Leo's Blog – Orchard Audio

Orchard Audio to Present at Speakerfest 2022

July 7, 2022 No Comments

I am proud to announce that we will present at the 2022 Speakerfest in Phoenix,…

Amplifier Placement

May 8, 2022 No Comments

Many people talk about speaker placement, and I agree this is very important. However, amplifier…

How To Calculate Audio System Noise

April 17, 2022 2 Comments

Product specifications often list the signal-to-noise ratio, sometimes written as “SNR” or “S/N,” but what…

PecanPi DAC/Streamer FAQ

March 25, 2022 No Comments

Streamer Questions: 1. Can an external DAC be used with the PecanPi Streamer?Yes. An external…

How Much Amplifier Power Do I Need?

March 22, 2022 No Comments

I cannot tell you the number of times I have heard a conversation about amplifier…

What is a DAC and why do I need/want one?

March 20, 2022 2 Comments

Want better sound quality from your phone/laptop/tablet/MP3 player? You need a dedicated DAC. What is…

Keith Peterson

July 24, 2022.

Orchard Audio is - amazing! My product, the PecanPi hits way above its weight in terms of simplicity and sound. Actually, to my ears, it sounds better than streamers costing 4 times its price. Best of all, Leo provides better support to owners than any competitor. He responds immediately to questions and has provided invaluable guidance on the operation of my PecanPi. In short, if you want someone actually standing behind your product who built it, Orchard Audio is it. Bravo!

Brendan O'Malley

July 7, 2022.

I purchased two PecanPi streamers to use as Roon endpoints for my whole-house system. Totally blown away by the value. Listening is subjective, obviously, but to my ears these far exceed the Sonos Ports they are replacing, not to mention that the PecanPi supports HiRes formats that Sonos does not. Orchard's customer service is also excellent and responded quickly to my questions. Highly recommended.

koray pars

July 4, 2022.

On June 25th, we had a big test planned for "PecanPi + Raspberry 3B" vs "AudioNote Dac 2 Signature + DigiOne Raspberry +3B" vs "Lenco 75 Turntable". The amplifier is Extremely modified Jolida 502B with Tannoy DC speakers. I first heard PecanPi in an audition in Hamburg and were really impressed by it so I adviced it to my friend and somehow he got his hands on one (before me!!!) During set up we had one problem which we thought we could overcome with some easy connections, my amp did not have any XLR but I knew that Pecan comes with RCA bindings so we checked internet (rather than PEcanPi site) and did the connections. AND it did not work!!! After reading a lot we found out that typical XLR to RCA does not work for PecanPi. During this struggle we have received incredible support via Whatsapp chat, I mean really incredbile. I dont know how to describe it but our very specific problems (including some hum due to wireless issues) were solved by the admin. So... results: PecanPi combo won hands down over AudioNote DAC 2.0 Signature combo. At some tracks it was super difficult to distinguish the differences but 3D soundstage, resolution + detail, presentation, PRAT was better or at least the same level as 10 times expensive (and huge) setup. Maybe the bottle neck at AN DAC 2,0 side was the bridge, I dont know.... There is definetely a room for improvement there but this little gem is a killer. Definetely give a big challange to 10 times over priced competition and mostly wins. With Turntable (Lenco 75 with Ortofon 2M Bronze and super modified phonostage, arm cables etc) it was more emotional.... We like Turntable sound... somehow more addictive, a little wider and deeper soundsage and more flowing presentation... I dont announce any winner there because as said, it is relatively emotional. But big big respect and appreciation to Orchard Audio... it is magical

Margot

June 29, 2022.

Hi Leo- Just a note to say, I finally have the monos set up! I love these amps. While it’s still early days (and I am burning in a new Schiit Freya + simultaneously), what I noticed right away was the black background and the purity of tone. Very, very nice! And it’s also amazing that I can tuck them inside a very small cabinet –really perfect for great sound in a small space. Thanks again! Margot

G W

Starkrimson Stero Ultra- I’ve had this for almost a year now. It’s an excellent addition to my system”klipsch Heresy, Moon Mind II streamer. Musician Pegasus Dac. I love it . Natural, open, dynamic sound. It replaces wyred 4 sound and PS Audio.

Maciej Robak

June 28, 2022.

Both the quality of the products and the professionalism and help of the owner of the company at the highest level.

jean primault

June 18, 2022.

