Integrated Amp Reviews

Art Dudley returned to the nova300 in December 2017 (Vol.40 No.12):

Come back, baby. You'll find a million poems deep in your destitute soul.—Richard Hugo, "Second Chances"

The poet Richard Hugo (1923–1982) was known by his students for suggesting that every poem has two subjects: the thing that triggered the writing of the poem in the first place—the writer's Grecian Urn, if you will—and, beyond that, whatever eventually becomes the finished poem's actual subject. Hugo observed that the latter often isn't known to the writer when he or she begins work, but reveals itself over time.

I think the same can be said of a good review (by good I mean an interesting and useful review, not necessarily a positive one): A critic can set out to evaluate something as small as a piece of wire, only to end up discovering—and ultimately communicating—a larger truth.

When I set out to review Peachtree Audio's 300Wpc, class-D nova300 for the June 2017 Stereophile, I thought I was just reviewing the latest iteration of an affordable DAC–integrated amplifier from the company that popularized if not invented the genre. Only after I'd written the piece was it apparent that I'd also critiqued my review regimen itself. Although I'd enjoyed the nova300's musical strengths, in particular praising its onboard phono preamp, I considered its sound inferior to that of an earlier Peachtree, the iDecco integrated amp, which I'd reviewed for the December 2010 issue. My evaluation wasn't entirely positive, and Peachtree and readers alike were concerned that my testing conditions were unfair, inasmuch as my very high-sensitivity Altec Flamencos are so unlike the loudspeakers owned by normal people.

Until now, my view has been this: As long as I describe—for the benefit of readers and equipment suppliers alike, in these pages and on Stereophile.com—the associated products I use to review new gear (and I do), and as long as equipment suppliers send me review samples in full knowledge of the system in which they will be used (and they do, at least presumably), then I'm off the hook, free and clear, untroubled and unconcerned. But on reflection, I think my critics (footnote 1) have a point: I may indeed be off the hook when it comes to writing reviews of low-power amplifiers, low-compliance moving-coil cartridges, and suchlike, but in this case, my published observations were of limited use to people who own the sorts of systems most likely to be used with the device under test.

Partly because John Atkinson's measurements revealed "a high level of switching noise," he and I wondered if our sample of the nova300 might not have been exemplary. In our correspondence with Peachtree, we suggested that they check out that sample on its return to their facility, but if they did, Stereophile wasn't informed of the results. In any event, we remained in touch with Peachtree, who assured us that a second sample would follow. It arrived in August, described by Peachtree as having been run in and made ready for use.

Meanwhile, earlier last summer, I was sent Stereophile's review pair of Wharfedale Diamond 225 loudspeakers ($449/pair), which I reviewed in a Follow-Up in the October 2017 issue. With its modern soft-dome tweeter and Kevlar mid/woofer; its modern, reflex-loaded, not terribly wide enclosure; and its modern (read: average) sensitivity (Wharfedale specifies 87dB, though JA measured 85dB), the unambiguously affordable Diamond 225 is everything the Altec Flamenco is not: a perfectly likely mate for the nova300 or any other contemporary, budget-priced integrated amp. It seemed a fine pairing, so pairing is what I set out to do—though I also thought it would be a good idea to try the new nova300 with my Altecs, to determine whether this sample sounded different from the old one.

What pipes and timbrels?
I began by evaluating the sound of the new nova300 precisely as I'd done the old: through my usual system, Altec Flamencos included. This time I started out with LPs, specifically with one of my favorite Ella Fitzgerald collections, Ella Swings Lightly (Verve MG VS-6019). Overall, the sound was musically engaging: dramatic, forceful, detailed, colorful. That said, the sound of Fitzgerald's voice, especially in note attacks, was just a bit dry, with sibilants that were very slightly exaggerated and drawn out—especially in the opening track, "Little White Lies." But that shortcoming wasn't as severe as with the first nova300 sample, and those negatives were overwhelmed by such positives as the sounds of Mel Lewis's drums in "Teardrops from My Eyes," which were richly toned and impactful.

I heard more or less the same pros and cons with a fine, recent reissue of Procol Harum's A Salty Dog (LP, A&M/Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab MFSL 1-474), an album recorded in 1969, mostly at Abbey Road Studios. Despite sounding decidedly compressed—but no more so through the Peachtree than through any other amp of my experience—Barrie Wilson's drumming came across with good, colorful tone, and his tabla playing in "Boredom" had decent touch and snap. Melodic flow and the ability to involve me were superb through the Peachtree: Listening to "Too Much Between Us," I was left marveling at the song's very typical Gary Brooker chord progression, in which the transition from the end of the chorus to the beginning of the next verse made complete sense, even if it was impossible for me to determine how he got there. Again, however, vocal sibilants intruded: The s in sow, in the second verse of "The Milk of Human Kindness," made me wince a little, and the marimba's note attacks in "Boredom" were somewhat too crisp.

Then I switched over to the Wharfedales and relistened to the Harums. The sound was much better: smoother and less edgy. That s sound in "The Milk of Human Kindness" still ran at me to the end of its chain, but this time it didn't get far enough to bite. That said, the sound was also more opaque overall through the Wharfedales than through the Flamencos: The worst traits of the Peachtree-Altec combo were now subdued—but so, to a lesser extent, were its best.

The Wharfedales still in place, I switched over to my Sony SCD-777 SACD/CD player and, in a nod to my original nova300 review, returned to the SACD of the Band's The Last Waltz (SACD/CD, Warner Bros./Rhino/Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab Ultradisc UDSACD 2-2139) and the song "It Makes No Difference." And indeed—the Wharfedales made a difference, if a modest one. Through the Wharfedales, this recording's treble range was more enjoyable than when I'd first reviewed the nova300, but a slight excess of energy in vocal sibilants ("the sun don't shine") endured.

I connected my iMac to the new nova300 and switched to the Peachtree's internal DAC, then fired up Roon and tried listening to "Passion Dance," from McCoy Tyner's The Real McCoy (AIFF file of unrecorded provenance, Blue Note 84264), first through the Flamencos. Upper overtones of Joe Henderson's tenor sax were edgy, and the sounds of drummer Elvin Jones's cymbals were all swish and no body—a characteristic that also plagued the end of "Four by Five," from the same album. That said, the trebles didn't seem quite as grainy as they did with the previous Peachtree sample.

Better still, when I moved over to the far less sensitive Wharfedales, all was, if not quite perfect, a whole lot better. After listening to a few more files through this combo, I forged two opinions: At least through its phono stage, the new nova300 sounded slightly less edgy than the old one, though I'd still characterize its sonic fingerprint as dry and crisp overall; and, in the sense that some amp designers feel that the first watt is the most important, with the Peachtree that seemed not to be the case: This amp performed its best only after its legs have been stretched and its reserves tested.

Had these second-round listening tests been definitive—in a manner and to an extent that such things almost never are—I'd now be suggesting that, in my first round, the fault was in both my review sample and in myself. Reviewing a 300Wpc class-D amp—even a good one—with my horn-loaded Altecs was a mistake from which I have now learned. That said, even though my first sample of the nova300 seems to have underperformed, this Peachtree model combines, in all settings, excellent musicality and an overachieving phono stage with an inherently dry sound—not a deal breaker, but something the prospective buyer should take into account.—Art Dudley

---

Footnote 1: See the Comments section.