I bought a new high end DAC. It's made in Germany by Pro-Ject. It's called the Pre Box S2 Digital. It's a 32 bit DAC that does PCM and DSD.

It uses a pair of $40 top-o-line ESS 9038 Sabre 32 bit DAC chips in a dual cosine configuration. Those are the current best DAC chips and they are also used in the $5000 Mytek Manhattan II DAC. The output/headphone amp is the ESS 9602 at -120 db THD. The power supply uses the ESS 9311 low dropout voltage regulators with organic polymer filter caps. These are all expensive chips. Resistors are precision MELF types.

It has 7 selectable digital filters with coax, USB and optical inputs. It uses 16 core asynchronous USB data transfer for the unique MQA rendering plus remote control of transport functions on the computer. The usual USB buss noise of -75 db is reduced internally to -160 db. Internal clock jitter is less than 100 femtoseconds, better than most outboard clock generators.

It could cost $4000. At $2000 it's a bargain. I paid $399 shipped to my door.
Yes, this is a game changer for playback.

project-audio.com

Very cool, have you used it yet? What do you think of the sound? Where did you buy it at?

I really think those 9038s, well implented, are a big improvement in any DAC. I do have a Manhattan II, and the step up from the original was substantial. Conventional wisdom says that chips don't matter, but I think these new ESS chips are quite impressive sonically as they are in the spec sheet.

Dear project dac, can you do that with xlr outs?

Interesting indeed, what's the output level?
Why choose the preamp model instead of the dac only?

Hey Jim,

I have a question, please answer if you have time. I have expensive vovox sonorus xlr cables from old convertter rme adi 2 to active monitors (yamaha hs8). Recently bought AKM 4490 dac ( smsl sanskrit pro). Detail is better, but rca cables i have cant match vovox low end quality etc. Like this pro-ject dac , it only has rca outs. So, do you know the way to get highest quality from dac with rca outs to active monitors that have plug or xlr inputs? I have tried different cables but they just cant match vovox. Bullet proof cable? If not, then I just have to wait until pro-ject level dac with xlr outs comes out. Thank you!

interesting about this dac

Vovox uses silver plated copper conductors. If you have the $, Ray Kimber can set you up with pure silver. The AGSS 19 awg 3 braid is spectacular. I use that from the console to ADC and for short mic runs. That stuff kills off any of that "wire doesn't make any difference" crapola quickly.

I use the same 3 braid technique for the cables from my analog console to my Adcom GFA545 power amp. I simply ground pin 3 at the RCA plug. Rather than pure silver I use military grade Teflon silver plated copper.

DACs at full scale put out a lot of signal, +20 dbu is typical. RCA jacks don't change that. Ground pin 3 on the RCA to XLR plug and go.

Mine is on order from Audio Advisor. It will arrive in a couple of weeks. I'll then have something to say about it up against some other DACs I have like AKM, Crystal, Analog Devices and BurrBrown.

I am using the Brooklyn dac if this dac is like the Manhattan 2 for this price I will lose it. Also does it have Aes in Xlr?

Thank you sir!

I will read that carefully many times....I dont have enough $ to those cables right now.....i have to see if I can Diy something.....frustrating to see good dac just standing there cause cables are not up to the task......thank you anyhow!

Ps. Just out of curiosity how much those cables cost?....xlr-rca 5m....

It was $60 per foot back in 2004. Silver was 6 bucks and ounce. Now it's $16.

www.kimberkable.com

Have you measured the maximum output voltage? It's not in the specs.

Thanks Jim!

And how about the distance electrical fields travel within 100 fs in vacuum?

I'd like to see their lab test suite to check the claimed jitter specs.

Pro-Ject Audio Pre Box S2 Digital Review | Headfonics

Wow, a lot of information being added. theflood, I noticed all your past posts are about RME devices, including very detailed information like what page to find certain issues in the manual. Do you work for them? You even linked to posts in the RME forum written by "Matthias Cartens".

If you have any affiliation to that company it seems to be in incredibly poor taste to attack another product like this, especially not disclosing any connection. My apologies if this isn't the case, but it certainly appears that way and would probably be good to clear up for anyone else browsing the thread.


Edit:
I was being polite, but now pretty convinced. Any mods want to look into this situation? Honestly looks like RME should be banned from this forum.

A post from our friend Mattias who works for RME on their forum:
"Your original post is still here for everyone to see. You did not ask about repair at all, you specificly asked about time and money wasting modifications ( that costs hundreds of Dollars, not 4), and you got an answer to that exact question.

Get your facts right before posting nonsense!"



