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Pro-Ject Pre Box S2 Digital: MQA HW decoding at reasonable cost


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Would someone be so kind as to provide a summary of this kit please?  The idea of reading 34 pages just to get a few impressions puts the damper on my laziness streak.

 

From what I've read so far, concensus on drawbacks:

 

  • headphone amp - not adequately powered
  • capacitors - questionable quality
  • firmware - some kinks?

 

I may be interested in this as an upgrade to my iDAC2.  I've recently had good luck with the sabre sound in my DAP (9028PRO chipped) and would like to incorporate its properties into my main listening chain at home - but I'm not willing to plop down more than $500 at this point - so PRO is out.  Hoping this thing has a decent analogue output stage.  Also like the idea of selectable filters. 

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22 minutes ago, buonassi said:

Would someone be so kind as to provide a summary of this kit please?  The idea of reading 34 pages just to get a few impressions puts the damper on my laziness streak.

Already done. Summary of PBS2D threads.  (Links to a Google Doc.) This lists all the reviews that we know of. They are all flattering.

 

What headphones do you have? Unless you have insensitive / high impedance headphones, there's nothing wrong with the headphone amp.

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2 hours ago, buonassi said:

[...]

  • capacitors - questionable quality[...]

These are 2.000h rated caps able to handle AC ripple extremely well, that means after 2.000h @105C AC ripple handling will get cut in half. I would really not care about these caps, honestly.

 

Have you seen the Cap-Top or CapXon caps from inside JBL, Mackie a.s.o. audio equipment? :)

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@Miska what's your favourite HQP settings for DSD512 up-sampling to this Pro-Ject S2 DAC?

 

Are they the same settings you like with the iFi iDSD for DSD512?

 

Can you share a screenshot showing the exact settings so I can copy your favourite as a starting point.

 

If I don't have enough horse power after trying I'll then tweak these settings to reduced CPU needs.

 

Cheers

 

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13 hours ago, buonassi said:

 

 

I may be interested in this as an upgrade to my iDAC2.  I've recently had good luck with the sabre sound in my DAP (9028PRO chipped) and would like to incorporate its properties into my main listening chain at home - but I'm not willing to plop down more than $500 at this point - so PRO is out. 

Well, we always complain, but PS2D is great DAC. I use it every day for months connected to headphones Amp. Works perfectly fine together with USBRIDGE, the Amp and Beyerdynamics Amiron Home.

However you can have ESS Pro under 500 USD. It was suprise for me, but here it is:

https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/dac-with-volume/audiophonics-usb-balanced-dac-es9038-pro-xlr-32bit384khz-dsd-128-amanero-tcxo-p-12449.html

 

https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/dac-with-volume/usb-balanced-dac-es9028-pro-xlr-32bit384khz-dsd-512-amanero-tcxo-p-12289.html

 

 

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Interesting DAC, but of course the DAC chips itself does not guarantee good sound. It also looks like it has a build-in linear power supply. I dont like button volumes though, even though the S2 volume knob is not the best it still is better than button-press volume in my opinion.

 

How do you like the USBridge with the S2? I consider buying it just to get proper isolation from computer. Have you compared it to sotm sms-200 for example?

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11 hours ago, Em2016 said:

@Miska what's your favourite HQP settings for DSD512 up-sampling to this Pro-Ject S2 DAC?

 

Are they the same settings you like with the iFi iDSD for DSD512?

 

Can you share a screenshot showing the exact settings so I can copy your favourite as a starting point.

 

If I don't have enough horse power after trying I'll then tweak these settings to reduced CPU needs.

 

For listening I use poly-sinc-short-mp(-2s) most of the time. And ASDM7 modulator to DSD512. So pretty much same as for iFi iDSD.

 

Here's a screenshot, but exact settings may vary depending on your preferences and the OS you are using...

Screenshot_2018-04-06_00-22-36.thumb.png.d66a39a140c355a6fb355abfad85b385.png

Signalyst - Developer of HQPlayer

Pulse & Fidelity - Software Defined Amplifiers

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28 minutes ago, MagnusH said:

 

 

How do you like the USBridge with the S2? I consider buying it just to get proper isolation from computer. Have you compared it to sotm sms-200 for example?

No I haven't compared it to SMS-200. But still I like it. With modern DAC as PS2D is, the USB source is not that critical IMHO. But still for me benefit was I can get rid of laptop from my desk. 

Just keep in mind USBRIDGE doesn't have enough power on the USB port to boot the DAC. So external PSU is mandatory for Pro-ject. 

If I will have to decide again, I will again buy both this DAC and Allo device.

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1 hour ago, Miska said:

Here's a screenshot, but exact settings may vary depending on your preferences and the OS you are using...

 

Many thanks. I'll use this as a starting point and tweak to preferences. I'm waiting for HQP Embedded to hit my sonicTransporter i7.... Supposed to be going live soon-ish.

 

It will be interesting to see/hear if the sonicT i7 can cope with these HQP settings, as well as running Roon Core on the same machine. Only one way to find out - to try it.

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On 4/6/2018 at 11:34 AM, left channel said:

@nodoubt yes we know about him. I'm no automatic defender of this product, but he clearly does not have experience in test design nor in using his test equipment, and his results are often different from that of people I respect. Nobody else has been able to reproduce his results with the Distortion Compensation setting, for example.

oops, sry...  didnt mean to stir up old beef...

i thought he gave it a pretty positive review.

mine has really impressed me so far after a handful of days.

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7 hours ago, left channel said:

I stand by my comments, which are based on professional experience. Doesn't matter to me whether a review is mostly positive or not.

im very new here, so im totally lost.

who is the reviewer your talking about?
i just love to see all reviews and learn all i can.

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10 minutes ago, buonassi said:

http://www.pro-jectusa.com/en-us/products/pro-ject-box-designs/dac-s-and-sources/s2-line/dac-box-s2

 

I could just get this if I’m not concerned with mqa, head amp,or having an led display?  Curious how the analogue stage is on this vs the pre.

 

as a stand-alone dac I wonder if this can match the pre sonically. 

 

That one linked is not designed by John Westlake though.

 

That's not to say it won't sound great but I think John Westlake (designer) is a big reason the S2D sounds so good.

 

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51 minutes ago, Em2016 said:

 

That one linked is not designed by John Westlake though.

 

That's not to say it won't sound great but I think John Westlake (designer) is a big reason the S2D sounds so good.

 

 

Aha, likely a completely different set of internals.  Thx sir.

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