Sprout do not comes with a remote control, and the power switch is on the back which is not easy to access in many case.
Do you recommend if I leave it turn on all time?
Sprout do not comes with a remote control, and the power switch is on the back which is not easy to access in many case.
Do you recommend if I leave it turn on all time?
I imagine most will just leave it on as the power draw is fairly low. And they do not need to wait for the unit to warm-up.
I would turn it off as I eschew waste.
I haven’t turned mine off yet. It only gets slightly warm as well which is nice…
Paul
I leave mine on. As noted, power draw at idle is minimal and it will sound better when you first start a new listening session.
This is one aspect of Sprout that I do not like. Don’t get me wrong, the unit sounds great, I love it. But that “minimal power” being consumed multiplied by many people adds up. This is just not a sustainable attitude toward energy consumption and the on/off switch is not conveniently placed. Further if you have the volume turned up there may be a very tiny bit of noise coming out of your speakers despite the lack of signal. I don’t think this is a great think for your speakers either, even if its not audible to you.
So it has been fairly common practice among a number of audiophiles (myself included) to leave solid-state amplifiers on all the time to keep them warmed up. PS Audio (among many others) generally recommends this. I have a bit of a hard time from an ecological perspective with this as well but there is no denying that the amplifiers sound better when they are warmed up. One of the great benefits of Class D amplifiers is that the impact of the practice is minimum due to their efficiency. Speaking as someone who has installed solar panels, buys exclusively renewable electricity and pursues high efficiency appliances whenever possible, it kills me that my standard solid-state amp draws just under 200 Watts at rest. I can’t wait to replace it with a Sprout which should use a tiny fraction of this at rest yet stay warmed up when I want to listen. I have no evidence that any amp over 30+ years that was left on 24/7 has caused any speaker damage.
When my Sprout finally arrives I’ll post “real life” numbers on the idle power usage so people can make an informed decision themselves regarding leaving it on vs. turning it off.
Leave it on. It draws very little power. The whole issue of conservation is a good one, certainly for those products that draw enough current to matter. We need to fix our energy needs and conservation helps but it’s not the answer.
I measured 7.1 watts at idle. Only about a watt more at 1/2 volume.
Using a Killawatt meter mine measured between 8-9 watts when idle. Definitely quite efficient to be ready for bluetooth streaming at any time.
Yea its only 8 watts, come on! Whats the difference! So you sell 125,000 of them (you didn’t get into this to sell a couple 100 right?) and on average folks listen to 4 hrs (I think thats high) of music a day so thats 20 Mega-Watt-hours wasted per day. Yes that is a nano-drop in the bucket of our energy problems. Note I did say its not a “sustainable attitude”. Perhaps I should have said its not a attitude of sustainability. I didn’t say this would solve our energy problems, but its an expression of the attitude that its just you. No, its many many of us.
What is the down side of putting the power switch where it can easily be used if so desired?
How long does it take to warm up?
“What is the down side of putting the power switch where it can easily be used if so desired?”
Well, the power switch is only about 8" away from the furthest point it could be put on the front panel, so I would say you could just slide your hand across the top all the way to the back and shut it off… Unless of course you don’t want to use all that extra energy…
P.
You also need to consider the energy use of the equipment the Sprout replaces. In my case that was an integrated amp (usually turned off when not in use, although it’s manufacturer would probably say leave it on) and a small DAC (no off switch so always on). If the old equipment can be turned on by a remote it is always on. Anything that uses a wall wart power supply is constantly drawing power even if it is turned off unless you unplug the wall wart. The list goes on. There is plenty of other low lying fruit where there is no benefit from the constant power draw.
As the dinosaurs were kind enough to sacrifice themselves for my energy needs, I have a moral duty to use as much fossil fuels as I can possible consume. It is a matter of respect.
e. burnibus Rex
And what has posterity ever done for me?
ppridday said Well, the power switch is only about 8" away from the furthest point it could be put on the front panel, so I would say you could just slide your hand across the top all the way to the back and shut it off... Unless of course you don't want to use all that extra energy...Yes, and where I have mine placed that is easy to do. However if you are not leaving it on all the time, you can not tell by looking if it is on or not. Since it stays quite cool you could have it in a space not much taller than the unit so it might not be so each to reach for some.
stevem2 said You also need to consider the energy use of the equipment the Sprout replaces.Sure it might be a great step in the right direction for many. That in no way implies it is beyond improvement.
Indeed a plugged in but not in use wall wart uses 1 watt or so. Another complete waste. Does one somehow justify the other? 1 is better than 8. less than 1 would be better than 1 (for the millions of wall warts). Bigger drops in bigger use would be even better. I merely contend that having an on/off switch in an inconvenient location was a poor (though small) design choice.
Moral dilemma:
Do I meet my obligation to e. burnibus Rex by burning all the fuel I can? Or do I stop listening to electrically powered music playback and just hum to myself, quietly?
It’s complicated.
@jrg: As one who is gradually replacing the incandescents in our house with LEDs and CFLs and drives a Volt, I sympathize with your concerns. The waste from all our devices worldwide may be considerably more than what we casually dismiss. OTOH, as someone who’s brain is afflicted with he need to extract as much performance out of his audio gear as possible I feel the need to leave all of my gear running 24/7, including the server. Life is about choices and even the decision to place the power switch on the front carries with it more issues than meets the eye. Internal landscaping affects a great deal in terms of unseen cost, both in dollars and performance. One can never underestimate the effect of making a simple change in layout as to it’s ultimate effect on sound quality. IDK if the PSA team ever considered the placement of the power switch in terms of global thermodynamics but I’ll bet they thought about sound quality in a tiny chassis.
@Elk & ppridday: Where is that “I just peed myself” smiley? … …
A nice summary of the issues.