Pro-JectPre Box S2 Digital Preamplifier (Black)

Spacious, clean, detailed sound for both MQA and non-MQA tracks. Finest attribute is complete lack of listening fatigue, even during lengthy listening sessions at volume levels bordering unwise.Pre Box S2 Digital (PBS2 the rest of the way) is in use strictly as a DAC so I can't comment on headphone amp capability. As a DAC, it shines. Rich and detailed, with a wide and deep sound stage, without the slightest hint of brassiness, harshness, glare, etc. Compared to a 5 year-old ARCAM rLink DAC, the PBS2 is equally smooth, far more detailed, and has a bigger soundstage. Compared to an AudioQuest Dragonfly Red with latest MQA firmware, the PBS2 is more refined, a bit smoother, and has a more 3 dimensional soundstage.It's being fed TIDAL HiFi/MQA from a Lenovo laptop via JSAUX USB A to B cable. Output is via KabelDirekt Stereo RCA to ARCAM AVR360. Speakers are Paradigm Reference Studio 20 v5 in main listening area (additional channels all Paradigm in ceiling with Guided Soundfield feature), and 4 Paradigm Stylus 370 in the backyard, being driven by Zone 2 in the ARCAM. I mention the backyard because the improvement with this DAC is audible there as well. A couple of friends noted the difference without prompting. PBS2 also being fed (for Zone 2) from Sony BlueRay via coax, and from TV Box via optical (football games at the BBQ!) Harmony hub-based remote works perfectly with PBS2, so I no longer need a wireless keyboard to control every move on laptop while listening to music - I can use the Harmony remote and let the PBS2 control the laptop for pause/play/skip forward/skip back, and switch inputs as well. Pretty handy!When streaming TIDAL from laptop, you must go into TIDAL settings, go into "Streaming," and ensure "MQA/Highest Quality" is selected. There's another step after that, and I hope I describe it correctly - scroll down to "Sound," click on "more options,", and 3 more buttons will pop up - make sure all 3 are turned on, or your MQA won't feed out of your player into the DAC.I don't have any DSD files, so I can't comment on that functionality either.Only downside was that the PBS2 was delivered with old firmware that failed in MQA. Updating was harder than it should have been, but once handled, the PBS2 functions flawlessly. I did note a big improvement in sound after a few hours of playing. Not sure if that was burn-in, or if my ears/brain just learned how to use the increased information they were receiving. I believe it was burn-in as friends listening recognized the improvement immediately.This thing is really amazing for $400. Highly Recommended.

I mean, its not a $10,000, 32bit, I sold a kidney for it, FPGA controlled resistor ladder DAC. BUT, it is a dual ESS9038 DAC. If you want to only sell part of your liver, check out GD AUDIO. A *LOT* of the low to mid, and even some high priced DAC's use one ESS9038 for stereo sound. This little box uses two ESS9038's in 'dual cosine', whatever that means, thereby resulting in one ESS9038 per channel! Massdrop had a dual ESS9038 by LKS (fully balanced) recently for more than $1000 more than this guy. This is effectively the same kit (chip allocation wise), but not fully balanced. Is it worth spending an additional $1,000 for a fully balanced kit? Not to me! In any event, this little beauty sounds great. Also, designed by zee Germans. So its got to be great! Only complaint is that I wish it came with a linear power supply, or even a decent wal-wart.

