DAC , Pre Amp and Integrated Amp advice

[amodernistman]

Hi guys,

I recently bought a PS Audio Sprout. To take advantage (or at least trial) of the superior DAC in my Oppo HA1 Pre Amp/Headphone Amp I have connected my Mac via USB and my Squeezebox Touch via Coax to my Oppo and then used the Analogue outs to the Sprout (which has a single analogue stereo input due to its miniscule proportions). Am I correct in thinking the Oppo pre outs (which I'm also ruuning in Home Theatre Bypass mode) will avoid the amplification section entirely and just pass the DAC converted signal onto the Sprout for amplification?

I've never used the Oppo as a pre amp before and I don't want to blow up my Sprout or my new GoldenEar Aon2 speakers either! There's no issue using a pre amp with an integrated amp? Wondered if you had to limit it to power amps.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Greg

 

[amodernistman]

Anyone?!

 

[Vladimir]

In that configuration the preamp in the Oppo will drive the preamp in the Sprout, which will then drive the power amp section in the Sprout. This is not ideal because you uneccessarily added extra gain stage (pre > pre > pow), which may potentially have issues with clipping, greater channel imbalance and lower SNR.

Ideally you want the Oppo preamp to drive the Sprout power amp directly, but the Sprout has no input that alows such function to be used as a power amp only. All the inputs pass through its preamp.

 

[amodernistman]

Thanks a lot Vladimir, that's exactly the advice I needed and what I was concerned about. So if I were you, I should just stick with the digital inputs on my Sprout?

 

[Vladimir]

That would be the best IMO. 🙂

 

[amodernistman]

Cheers Vladimir!