Article: Peachtree Audio deepblue Review

[Bob Lindabury]

I just don't understand what all the fuss is about concerning the Peachtree Audio deepblue powered speaker system.

 

I see on Crutchfield this is billed as "Audiophile Bluetooth Speaker System". So, right off the bat, I'm skeptical because I know for a matter of fact that the Bluetooth wireless specification is NOT up to the task of producing audiophile-quality sound. It's just not possible because of the following issues:

 

"Bluetooth is a protocol allowing low power devices to communicate wireless.With a nominal bandwidth of 3 Mbit/s (2.1 + EDR) it is not suit for bit perfect audio.

Due to this limitation it is not possible to send CD quality audio (16 bits/44.1 kHz) over Bluetooth without applying lossy compression.

 

Most of the time the A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution Profile) protocol is used for audio.

This profile limits the available maximum bit rate to 320kb/s for mono, and 512kb/s for two-channel modes."

 

So, right off the bat the audio is compromised by using lossy compression to achieve the low-bitrate bluetooth audio transport spec.

 

I figure, what the heck. I'll go to their website and they'll make me eat crow with their audiophile specifications for this $400.00 speaker-in-a-box system. Low and behold! No audiophile specs. No S/N Ratio, no THD specs. No efficiency ratings. I see this instead:

 

 

• Power: 240-watt 5-channel amplifier
  
• Frequency response: 40Hz-20kHz
  

 

What's the rolloff over the range of those frequency specs? What's THD on those amps and how is the amplification split up between the tweeters, mids and woofer? What's the power handling of the speaker and what's the DB/watt efficiency. Those specs mean absolutely NOTHING if they are not qualified.

 

How can any of you even consider this device without some kind of real-world audio specifications? It boggles my mind.

 

This tells me this is NOT an audiophile device and that these guys at Peachtree are trying to ride the wave of millions of people who absolutely either have no knowledge of audio or what an audiophile device sounds like or they just don't care.

 

They've been listening to crappy computer speakers and compressed MP3's or the like for so long they don't even know what high-quality audio coming out of some high quality equipment connected to high-quality speakers can sound like. Or maybe they're just too young to have experienced anything other than output from their smartphone.

Either way, it's difficult for me to even believe someone here calling themselves the "Computer Audiophile" could gush all over this thing especially at the ridiculous price point.

 

I see everybody falling all over themselves about this overpriced, under performing speaker device. My how the world of audio has tumbled if this is a device to be praised for it's outstanding sound quality.

 

-- Bob

[The Computer Audiophile]

I just don't understand what all the fuss is about concerning the Peachtree Audio deepblue powered speaker system.

 

I see on Crutchfield this is billed as "Audiophile Bluetooth Speaker System". So, right off the bat, I'm skeptical because I know for a matter of fact that the Bluetooth wireless specification is NOT up to the task of producing audiophile-quality sound. It's just not possible because of the following issues:

 

"Bluetooth is a protocol allowing low power devices to communicate wireless.With a nominal bandwidth of 3 Mbit/s (2.1 + EDR) it is not suit for bit perfect audio.

Due to this limitation it is not possible to send CD quality audio (16 bits/44.1 kHz) over Bluetooth without applying lossy compression.

 

Most of the time the A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution Profile) protocol is used for audio.

This profile limits the available maximum bit rate to 320kb/s for mono, and 512kb/s for two-channel modes."

 

So, right off the bat the audio is compromised by using lossy compression to achieve the low-bitrate bluetooth audio transport spec.

 

I figure, what the heck. I'll go to their website and they'll make me eat crow with their audiophile specifications for this $400.00 speaker-in-a-box system. Low and behold! No audiophile specs. No S/N Ratio, no THD specs. No efficiency ratings. I see this instead:

 

 

• Power: 240-watt 5-channel amplifier
  
• Frequency response: 40Hz-20kHz
  

 

What's the rolloff over the range of those frequency specs? What's THD on those amps and how is the amplification split up between the tweeters, mids and woofer? What's the power handling of the speaker and what's the DB/watt efficiency. Those specs mean absolutely NOTHING if they are not qualified.

 

How can any of you even consider this device without some kind of real-world audio specifications? It boggles my mind.

 

This tells me this is NOT an audiophile device and that these guys at Peachtree are trying to ride the wave of millions of people who absolutely either have no knowledge of audio or what an audiophile device sounds like or they just don't care.

 

They've been listening to crappy computer speakers and compressed MP3's or the like for so long they don't even know what high-quality audio coming out of some high quality equipment connected to high-quality speakers can sound like. Or maybe they're just too young to have experienced anything other than output from their smartphone.

