Sprout is PS Audio’s compact integrated that built a following after its 2014 Kickstarter debut; McGowan says the new model will carry that idea forward for today’s listeners. The forthcoming Sprout is described as “smarter, more interactive and more versatile,” with the same small-footprint, living-room-friendly form factor. The company says the renewed…
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Scott McGowan has left PS Audio to form Sprout HiFi, a new company built around a next-generation Sprout amplifier. The first Sprout HiFi product, a revamped version of the Sprout100, is projected for 2026, with email sign-ups open now.
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-channel D/A processor. Digital inputs: AES3, S/PDIF (RCA), TosLink, USB, Ethernet. Analog outputs: One stereo pair balanced (XLR), one stereo pair single-ended (RCA). Sample rates supported: USB to 384kHz, DSD64, 128, 256, Native or DoP. Conversion method: For PCM, choice of sigma-delta with 8× oversampling or R2R ladder; for DSD, choice of native, pure 1-bit DSD, or conversion to PCM. Jitter: 8ps at 48k, 6ps at 96k. Frequency response at 44.1kHz: 10Hz–20kHz, +0dB, –0.2dB. Power consumption: 30W.
Dimensions: 17" W (431mm) × 4.5" (114mm) H ×…
Loudspeaker Systems:
A (FULL RANGE):
Audiovector R8 Arreté: $78,800/pair includes Freedom Grounding Cables
Optional grounding cable adds $3850. (Vol.44 No.9 WWW)
Bang & Olufsen Beolab 90: $211,800/pair ★
(Vol.40 No.1 WWW)
Bowers & Wilkins 801 D4 Signature: $60,000/pair
(Vol.47 No.3 WWW)
Dutch & Dutch 8c: $14,950/pair (stands necessary) ★
(Vol.42 No.8, Vol.43 No.4 WWW)
Dynaudio Confidence 30: $24,000/pair
(Vol.44 No.8 WWW)
EgglestonWorks Viginti: $46,998/pair ★
(Vol.41 No.6 WWW)
Estelon Forza: $186,…
Integrated Amplifiers & Receivers:
A:
Ampsandsound Red October SE: $14,000
Ampsandsound Red October XL SE: $18,000
See Headphones and Headphone Accessories. (Vol.47 No.11 WWW)
Anthem STR Integrated: $4999.99 ★ $$$
Anthem's solid state STR integrated amp offers 200Wpc (into 8 ohms) of class-AB power, along with seven analog inputs—one balanced, four single-ended, and two phono (one MM, one MC). It also offers a 32-bit/192kHz D/A processor with six digital inputs—four S/PDIF (two RCA, two TosLink), one AES3 (XLR), and one USB. A subwoofer output is provided,…
Headphones & Headphone Accessories:
A+:
ampsandsound Bigger Ben: $5600
See “Integrated Amplifiers.”
Audeze LCD-5: $4500
The open-back LCD-5 is the successor to Audeze’s well-regarded LCD-4 and, like its predecessor, uses planar-magnetic drive units, which feature proprietary, single-sided Fluxor neodymium N50 magnet arrays and a voice-coil concept called Parallel Uniforce. The idea is to vary the width of the conductor to match, or counter, variations in the magnetic flux to achieve uniform force across the membrane. The 90mm diaphragm is just 0.5 microns…
Interconnects:
Analysis Plus Silver Apex Interconnects: $1219.99 (1m pair)
The Analysis Plus Silver Apex uses as its conductor an oxygen-free copper "stabilizing strand" covered with pure silver, in an arrangement the manufacturer describes, somewhat elliptically (haw) as "a hollow oval cable inside a hollow oval cable inside a hollow oval cable," said to be double shielded and thus quiet. And MF found it to be so: In his words, the Silver Apex is "highly recommended!" (Vol.42 No.5)
Audio Art Cable IC-3 Classic: $140/1m pair (RCAs), $160/1m pair (XLRs)
The IC-3—available…
Powerline Accessories:
AC Nexus Advanced Power Distribution & Ground Enhancement System: $20,000
Steve McCormack, once the proprietor of The Mod Squad, is the man who introduced the concept of accessory isolation feet—his Tiptoes were aluminum cones with flat tops and sharply pointed feet. Now he's brought to market this passive AC-power filter, whose Panzerholz enclosure contains two fist-sized silver-conductor capacitors from Duelund. The IEC AC inlet is a Bocchino Audio Marriner10 and the AC outlets are four Furutech Nano Crystal Formula duplexes. Four Cardas ground posts of…
Subwoofers & Crossovers:
A:
JL Audio CR-1: $3500
The CR-1 crossover has continuously variable high- and low-pass filters built around two banks of precision Linkwitz-Riley filters that can be set for 12 or 24dB/octave via. Front panel switch. Upon encountering the CR-1, LG "wondered where it had been all [his] life;" he's been using it ever since. "It's beautifully made, sonically transparent, performs a critical role in the optimal setup of subwoofrs, and has ergonomic bypass and mute functions that let you immediately hear the sonic iprovements of good bass management…
Miscellaneous Accessories:
Acoustic Revive RR-888 Ultra Low Frequency Pulse Generator: $695
This small plastic box with a wall wart power supply is said to artificially generate the electromagnetic 7.83Hz Schumann resonance and alter the sound in your listening room. “Which it most certainly does—alter the sound, that is,” wrote AH. Listening to “Madness” from Miles Davis’s Nefertiti LP, he realized that the band’s tart, angular sound had become sweeter: “It was as though the dissonant and otherwise disagreeable sounds on the recording were somehow pushed down below the threshold of…