hi-fi. I could be wrong, but I don't think you'll find many gamers or recording engineers here. Your question may be more suited to the forums on computeraudiophile, home based music production or podcasting forums where people will have more experience of the type of gear you are talking about. Hopefully someone here can help, if not I hope you find what you are k looking for.

Thanks @Hi-Fi Whipped for bringing it back down to earth. Thanks to all of you for the input so far. Unfortunately the neo ace is a lot more than I want to spend at this point and the neo mind is a lot of money to spend on a streamer if I'm just going to continue to use the existing DAC on the 340i. I'd love to get the Qutest, (or maybe even a 2Qute at a knock down price) like others are saying here I feel that the DAC is the weak point in an otherwise very capable system. i like the look of the SOTM SMS200 but again I think I would get greater SQ bang for buck by upgrading to an external DAC first. Based on the reviews of the Node 2i I'm wondering if that may be an upgrade over the internal DAC on the Moon. Like I said earlier I don't mind paying for the Node 2i from a dealer if it will bring a notable SQ improvement, but I'd rather buy a second hand Node 2 if it's not going to provide anything extra when I'm using the external DAC or the Moon. There doesn't seem to be any difference between the two when you take the Node DAC out of the equation, but I may have missed something? Also considering a Micro or Ultra Rendu. I like the idea of Chromecast built in functionality though as it allows native control from many more music apps. Are there any other items I should be considering? Max budget is $2200 for the DAC or $1200 for the streaming transport. The less I manage to spend on one, the more I have to spend on the other (with a little break to save up in between).

Passive Sound bars will struggle to compete with floorstanders in a large room but if you have smaller room they can just as good if the subwoofer is set up correctly. Goldenear is v good but even better is the suoersat super centre system. To this day still the most involving HT system I've ever heard in a small room and I used to sell HT systems for a living. Paired with REL subs and a Pioneer SCLX55 amp! The amp was the weak point in the system.

Looking forward to further updates on this thread!

My two cents! I would go with a substantially cheaper AVR, possibly singing from the Yamaha Aventage range and then add a decent integrated amp with HT bypass feature. Much more likely to get a decent two channel sound. A decent second hand (or new) integrated will also hold its value much better than any AVR that will eventually become obsolete. You may as well burn the $10,000 for the Arcam! The boys at Douglas are legends! Ask nicely and they will let you take speakers and amps home for the week to try in your room. Also check out Frank Prowse if you haven't already, truly above and beyond customer service and again will let you do home demos! This coming from a 2 channel freak, I can't remember the last time I booted up the HT system, I just get so much more enjoyment from music. If I bought $5-6k pair of speakers, if never be satisfied driving them with any kind of AVR, id always be wondering what they sounded like if I bought a proper 2ch amp to match with them. For what it's worth, I like the idea of the KEF ls50 system. I believe you can buy the speakers as single boxes from some dealers also to use as a centre speaker. Haven't heard the Dynaudios you mention but the Amphions are lovely! I bet they don't sound as good with the AVR as anything Douglas HF demo'd them with in the shop though! Whatever your decision, good luck and I hope you end up with something that gives you as much enjoyment as I get from my system!

Ok, so having recently sorted out my amp and speaker issues, I'm keen to upgrade the next weak link in my system. My System comprises Spatial Hologram M4 Turbo S, Moon 340i DP2x amplifier with built in DAC and the rather weak Sonos Connect. Most of my listening is done on Tidal HiFi and Spotify premium but I have some Hi Res stuff on a NAS that I want to listen to and want to build a better collection of quality local files. Trying to work out how/where to spend the $$$'s for the best ROI in SQ. I want to be able to run Roon but i've made it this far without so it could wait a little longer if there was a better value proposition out there. Bluesound node 2 / 2i: Reading about the 2i there are significant improvements to SQ over the 2 but will these be noticeable if I'm using the DAC on the Moon or an external DAC like the Chord Qutest? Would this result in a significant improvement over the Sonos when just using Spotify/Tidal or will these benefits only be obvious when using HiRes files and MQA? Does Bluesound Node have ability to adjust balance? my room is asymetric and I don't have balance controls on my amp so one speaker always sounds a little louder than the other. Cambridge Audio CXN: I love the form factor of this streamer but it doesn't have MQA although that's not really a deal breaker for me, just a nice to have. Is it a waste of money to buy this when the DAC in the Moon is likely better than the CXN? Alternatively do I keep the Sonos and upgrade the DAC further to the Chord Qutest? I have listened to the Qutest quite a lot with several systems including my old Peachtree Nova which is currently winging it's way to its new owner, but I haven't been able to do a direct comparison with the DAC on the Moon. I'm loving the sound from my system now but hankering after a little more resolution and detail retrieval. The Qutest is tempting but funds are limited due to the recent amp upgrade, Node 2 looks like it does everything I need, don't mind buying a 2i new if it means better detail retrieval through my onboard DAC. CXN doesn't seem like a good value proposition but it looks awesome and does most of what I need. Your thoughts, ideas, opinions and alternatives are welcome. Cheers, Brendon.

Sorry to everyone that replied or was interested, life took over and the listening room changes never happened. So I get to keep them!! I have now onsold my Peachtree Nova and have replaced with a Moon 340i DPX, OMG do they sing now!!! Thank you to those of you that were interested and I'm sorry I didn't get back to a few of you who asked. For what it's worth I may look to upgrade these to the M3 Triode Masters in year or so, I have looked at a lot of speakers to replace these with since I posted the original ad and speakers costing 3 and 4 times the price don't even come close, so for now I'm hanging on to them!

