I have been trying out amps for a system I am putting together for my son (4 guys in a house with 2 dogs don't need to deal with the Bottlehead I build for the V1s). I decided to order a PS Audio Sprout. I recieved it yesterday and plugged it into the NX Oticas. The Oticas like the additional power (32watts @ 8ohms), this sounds fantastic !
I am very impressed with this compact unit from PSAudio. It is the first PS Audio product I have heard, I really like it. The unit has an amp, Bluetooth (outstanding sound and coverage, much better than I would have guessed, this will be the primary way it will be used streaming Tidal from his phone), USB/Coax Wolfson DAC, analog in and out via 3.5mm jacks (output is volume controlled, using for the servo amps) and a phono amp. Super simple single box solution, perfect for his situation. If the DAC would do DSD and had remote control I would buy one for myself, for my son's needs he doesn't require DSD and with Bluetooth you can control volume from your phone.
The Oticas now have over 200 hrs on them and are sounding great. I am getting them tweaked out using REW. Settings and locations are changing as compared to the V1s, I am attributing this to the servo drivers all facing forward as opposed to the V1s where the servo drivers were facing opposite each other. The Oticas playing lower than the coax of the V1 may play a role in the differences as well. I have a bit of a suck out at 70hz that I am working with currently, I seem to recall seeing this with the V1s, I managed to eliminate the suck out but in doing so I had a boost around 40 Hz which I considered the lesser of two evils.
I am going to be changing some things around in my room, replacing my parabolic diffuser with some PI Audio diffusers I have had a while and can finally spray (latex paint only) now that I have a spray setup. I am going to get that completed as well as ceiling absorption (hopefully) before I spend too much more time with REW.
More later.
Best,
Ed