Integrated Amplifiers

With the original Stellar Strata integrated amplifier now replaced by this MK2 update, there’s currently only one networked product in PS Audio’s stable: the AirLens streamer, which debuted in late 2023. This is clearly something of an outlier for the Colorado-based brand, as it doesn’t sit within either its high-end PerfectWave or entry Stellar series, and its compact (254mm-wide) chassis sports a new, two-tone fascia design.

The AirLens is entirely focused on streaming audio via wired Ethernet or Wi-Fi, its only other connections being digital outputs on I²S (up to 352.8kHz/32-bit PCM and DSD256) and coaxial (192kHz PCM and DSD128 via DoP). There’s no USB output, and nor is there a bespoke app to manage music playback. Instead, the AirLens is certified Roon Ready, and supports Tidal Connect, Spotify Connect, JRiver, Audirvana and UPnP apps including mConnect.

In pursuit of optimal performance, this streamer incorporates PS Audio’s ‘Digital Lens’ reclocking/data buffer technology and features galvanically isolated input and output stages, the latter claimed to receive digital audio data ‘using only air as the interface’. This, which presumably means PS Audio is using transformer coupling between circuits, gives the AirLens its portmanteau name.