Hey mud shark, I'm the seller of the Peachtree in the above post. If you were buying new, I would suggest you buy speakers first, these have the biggest effect on the character of the sound, then buy an amp that brings out the best in your speakers. If you are going second hand and considering your feature checklist, it makes sense to buy the amp first, ensuring that you have the appropriate nerve centre for everything you want to do. Like others here, Blusound Node is awesome but a Sonos Connect will do the same job for a lot less money, if you plug that into a decent DAC like the one on my Peachtree it will outperform the Node. Now you have amp and source, now start buying second hand speakers. Good speakers have a stable second hand price, so do some research and negotiate before you buy. Use EBay sold listings Search and Stereo net for your research. If you are lucky, you may be able to persuade the vendor to bring the speakers to you for a demo. Your room will be critical, especially if it's open on one side so they will likely sound very different in your space than the vendors home. If you bought well, you can onsell your speakers without losing money, maybe even a small profit and then try another pair.

Thanks Conch. Agreed, the accuphase was a better amp in almost every respect. More musical, a richer and more refined presentation with real presence in the low frequencies although not quite the same level of control over the 4x 12" drivers in my speakers as the Peachtree had and considerably better at low volume but still more than twice the price. The DAC on Conch's accuphase e260 is outstanding too, highly recommended for an audition if you are looking for an integrated amp around the $3-4k mark!

Item: Peachtree Audio Nova 150 (Gloss Ebony Mocha finish) Location: Perth Price: 1300 Item Condition: 9/10 (Mint) Reason for selling: Funding the next upgrade Payment Method: Pickup - Cash, bank transfer, other by arrangement/negotiation Extra Info: Selling my Peachtree Audio Nova 150. In mint condition, no scratches, comes from a smoke free home original manual remote and box. Lots of info below by more experienced people than me, but I'll put my two cents in anyway! In my system (Sonos Connect, I-Fi SPDIF I-Purifier, Spatial Audio Hologram M4's) the Nova presented an incredibly neutral, well balanced and natural sound with a soundstage that width that went beyond the boundaries of the room! The bass was incredibly tight and well controlled with leading edges of uptempo bass lines stopping and starting exactly where they should! Mid range and treble are well balanced and musical, no matter how loud you turn up the volume it just keeps going and never gets phased! Overall it has a presentation just on the airy/bright side of neutral but never seems to be cold or clinical. This really is a superb little amp and I firmly believe that anyone would struggle to find a better value, better sounding, more full featured amp for twice the retail price. While auditioning replacements for the Nova (because I knew my speakers could handle a much better amp) i tried pre/power combinations Naim (older olive series and newer units), Parasound (P5 and A3) and Primare and integrated amps from Roksan, Musical Fidelity (6 Series), Accuphase (e260) Prima Luna (Dialogue Premium) and Trafomatic. Some of these combinations cost more than 4 times what the Peachtree cost me to purchase it and none of them could comprehensively beat the Peachtree in every area. The Naim gave a more musical and lush presentation but lacked the definition and tight control that the Peachtree had over the lower frequencies. The Primare was marginally better in every area at low volume, but lost it with my 4ohm speakers when you turned the volume of North of 11 o'clock and become shouty and hard. The Peachtree just keeps going up to the max volume with no distortion, no change in character, and no loss of soundstage (the Primare combo was more than 3 times the cost of the Peachtree)! The Roksan K3 kad a beautiful lush presentation, but also struggles when the volume turned up and it couldn't match the Peachtree for outright detail retrieval and it doesn't come with a DAC despite costing more. It has more features than a Swiss Army knife! I used the loop in/out function on mine with a Musical Fidelity X10d Tube buffer to add a hint of sweetness to the sound on certain recordings, using the remote I could switch it in and out of the signal path whenever I wanted to. You can use the loop output to add DSP/room correction or subwoofer integration. It has a great little DAC built in, HT bypass and a phono stage!!! This little amp should really have a picture in the audiophile dictionary under "law of diminishing returns". It sounds great, does everything, has oodles of unfettered power, a decent DAC, an immaculate pre-amp section with a ridonkulously high SNR; try attaching to a really sensitive pair of speakers with no signal and try the turning the volume up full (I'll happily demonstrate this at mine if you come for a demo) you wont hear the slightest hum or hiss. It's so incredibly revealing, you can hear the difference clearly between a Co-axial and Optical output on the same DAC. If you add an external DAC like a Chord Qutest or PS Audio NuWave, the Peachtree just sucks it all up and gives you all of that increased detail and wider soundstage back through your speakers without skipping a beat. In the end my choice of upgrade currently retails at $7299 and is one of the most well regarded and well reviewed amps out there, it sounds great but it still doesn't have HT bypass or loop (I do miss the loop function!). If you are looking for a significant upgrade from your first amp? Want to downsize all of your boxes and cables everywhere and just do it all with one box and still have great sound? Want to have more control over your sound by adding DSP, graphic EQ or a tube buffer? The Nova 150 will do all of that and more. It really is a PEACH and hard to beat for the money! I could possibly be convinced to part with MFx10d tube buffer as well, I'm not using it at the moment even though I am quite attached to it, but it really does work well with the Peachtree and elevates it to another level. Full Specs here https://www.peachtreeaudio.com/nova150-amplifier-with-dac.html Reviews here... https://www.computeraudiophile.com/ca/reviews/peachtree-audio-nova150-review/ here... https://www.cnet.com/news/peachtree-nova150-integrated-amplifier/ and here... https://darko.audio/2016/09/a-new-generation-calling-the-utterly-marvellous-peachtree-nova150/ Pictures:

OP was kind enough to bring this to my place for a demo with my speakers. wasn't what I was looking for in the end, but I can vouch this is in mint condition and a superb amp for the money. Lovely sound and incredibly well built. GLTWS.