Why No Love For Peachtree Audio?

Just because Peachtree doesn’t seem to get a lot of exposure on Audiogon doesn’t mean it isn’t lauded elsewhere. It’s a successful brand and produces many solid products. Audiogoners tend to be fussy with their accolades; I mean, every time someone posts a celebration of Product A, 19 trolls surface to point out its flaws and obvious weakness compared to Product B.

There are many large volume manufacturers who are met with crickets for the most part here: Marantz, Bel Canto, LSA, NAD, Simaudio, and others who don’t have a devoted cult following but who have achieved large-scale success. They’ll be touted every now and then in a "What component do I desperately need/" thread, but don’t often warrant threads of their own.

Tbh, in my everpresent search for the perfect integrated, I did consider Peachtree briefly, but the bias in me that sees boutique and exotics as preferable made me pass it over. Honestly, I succumbed to the "it's so popular that it can't be as good as this exotic unit made by organic peasants in Switzerland" bias.

I purchased a new Grand X-1 Hybrid 3 years ago directly from Peachtree as it had been discontinued.  Lucky to get one and have been happy with it ever since.  When new in my systems it blew me away with more of everything from Beefheart's, "Crazy Little Thing" to Chris Christopherson's last one man album.  I had to play with it and have rolled different tubes until I tried a matched pair of Gold Lions.  The improvement was subtle but rich and deep and better with time.  

The folks I talked with at Peachtree were frank about taking flack for the price of their product.  The corporate story was to be affordable and the $4,500 ticket was over the top for their fans...  except it wasn't.  Not even close to the top.  The amp was discontinued to re-focus the corporate attention and a decision not to 'compete' in the 'hybrid' market.  The current 500 watt model without the tube 'preamp' is basically the same unit, sans tubes.  The price reflects that too and is more consistent with goals.  After all, we already have McIntosh for weight and big bucks. 

In Michigan I can now head to my studio, fire up a new release on vinyl from Savoy Brown and a 80 year old guitarist, and fire up some OG Kush too.  Now turn it up.  

what @simao said. I had the iDAC, great little piece. I sold it to one of my buddies and he still tells me how much he likes it. Some great deals on their amps on the used market.

I bought a Decco when they first started coming out off of crutchfield. The right to left balance changed by 1-1.5 db as I changed the volume. I returned it and never looked at them again. Maybe they have improved their volume control, maybe they have not. 

I've been a big fan of Peachtree for more than a decade. Dollar for dollar their stuff is among the best value for audiophiles on a budget. In fact, some of their gear, like the DeepBlue Sky bluetooth speaker beats anything comparable on the market, at any price. I owned three of their headphone amps/DACs and loved them. The only knock I have against them in terms of quality control was a really annoying bluetooth connectivity issue with the DeepBlue Gen 1 speaker. Most of their stuff is made in Canada nowadays and is superbly built and designed. Their customer service is top notch, too.