Either way, it's difficult for me to even believe someone here calling themselves the "Computer Audiophile" could gush all over this thing especially at the ridiculous price point.

 

I see everybody falling all over themselves about this overpriced, under performing speaker device. My how the world of audio has tumbled if this is a device to be praised for it's outstanding sound quality.

 

-- Bob

Bob - Nobody in this hobby is saving babies or killing puppies. I suggest taking things a little less serious. You may enjoy music a bit more. Nonetheless this device isn't for you.

[wgscott]

bob - nobody in this hobby is .... Killing puppies.

 

<<--- r.i.p.

[Boris75]

I just don't understand what all the fuss is about concerning the Peachtree Audio deepblue powered speaker system.

 

I see on Crutchfield this is billed as "Audiophile Bluetooth Speaker System". So, right off the bat, I'm skeptical because I know for a matter of fact that the Bluetooth wireless specification is NOT up to the task of producing audiophile-quality sound. It's just not possible because of the following issues:

 

"Bluetooth is a protocol allowing low power devices to communicate wireless.With a nominal bandwidth of 3 Mbit/s (2.1 + EDR) it is not suit for bit perfect audio.

Due to this limitation it is not possible to send CD quality audio (16 bits/44.1 kHz) over Bluetooth without applying lossy compression.

 

Most of the time the A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution Profile) protocol is used for audio.

This profile limits the available maximum bit rate to 320kb/s for mono, and 512kb/s for two-channel modes."

 

So, right off the bat the audio is compromised by using lossy compression to achieve the low-bitrate bluetooth audio transport spec.

 

I figure, what the heck. I'll go to their website and they'll make me eat crow with their audiophile specifications for this $400.00 speaker-in-a-box system. Low and behold! No audiophile specs. No S/N Ratio, no THD specs. No efficiency ratings. I see this instead:

 

 

• Power: 240-watt 5-channel amplifier
  
• Frequency response: 40Hz-20kHz
  

 

What's the rolloff over the range of those frequency specs? What's THD on those amps and how is the amplification split up between the tweeters, mids and woofer? What's the power handling of the speaker and what's the DB/watt efficiency. Those specs mean absolutely NOTHING if they are not qualified.

 

How can any of you even consider this device without some kind of real-world audio specifications? It boggles my mind.

 

This tells me this is NOT an audiophile device and that these guys at Peachtree are trying to ride the wave of millions of people who absolutely either have no knowledge of audio or what an audiophile device sounds like or they just don't care.

 

They've been listening to crappy computer speakers and compressed MP3's or the like for so long they don't even know what high-quality audio coming out of some high quality equipment connected to high-quality speakers can sound like. Or maybe they're just too young to have experienced anything other than output from their smartphone.

Either way, it's difficult for me to even believe someone here calling themselves the "Computer Audiophile" could gush all over this thing especially at the ridiculous price point.

 

I see everybody falling all over themselves about this overpriced, under performing speaker device. My how the world of audio has tumbled if this is a device to be praised for it's outstanding sound quality.

 

-- Bob

 

Bob,

I agree that Blueetooth in principle is not fit for audiophile devices because of the limited bandwith. This is why for my two wireless speakers (Zeppelin Air and Libratone Zipp), I chose Airplay devices. I have two questions:

- Could you please tell us the why you consider the price ridiculous when it is in the same range as the Bose Soundlink and lower than the Zeppelin Air or the various Libratones?

- What in your listening experience with the Deepblue leads you to calling it underperforming?

Boris.

[Jon Derda]

They've been listening to crappy computer speakers and compressed MP3's or the like for so long they don't even know what high-quality audio coming out of some high quality equipment connected to high-quality speakers can sound like. Or maybe they're just too young to have experienced anything other than output from their smartphone.

Either way, it's difficult for me to even believe someone here calling themselves the "Computer Audiophile" could gush all over this thing especially at the ridiculous price point.

 

I see everybody falling all over themselves about this overpriced, under performing speaker device. My how the world of audio has tumbled if this is a device to be praised for it's outstanding sound quality.

 

-- Bob

 

Hi Bob,

These are exactly the people that we're trying to expose to higher quality sound with deepblue. There are an incredible amount of Bluetooth speakers being sold, so yeah in that respect, we're "riding the wave" because millions of consumers have chosen Bluetooth as their wireless connection. You are right, most of these people have no idea what high quality sound is or that it even exists or that they aren't buying it when they purchase a $199 Bluetooth speaker.