I've had this DAC for a couple of weeks now. I debated quite a bit before buying this DAC, as the price of $399 is not exactly cheap. I was skeptical when I bought it, but so far my impression is overall positive. The full MQA 'unfolding' makes an audible difference as compared to 'first unfolding' done in the TIDAL desktop app.Before this S2, I was playing Tidal MQA via desktop app on my MacBook, connected via optical cable to a Denon 4310CI. I bought this DAC specifically, for the MQA, which to my ears is audibly superior than the regular HiRES streaming from TIDAL. Denon is driving a pair of Paradigm Studio 60v5 speakers.I setup this DAC as a pre-in to Denon. The computer was connected to S2 via a USB cable. Right off the bat, I was able to tell the sound is different. The greatest difference is in the clarity of the top end, imaging, and separation of the instruments - this was tested with Miles Davis and Louis Armstrong MQA recordings on Tidal.Next I tested it with some rock music, and the first was Hotel California (remastered) in MQA by Eagles. The mids are clear, and the bottom end is so nicely rendered that there is no muddying in lower mids. The bass is rendered beautifully.I also tried running it with my tube pre-amp (Little Dot MKIII), connected to Denon via Pre-in. The sound with MQA or plain HIRES is jawdroppingly beautiful. So it pairs nicely in this setup.Not so good:- You can't power it off - there's no power switch. This is lame, and I am not sure what use case Pro-ject had in mind.- The display is small and cannot be read from across the room. In S2's defense, the display is gorgeous! It's just that this device is quite small, so I guess it's asking too much.- As a headphone amp, it sucks. I tried it my AudioTechnica ATH-M50x which are one of the easiest cans to drive, and also with my Sennheiser HD 700s - the result was disappointing.The sound is thin, and if you are looking for a DAC that can double as a headphone amp, I can decisively recommend that you look elsewhere.Conclusion:This DAC represents a good value for with and without MQA - fantastic SQ if you are streaming MQA via Tidal. ProJect S2 excels at being a DAC as a source to a pre-amp, or acting as a pre-amp to a power amplifier. It's not meant for serious headphone listening. Recommended, if you are looking for a great MQA DAC at this price point.Although, it has weaknesses in certain areas such as no power-off switch, and a weak headphone amp, but for my use case as a dedicated DAC, it fulfills all my requirements wonderfully. So I am giving it a 5 out 5.Update:After less than 2 weeks of use, the power socket (usb input looking 5v port) broke. Luckily, it was still covered under Amazon's return policy, so no harm done there. Also, this is not a testament to Pro-ject's support, but a comment on the quality. Priced at $399, this thing ought to be more sturdy. Disappointed in build quality, so I am revising my original review from 5 to 4 stars. I have thought about giving it 3 stars, but I think the sound quality, and the features are pretty good e.g. this is the only DAC in this price range that has a volume remote. Although perhaps it's purpose is not to be used as a dedicated pre-amplifier, but the remote control feature does come in pretty handy.I would not be ordering it again, and will be going for something that's built slightly more sturdy. Unfortunately, that will mean paying a lot more.

La calidad de construcción y materiales son excepcionales, se nota robusto y capaz; solo le pondría un pero: si lo usas con coaxial u óptico no hay manera de apagar el DAC, se debe desconectar de la toma de corriente, para USB es otra hitoria ya que se alimenta por el mismo y cuando apagas la PC/tablet/celular pues se apaga el DAC, fuera de eso es un excelente dispositivo, se nota la subida de calidad de sonido

Il va améliorer le son de tous vos électroniques, cellulaires, lecteurs de CDs, DAPs et ne vous fiez pas a sa taille (4'' x 4'') il est vraiment exceptionnelle. Comparé à l'un des meilleurs dans cette catégorie comme le Chord Mojo, il fait jeux égales ou presque. Par contre il n'a pas de batterie intégré (comme le Mojo ou certains modèles du fabricant IFI) il faut l'alimenter avec le tranfo inclu ou une source de courant continu 5 volts tel une pile rechargeable. Très recommendable.

+ klanglich offen & neutral (Für den Preis bekommt man nichts Ehrlicheres)+ klein u. handlich (ideal für den mobilen Einsatz)+ im USB-Betrieb kein zusätzliches Netzteil nötig+ kein Made in China Produkt- kein manuelles Umschalten zwischen Chinch- u. Kopfhörerausgang möglich. Bei angestecktem Kopfhörer wird der normale Audioausgang automatisch deaktiviert. Damit dieser aktiv wird, muss der Kopfhörer quasi klassisch abgezogen werden. Das kann im Wechselbetrieb auf Dauer etwas lästig werden, da hier beide Hände benötigt werden, von denen eine das Gerät festhält.- beiliegende Fernbedienung auf 1 EUR-Basis. "Richtige" Fernbedienung muss extra gekauft werden.

Still testing the sound but so far it's very good. Using it between a Yamaha AX-497 amp and a Bulesound node 2i (coax digital) / an old Kenwood DP-SE9 CD deck (optical). Wanted to see if its dac adds anything to bluesound. It does. At first it sounded just 'plain' than compared with the bluesound plugged into the amp via RCA, but after some comparison the impression is that it's just more clear (less bass but more detail). With the cd deck over optical it's an amazing upgrade compared to the player's own rca outs. Can't really hear the difference with the individual filters on my setup. The fact that it only supports MQA over the USB port means you wouldn't want to buy it for mqa playback because of the hassle. USB doesnt work with Android. Practically this is an extremely good 2-channel dac preamp for your stereo or a great 'soundcard' for your desktop PC/laptop. In the latter use case, the headphone jack comes in handy. Haven't tested the headphone in the stereo build because I have a separate Head Box S2 from pro-ject.

Porque no se puede poner menos de una estrella. Mal producto el peor DAC que he tenido. Si eres informático y tienes todo el tiempo del mundo este es tu DAC. Si quieres un aparato para reproducir desde PC olvídate.Tiene fallos continuos desde Windows 10, casi nunca reconoce el formato del fichero que lee, la pantalla se apaga, en fin un regalo.