I found some nice bookshelf speakers in a thrift store, which got me wondering if there’s modern amplifiers available which are compact for my desk and simple,

I found some nice bookshelf speakers in a thrift store, which got me wondering if there’s modern amplifiers available which are compact for my desk and simple, i.e.: not loaded with software for airplay etc that will be obsolete in 5 years. It turns out they are easily findable on Amazon or aliexpress, and they are under $60 (although they were half the price a couple of years ago). They generally have bluetooth, which I don’t see as adding the same type of complexity as airplay as there’s no network or configurable software component. I did research to find one with high quality components and a good Qualcomm bluetooth chipset. I do have airplay available because it’s usually connected to my desktop PC with an airplay server running, but if my main use case was a standalone setup like the author’s, I think his solution of using a raspberry Pi is a better long-term solution than buying a similar amplifier which includes airplay. Then the amplifier has a good chance of being useful for decades.