Massdrop x PS Audio Sprout II

An integrated amplifier that does it all and does it well, the Sprout II was made in collaboration with PS Audio: a Boulder, Colorado–based company that’s brought us award-winning gear for more than 40 years. It builds on the original Sprout, whose laundry list of accolades includes The Absolute Sound’s “Product of the Year,” Sound & Vision’s “Top Pick,” and Stereophile’s “Editor’s Choice.” The Sprout II retains its predecessor’s all-in-one functionality—active/passive speaker amp, headphone amp, vinyl preamp, subwoofer preamp, and DAC—and adds a number of community-requested updates. There’s double the output power, for one thing, plus improved Bluetooth and a DAC with maximum resolution that decodes DSD128. A defeatable bass boost, universal internal power supply, and remote control round out this versatile revision.

Designed to pack a punch without taking up much space on your desk or shelf, the compact Sprout II features an aluminum chassis with a handsome walnut top and knobs fine-tuned for millimeter precision. Ideal for high-res computer audio, video, and gaming applications, the ESS Sabre DAC with a USB-B input accepts resolutions up to PCM 384 kHz/24 bit and DSD128. The optical input allows you to incorporate a TV or another modern digital device into your system, while the built-in subwoofer output means you can add rumble with the powered sub of your choice. Upgraded from the Sprout’s pair of 3.5-millimeter jacks, the Sprout II’s analog inputs exhibit stereo RCA connections for pairing with legacy devices like classic video game consoles and open-reel tape decks.

To take its speaker amplifier section to the next level, the Sprout II utilizes new high-resolution, low-distortion technologies and a beefy 240-watt (10-seconds continuous) power supply. The result? 100 WPC RMS into passive speakers (peaks of up to 135 WPC), compared to the original Sprout’s already impressive 50 WPC. Apart from providing renewed efficiency, lower distortion, and greater separation and detail, this increase in output voltage galvanizes the sonic benefits of extended headroom. All this makes for an incredible listening experience from your bookshelf or floorstanding speakers.

Many conventional headphone amps focus on lowering output impedance at the expense of temporal accuracy. To address this issue, the Sprout II makes use of a new low-impedance Z feedback circuit to drive virtually any pair of headphones with perfect transient impulse response. Slew rate (an amplifier’s ability to reproduce transient musical information) is critical to the lifelike presentation of sound. The human ear reacts instantly to temporal shift and this sensitivity helps us to determine our surroundings. Built with careful attention to phase shift and temporal accuracy, the Sprout II’s headphone amp slews at an unheard-of 1,300 volts per microsecond: 100 times faster than that of its predecessor. This allows for lucid spatial detail and acute tonal retrieval—plus noise immunity, so you can listen at low levels or high.

The Sprout II boasts a world-class phono stage to bring your favorite vinyl records, new or classic, to life. Engineered for the best possible vinyl reproduction, the brand-new hybrid circuit design incorporates a JFET input stage to lower noise and increase headroom. There’s also a passive high-frequency RIAA circuit for extended and nuanced high-frequency response. These features represent the culmination of PS Audio’s four-plus decades of experience with the phono stage.