PS Audio has just embarked on a crowd-funding campaign for its compact, all-in-one integrated amplifier, the quaintly named Sprout. The 30-day campaign at Kickstarter took off on Monday, and sold 100 units within the hour.
A prototype Sprout was shown at the Munich High End show in May, and is significant in that it is the brainchild of “next-gen” PS Audio – i.e., founder and CEO Paul McGowan’s son Scott, who is currently the company’s sales director.
Sprout, we’re told, is a “simple but high-quality hub of a home music system, and contains a 50 watt/channel integrated amplifier, a phono preamplifier, 24/96 asynchronous DAC, headphone amp and a Bluetooth receiver. It can thus play music directly from a turntable, any digital input, and wirelessly from a smartphone.”
According to McGowan junior, “Most people of my generation – in their 20s and 30s – have grown up with earbuds and cheap plastic home-theater systems, and have no idea how great music at home can sound.
“This product is our first step in growing awareness of awesome home audio – so we think ‘Sprout’ is an appropriate name. We expect big things from this little guy.”
Built utilising aircraft-grade aluminum, steel and walnut, the component promises “PS’ legendary concert-hall sound, reliability and customer support to a whole new audience.”
Those backing the Kickstarter campaign will have the opportunity to sample Sprout for US$399 before it begins shipping in September at a retail price of US$799.99.
The downside – this campaign is open only to US customers. So far, almost US$84,000 (of the US$36,000 target) has been pledged by more than 200 backers.
