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Slam dunk. Once I moved in the Zu Essence from below the staircase, I had a tailor-made iNova speaker. With it the Cherry-clad box would run as intended on all cylinders: as iPod DAC/integrated with remote control (and subwoofer output if required but not here). Now I felt churlish about any prior criticisms. "Pardona me". That whole chorus was ringing in my ears. The gutsy warm slightly voluptuous thick and very attractive sound I now had was the stuff which quite costly valve systems tend to pursue. No I didn't obtain top resolution, kick and adrenaline. Things on those counts were lusher rather than dialled for speed. No I didn't bathe in momentous soundstaging on a wall-to-wall scale. Here things were more centered and compact. But I did get meatarian rather than me-too-ian tone density which eludes most all affordable transistor amps. In fairness I must also credit the Zus for their trademark contributions in that realm.

Take one of my favorite Istanbul CD discoveries, Göksun Çavdar's Livaneli Şarkıları [Ateş Müzik]. It's a generously proportioned beautifully performed and arranged B-clarinet tribute to some of the most famous Zülfü Livaneli songs. On a completely honest system the recording's innately lean-ish balance shifts the blackwood's timbre farther away from that of the trademark longer Turkish G clarinet. It becomes a small audiophile-type disappointment for those who adore this music's sinuous elegance. The combination of iNova voicing and 10-inch widebander obliterated any such complaints. In the best sense of the word it struck me as a somewhat idealized i.e. slightly old-fashioned valve voicing without the control sloppiness that affordable glowing amps often incur (this was with the iNova's valve out of the circuit).


Peachtree Audio's own speakers are rather burlier loads than the Zu Essence of course. Even so they sport parallels in their down-centered tonal balance which champions robustness and substance over air and champagne bubbles. Zu's 97dB claimed sensitivity simply meant that for my 5.5 x 11m room I mostly kept the dial below 9:00. Into this 12Ω load that must have had the chip-based output stage coast. Unlike the new Grand Integrated's ICEpower-based output stage which should drive anything, the iNova's speaker outputs strike me as being most 'in line' with the overall sticker and what one must subtract from that for the superior digital board. Smart speaker selection to have the iNova play at the top of its game is mandatory then. Something from Zu's current Omen catalogue would seem perfect also on price.

Ludicrous on price but perfect otherwise also was the 100dB €21.900/pr Voxativ Ampeggio with the new year 2012 driver. As a very fast single-driver design with a faceted rear loaded horn—think Lowther without shout but real bass—the Ampeggio errs if it does on the lit-up somewhat lean side of things. With the equally fast FirstWatt S2 for example, most might (like yours truly) fancy a superior valve preamp like ModWright's 6SN7-powered LS-100 in the signal path. That adds a bit of strategic textural padding. The iNova did just that even without its tube. Once the blue thru-socket LED was firing through the valve to signal its active presence, its midrange booster action became more apparent than it had been over the less resolved Zu Essence.


Whilst seemingly perverse on paper—a $29.500/pr speaker mated to a $1.795 all-in-one iPodigrated—the results were anything but. My friend's Kondo M-77/Berning Siegfried pairing ahead of the same speaker naturally goes places the iNova can only dream of... yet on tone-color substance and image embodiment the feisty iNova frankly exceeded its status.


Sibling rivalry. To shed light on design progress, a comparison against the iDecco was inevitable. While the basic slightly fat sound signature retained an obvious family resemblance, the iNova was the clearly more teased-out performer. Be it hair-on-string nuance on violin bow work, the clicketty-clack of mechanical keys injecting transient spice in legato passages or some escaped air around a reedman's embouchure adding dither-like noises... the newer machine upped the game on magnification power of fine detail.

The responsible part(y) was most likely the circuit's new front-end so smartly tweaked by experience gained in the interim. Implementation of D/A conversion in this transitionally priced box with the rounded corners is really quite indecently advanced. While a further break-down of differences would have been possible by crisscrossing the iDecco's and iNova's fixed outputs, I didn't feel truly compelled to pursue such exercises. The Essence/Ampeggio showing had already made the relevant points.

Adding it up. The real advance of iNova over iDecco is the converter section. My qualitative iDecco hierarchy had been in the order of DAC, pre/headfi, amplifier. This remains as does the overall ranking of the last two functions. Not only is the DAC still the strongest ingredient however, it's moved farther upward to create yet greater distance to the rest of the circuitry. To bring the pre/power amp sections up to the new speed without exceeding the magic $2K barrier might just require eliminating the iPod dock to incorporate something on the order of a smaller B&O ICEpower module which would mirror the big modules the Grand Integrated adds over the Grand Pre. Peachtree Audio's digital-direct iPod dock is simply too good to disappear. Perhaps it might launch as a separate item à la Cambridge Audio iD10 to become optional [right]?


Clearly Peachtree Audio is ratcheting into higher gears not only with their new $3.000-up full-metal-jacket range. There's evident trickle-down into the core models too. This requires little convincing to have me believe Jonathan Derda's claim that the iNova really is the most loaded value in their current catalogue. It does it all. With particularly Naim's advances in this sector on my radar albeit without yet personal exposure; and with a 40% higher sticker than the original iDecco - I am not prepared to let 'er slide and automatically transition the latter's Lunar Eclipse award on the iNova. The landscape has changed too much. I am very much convinced however that the iNova most solidly deserves our Blue Moon Award. This really is a most warmly recommended jack of all trades who so happens to be unusually gifted at translating 1s and 0s into analogue.


Here then is the core message. The iNova injects higher meaning into the tired old phrase 'transitional hifi'. It's really a bridge product sans pareil. It should thrill first-timers; more than hold over those with just the right serious speakers; make the perfect office system for advanced career 'philes; and—if perception and disbelief can be overcome—operate as dedicated DAC in quite expensive systems. That's a whole lot of goodness in one single attractive box!
Peachtree Audio responds: Hi Srajan, thank you for the very thorough and thoughtful review of the iNova. The progression from a little kit box to the original Decco and iNova has been an exciting journey. For anyone who wants to enjoy the better-than-it-ought-to-be converter without the expense of the amp and preamp, buy an iDac for $999. It is the same DAC as is built into the iNova, with a smaller chassis and its own dedicated power supply. 
Thanks again!
Jonathan Derda

Srajan, thanks for all the time spent with the iNova. You've proven once again that your reviews are well thought out and lots of time is always spent with the gear. Your writing style is a page turner and it's apparent a lot of time went into this process as well. Jon and I were talking about it today and both agree that you nailed the iNova to a tee. Great job!
 
Since you've followed us from the beginning, you've seen us grow from a tiny one-box company to who we are today. Albeit still a small company, we're an actual relevant force in the industry. Without loans or venture capitol we've organically grown Peachtree from the original Decco to: Decco series, Nova Series, DAC series and in a few weeks we'll be shipping the Grand Series. This is the product we've always wanted to do but the line had to be built from the bottom up. Can't wait till you see what we've been able to pull off with a no-holds-barred approach.
Best wishes and thanks again Srajan,
David Solomon
Peachtree Audio website