Just today, I was asked to share my thoughs on my beloved Sprout100. I quickly though about sharing my text here too, as a thank you note to Scott and the extended PS Audio team for making possible a piece that makes our days and nights so much better.
This is my very first post here. Hello to everyone!
Sprout100 is to my ears a workhorse with the finesse required for a beauty contest.
We have it hidden inside the media console, driving a set of Elac’s Unifi Slim. Plenty power on tap. I tried it also with some Klipsch and PSB T20 and always worked well. The Slim Unifis ended being a better match to our room, sound wise and looks wise.
The Sprout100 currently serves as the phono pre of our turntable, the amp of our TV output, and the DAC+AMP of our ChromeCast Audio. It even offers Bluethooth for those times we have guests at home and they want to play us their music. And a very respectful headphone amplifier for my quiet times. Truly, is a one box solution that does it all. And does it very well to its price point.
In our case it replaced a modern Denon AVR when we moved into the apartment and we had to downsize the media room. I believe we gained a bigger and depthy soundstage, more fluidity in the sound -if that makes any sense- and tons of clarity. One last personal appreciation, I believe the Sprout100 has more energy than a neutral piece should have on the highs department, which seem to go very well with the marginally rolled off Unifis. But I could be judging it wrong due to our non-treated room.
Shout out to its bass boost. It is excellent for those moments when we play music at low volumes, but we feel the need to elevate the performance of the low end just a bit - the old fashion loudness trick.
I sincerely like this combination. It gives us plenty of joy. And when connected via aux to the TV, my partner can operate it with the remote control of the TV, making her life and my life easier.
One last tip, casting Qobuz HiRes via the ChromeCast Toslink seems to work wonders with its internal DAC.
This system is revealing enough -album dependent- to easily spot audio differences between Spotify (AAC 256), Tidal HiFi (16 44 FLAC - no MQA in Sprout100) and Qobuz (24 96 FLAC). It is indeed one of my favorite demos to visiting friends!
I can not recommend it enough - it even has gone up in value since I first purchased it.
PS It gets a bit warm to the touch. Nothing crazy. But warm. However, I managed to open some vents in the back of the console. I don’t recommend placing it inside a closed piece of furniture. But I was given no option. 
.