A section from theflood post above:

"He then got a lot of trouble to swap the channels for DSD mode (PCM was easy) to fix this nonsense via firmware update. Just tells you what kind of company that is..."


Mattias RME "Unbelievable and really disgusting oversight on miniDSP's side."

theflood "No, it is not. You need some more disgusting news about your Super DAC?"


So completely obvious the same writing style and person. Down to him even freaking out in his post about the company NOT GERMAN, since RME and Mattias are obviously German and touchy about it.

How do you know so much about this unit if you're not the manufacturer?

I smell BS

Wow, a lot of information being added. theflood, I noticed all your past posts are about RME devices, including very detailed information like what page to find certain issues in the manual. Do you work for them? You even linked to posts in the RME forum written by "Matthias Cartens".

If you have any affiliation to that company it seems to be in incredibly poor taste to attack another product like this, especially not disclosing any connection. My apologies if this isn't the case, but it certainly appears that way and would probably be good to clear up for anyone else browsing the thread.


Edit:
I was being polite, but now pretty convinced. Any mods want to look into this situation? Honestly looks like RME should be banned from this forum.

A post from our friend Mattias who works for RME on their forum:
"Your original post is still here for everyone to see. You did not ask about repair at all, you specificly asked about time and money wasting modifications ( that costs hundreds of Dollars, not 4), and you got an answer to that exact question.

Get your facts right before posting nonsense!"


A section from theflood post above:

"He then got a lot of trouble to swap the channels for DSD mode (PCM was easy) to fix this nonsense via firmware update. Just tells you what kind of company that is..."

Mattias RME "Unbelievable and really disgusting oversight on miniDSP's side."

theflood "No, it is not. You need some more disgusting news about your Super DAC?"


So completely obvious the same writing style and person. Down to him even freaking out in his post about the company NOT GERMAN, since RME and Mattias are obviously German and touchy about it.





Very strange note regarding this forum: you can have an account that you think still functions normally and post, but they have "shadow banned" you and no one else sees what you are posting. This can be easily tested by logging out. I have done so and screenshot, just happened to notice with this thread, hence the new account. Either a bug or mod action, very bizarre.

... yes ... your point makes sense ...

Let's assume he works for RME.

Do you think RME is behind his post? ... or the post is a personal decision?

Not doubting your sleuthing. Matthias is pretty abrasive/rude in his forum (probably should step back from public forums.) Also if “theflood” is him, he should declare. However, Matthias doesn’t just work for RME; he’s the co-founder and head of development.

There’s also worth if a developer tears down another’s product as long as it remains factual (and once again the reviewer admits who he is)

My real handle is eshepherd, and I once received an infraction for being "insulting" but never heard anything regarding a ban. I have been posting for months and not getting replies.... it wasn't until I tried to show this post to my roommate who wasn't logged in I realized what was happening.

I am assuming this was just a bug in the system.

Check out this screenshot I took logged into my account I have used for over 10 years. I don't see that post when logged out or in this new account I made.

Imgur: The magic of the Internet

Probably personal. He’s very technically minded.

Plus I remember there was a GS account that was an official responder for RME and also Synthax has someone on here (RME distributors.) You could usually find those users responding in new RME product threads. So that’s two official accounts representing the company.
(But if it is him, he should still be upfront about that)

If personal ... I am happy to hear comments from technically minded professionals ... from any field ...

Guys from Pro-Ject ... are welcomed to show up and explain why he is wrong ...

... this is why forums exist ... no?

looks like a very good DAC for Money, reading some forums where its compared to Benchmark DAC1 and DAC2, looking forward to hear it

There are hundreds of similar devices on the market, all made by unknown audiophile companies using the latest DAC ICs, HP amps, clocking circuits, etc.. choose your flavor, check out this link:
High End DACs, etc

"company that has no clue at all"

"It seems some idiot in the marketing department "

"Some marketing idiot did not understand"

"Just tells you what kind of company that is..."


Do these really seem like valid criticisms of the unit that would be acceptable for another company to make? Of course he never would have posted that on the official RME account they have on this site. The silly man really thought he was being "anonymous"

So I'm confused.....Is the guy from RME trolling, and is this a good unit.....? Jim Williams is a smart guy and well respected, so I'd assume this is a good unit to check out, no?

"company that has no clue at all"
"It seems some idiot in the marketing department"
"Just tells you what kind of company that is..."

I wouldn't call that trolling as much as an attack on both the quality of a rival's product and their business integrity. The fact he did it from an account he thought was "anonymous" and not their official RME account tells it all.

Wow that's pretty dumb when the OP is a guy that mods gear and is a sharp dude. Why on earth would you do that when RME is well respected and a great piece of gear!