That’s a bummer. Although I did hear a positive change with the schiit modi that I’m running into my sprout100, I’m now really curious to see what these changes sound like though a fully analogue amp. Any you could recommend?
Hey thank you David!
My plan was to use the sprout as a preamp. I don’t have any experience with a separate pre amps so I wouldn’t know where to start. Although I do like to tinker with the equipment and purchase the small separates that I can easily afford, so I might just look for a full analogue integrated amp. I don’t want to run into the same issue as the sprout, which is that all the inputs are run through the dac. I like the idea of being able to upgrade equipment over a long period of time.
In regards to the trade in program, I definitely see myself using this at some point but as for now I will probably keep my sprout100. I love this little guy so I’ll probably have to by something out right. Ouch.
Thank you for your recommendations!!
The Schiit Ragnarok 2 ($1499) and Rega Elex-R ($1695) are outside of your specified budget, but if you sold the Sprout100 you’d be in the ballpark of what you want to spend.
I replaced my B&Ws with a pair of Focal 1008 Be’s. Can be found used for $3000 fairly easily if you watch the market you can get them even cheaper. I practically stole mine for $1500 for the pair. I think the place just wanted them gone. I didn’t look back they sound so awesome and would look good in your room. Musical fidelity makes some nice no nonsense integrated amps that can be had sub $1000.
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Regarding a DAC-less integrated amp I use a Luxman 509X, but I believe it is not in your price range. I also use a Hegel 120 that has an integrated DAC. This was purchased for simplicity’s sake for streaming in our den. I have no experience with sub $2,000 integrated amplifiers, so can’t be of much help. If you rock hard the KEF Metas may not be the way to go.
Based on everything said so far, I am sticking with my KEF LS50 recommendation. Used or new, I think you’ll be super happy. One of my workmates has a Sprout 100 and LS50. He’s super happy. He said to me the other day “I am hearing things in recordings that I’ve never heard before”.
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Does the analog input actually go through the internal DAC? If so, why? The signal is already analog.
There will be somebody here who will be able to give a much better answer than me, but from my understanding, the volume adjustment is done in the digital domaine so everything going through sprout will go through the dac… i think… 
Sprout uses its internal DAC (a very excellent one) as the main core for everything including volume. So, when you raise or lower Sprout’s volume, you are controlling its internal DACs lossless volume control. To make this work, we must therefore convert analog inputs to a form the DAC can use, and this is why we run the analog signals of Sprout through a high-end A/D converter.
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For a sub-$1000 amp, I just ordered a Schiit Vidar 2. it gets good reviews. Going to plug it into the Sprout as suggested by Jamesh and see how it sounds.