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Pro-Ject Pre Box S2 Digital: MQA HW decoding at reasonable cost -Anyone have this?

I am throwing my system thru the paces of some reasonable upgrades and found some intriguing reviews on this DAC.
 http://www.box-designs.com/main.php?prod=preboxs2digital&cat=s2-line&lang=en

This looks like a great entry to test MQA and have ability to use 7 different filters to salt and pepper digital stream to taste.  Only have an older  DACs Marantz (NA7004) Schitt (Modi) and older Emotiva AV processors (LMC-1 , UMC-1). All non MQA or latest chips.

Anyone think this is worth the plunge for the money?


azthu
bondmanp
1,816 posts
 

@philtangerine - Thanks for your post.  It is very informative.  I actually prefer the option of non-upsampling if a DAC upsamples, and if this one doesn't, that's fine with me. 


I am still curious to hear what users think of this DAC's non-USB performance at Red Book and higher resolutions.  Especially curious how this might stack up against the internal DAC on the Bluesound Node 2 (for $100 more you get a streamer).

kalali's avatar
kalali
1,977 posts
 
I’m also curious about its comparison with the Node2 but keep in mind a direct comparison may not be possible. Node2 delivers/streams full MQA only from its analog output. If you use any of its digital outputs, you’ll need an MQA compatible external DAC to get MQA output. For the Pro-Ject, you’ll have to either stream MQA from a laptop (presumably using Tidal app) or use MQA files on a thumb drive, through the USB port. So I guess what I’m saying is the comparison is sort of pointless since the two devices serve very different applications and you can’t substitute one for the other. In fact, you can’t even use the Pro-Ject as an external DAC downstream of Node2.
bondmanp
1,816 posts
 
@kalali - Thanks for clarifying, but I remain confused.  Why is it not possible to send the digital output of the Node 2 to one of the S/PDIF inputs on the Pro-Ject?
kalali's avatar
kalali
1,977 posts
 
You can do that but you'll not be able to take advantage of the MQA "enhancement" if the content is Tidal Masters. 
uberwaltz's avatar
uberwaltz
13,381 posts
 
IMHO one of the biggest letdowns on the Bluesound products, (node, vault etc) are their built in DAC,s. They are mediocre at best, I forgoe the full MQA effect and much prefer the SQ going spdif into my Lyngdorf.
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