Since its release in 2017, the Pro-Ject Pre Box S2 Digital quickly achieved exceptional status in the DAC market. It earned a great reputation among PC audio and digital sound enthusiasts due to its remarkable performance. Ability to compete with much more expensive products. An achievement can be attributed to a combination of factors such as a unique custom-built timing clock, a meticulously engineered PCB with separate power lines, ESS D/A conversion “chips” set to dual differential mode, and a digital filter designed to exhibit an extraordinarily transparent transient response. More than five years later, the engineers at Pro-Ject Audio Design and John Westlake, creator of the original model, saw the opportunity to implement key improvements and refinements in it, resulting in the new Pre Box S2 Digital Edition 2023.
Several improvements are introduced, affecting subsystems as important as the power supply, the audio synchronization clocks, the analog output stage, and the headphone amplifier. In the first case, changes have been introduced to increase the noise isolation of the PC’s USB power sockets and achieve a wider and flatter output impedance throughout the audio bandwidth. . As for the master sync clocks, they have been redesigned to reduce phase noise and further refine the already spectacular jitter recording. The new analog output stage, based on the SABRE9603Q “chip” from the renowned American firm ESS Technology, works with a higher Class A current to improve performance with low-impedance headphones and audio lengths. Longer cord.
Also, the headphone amplifier is now more efficient in power consumption, with a 12% reduction in current from the power supply. Other relevant features of the Pre Box S2 Digital Edition 2023, which now includes support for DAS512 and MQA, are a 4-layer PCB, the use of organic polymer capacitors and MELF, and 7 mini thin-film resistors (plus above) selectable digital filter curves. To finish, let’s point out that the new Pro-Ject is Roon Tested and designed, and built in the European Union.
