Orchard Audio PecanPi® DAC is Now Roon Tested

The Orchard Audio PecanPi DAC is now Roon Tested.
https://orchardaudio.com/pecanpi

You can select it under Device Setup in the setting menu:
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Or one could do a two-box setup with a Pi4 in any number of decent-looking cases and a Khadas Tone Pro, and, for half the price, not only have world-class performance, but also something whose external appearance isn’t of the type only the engineer who designed it can appreciate…

See the problem here ?

At my low volumes milled aluminum for example would double the price of my products.

I know my products don’t look the best but the performance at their price point is extremely competitive.

For example my DAC has the lowest noise and highest dynamic range of any Rpi DAC. Even when not looking at Rpi, how many DACs can you name with 130dB SNR?

BTW the roon endpoint option at $549. Is my best-selling product.

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Now you’re talking. That’s actually what I’m describing.

Are there any off-the-shelf milled aluminum cases you could etch? Even if the box became bigger? I love what you’ve done here. But I bet you could find something that would get you to a $699 price point for $25 on aliexpress. Nobsound does it somehow. Anyways, I might have to get one just to check it out (even though all my existing endpoints are much “higher end”).

Thanks and good luck!

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I don’t understand the fascination with “milled aluminum cases”. These cases are not going to be subjected to abuse, and should be hidden away behind something anyway. Why not just use plastic?

Doe the aluminum serve as a heat-sink?

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Oh, yeah! I like that! Pecan wood!

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Well, there are a lot of cases in marketing where I don’t understand why the market is a certain way… but it is, and you can fight it if you want. But I bet you could get margin up on a product like that with a little “luxury engineering”. But the owner has said he can’t get them for a price that makes sense, and he knows way more than I do.

Respectfully, this is quite over the top…

As you see he’s openly shared his Audio Precision plots for all to see. Even shared in the lion’s den of ASR…

If one is in doubt, then one can simply purchase an Audio Precision kit and try to reproduce his measurements…

When a manufacturer has shared detailed AP plots like this, I’ve rarely seen huge differences when someone else measured…

The bigger issue is typically when a manufacturer doesn’t share much…

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Not that much. Finding a competent industrial designer is neither impossible nor expensive. I guess it’s part of some idiotic “the money’s on the inside aesthetic” or something. The same applies to Allo and all the others.

Yes, while claiming 130 dB SNR here for whatever reason.

We agree on the rest of course, it’s great that Leo’s sharing his measurements, and it’s heartwarming and commendable to see people who’re proud of their work and stand behind it. This makes the lack of any care at all for the casework even sadder, and more inexcusable.

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This admission has bumped @Orchard_Audio a run or two up my respect ladder. Leo, if you could perhaps add a ‘high-end’ case option, I’m sure you’d see more interest - pure speculation of course.

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I think you only need to look at the Nucleus and Rock (NUC) options as a comparison - The Nucleus is a darn sexy turnkey setup, and its expensive given the only real differentiator is Home Automation if you take away the case. Typically a Fanless case is not so expensive but also not exactly an art piece either.

And I do agree with Leo that most of his kit, (and even the Nucleus for that matter) dont need to be on display, bar the unit with display option other than for cooling placement.

Given a more expensive option with no better specs I know where I would put my money.

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Roon sells the Nucleus direct too at the same prices.

I now have a dedicated orchard audio section here:

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