[Fors10]

@Fors10 re your 62 ohm headphones, the answer depends on your ears.

To me the Pre Box has more than enough drive, but at least one or two of the metalheads here would definitely disagree.

Leaves me with only option that is order both and return one of them after a small test period. I'm interested in the Pre Box's possibility to produce better sound vs the single stereo configuration in the Head Box unit. My only question is, is it worth the 80€ price rise.

Oh btw, is the Pre Box compatible with PS4? I'm able to use my current DAC in its' USB port and it'll work as a sound output normally. Would be really nice to have USB in from PS4 and optical in from TV.

 

[Left Channel]

Leaves me with only option that is order both and return one of them after a small test period. I'm interested in the Pre Box's possibility to produce better sound vs the single stereo configuration in the Head Box unit. My only question is, is it worth the 80€ price rise.

Oh btw, is the Pre Box compatible with PS4? I'm able to use my current DAC in its' USB port and it'll work as a sound output normally. Would be really nice to have USB in from PS4 and optical in from TV.

As far as I know you'll be the first to test with the PS4. Others have used it with their TVs, to varying degrees of success. But I believe both will work.

 

[Maru-san]

@DexS there is now a Mac firmware update utility on the Pro-Ject website. Scroll down: http://www.box-designs.com/main.php?prod=preboxs2digital&cat=default&lang=en I've also added the Mac updater to my download folder.

I don't know if they included instructions for the Mac updater — maybe they're in the .dmg file — but the separate instructions PDF on that page is corrupted. Sigh. I'm trying to let them know. And at least one user is reporting his Mac can't see the S2 to load the update, by the way. Please let us know if you try this. I'm all WinDoze and Ubuntu here.

They've re-posted the 2.12 update again too. Finally. It should not have been removed completely just because of that one MQA/OptimalTransient bug.

I was just looking at the site for the mac updater and could not find it. Did they remove at like they did with the 2.12 firmware before?

 

[Left Channel]

I was just looking at the site for the mac updater and could not find it. Did they remove at like they did with the 2.12 firmware before?

They did remove it, thanks for noticing!

I will PM a link to you. I have the Mac updater, the update, and related files in a download folder. There are no instructions for the Mac updater, just a dmg file.

They probably removed it because some people were having trouble getting it to work. But give it a try and please let us know what happens.

 

[Maru-san]

Will do as soon as I have the DAC on my workbench.

 

[dwbrown]

Links for FW2.12 and update packages should be back up and working now at : http://www.box-designs.com/main.php?prod=preboxs2digital&cat=default&lang=en

 

[Left Channel]

Links for FW2.12 and update packages should be back up and working now at : http://www.box-designs.com/main.php?prod=preboxs2digital&cat=default&lang=en

Thanks. The Mac updater is back up with the message "Please note, that Pre Box S2 Digital has to run firmware version 2.10 for the MacOS DFU to find the unit!" So what about those that installed the 2.11 beta to help John out? And why doesn't it return an error message instead of just failing to find the unit? (And lastly, why the exclamation point? That is very poor writing in any language, and indicates impatience with customers.)

 

[dwbrown]

Thanks. The Mac updater is back up with the message "Please note, that Pre Box S2 Digital has to run firmware version 2.10 for the MacOS DFU to find the unit!" So what about those that installed the 2.11 beta to help John out? And why doesn't it return an error message instead of just failing to find the unit? (And lastly, why the exclamation point? That is very poor writing in any language, and indicates impatience with customers.)

Only my personal opinion, but I would take that up with JW and not Pro-Ject to be honest.

But on the flip side I know that most retailers and distributors like ourselves will go above and beyond to help customers who find themselves in the mire.

Have you tried updating 2.11Beta to 2.12 to confirm it doesn't actually work ?

I don't have that FW level on any of the stock here, and am still awaiting one to fail and come back from one of our dealers (which is a good sign - but not helping my testing !)

If you can forward it to me then I can try and revert a 2.12 to 2.11B to see how it works out.

Please remember we're just a distributor here and I'm trying to help out in my spare time (mostly lunchtimes) as I love tech like this and hate to see end users getting frustrated. I'm just a lowly service engineer looking after all our products (not just Pro-Ject).

! Sometimes things are lost in translation. The exclamation mark is not used in anyway other than to highlight the statement. One of the things I've noticed over my 25 years or so in dealing with various cultures around our globe, is that if English isn't your first language then Europeans tend to over punctuate and the Far East tend to under punctuate. It's a trait and not aimed to indicate any impatience anywhere.

 

[Left Channel]

Thanks @dwbrown, I'll pass the 2.11 beta to you via PM, but the whole thing is just crazy and I hate to put it on John when Pro-Ject managers have devoted so few resources for testing and support, and think they can rely on their dealer network as if this was just a turntable. As for that message on the website, I have worked in the global language services industry and in software/firmware project management, I have communicated with Pro-Ject staff, and I guarantee you this particular punctuation mark represents the true emotional state of the person who wrote it.

 

[psp123]

Got one of these today and really like it so far.
One question though. If I lower or raise the volume nothing happens at first. I can feel one or two "clicks" before it changes. Is that normal?

 

[Left Channel]

Got one of these today and really like it so far.
One question though. If I lower or raise the volume nothing happens at first. I can feel one or two "clicks" before it changes. Is that normal?

Yes that happens to all of us as far as I know. The knob doesn't respond at first, then responds instantly until you leave it alone for a while. Some have speculated this is due to a cheap optical encoder.

I have no idea how that part was selected, but I will further speculate based on my experience as a customer that this was a yet another cost-cutting decision that deviated from the designer's original specs.

 

[psp123]

Yes that happens to all of us as far as I know. The knob doesn't respond at first, then responds instantly until you leave it alone for a while. Some have speculated this is due to a cheap optical encoder.

I have no idea how that part was selected, but I will further speculate based on my experience as a customer that this was a yet another cost-cutting decision that deviated from the designer's original specs.

Then I'm not alone. Thanks for the quick reply.

 

[Left Channel]

A new and very comprehensive review, via the pinkfishmedia thread:
https://headfonics.com/2018/03/pro-ject-audio-pre-box-s2-digital-review/

It includes a comparison to the iFi Nano iDSD Black Label and others, and also wins the wordsmithing award for deciding to call this product the "S2D".

 

[educator]

For Windows 10, is it better to use the windows drivers or to download the pro-ject drivers??

 

[dwaleke]

The Windows drivers from the website enable ASIO functionality which will allow you to send native DSD up to DSD512 to the dac.

If you don't care about that I'm sure the UAC2 drivers built-in to Windows will work just fine.