PS Audio Sprouts a New Shoot
PS Audio's CEO Paul McGowan announces an off-shoot, aptly named 'Sprout', an all-in-one device with an impressive feature set and affordable price.
'Sprout' is the brainchild of CEO Paul McGowan's son, Scott. According to McGowan, "Scott loves music in a way that makes many of us look pale in comparison. His kind of music, live music, concerts, friends, turntables, and lots and lots of music.".
McGowan Snr. announced via PS Audio's community forum recently that Sprout started two years ago when Scott had dreamt of a product that offers a live, high-fidelity sound, but wanted to cater for a mix of both worlds, being vinyl and streaming from smartphones. The product had to be affordable, compact and all-in-one.
Like any proud father, McGowan Snr. harnessed and encouraged this passion, "So we gave him the reins and said yes, it can be done, but it's a tough big project. It was important to Scott that every single detail was perfect: the sound, the look, the feel, the price, the accessories, the manual, the packaging. And over two years he's really thought of nothing else."
"We've gotten it built, but only a few and they are prototypes. There's much more to go if it's ever going to be a real product that we make a lot of (tooling, inventories, etc.). All the feature sets, looks and feel are cemented at this point. And it sounds freaking awesome! This product just is amazing." Said McGowan Snr.
50 watts per channel (4 Ohm) stereo power amp
Passive EQ MM phono preamplifier built in
Line level analog input
Line level analog output
Asynchronous 192kHz/24 bit DAC
USB and coax inputs for digital
aptX Bluetooth streaming
No silly wall wart power supply. AC inlet with real IEC connector
About the size of a novel
$799 USD
That's certainly an impressive feature-set, and if PS Audio's reputable name is even remotely attached to this off-shoot, one could assume it will be of considerable quality.
Sprout will be on demonstration at the coming Hi End Hi-Fi show in Munich next week and we look forward to the first reviews and feedback that will no doubt begin popping up in Audiophile circles around the 'net.
Actual production of Sprout is not confirmed at this stage, and the product may be launched as a Kickstarter project at a later date.
Update June 17th, 2014: The Kickstarter Campaign has launched. Don't get too excited however - they're not shipping outside US sadly.
Marc Rushton
StereoNET’s Founder and Publisher was born in England and raised on British Hi-Fi before moving to Australia. He developed an early love of music and playing bass guitar before discovering the studio and the other side of the mixing desk. After writing for print magazines, Marc saw the future in digital publishing and founded the first version of StereoNET in 1999.
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