 

For years our specialty industry has talked about the lack of a new generation of audiophiles or just new people period interested in high performance audio. When we started the deepblue project we set out to offer an accessible step-up alternative to the mass market dominated tabletop speakers while retaining the high performance to price ratio that we have built our company on. deepblue has the most broad appeal of any product we make. For "civilians" who have no idea what an ESS Sabre DAC is and who will never for one reason or another have a stack of equipment - they will freak out the first time they hear deepblue. It is good enough to be their main system. Check out the five consumer 5 star reviews on Amazon. Hopefully we have given these civilians enough of a taste to become interested in audio and will visit their local Peachtree dealer to find out what the next step up the chain is and get into separate speakers, amps, DACs, etc. This might sound idealistic but I know for a fact it has happened more than a few times already. The plan is working! <insert Mr.Burns laugh here>

 

For "audiophiles" deepblue isn't going to compete with Chris' TAD Compact Reference speakers and DCS stack and it isn't meant to and it won't be measured like one. Specs like THD matter very little in a design that is all-in-one with components designed to work specifically with each other. I do agree that a frequency response window would be nice and I'll see about adding that information to our site. At the end of the day deepblue will do exactly what Chris said - produce impressive sound in a small footprint, makes a great 2nd or third system where space is a premium, and it'll make your daughter dance. The feedback from the audiophile community (critics, dealers, customers) has been overwhelmingly positive.

 

I hope you have a dealer where you can listen to one and make a call based on real experience with it, not just on the specs (or lack there of) that don't tell you a thing about how it sounds. Specs help verify choices but they don't make them for us. We've got to like what we hear. Maybe you'll like our brand of chocolate, maybe you won't because you like vanilla and that's OK, but you won't know until you taste it.

 

I'd like to take this chance to address the questions on why deepblue doesn't have Airplay and digital inputs. The short answer is that a product with this kind of performance, especially from a company our size, will usually cost a lot more than $399. Every feature costs money, not just for parts, but for R&D, testing, licensing, etc. To hit our performance goal and a sub $500 price point we had to cross out features that we too wanted. We weren't willing to sacrifice performance or come in at a higher price. We also wanted to keep deepblue simple to use and with Bluetooth the pairing process is very quick and easy. No network, no WPA, just a straight A to B connection. Our team has talked about everything that has been brought up in this thread and a lot of these ideas will end up in future higher-end deepblue models. Thanks to everyone for all of the feedback.

[Superdad]

A very cogent and timely reply. Thanks Jonathan! The deepblue (BTW, why not capital "D"?) may be the perfect gift for my father as his 83rd birthday rolls around.

 

Also Jonathan, I don't know if you saw my rant against Apple (of whom I am a fan) on page 2 (post #31) about Airplay. I think they blew even further world dominance, as well as the chance to give everyone the super-easy ability to sling audio and video around the house to a ton of 3rd-party devices--some the sort that nobody will dream up given how expensive they have made Airplay licensing. And it was not even a technology invented by Apple! They just licensed/bought it and made it a part of iOS and OS X.

 

I don't want to get started again, but I'd be very interested in your perspective on this.

 

Ciao,

ALEX

[adara]

I was recently in an electronics store and I could compare the sound of various “overpriced” docking stations / speakers using the music on my iPhone (including FLAC), for instance Jawbone Big Jambox, Beats by Dr Dre Beatbox, Bose SoundDock 10, Samsung DA-E670 and Philips DS9800W/10 Fidelio. I must say that deepblue is not sounding a little better that any of them, it sounds A LOT better! It’s just a new experience, and I don’t really care what THD or S/N ratio this speaker has, as long as it provides such awesome results! I’m aware that the sound is manipulated as to provide more bass and treble at low volume, but does it matter, if it sounds like a full sized system? OK, for the really geeky ones, the amplifier is provided by audera and it’s a 4 x 30 W + 1 x 120W (at 10%THD) configuration. The high frequency channel has a usable frequency range of 20Hz-20KHz and the THD@ 1 W, 1kHz is 0.09%. The SNR at max output is < 100dB. Finally the DSP is an Analog Devices ADAU1701 (50MIPS) SIGMA 28/56-bit audio processor with 2 ADCS and 4 DACS (SNR of 104 dB, THD + N of −90 dB).

P.S. If you worry about Bluetooth compression there’s always the line in connector…

[Jon Derda]

Hi Alex,

Apple is the best example of a successful vertically integrated company in the world. Vertical integration can slow innovation but it ultimately lets them control the end-user experience, which obviously has worked really well for Apple. It is definitely a balancing act with Airplay. It would be easy for a lot to go wrong, user-experience wise, if they let go of the reigns.

 

ATB,

Jon

[zenpmd]

So does this use proprietary software like Sonos? All I want is a wireless speaker that gets fed the output from jriver wirelessly...is this possible?

[zenpmd]

Also, how close is this in sound to, say AudioEngines A5+?

[findog3103]

Also, how close is this in sound to, say AudioEngines A5+?

