FOLLOW-UP

ROGUE SPHINX V3 INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER

I am proud of the fact that my first review for Stereophile was of a modestly priced integrated amplifier called the Rogue Audio Sphinx.¹ Specified at 100Wpc into 8 ohms, 200Wpc into 4 ohms,² it played the KEF LS50s like it was made for them. It was simple and handsome and cost only $1295, phono stage included. I chose the Sphinx because it was a hybrid tube–class-D design that, to my ears, blended Frenchwine tube flavor with the grip and authority of class-D solidstateness. The Sphinx was proletariat, not patrician, but it still showed me the merry music of Paris during La Belle Époque. With the LS50s, a VPI Traveler turntable, Ortofon 2M Red phono cartridge, Oppo CD player, and some AudioQuest wire, the entire analog and digital system cost less than $5k but delivered pleasure like a good five-figure hi-fi.³

The latest version of the Rogue Sphinx is called the “V3,” and it looks