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

[Narbooty]

Hey all! First time poster here. I wanted to start off by saying, "holy crap, you guys have been so helpful already!" You guys are amazing. I'm relatively new to the audiophile ways and you guys are an inspiration in terms of knowledge and thought process.

 

I have so many general questions at this point, but for now given the nature of this particular forum I'll simply ask this: Has anyone gotten any solid word back on US availability at this point? I've tried to ask a few local stores but have no info so far. I've seen some good links for European sources at what appears to be reasonable prices but in a perfect world I would prefer to buy from a relatively local source in case there is an issue. I'm leaning towards pulling the trigger from overseas at this point though, given the uncertainty of a US availability date. 

 

Thanks in advance!

[Narbooty]

@left channel Thanks! Yea ordering from over seas doesnt seem too bad. If I find out supply on the US side won't happen for a while I'm sure I'll just pull the trigger. I'd just prefer not to order right now only to find out I could have waited a week or something like that. Either way, it is what it is! Thanks again.

 

 

[Narbooty]

*cough* I just placed the order. Couldn't wait 

[Narbooty]

3 minutes ago, left channel said:

 

 

I decided not to get the iFi Power because of reports it generates line hum and RF interference, as I've got a ham radio in the same room. But I did replace the stock wall-wart with a linear (non-switching) wall-wart and 2.1 mm to micro USB adapter. Unlike the switch from USB power to external power I don't hear an immediate difference, but as with the distortion/filter settings could make an improvement in some situations, and also generates less buzzy RF than the average switching adapter.

 

I'm wondering if I should just order these now to have on hand before the DAC arrives...

 

Also, thanks again for looking into the US delivery date/price. I think I'm glad I ordered now, given the price I got and the relative uncertainty. 

[Narbooty]

Yikes, and now I'm going down the rabbit hole of various USB products. Actual cables, USB Regen, Wyrd, iFi iPurifier2, jitterbug, ground loop isolators, ETC!!!!!.....come on now. How could anyone possibly go the right route without actually testing all this junk?! I suppose that's a topic for a different thread though.

 

[Narbooty]

2 hours ago, lmitche said:

Why not? That's what I have done here with my $550 ifi microIDSD. I started with Auralic Vega to Mytek Brooklyn to IFI microIDSD at dsd512 with lots of "guest DACs" in between, T+A, Bryston, Cambridge Audio, Marantz, Teac.

 

The sound quality I'm enjoying now is way above where I started and blows away my expectations of what is possible. The last thing I'd upgrade is the dac. It's the money spent on the upsampling machine, USB components and LPSUs that deliver the most bang for the buck.  The DAC is just one component in the whole system. It's the integration and matching of components that matters.

 

Nevertheless, given the low price point, and Miskas post just above, I am tempted to try the Project DAC once US distribution is in place. Maybe once again a less expensive DAC will yield an increase in sound quality.

 

There are so many ways to skin this cat!

 

So many ways to skin this cat is right. I'm trying to plan out the next few years of purchases(roughly, of course...a general road map at least) as my income will be increasing significantly in a year and a half. At that point spending the money on say...the Mytek Brooklyn...would be very doable. Perhaps breaking everything up into more individual components would actually give better returns in the long run and allow me to purchase some things in the meantime that won't need to simply be replaced/upgraded later(I know that once you get into this enough there is ALWAYS a potential upgrade, but I hope you understand what I mean).

[Narbooty]

13 minutes ago, lmitche said:

So you have to realize that CA is a young field integrating high production scale, low cost commodity computing components with low production scale, high cost audio components. You will get further investing in commodity computer components and using a low cost DAC then tying your money up in an audiophile DAC.  The difference between DACs is going to be relatively low given that the same DAC chip is used at many price levels. On the computing side we are seeing new technologies like more powerful processors, faster storage options like Optane, USB 3.1 generation 2, USB isolation chips, next generation linear regulators . . . enabling higher rates of upsampling resolution and much lower noise levels.

 

If you can handle the diy aspects, investing in the computing side of the equation yields fantastic rewards, and sharing techniques and debating the results in the CA community is an enormous amount of fun, most of the time.

 

That seems to be exactly the kind of approach I am starting to think is best, including the sharing/debating on here

With that said, I'm again back to the best place to start once the DAC arrives. 

 

[Narbooty]

Didn't realize this before...Is that a Usb 2.0 connection on the back of the DAC?

[Narbooty]

On 11/14/2017 at 10:51 AM, left channel said:

 

Yes that is USB, and yes it is USB 2.0 which is normal. What is it that surprised you? USB? Or 2.0?

 

2.0 is what surprised me.  Being such a new device I just assumed it would be 3.0. I know 3.0 offers no SQ benefits, but I just figured a new device that is optionally powered by usb would used 3.0 as it offers more current(not that it necessarily matters). I know now that my assumption is indeed incorrect :p. 

*sorry for delayed response, vacation is over and back to the daily grind...had to put this stuff on the back burner for a bit!

Also, my Pre Box still hasn't even shipped. Retailer claiming supply issues: " it is taking longer than anticipated to get in a version of this product suitable for the US mains". Not super thrilled atm. 

[Narbooty]

Finally arrived today! Initial impression is positive. Gonna take some time with it today!

[Narbooty]

Firmware updated with no issues, working well. I never experienced any of the other problems before though.

 

I love this thing btw. I basically haven't turned it off while home since I got it. I only use tidal so I can't speak for much else, but this thing seems to perform well in every metric. I own very little "hi-res" music, so the mqa ability is a huge bonus. MQA on tidal sounds pretty darn good with this thing. I had tried it using a dragonfly v1.2 and just done the in application initial unfold and actually preferred the "lossless" files over masters/mqa in most cases...NOT the case with this at all.