left channel Posted April 5, 2018 Share Posted April 5, 2018 @nodoubt I've perceived no mellowing, but maybe that's just me. My headphones and external amps warm up the sound. Everyone wants to date my avatar. Link to comment
buonassi Posted April 5, 2018 Share Posted April 5, 2018 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. Link to comment
Mark Dirac Posted April 5, 2018 Share Posted April 5, 2018 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. buonassi 1 Link to comment
buonassi Posted April 5, 2018 Share Posted April 5, 2018 I have focal elear mainly for home listening. But i drive it (and my HD600s) with Arcam rHead. Interested in this as a DAC only feeding my headamp. elico 1 Link to comment
buonassi Posted April 5, 2018 Share Posted April 5, 2018 thanks @Mark Dirac - very concise document! Link to comment
trl Posted April 5, 2018 Share Posted April 5, 2018 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? Link to comment
asdf1000 Posted April 5, 2018 Share Posted April 5, 2018 @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 Link to comment
PunkRiot Posted April 5, 2018 Share Posted April 5, 2018 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 buonassi 1 Link to comment
MagnusH Posted April 5, 2018 Share Posted April 5, 2018 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? Link to comment
Miska Posted April 5, 2018 Share Posted April 5, 2018 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... asdf1000 1 Signalyst - Developer of HQPlayer Pulse & Fidelity - Software Defined Amplifiers Link to comment
PunkRiot Posted April 5, 2018 Share Posted April 5, 2018 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. Link to comment
asdf1000 Posted April 5, 2018 Share Posted April 5, 2018 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. Miska 1 Link to comment
nodoubt Posted April 6, 2018 Share Posted April 6, 2018 didnt know if you guys knew about this place. this guy has tested alot of dacs, and really gets down to the nuts and bolts on his testing good review on the s2 here... https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/review-and-measurements-of-pro-ject-pre-box-s2-digital.2370/ Link to comment
nodoubt Posted April 6, 2018 Share Posted April 6, 2018 teardown here https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/hardware-teardown-of-pro-ject-pre-box-s2-digital-dac.2393/#post-67549 Link to comment
Popular Post left channel Posted April 6, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted April 6, 2018 @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. fgribas and asdf1000 2 Everyone wants to date my avatar. Link to comment
nodoubt Posted April 8, 2018 Share Posted April 8, 2018 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. Link to comment
trl Posted April 8, 2018 Share Posted April 8, 2018 The review from ASR was indeed quite positive, showing a very good performance and a very low noise on outputs. Link to comment
left channel Posted April 8, 2018 Share Posted April 8, 2018 I stand by my comments, which are based on professional experience. Doesn't matter to me whether a review is mostly positive or not. Everyone wants to date my avatar. Link to comment
nodoubt Posted April 8, 2018 Share Posted April 8, 2018 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. Link to comment
left channel Posted April 8, 2018 Share Posted April 8, 2018 @nodoubt let's move on. Here's another: https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/pro-ject-pre-box-s2-digital-soc-and-tic-review-measurements.5828/ And in case you haven't seen my recent posts with these two, here they are again https://youtu.be/_3RUADt81x8 https://headfonics.com/2018/03/pro-ject-audio-pre-box-s2-digital-review/ Everyone wants to date my avatar. Link to comment
buonassi Posted April 9, 2018 Share Posted April 9, 2018 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. Link to comment
asdf1000 Posted April 9, 2018 Share Posted April 9, 2018 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. buonassi 1 Link to comment
buonassi Posted April 9, 2018 Share Posted April 9, 2018 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. asdf1000 1 Link to comment
left channel Posted April 9, 2018 Share Posted April 9, 2018 1 hour ago, buonassi said: Aha, likely a completely different set of internals. Thx sir. Yes. One DAC chip instead of two, among other differences. Basically it's called "S2+" but actually it's a minus. asdf1000 1 Everyone wants to date my avatar. Link to comment
Popular Post Mark Dirac Posted April 9, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted April 9, 2018 13 hours ago, Em2016 said: 10 hours ago, left channel said: One DAC chip instead of two, among other differences. Basically it's called "S2+" but actually it's a minus. Brief explanation of the differences between the three John Westlake Pro-Ject DACs is in the Google Doc thread summary. Also a list of all reviews which we know of. asdf1000 and left channel 2 Link to comment
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