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Pro-Ject Pre Box S2 digital DAC

RMH1975 said:
I will also contact Pro-ject and ask them to clarify this.
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I look forward to hearing their response. The authors of the above articles used the Stream Box as a Roon endpoint, and I believe Audirvana and BubbleUPnP are also options.

None of them say the Tidal app inside the Stream Box supports MQA. And to use Tidal's own app on your PC you'd need to connect via USB, using the Stream Box as an overpriced USB cleaner only. Not worth it. But network streaming solutions like Roon, Audirvana, or BubbleUPnP could do the trick.

The operating system inside the Stream Box is based on Volumio, which as far as I know does not officially support MQA, but people have gotten Volumio to pass MQA signals to the S2D by using Volumio as a streaming endpoint. If the Stream Box could do more, Pro-Ject would certainly be marketing that as loudly as they can. But there are possibilities.
 
So far no response from pro-ject headquarters Austria or the dutch distributor.
I did get an answer from 2 Pro-ject dealers who said it was possible and found some forum / youtube posts in wich is said it's possible.

Hello Hans,

just a stupid question but I'm rather confused... is the package S2 Ultra network + Project Pre Box S2 digital able to reproduce MQA from Tidal? with native application and/or via Roon ?


Stupid questions are those that were not asked. Using the native app you can log into Tidal and pass on the MQA files unaltered to an MQA DAC. It doesn't decode nor render MQA files, that is up to the Pre Box S2 Digital DAC.Roon can play over the Pro-ject pair and can either decode or pass through the MQA files. Then the Pre-Box S2 will either just render or decode and render the MQA files.


Oh my effing God! Are you kidding me? It’s working!!! All MQA files playing from TIDAL and on USB drive including DSD files! Had 1 second of white noise when I started to play DSDs but they are all playing perfectly now. Pre Box is lighting up MQA indicator and the dots are changing colors to indicate resolution; Pre Box is also displaying the correct resolutions i.e. 48k, 192k, DSD64, etc.

This is all via Pro-Ject Play iOS app so I have yet to try this at home with Roon.

I think i'll take my chances , buy a stream box and let you know if it all works.
 
Fascinating. Thank you @RMH1975 for pursuing this. I once again wonder what Pro-Ject management and marketing staff know about their own products. If the embedded Tidal app can pass through MQA, then even if the device itself does no decoding and does not require MQA certification, one would think they would mention this. Most third-party solutions cannot pass MQA through, so this is an important selling point.
 
I have ordered the stream box and also received confirmation from Pro-ject headquarters Austria :

Yes, the Stream Box S2 Ultra will be able to stream MQA content, pass it 1:1 to the the Pre Box S2 Digital using the standard web-interface or our app. The Stream Box S2 Ultra does not have any built in software MQA decoding, so the entirety of the MQA file will be decoded in hardware on the Pre Box S2 Digital.


Best regards,

Dominik


Dominik Hofer

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Technical Support
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& Product Manager

PRO-JECT AUDIO SYSTEMS a division of AUDIO TUNING Vertriebs GmbH.
 
Hi! I´ve bought a Pro-ject Prebox S2 Digital and I have a problem. When I connect either my Cambridge Audio with optical cable or my Pioneer PD-D6 with coaxial cable to the DAC, it appears a red light on the display of the DAC. So the DAC doesn´t recognise neither the Cambridge Audio nor the Pioneer. To recognise it, it should appear a white light on the display instead of red. Do you know the reason? Thank you
 
Hello, i want to buy new Allo usbridge signature. It's sold with Max2Play, Volumio, Moode and DietPi. Which one of these OS would you recommend? I would use it with Pre-Box s2 digital and want usbridge to be able to stream Tidal MQA files directly to PreBox.. I want to control usbridge with mconnect player from android tablet.
 
Naum said:
Hello, i want to buy new Allo usbridge signature. It's sold with Max2Play, Volumio, Moode and DietPi. Which one of these OS would you recommend? I would use it with Pre-Box s2 digital and want usbridge to be able to stream Tidal MQA files directly to PreBox.. I want to control usbridge with mconnect player from android tablet.
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As far as I know, all or most of those can stream Tidal in a way that can be decoded by the S2D. So the question is more about your choice of OS and that's a bit off-topic for this thread, plus opinions on their relative merits can get quite hot so I think you're best off exploring this on each of their own forums. Be prepared for hostile replies from some as soon as you mention MQA, but you can cut some of those off in advance by clarifying that you don't expect MQA decoding just MQA pass-through.
 
left channel said:
Be prepared for hostile replies from some as soon as you mention MQA.
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Don't know about hostility, mostly just curiosity as to why one would support a closed, proprietary and lossy format that is only of benefit to the record companies.
 
Hello everyone.
I have a really strange problem with my Pre Box S2 digital dac. Whenever the sample rate gets switched through Windows control panel or by apps like Tidal or Foobar to 48 kHz, 96 kHz, 192 kHz and 384 kHz there is no sound coming through only loud static noise and silent crackling. The only sample rates that work fine are 44.1 kHz, 88.2 kHz, 176.4 kHz and 352.8 kHz.
Does anybody know what might be the issue?
I have Windows 10 64bit my PC is powerful i have the latest drivers of the dac and version of the firmware is 2.12 my usb cable is 0,75 m long from AudioQuest ''Pearl'' which is plugged directly to the motherboard usb 2,0 port i don't have any other device plugged in with the dac in the same usb root and i never plugged in the power supply that comes with the dac as there is a warning in the manual to not use it with usb.
Also i tried the dac on 3 different PC's and the problem is occurring there too.
I would be grateful for any help thank you.
 
Anyone knows (specially @left channel ) which is very active on this and the AS forum if John W still plans to release a new firmware or if Project will do something beyond the 2.12?
 
Luis said:
Anyone knows (specially @left channel ) which is very active on this and the AS forum if John W still plans to release a new firmware or if Project will do something beyond the 2.12?
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No idea, sorry. John went silent in this thread after his last post on that topic, and hey it could still happen but I wouldn't hold my breath.
 
Thank you, I guess it is what it is, he mentioned so many improvements (not specifically) that I got really excited. I guess legally probably he had to abandon the idea, maybe conflicts with project etc
 
Luis said:
Thank you, I guess it is what it is, he mentioned so many improvements (not specifically) that I got really excited. I guess legally probably he had to abandon the idea, maybe conflicts with project etc
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Could be. It may have been a requirement of a new contract. Or was always prohibited by his old contract. Or something. Unfortunately John was the only one providing knowledgeable support of any kind. Best of luck to Pro-Ject supporting this on their own, but the S2D is the last Pro-Ject product I'll ever buy.
 
My (used) unit has an issue with the 5v plug. It’s a little loose, so it’s not usable when powered off AC. It’s fine when using USB as it gets the power there.

that said, I’m interested in adding a linear power supply. Any ideas on how to repair my loose female 5v power input?

I might also be without a preamp for a while so it would be nice to have the Pro-Ject available.
 
My unit has a similar problem with the 5V power socket. In my case the cable got stuck in it and the whole socket came out of the unit! Clearly not well soldered in!

Still works fine with the USB - which is how I use it. Still get the DAC does not always start up after re-waking the Mac Mini that is running it. I have to remove the USB lead and then reinsert it to restart the DAC. It is slight annoyance. Curious that this does not happen every time.
 
I suggest to take it to a back-street phone repair shop, who are experienced in replacing such USB sockets. Disassemble the case (which requires a little patience) yourself first.
 
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