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Pro-Ject Pre Box S2 digital DAC

atomic garden said:
Hi. I've asked this on other forums as well.

Can someone confirm if it's a bug or I do have a hardware problem?

Does your Distortion Compensate setting remains ON if you power off and power on the unit?

On my device, all the settings are retained (input, filter, volumes), expect for Distortion Compensate, which always comes back to OFF.
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Hi yes, same problem with me. We should all report it to Pro-Ject support so they can fix this in the next firmware update. We shouldn't assume they read these forums.

Or report it on the Facebook account - they seem responsive there.
 
Thank you for your report guys. So at least 3 owners facing the same problem.

But I have some good news!

1- Pro-ject support kindly helped me to fix that. I have contacted them through the support site using Bermuda as my country (thanks @left channel for the tip!) They answered my message 15 hours later with the solution. Much better than my expectations.

2- It's not a firmware bug nor a hardware problem. I was another victim of the misleading user manual. The thing is that we need to push the volume knob to confirm the selection of the Distortion Compensate setting. I was changing the setting and pressing Menu again.

I replied them saying that an update to the user manual would be nice, as I was not the only one that faced that problem. I indeed remember someone posting about the misleading user interaction with the configuration menus some time ago.

The sound I get from this DAC is amazing, specially by upsampling to DSD512 with HQPlayer (Roon upsampling also gives good results). Great price/performance ratio!
 
@atomic garden thanks for the report! Apparently some of us pushed the volume in to confirm our Distortion Compensation settings, some didn't, and it's all trial-and-error because as you point out manual says nothing about that.

The manual needs a lot of work. All they've done so far is remove the out-of-date DSD playback section, without updating the separate "Computerconfiguration for DSD playback" PDF on the product web page. That one still contains old and incorrect instructions.
 
sberry20118 said:
Many thanks! So this has worked for you now? I'm not home to test my S2 DAC right now.
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Yes, it's working perfectly now! 99% sure yours is the case :)

left channel said:
@atomic garden thanks for the report! Apparently some of us pushed the volume in to confirm our Distortion Compensation settings, some didn't, and it's all trial-and-error because as you point out manual says nothing about that.

The manual needs a lot of work. All they've done so far is remove the out-of-date DSD playback section, without updating the separate "Computerconfiguration for DSD playback" PDF on the product web page. That one still contains old and incorrect instructions.
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Yeah, during the past 2 months I've been reading the threads about this DAC and I noticed there's been a lot of trial and error with this box. I believe that there is not much more trial and error to do, as we got almost everything explained/fixed/addressed. Now it's time to relax and enjoy this piece of joy.

Regarding the MQA bug, I really encourage everyone to try different filters and trust your ears. Optimal Transient is one of the worst for me. I like Hybrid Filter, Brickwall and Fast Roll off. My choice is Hybrid Filter.
 
atomic garden said:
Yes, it's working perfectly now! 99% sure yours is the case :)



Yeah, during the past 2 months I've been reading the threads about this DAC and I noticed there's been a lot of trial and error with this box. I believe that there is not much more trial and error to do, as we got almost everything explained/fixed/addressed. Now it's time to relax and enjoy this piece of joy.

Regarding the MQA bug, I really encourage everyone to try different filters and trust your ears. Optimal Transient is one of the worst for me. I like Hybrid Filter, Brickwall and Fast Roll off. My choice is Hybrid Filter.
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Yes pushing the button in works nicely. Thanks for sharing this info.

Of course we should just trust our ears, but it would be nice to know what Optimal Transient and Hybrid Filters are actually doing. I think the others are common descriptions, like linear phase, minimum phase, fast and slow rolloff etc.
 
left channel said:
You're right! Didn't think I had to extract the driver and run it to look for the firmware; can't remember where it was before. I'm not even using this DAC anymore.

I still have the 2.12 firmware update if anyone needs it, though it doesn't fix this latest bug. Also the manual still doesn't mention John's recommendations on external power, and the separate DSD playback instructions are still out of date.
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Hi left channel, I'm new to this forum and have read through all the posts on this discussion. I got my pro-ject pre box s2 digital on Wednesday. I've managed to playback DSD files using foobar2000 but couldn't get MQA files to playback as MQA in Windows 10 via USB. Pro-ject pre box s2 digital firmware revision is v2.10 and driver version is revision 4.38.0. I was hoping I could get the MQA playback working without doing the firmware upgrade. Anyway, please send the link to the firmware update and the DSD and MQA playback instructions. Many thanks.
 
AlGeo said:
Hi left channel, I'm new to this forum and have read through all the posts on this discussion. I got my pro-ject pre box s2 digital on Wednesday. I've managed to playback DSD files using foobar2000 but couldn't get MQA files to playback as MQA in Windows 10 via USB. Pro-ject pre box s2 digital firmware revision is v2.10 and driver version is revision 4.38.0. I was hoping I could get the MQA playback working without doing the firmware upgrade. Anyway, please send the link to the firmware update and the DSD and MQA playback instructions. Many thanks.
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OK I'll PM you a link to the update, but MQA local file playback problems are usually an issue with foobar2000 setup. See my note on the user manual in the same download folder.
 
I don't know if anyone from here follows also Audio science review forum, but basically they do audio measurements. Amir, is willing to measure Pre Box, so if someone can live for a while without a DAC, would be interesting to see how this box measure :) (he lives in Seattle area).
 
sberry20118 said:
Do you have the Head-Fi thread link? I've seen chatter on other forums this past week
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The discussion, such as it was, was started by others in the Schitt Happened thread before being directed to the Long Strange Trip thread owned by the appropriate Schiit co-founder. On that forum he's @amirm and he eventually received a thoughtful response from the designer of the DAC under test. Seems to me the most important point in that response was that if Amir's measurements are accurate, then he should send the unit in for repair.
 
Hi,

Since 2 weeks I own the Pro-Ject Pre Box S2. Thanks to the information I found here I know now how to handle the various settings. I use an iMac running Audirvana Plus 3 USB out. I modified the OSX High Sierra so that Audirvana can run up to DSD256 in direct mode. Preferred settings on S2: Distortion Compensate On / Fast Roll off. Between the iMac and the S2 I have an iFi USB power USB 2.0 which leads to a firmer bass and a good wide soundstage. Even with the iMac off the S2 stays on 24/7 thanks to the iFi USB power.
 
I don’t think that is quite true, I believe in the first measurements there was perhaps some unfamiliarity with the equipment and procedural safeguards, the first item Amir measured was a headphone amp that he had recommended to his son.
The equipment had some issues and he decided to measure to try and determine the problem.
I don’t believe he has any particular axe to grind and he is a really nice guy to boot.
Keith
 
Purité Audio said:
I don’t believe he has any particular axe to grind and he is a really nice guy to boot.
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We are all entitled to our own opinions - and I guess this isn't really the appropriate place to discuss the admin of a different forum anyway, so I am happy to leave it at that.
 
Yes, I could be wrong of course, but I believe Amir to be one of the good guys, do you ever post there?
Anyhoo take care of yourself,
Keith
 
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