Overview
"The novaPre seemed to be voiced with the sound of music in mind... with a combination of qualities that drew me into the music." Rated 5/5 Value For the Money! - Tom Lyle EnjoyTheMusic.com
The novaPre Loves Your Music
The novaPre was designed to enhance the digital sources that we all use today. Few sources are “analog”, yet most preamps on the market support analog only. The novaPre loves your music all the way from mp3 to full 24/192 resolution on your computer, Apple TV, Sonos, music servers, internet radio or whatever source you choose, plus analog!
The novaPre is three products in one:
- Hybrid Tube Preamp
- 24/192 DAC
- Headphone Amp
The Peachtree 220 power amp is the perfect complement to the novaPre - in rosewood, high gloss black or cherry.
Design
novaPre
The Reasons It Sounds So Good
- The ESS Sabre Digital to Analog Converter is widely recognized as the world’s best DAC when dealing with hostile digital components like computers and streamers.
- The 24/192 Asynchronous USB Input provides the best possible resolution, which furthers the efforts of the ESS Sabre DAC.
- All digital inputs with grounds are Galvanically Isolated which prevents electrical noise from entering the DAC board on all grounded digital inputs.
- The Tube Buffer uses a stereo triode 6N1P to smooth the harsh digital edge found in poor recordings and compressed audio.
- The Headphone Amp switches the speakers off when your headphones are inserted, so even when a quiet environment is required, you can still fill your head with lush high resolution music.
Superb Digital to Analog Converter
The ESS Sabre Digital to Analog Converter is widely recognized as the world’s best DAC when dealing with hostile digital components like computers and streamers. Jitter is all but eliminated leaving a beautiful digital canvas as a base. The art of this DAC comes in with the hundreds of additional parts and multiple power supplies designed around the ESS chip that work in unison to produce the Peachtree sonic signature.
The Challenging Digital Environment
The 24/192 Asynchronous USB Input provides the best possible resolution, which furthers the efforts of the ESS Sabre DAC. Asynchronous communication allows a high precision clock inside the novaPre to control the timing of the bitstream from the computer to the DAC. This further keeps jitter at bay by not relying on the less precise audio clock in the computer. USB implementation is one of the more difficult tasks. It takes experience, know-how and a willingness to make investments to bring it up to full performance.
Galvanic Isolation All digital inputs with grounds are galvanically isolated which prevents electrical noise from entering the DAC board on all grounded digital inputs. Any contamination due to the switching power supply, multiple ground points, and high speed processing is isolated from the DAC so nothing but pure 1’s and 0’s reach the DAC circuit. Taking into account the unit as a whole, this circuit was the biggest independent sound improvement overall.
Easy Listening
The Tube Buffer uses a stereo triode 6N1P to smooth the harsh digital edge found in poor recordings and compressed audio. It can be switched on or off from the remote control to match your preference at any given time. We find it especially good for Pandora, MOG, Spotify and most cloud-based listening.
Solitude
The Headphone Amp switches the speakers off when your headphones are inserted, so even when a quiet environment is required, you can still fill your head with lush high resolution music. Your headphones can also run through the tube stage so you can enjoy that smooth tube sound in solitude.