One of the nice audio trends of late, is the growth of compact, portable, affordable integrated amp, amp-DACs/streamers & the like - for the millennial generation who want nice styling, good sound, but not necessarily obsessively 'audiophile' sound quality - eg PS Audio's (Stereophile & TAS) award-winning....

PS Audio Sprout II integrated amp-DAC, for US$599, offers:

50 watts per channel into 8 ohms
192/24 high end fully asynchronous DAC
Moving magnet phono preamplifier
Low output impedance headphone amplifier
Subwoofer output
Coaxial digital input
USB input
Analog RCA input
Bluetooth receiver
Analog stepped volume control
Analog input selector for all inputs
Remote control

That's impressive & with the reassuring brand-backing of PS Audio.





Not sure, but I think it's currently available only via Massdrop:
www.massdrop.com/buy/massdrop-x-ps-audio-sprout-ii

(Not sure either, why the knobs differ, maybe economised, plain round knobs now, for the Massdrop??)

DarkLantern blog - darklanternforowen.wordpress.com

it's been said many times that good sound quality has never been more affordable.

now we can add convenience to the picture.

It appears that the updated PS AUDIO Sprout integrated amp, now called the Sprout 100, will begin shipping this month, direct from the PS Audio factory, or through Amazon and selected dealers:

darko.audio/2018/05/ps-audio-readies-sprout100-integrated-amplifier/

Features:
- 50wpc into 8 ohms (100wpc into 4 ohms)
- Sabre 9016 DAC replaces previous Wolfson DAC
- 24-bit/384kHz PCM or double rate DSD
- Remote control now added
- TOSLINK & SPDIF inputs
- Bluetooth, phono, headphone amp
- Price US$599

DarkLantern blog - darklanternforowen.wordpress.com

May 4, 2018 9:43:28 GMT 12 Owen Y said:

It appears that the updated PS AUDIO Sprout integrated amp, now called the Sprout 100, will begin shipping this month, direct from the PS Audio factory, or through Amazon and selected dealers:

darko.audio/2018/05/ps-audio-readies-sprout100-integrated-amplifier/

Features:
- 50wpc into 8 ohms (100wpc into 4 ohms)
- Sabre 9016 DAC replaces previous Wolfson DAC
- 24-bit/384kHz PCM or double rate DSD
- Remote control now added
- TOSLINK & SPDIF inputs
- Bluetooth, phono, headphone amp
- Price US$599

This quoted post now over five years old ... however, price still seems to be US$599 direct from PS Audio, US$799 from Amazon. In Australia price jumps to AU$1495, sort of understandable with freight and GST. But in New Zealand the price is ..... NZ$3299!

But buy this weekend and get 12% off!

Geeeeez it's a great little amp but not $3k good !

That's a lot of Burger Rings...

Covid level supplies