Peachtree Carina BT Integrated Amplifier review vs. NAD M10 = Battle of the NCore's.

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/ @2channellistening

[@d.n.a5415]

Great Review! Peachtree is a great company. I had the Nova300 and I think they are Great integrated amp for the price. Great recommended starter hifi amp. I think you have a great channel and one of the most underrated hifi reviewer on KZbin. If you can manage and grow without receiving review gears from hifi manufacturers, I think you’ll be the most trusted hifi reviewer on KZbin. Great review!

[@2ChannelListening]

I appreciate your kind words DNA. I'm not saying one shouldn't except a product from a manufacturer as long as there is an understanding that there is no benefit to reviewer - especially in the case of Direct to Consumer models like ZU, Tekton, Aperion Audio and Ascend Acoustics to name a few. Aperion Audio sent me the Novus N6T and surprisingly agreed to let me try the V8B when I asked for them - they were a good sport about my less than stellar endorsement. At the end of the day, I'm going to say what I am going to say! Thanks for watching sir!

[@seanjoell]

Great review! Thanks for the in-depth info on this product. P.S. keep it coming we need more information on this stuff (and there comps).

[@2ChannelListening]

Thanks! Will do!

[@peterlundskow4061]

I bought a NAD M10 used 4 months ago in great condition for a super fair price. I have been happy with it for all the reasons you mention. I do sometime notice those issues that you mention about volume. I play it trough a pair of Triangle Bro 3's and a pair of vintage Electro-voice Aristocrats, the 3 Way version, I inherited from my Dad with pleasing results!

[@2ChannelListening]

Hello Peter, thank you for sharing your experiences. Yeah, I would say those 16 ohm speakers probably get a great exercise under your care. I wonder how the NAD behaves with a 16 ohm speaker. I appreciate you watching. Its nice to experience vintage with modern, is it not?

[@MrTeko75]

Great review man!

[@2ChannelListening]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@frankoo928]

Wow, awsome review! Thx

[@2ChannelListening]

Glad you liked it, thanks for watching.

[@kirkaparty4143]

Nice discussion, would like your input on GaN1 vs the others

[@2ChannelListening]

I have yet to close the loop with Purifi modules. I would still love to hear a Billy amp and Rogue Pharoah to get a feel for some tube hybrid class D. B&O ICE modules are pretty old now, but still have a powerful smoothness to them, I would say the least mid-range focus of all the modules I have heard. UCD Hypex would be next for mellowness, balanced presentation, but not as focused and does not dig as deep into the layers. I have not experienced fatigue with Hypex and found the NAD C388 to be a terrific budget integrated amplifier with lots of grunt. I'm putting NCore higher up the chain only because of what I heard from Carina and how impressed I was with its top to bottom evenhanded treatment of sonics. I think the higher power modules are the way to go, I just don't believe the module in my NAD M10 was really 100 watts per channel. That's conjecture without instrument proof, just years of experience with all manner of amps and speaker efficiency pairings. Right now, until I hear a Purifi derived amp, I'm putting the GANFET amp module at the top of all class D amps I have heard, and that includes pieces from Esoteric and Red Dragon. The GaN400 amp has not shown the high frequency roll off weaknesses or masking mid-range fullness. I have not tried Peachtree's GaN1 due to its single digital input only nature. I can only share that I have heard zero complaints about its sound.

[@MakingaStink]

Just upgraded from my 15 year old Nova to the Carina, without a listen. Hoping I’ll be happy, I trust I will be, the filters sound a tad overwhelming to wrap my head around, but I think I’ll live.

[@2ChannelListening]

Congrats with your upgrade - Carina will sound very different, smother with all that power. The filters are easy enough to adjust, I wouldn't over think it, pick what sounds the best across the board and forget about it. Check back in after you put a couple weeks of listening in. Cheers.

[@williammorales8204]

I appreciate when a reviewer has something negative to say, shows he's not all in on kissing brands butt.

[@2ChannelListening]

I do my best to keep it real. Thanks for watching.

[@janulik9535]

again good review which kind of gives me information which i need

[@2ChannelListening]

Thanks

[@Jil8840]

Is there sound test comparison???

[@bigjay1970]

Very high quality opening music. Wish most music artist's sounded so good!😝

[@2ChannelListening]

Right?!

[@bigjay1970]

@@2ChannelListening I meant that your opening music in this last video really sounded great with my earbuds.🤔😬 I notice these things!😝

[@rickp6731]

All new Soulnote Integrated amps are amazing

[@2ChannelListening]

Would love to demo the A-2 for sure.

[@bobihadzikimov7823]

Love the channel. This is not all in one solution unless you want to use bluetooth only. Digital only. Sounds amazing though. I think that power rating on this amplifier is wayyy overrated. My 40 wpc tube integrated amplifier sounds much powerful.

[@2ChannelListening]

Thank you for watching and commenting. I know how tubes can do that!

[@delvalle9256]

How are the new aperion bookshelves .

