[stufaro]

I have the ability to get the Decco 2 for $400 new, or The Music Hall for $400 slightly used (less than 50 hours on it). Over all which has a better DAC in it?
 
I am only going to be using this unit at the office with Apple Lossless files and the headphone amp on either unit. Seems the Headphone amp in the Decco 2 is tube based where as the Music Halls seems to be just a basic.
 
Any ideas based on the setup the unit will be in? Mostly looking for opinions as using it for only the DAC and Headphone amp since I am not going to be using speakers or a receiver with either unit.

 

[stufaro]

Basically trying to find out if the DAC in the Decco2 compares well with DAC's in the $400 price range since I am able to get the Decco 2 for $400.
 
I like the idea of it having a headphone amp in it but I own other headphone amps so if a stand alone DAC in the $400 price range can preform better I would just get one of those instead, any input on DAC's in this price range compared to the ESS 9006 Sabre in the Decco2 is really what I am looking for. Thanks for any input I get.  

 

[SP Wild]

The Decco I auditioned would have smoked my Dacmagic left right and centre.  The built in headamp will also smoke quite a few 500 dollar headamps quite easily.  The Peachtree should be a lot more popular than it is at head-fi.  Its a perfectly thought out product.

 

[Dynobot]

I once had the opportunity to have dialog with Jim Spainhour of PeachTree audio....great guy.  I think their products are just slightly too different looking and are slightly less understood in terms of functionality.
 
I went to a Brick-n-Mortar shop here in Atlanta that sold Peachtree products.  The product was in the corner not even plugged in, being used as decoration.  The dealer seemed totally uninterested being still hooked-on-hometheater.
 
This was my advise to Jim;
 
"FYI, The Peachtree name is already established...think low cost volume, remember the average Joe is happy with MP3's. Developing your brand image does not have to mean you cater only to the "Audiophile" market."
 
This was to say, create a scaled back product to cater to NuForce Icon group...ie low cost, something anyone can afford.  This will open up more doors to their higher priced products when the average Joe buys the lower priced product, and studies the whole product line.  Its a proven sales technique, 99cent burgers are just to get you in the store they know you will buy more and if you like the product next time you will buy the bigger burger.

 

[stufaro]

So it seems the Decco2 is a great buy at $400 so I should go with that I suppose. Its gonna be my first DAC so I dont know what to except from it but I hope it does something major to the sound for this price.

 

[vert]

The Decco 2 is a no brainer at $400. 

 
I'll buy it if you don't want it.

 

[dperrier]

Where did you find the Decco2 for $400

 

[Ahzari]

I can't believe you could get the decco2 for 400? thats half the retail and all the places I contacted told me they never sell under retail (like Apple)... but anyways I owned the Music Hall and now the decco2.. Gotta say Peachtree Audio sounds much better.. The Music Hall, like the Nufore HDP made me beautiful sounding Denon D7000s become analytical, cold, bass-less... I was really disappointed in the sound for the price.
 
The decco2 though more expensive really sounds much better (warmer, richer, and more musical) and I think looks better too. Some people say the tube pre-amp helps the peachtree audio lineup sound warmer, but I can't tell any difference between when the tube preamp is on or off when listening to my headphones, I've read a lot of other people claiming they cannot discern any difference either and it may be more gimmick than practical. Even so, its a great buy and really compliments Ultrasones and Denon headphones.

 

[markkr]

I was looking at the Decco2 to use primarily as a DAC for my Gilmore Lite, I wonder how the DAC stands up to others in the $500 price range?

 

[Ahzari]

Quote:

I was looking at the Decco2 to use primarily as a DAC for my Gilmore Lite, I wonder how the DAC stands up to others in the $500 price range?

The DAC is its strong suit... I actually may get a Woo Audio 6 tube amp in the future. Compared to the Nuforce and Music Halls that I owned (in the 500 price range) this sounds much much better, though this is in the 900 price range.. so its a pretty big jump but its well worth it. I haven't owned any stand alone DACs but from my research the Sabre DAC used in the Peachtree Audio lineup is also used by DAC manufacturers in the 1000+ category. 6 Moons has a really good review of the iDecco (which uses the same DAC as the decco2), heres the link.
 
http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/idecco/idecco.html

 

[wwillia2]

The Decco 2 is a great DAC for the money.  I've used it for a couple of months and really like it. 

 

[buson160man]

 I know that I am coming into the game late with the peachtree decco 2 but I was looking for a quick and inexpensive way to get better sound from my computer while watching netflix.I did some looking and found the offerings in the less than one thousand dollar theater for dac/peamps quite sparsely populated.The dac magic plus at 649 and the decco model though a bit more was in the area of less than a thosand dollars.Well  I was looking at the peachtree website when I saw they were offering a refurbished decco 2 unit for 549 plus shipping with the same one year as new warranty.Well I jumped and purchased the unit about a month ago and have been putting it through its paces as thouroughly as I can.I did see in a review of the nova model that  one of the differences were that the nova model upsampled its output to 192 khz and the decco was limited to 24/96 khz on its coax and usb inputs.But given the good price I still think this is a great buy and a great way to enter the computer sound theater.
   I bought a pair of emotiva airmotiv 5 powered monitors recently at a10 percent discount sale a couple two three months ago and was looking for a suitable preamp/usb dac to pair with them.
Well i saw the refurbished unit on the peachtree website and thought i could not go wrong at the price.I initially hooked it up to my computer as a usb/dac/preamp and used it with the emotivas.In that area it worked ok given the closeness of my desktop situation in a small second bedroom(pretty small) which I am using to store my cds records,etc.I have my desktop set up in the room as well.It worked ok with the speakers though I wish the room were a bit larger, speakers are only so good when the listening distance from speaker to ear is a mere 42 inches (which is why I wish my bedroom was a bit larger).Oh well it is what it is and I am going to have to live with that.
 I have listened to the headphone amp section some with both my grado rs1is and my akg 701s.I do have to agree with  the 6moons assessment of the i decco about the akg 701/702 beeing more at home when driven by the burson ha-160 amp. But it does seem to sound pretty good driving the grados.Its use as a headphone amp was only a secondary use the decco 2 was going to be primarily used as a dac/preamp with my powered emotiva monitors.
 I recently tried the unit at a friends house as a dac only and I have to say that the dac function of this unit trumps all the other features that this purposefull unit has.It is quite a step up from both my onkyo and older denon universal player that I use.The sound is much more analog like in a sense that it is a lot more resolving than the dedicated dacs on board of either of the cd players.The bass is very impressive sounding and you can listen for hours without any sense of listening fatigue.But I have to say that is not in a sense that anything is missing it seems to be all there but there is a nice sense of roundness to the sound but not a sense of roundness that is lacking in resolution at least to my ears.I think the decco 2 really shines its best as a dedicated dac.
  I now hear this beeing the first time that i have listened to a sabre dac in my system what people are saying about them even though this is their entry level offering it still brings a lot to the game.I would like to hear a sabre 32 bit reference dac in my system I think that would be a impressive jump up from the great performing 9006 entry level dac in their line.
  well for now I think the decco 2 is a great and easy entry into the computer sound theater.I think you could do a lot worse.
 I still could not believe the 400 dollar price that stufaro got his for in january of 2011.Boy I wish that deal was around when i bought mine but it was not.