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Review Peachtree Audio Decco65

A Peach Of A ProductThe Audio Decco65 forays into the land of home-entertainment and aims to deliverloads of value for money to the person who loves to listen to music with the bestpossible system. The Decco65 delivers a wholesome sound that will tempt you to takehome the moment you listen to it

P

eachtree audio, has

nally landed on Indianshores and audiophiles

here can nally havethe opportunity to lay

their hands on their products.Peachtree Audio offers a number ofaudio solutions to enthusiasts whowish to use their desktop PC as amusic hub. Their product line-upranges from speakers, DACs, pre-ampliers to power ampliers andeven integrated ampliers within-built DACs, which is a forte ofthe company. This month we havereviewed the Decco65, an integrated

amplier that comes with a built-in DAC. Testing the integratedamplier was quite a joy as we had a

number of bookshelf speakers in thestudio that were just waiting to beconnected to the Decco65.

OUT OF THE BOXThe Decco65 has a smooth, glossynish and it stands on rubber feetthat give it a good elevation abovethe ground level. This elevationallows the integrated amplierto breathe as the passage of airunderneath the amplier alsocontributes to its cooling factor. The

Decco65 looks impeccable.Some people may perceive rou

curvy edges for an amplier as a

little too soft, because we are soused to looking at big, and sturdyampliers with sharp edges andindustrial nish. But the curvyedges and the piano gloss nish othe Decco65 stands out. The glosnish of the amp (though prone tscratches) gives it a rened and adelicate look. Try not to get fooleby its design; the Decco is anythinbut delicate. Weighing a whoopin12 kgs, it implies that a whole bunof serious electronics is at play he

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AV MAX MARCH 201388 MARCH 2013 AV MAX

Adding to the beauty of the ampare the LED lights on the front faceof the amplier, colour coded withgreen (switch off) and blue (switchon); looks quite fancy we say.

TECHNOLOGYOver the years, we have seenbookshelf speakers incorporateanalogue-to-digital converters inbookshelf speakers, making themsmarter, just like the evolution of

smartphones that is surroundingus today. The Decco65 provesthat integrated ampliers are alsobecoming smarter. The Decco65is not just an ordinary integratedamplier, in fact, it contains anESS Sabre 9023 DAC in it. TheDAC allows for an upsamplingof 24 bit/192kHz, so if youconnect your desktop PC to theintegrated amplier via a USBcable, you can directly play audiocontent through the amplierand the ESS Sabre DAC will takeover all the processing work.Thus jitter is eliminated at thesource itself and the integratedamplier is able to deliver asonic output that is truly high

in quality.Apart from the USB input, the

integrated amplier also supportsa pair of co-axial ins, along with anoptical in and an auxiliary in. Theauxiliary in allows you to connectyour CD player or portable mediaplayer directly to the integratedamplier. Now the ingeniousDecco65 also allows you to useit as a DAC, so if you do not likethe sound of the DAC that existsin your age old CD player, then

you can simply use the co-axialor optical in and transfer all theprocessing responsibility to theinternal DAC of the Decco65.Another USP of the Decco65 isits tube section that we quitelike because of its sound quality.The Triode 6N1P has two activeelements because it obviouslysupports stereo reproduction ofmusic. The tube buffer allowslisteners to enjoy the fruits of tubeamplication right from the pre-amplication stage.

The harsh sound in MP3, digitalles and all other low-resolutionrecordings is aimed to be drivenaway with this tube technology.Above all, when it comes to

real power available from theintegrated amplier, the Decco65,with its high performance classD design, can deliver 65 watts ofpower into an 8 ohm load and 95watts into a 4 ohm load. Withsuch power ratings, it becomesquite evident that the Decco65is also capable of driving notonly bookshelf speakers butalso floorstanding speakers. Amajority of floorstanding speakersare capable of handling a power

inflow from around 30 watts to150 watts and the Decco65 quiteevidently falls in this category.

REMOTE CONTROLThe controller of the integratedamplier is uniquely shaped. Fromtop to bottom the controller tapersinwards slightly to resemble a C.This is done so that it can takethe shape of ones palm and it alsomakes it easy to hold the remote

control. The number of buttonson the remote control has beenkept to a minimum, but all thenecessary buttons are there at yourservice. The controller also featuresa tube button; this allows you toswitch off the vaccum tube in theDecco65. With the vaccum tube offa considerable amount of warmth islost from the overall sound, so it isbest to avoid turning off the tube. Ina way, this can also be seen as a tonecontrol available for the Decco65,as you can add more warmth to theoverall sound or listen to the musicas it comes from the CD player.

PERFORMANCEWith 65 watts of power we decided

to use the Decco65 with a pairof bookshelf speakers, and sincethis month was the BookshelfSpeaker special at AV MAX, wehad a number of bookshelf speakersto pair them up with. I decidedto settle down with the BostonAcoustics M25 and hooked themto the Decoo65 with a pair ofloudspeaker cables. The Decco65has an instant, likeable qualityabout its sound and the integratedamplier was well in control of the

Review Peachtree Audio Decco65

The amplifier delivers a wellcontrolled sound without anyloose corners and it keeps thetreble sweet to the ears withoutsounding too harsh or bright inits presentation

POWEROUTPUT 65W@8

TOTALHARMONICDISTORTION