Les performances du Pecan Pi sont hallucinante surtout pour ce prix. La version HAT pour Raspberry pour un montage DIY est vraiment à la portée de tous, n'ayez crainte c'est un jeux d'enfant à monter. Le montage finale est ultra compacte ce qui permet de l'intégrer facilement avec d'autres modules selon ses propres besoins. Il s'accorde donc avec tout, sans jamais être le maillon faible de la chaine. La dernières version (Rev.3) avec son entrée SPDIF m'a permis de le coupler avec le Digione Signature de chez Allo sur Rpi 4b qui prend ici en charge la fonction streamer pour laisser au Pecan Pi la tache exclusive de DAC. Dans ce cas le Pecan Pi fonctionne en standalone et avec une alimentation linéaire régulée séparée pour chaque module (3 au total). Tout ça intégré dans un Vu-Metre analogique détourné (80's analog style) interfacé avec Roon et contrôle du volume avec rooNuimo. Que du bonheur. De plus Léo a répondu à mes nombreuses questions avec une rapidité exemplaire et toujours de façon bienveillante. Bref foncez !

Adam Lana

Great innovation and sound, with an excellent dose of service. My Pecan Pi Streamer sounds delightful!

Mark Block

June 17, 2022.

Now that I’ve had a couple of months to live with the Starkrimson Stereo Ultra, I’m even more impressed than I was initially, mainly because I can’t find any sonic flaws. It’s an amp that is perfectly comfortable driving inefficient, 4-ohm speakers to loud levels without any strain or edginess. Great recordings sound great, while mediocre recordings at least sound like music and are perfectly enjoyable. The soundstage is wide and inner details shine through. What’s not to like? My previous amp was the Merrill Audio Taranis, Merrill’s brief excursion into a modestly-priced Class D amp built around the Hypex Ncore N500 ($2500 for a stereo amp with 400 watts into 8 ohms, 600 into 4 ohms, now discontinued). Great amp and a great value. But Merrill has moved on. His new amps are pricey but beautifully built, all of them using GaN transistors. I think the GaN amps sound better, so the Strarkimson Stereo Ultra was my chance to have a GaN amp I could afford. My current speakers are Magnepan .7s, which have a true sensitivity of only 80dB and present a sub-4-ohm load. Lots of watts into 4 ohms are required. I was happy with the Taranis, but I briefly auditioned a pair of Merrill Element 116s and was really impressed. Then a friend loaned me a pair of PS Audio Stellar M1200 mono amps. Although not as revealing as the Merrill monoblocks, the Stellar amps were more affordable while sounding dynamic and very listenable. I had decided to buy the Stellar amps until I got in touch with Leo and borrowed a prototype of the Starkrimson Stereo Ultra, after which it was an easy choice: The Orchard Starkrimson Stereo Ultra was smooth and dynamic like the PS Audio, but had better resolution and transparency, like the Merrill. Ultimately, I bought one with all the power-supply upgrades, including dual mono, as I felt that it made a difference when driving the Maggies. As I mentioned in the first paragraph, there’s not a lot to say about the sound, except that it seems flawless to me. Bottom line, I smile every time I crank up the tunes.

Steven Harrison

June 15, 2022.

Starkrimson Ultra I have been listening to my Starkrimson Ultra amplifier for nearly 2 months now, and hve been enjoying every single minute of music with it. As a long time diy’er of amplifiers I purchased the modules, power supply and soft start. I then assembled the parts, first in to an old amp case, and later in to the Modushop custom case. Assembly was straight forward and not complex, with assistance from the You Tube series of videos on doing exactly what I did. In appraising the Ultra I will go back to first impressions upon first completion of the amplifier. The music sounded much the same as with my previous amplifier, a custom designed Class AB lateral mosfet amp that had been in my system for the previous 15 months. The more I got used to music with the Ultra, the more I began to sense additional cleanness, clarity, and naturalness in the music. This to me is a result of the extremely low harmonic distortion and especially the measured second harmonic of minus130db. Yet the music did not have that dry low distortion sound as the harmonic distortion curve of the profile closely resembled that of my Class AB lateral mosfet amplifier. Further listening over time has only strengthened this view. My music listening consists mostly of classical music, everything from large Mahler symphonies to 16th century music played and recorded in old churches. I like that the Ultra keeps the electronic imprint of the audio system to a minimum with this music. And in other musics that I listen to, the same sense of low electronic imprint on the sound is maintained. amplif My audio system consists of a Marantz SA KI-Ruby player, Tortuga Volume Controller and custom built 2 ½ way speakers designed by the late Rick Craig of Selah Audio. The Ultra is a fine complement to this audio system. Wonderful amplifier. Wonderful natural music.