 

One man's opinion: Bluetooth blues: Wired speakers sound better than the best BT speakers | The Audiophiliac - CNET News

[Jon Derda]

No proprietary software is needed. You can stream JRiver wirelessly from your Bluetooth enabled PC or Mac to deepblue. 24-bit high-res files need to be output as 16/48 or 16/44.1 which can be changed in JRiver >> Player >> DSP Studio.

[wisnon]

Jon,

 

Very classy response above. Kudos!

[AudioDoctor]

I think I may have thought of a use for this thing. I am sitting in my office right now listening to MOG through the crappy computer speakers and thinking that if I had one of these I could be streaming MOG through my iPad via bluetooth to the Deepblue...

[H558930]

Is it possible to connect multiple speakers from one device via bluetooth? I would like to place speakers in the back yard over a large area wirelessly. Thanks for your suggestions.

[The Computer Audiophile]

Is it possible to connect multiple speakers from one device via bluetooth? I would like to place speakers in the back yard over a large area wirelessly. Thanks for your suggestions.

Anything is possible. It's a matter of how complicated is the configuration and how costly are any extra components. I haven't looked into this yet, but maybe someone else has done this already.

[Jon Derda]

Is it possible to connect multiple speakers from one device via bluetooth? I would like to place speakers in the back yard over a large area wirelessly. Thanks for your suggestions.

 

You can pair a Bluetooth source, like an iPhone, to multiple Bluetooth devices, but you can only actively stream to one speaker at a time. That said, a single deepblue fills a backyard.

[swampfire]

The most obvious is an Apple TV or airport express. I use an airport express in my kitchen and connect to a meridian F80 via its optical digital input. I think for me the lack of digital input would be a deal breaker. The AE or ATV sound great via digital but not so good analog

 

OK, first-time poster here, but I really had to comment on this. First, the Airport Express has a pretty impressive DAC considering its price. I use mine to feed Apple Lossless to a $2000 stereo setup in my living room, and I've never felt that the AE was the weak link.

 

My Apple TV (2) doesn't have any analog audio output at all. I think is because Apple wanted to avoid the "analog hole" that content owners used to fret about. For me, using the ATV2 for music is a non-starter, because the ATV2 re-interpolates the signal. In fact I'm probably going to sell the ATV2 and get another AE.

 

I appreciate the detailed review by CA, and I will be asking Santa to put a deepblue under my Christmas tree. :-)

[billjensen]

 

I appreciate the detailed review by CA, and I will be asking Santa to put a deepblue under my Christmas tree. :-)

 

That may be hard if you have not already purchased it, since the Deepblue is no longer for sale at Peachtree. It is now listed as an archived product. Wonder if they will be coming out with a new version soon

[SeeHear]

That may be hard if you have not already purchased it, since the Deepblue is no longer for sale at Peachtree. It is now listed as an archived product. Wonder if they will be coming out with a new version soon

 

I bought one for our kitchen and couldn't be happier! I went to order another one today and am disappointed to discover they are no longer available direct or via any channel partners.

 

To those who disparage its "shortcomings":

All the cost and engineering went into the sound - not wireless cards, D2As or LAN connections. It always amuses me how people will start a monologue with "I don't understand" and then proceed to pontificate as if their opinion is unassailable. DSP processing does not equate to unused input capability - it describes an internal aspect of the amplification system. Adding a S/Pdif, LAN or other interface would require the complementary processing hardware and software (and their expense) be added to the product increasing both price and complexity. As it stands (stood), the Deepblue is a great product delivering exactly (if not more than) what it promised, in spades! There is nothing currently available, that I know of, that equals it performance at anywhere near the price point.

[Arg]

The Peachtree Audio website lists this product as discontinued.

 

There is no replacement model that I can see -- in fact no product of this type at all. It looks like Peachtree Audio have moved out of this line.

 

That would be one of the shortest product lifespans I can remember, that is not replaced by an update or new model.

 

Rather disappointing! I was just about to buy one.

[Arg]

I wonder what are the currently available recommended products of this type by CA or its erstwhile members?

[The Computer Audiophile]

The Peachtree Audio website lists this product as discontinued.

 

There is no replacement model that I can see -- in fact no product of this type at all. It looks like Peachtree Audio have moved out of this line.

 

That would be one of the shortest product lifespans I can remember, that is not replaced by an update or new model.

 

Rather disappointing! I was just about to buy one.

Peachtree will release new products similar to Deeblue in the future.

[Arg]

Thanks, that's promising. I wonder how long to wait!

[wisnon]

There is a Chinese identical product available in Europe for just over one third the price. I mean IDENTICAL.

 

I see why now its discontinued.