PS Audio Sprout II

PS Audio Sprout II

Not certain of the details, but this is a revised version of the PS Sprout. See Stereophile review of the original Sprout: https://www.stereophile.com/content/ps-audio-sprout-integrated-amplifier

I believe PS Audio went back and tweaked it for better looking measurements and even more power into speakers (now 50 watts into 8 ohms from 33 watts).

For those not familiar, the PS Audio Sprout II is an all-in-one integrated amplifier that is easily transportable. That is, if you are a millennial, you can easily put this into your backpack, buy some cool speakers from some shady guy with a white van - like this:

And head out with your tunes to the whatever awesome party you've heard about going on in El Lay - especially if the party locale has a Numark turntable sitting around. (The Sprout has a built-in phonostage!)

The Sprout II comes with the following shit:

1. Speaker integrated amp. Takes banana plugs at the back.
2. Subwoofer out. Make sure to ask the white van guy for a sub.
3. USB and optical / toslink digital inputs (lack of SPDIF coax kind of sucks for me)
4. Phonostage MM (no MC, so I couldn't try it and I didn't want to spend another hour changing carts)
5. Headphone out.
6. Remote control (not pictured anywhere in this post).

Here's a photo of the back.


And of the front.


The interface is super awesome. Simple and intuitive. Press the volume knob to turn on and off. No ST:TNG glass or push button crap. Knobs (and switches) are best.

HEADPHONE AMPLIFIER

The headphone output seems revised from the prior edition. The headphone output of the prior Sprout was kind of sucky. Lean and just not very good sounding. The Sprout II fixes this. The headphone output is competent. The tonal balance is warm and presentation has a light dose of syrup. If I had to nitpick, the treble could be smoother, but I had no problems with bright headphones such as the HD800 (modded). And the HD650s (also modded) worked well too. Somehow, PS Audio was able to get the tonal balance that would work with two different sounding headphones - although I should point out that the modifications bring these two headphones closer to neutral than from stock. Lower priced high value dedicated headamps do a better job, but they also don't come with the plethora of features.




SPEAKER AMPLIFIER

For speaker duty, it does an OK job as well. Typical class D sound, even warmer that the headphone output buy just a tad. Driving these BW speakers, just a bit slightly soft and not as articulate and engaging as the Schiit Freya / Crest CA2 combination. But these BW speakers, despite their specs, really do need at least 100W. The Sprout II does a credible job for what it is, and it is certainly cheaper than the Freya / CA 2 combination.



INTERNAL DAC

I also tried the internal DAC, fed via optical from a CDP. Surprisingly, the internal DAC had a forgiving and pleasing quality that did not have the harsh high-end typically of ESS Sabre. However, like the headamp, I didn't think the DAC competed against lower priced high value dedicated DACs, but think of this as a freebie. The built in speaker amplifier isn't good enough to fully demonstrate the differences between the internal DAC and high priced DACs anyway, so count this as a blessing.

The one thing I was disappointed by was my inabilty to install drivers on Windows machines. I got the same error on both a Windows 7 and Windows 10 machine. I even cleaned out old PS Audio drivers. I even tried Wyrd to make sure USB had sufficient current.



This could very likely be my fault, so for now I'd give PS Audio the benefit of the doubt.

CONCLUSION

In closing, though the Sprout didn't excel in any area of subjective performance, it compensates for that with its affordable price and considerable flexibility. It really is a "one-stop shop" for putting together an inexpensive system.

P.S. I would have liked to see a Bluetooth capability so I could play tunes from my phone.

 

I have no idea. I really don't.

 

Ooops. I didn't notice that. Will try it tonight. There was no manual and quickstart guide in the box, and the outside of the box is plain, without pictures of functionality.

 

I believe it might be a Massdrop exclusive. @CEE TEE probably had them tweak the headphone output (from the prior version) is my guess.

 

Soooo, v1 was total shit and this is... okay if you're a hipster with white van speakers. I read this review as "Merv thinks this product is shit. Don't buy it."

 

you and I should video a walk into the PS Audio offices in Boulder one afternoon and ask why they keep producing crap.

 

Oh good lord yes.