Pro-Ject Pre Box S2 Digital – Silver Review

The new Pre Box S2 Digital compact preamplifier/DAC with MQA and DSD512 support marks a new era for Pro-Ject’s renowned S-series components. For the very first time ever, Pro-Ject is using a dual mono configuration with flagship D/A converters made by ESS Sabre. The cutting-edge ESS9038 dual DAC ensures the highest quality audio performance in a small and affordable package. This DAC is capable of high resolution audio up to an impressive 32-bit, 768 kHz PCM and DSD512! Pre Box S2 Digital is also the very first Pro-Ject device to support hardware MQA decoding. It’s also the premiere of the company’s proprietary Optimum transient digital filter and its proprietary clock circuitry design. Pro-Ject is using a 16-core XMOS chip for asynchronous USB data transfer and full MQA hardware unfolding. The DAC directly controls the XMOS chip. A four layered, gold plated PCB with extra shielding is used to achieve optimal audio performance. Digital audio is all about the art of time, and with Pro-Ject’s new proprietary clock design, the Pre Box S2 Digital manages jitter rates of unrivalled 100 Femtoseconds, which easily outperforms many renowned and respected audiophile clock generators. Pre Box S2 Digital provides up to 24-bit, 192 kHz decoding via its optical and coax inputs and up to 32-bit, 768 kHz via USB. Pro-Ject is using dual DAC 2 x ESS9038Q2M, the newest generation of SABRE Digital to Analog Converter. The ES9038 SABRE DAC is a high-performance 32-bit digital to analog converter and uses ESS’s patented 32-bit Hyperstream II modulator architecture and Time Domain Jitter Eliminator. It is the first SABRE DAC to use new Dual-DAC architecture to further enhance performance. The ESS9602 is used for the headphone amplifier and output buffer. It supports a dynamic range of up to 122dB and THD+N of -117dB with 600ohm loads. Additionally, Pro-Ject implemented a unique feature that improves THD+N with 32ohm loads to -112dB in Best Performance mode.