[@2ChannelListening]

Soon, couple more weeks. 👍

[@emailkenny]

I have a Peachtree Decco Sky 125. I was advised that they ran into collaboration issues during the pandemic that ended the WiFi module. It’s unfortunate that the WiFi is now external only. Nonetheless Peachtree is still hard to beat in terms of RMS & price point. However, I’m hard pressed to buy an integrated that doesn’t have built in WiFi.

[@thomaskahalepuna9604]

Is it the Gan technology too?

[@2ChannelListening]

These are NCore based amps.

[@bugpack6]

With Apple you can set up a focus mode and get Zero alerts while listening. That’s what I’ve done.

[@charleskatz2606]

Jason this amp seems to ahve some virtue but a number of limitations.Your video and your experience makes me think you'd be the guy to review the NAD C298 185 wpc Purifi amps and well as the Starkrimson n150 wpc Gan Monoblocks which seem to be a real value @$1600

[@2ChannelListening]

The Starkrimson are interesting indeed at $1600. I think I would buy the NAD M23 as an open box before spending $2400 for the C298. Thanks for the compliment CK.

[@abacar6134]

The Carina’s are on sale for $1599.00 brand new! I just bought one!

[@2ChannelListening]

Seriously? I have to go check! Thanks.

[@abacar6134]

@@2ChannelListening $1599 for the black and $1699 for the ebony mocha.

[@MisterTwister222]

thank god they left out the phono section. I am extremely pleased they the spent money on other sections such as the volume control. Volume control is a dirty forgotten area most manufactures gloss over and forget about. Any manufacturer that even mentions the volume control system they use gets my attention. You really dont understand volume control if you dont know what those relays do with the clicks and why they use them. Digital volume control is the cheap and easy, lazy, and mediocre method most manufactures implement.

[@2ChannelListening]

You've found a good match then.

[@dougk3905]

Carina vs NAD C399 would be a better comparison. C399 has more power than M10

[@2ChannelListening]

True enough, I just wrapped up the C388 a month earlier. Not possible to have every new iteration, nevertheless, the more expensive M10 shouldn't be this far off when paired with tougher speakers. The C399 "could" be the better amp than the M10.

[@rawbrian1]

I think a $4500 peachtree integrated wouldn’t fit in their standard case. They would have to pay to tool a bigger case. I think they should put a slot in the back of the unit to install phono option that’s worthy. Otherwise a really good phono section would increase the price too much. Let’s face it, if you don’t already have a record collection you’re not going to get into it. Records are too damn expensive these days.

[@2ChannelListening]

Certainly they would have to adopt a two layer system like other brands, but you are more than likely right. Andrew Clark mentioned space was a challenge. The price of records is why I have never made the leap! Thanks for watching.

[@newdevilman1167]

I had Decco 125 with phono built in, I had to turn off the wifi to listen to turntable due to signal noise. Still pretty great experience.

[@lsaideOK]

​@@2ChannelListening You have all this super expensive gear and $25 records are too much to bear? If that's how things work, I will keep my $1,000 amp and continue buying records! Having the physical album itself gives me almost as much joy as listening to the music. But I'm older than you. So there's that. Still have my original copy of magical mystery tour with its incredible insert. So, yeah this integrated is a non-starter for me. Have you looked at the Heaven 11 Billie? Or any such hybrid integrated amplifiers?

[@2ChannelListening]

@@lsaideOK Hello Larry, I have looked at the Heaven MKII and am waiting for second hand sales. Where are you finding $25 records worth a darn? Most of the progrock albums I would want are well north of $30, in some cases north of $100. I'm also very impatient, I do not have hardly any spare time for the fun of enjoying the ritual of vinyl - maybe someday I can slow down and worry about drag rate, cartridge loading and the 1,000 hr window of stylus loss. I appreciate your feedback and I understand how folks are dedicated to specific formats. Different priorities...Cheers.

[@dbg317]

somehow this box looks comically huge

[@2ChannelListening]

Interesting 🤔 perspective. 14” wide, 13” deep at the posts.

[@turiddu9]

Bro, you're comparing a 100 watt amp to a 300 watt amp..... Did you expect them to be at all comparable? You're going to here a significantly higher, cleaner SPL with the higher power!

[@2ChannelListening]

The M10 is a $3000 integrated with NCore modules, Peachtree showed up with more power, it’s that simple. Arguably some would say the Naim Unity still sounds better and it only has 40 watts. Are you saying it shouldn’t be considered for comparison?

[@turiddu9]

@@2ChannelListening no brother, but mentioning the superiority over 85 db SPL of the Peachtree over the NAD is a bit obvious for an amplifier of three times the power. It just pointing point something that should be self evident even just by reading the specs….

[@2ChannelListening]

@@turiddu9 Salvatore, I beg to differ. Speaker synergy plays a huge part, especially efficiency rating. Go listen to the demo video I made with my 12 watt EL84 amp on the Philharmonic BMR's. I recorded that at 87 db and the Erik S Concept tube amp sounds wonderful...

[@newdevilman1167]

Great review. I am thinking of pairing Carina with SuperMon Mini from Mon Acoustic for PC-Fi set up. With a sub. Will be interesting.