Which DAC measurements do you like to see next?

[punkriot]

It is the Project S2. You hit menu until the option shows up then you rotate a knob until it says enabled or disabled.

And then you push the knob, this is the only way to save the setting after power off. This is of course not documented. I prefer remote control , then you just press OK.
I also don't know if you need to reboot the unit or not to have this setting changed.

 

[sonci99]

It seems to me, that we found a friend for the Schitt, I had high hopes for the Pro Ject!

 

[punkriot]

You can keep your high hopes for Pro-ject. It is good, small, almost portable DAC/PreAmp/HeadPhone Amp. I don't belive we should blame Project for giving possibilities to change filters and other settings of ESS chip. For sure they should document it better, but on the other hand those settings are for geeks, if you are a geek you can measure it or read some independent measurements (there are few done already and new coming on this forum). For regular user there is default preset called Best Sound and this is what majority of users use.
For a fair price you have a DAC that gives you possibility to play with all modern formats (PCM, DSD, MQA). So let's wait for a measurements before criticizing this DAC.

 

[SchwarzeWolke]

Aw man! Does not sound refreshing with the box from Project... Had my eyes on the DAC Box S2+ and wanted to pair it with the O2 amp... Thought that if the Pre Box is well implemented and the design is right, I could extrapolate that to the DAC Box.
Maybe it would be fun measuring the ifi nano iDSD LE. I have it here and with my setup with a Lenovo X1Carbon and the Thunderbolt 3 docking station I got some minor noise which is 100% coming from the X1/docking station. When my X1 is running on batteries or just with the USB C power adaptor, I don't have any noise problems. The noise is also reacting to the volume knob. I have also same issues with my Audioquest Dragonfly Black, which would be also nice to measure. Would love to send it to you Amir, but from Germany... Don't know if even the customs would let it through without being suspicious...

 

[ManglerFi]

Aw man! Does not sound refreshing with the box from Project... Had my eyes on the DAC Box S2+ and wanted to pair it with the O2 amp... Thought that if the Pre Box is well implemented and the design is right, I could extrapolate that to the DAC Box.

These dacs where designed by different groups for pro-ject, at least that I know of, so I'm not sure that extrapolating from the results of the S2 would tell you much about the S2+.

 

[SchwarzeWolke]

Oh, thx for the info! Thought that they just have one division doing the R&D stuff.

 

[amirm]

It seems to me, that we found a friend for the Schitt, I had high hopes for the Pro Ject!

No, no. The measurements are very good and nothing like Schiit. Will post later once I sort out this distortion mitigation option.

 

[amirm]

And then you push the knob, this is the only way to save the setting after power off.

Thanks. I did not know that. I did not power cycle mine so did not realize this problem.

 

[amirm]

Is there any discussion of this distortion mitigation option with John W?

 

[sonci]

From Head Fi
''The Audio Quality menu has two options, "Best" and "Test". "Best" is the way John Westlake, the designer of this DAC, likes the sound: Distortion Compensation is disabled and the filter is Optimal Transient. In "Test", the settings are changed to match the best results from John's test lab instruments: Distortion Compensation is enabled and the filter is Brickwall.''

 

[amirm]

Thanks a bunch and welcome to the forum! I checked and my unit was set to "user." Does he say what that means?

 

[amirm]

Looks like if you change any parameters, it changes to "user."

 

[ManglerFi]

Thanks a bunch and welcome to the forum! I checked and my unit was set to "user." Does he say what that means?

"User" comes about if you have settings for filters and distortion other than what "best" of "test" settings use.

 

[amirm]

Here is the review: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...urements-of-pro-ject-pre-box-s2-digital.2370/

I will do more testing but wanted to get this data out as I had it.

 

[pos]

Nice!
And that photo with the two topping devices...
I am eager to see your test on the DX7s: those "0.3dB channel balance" and "+/- 0.35dB 20-20k" specs have me worried, and I already ordered two units from massdrop
I hope it will be very similar to the original DX7, with slightly lower noise...

 

[ding dong]

Thanks for the tests !

please, RME's just released 999$ ADI-2 DAC.

 

[amirm]

No one is loaning one to me. So I got tired of waiting and am in the process of purchasing the ADI2 Pro. I am assuming its DAC portion is identical to ADI-2 DAC. So look for that soon.

 

[kristoffer]

No one is loaning one to me. So I got tired of waiting and am in the process of purchasing the ADI2 Pro. I am assuming its DAC portion is identical to ADI-2 DAC. So look for that soon.

If I understand their site correct they have actually made some improvements:

Improving DA

With the DAC RME engineers took the opportunity to slightly enhance the DAC's analog output stage to be even more perfect as it already was. More relays, a different double symmetrical attenuator circuit and one additional buffer OP amp succeed in less noise and less THD. As the DAC-chip is the limiting factor here this is hard to measure, but nevertheless an important improvement, especially at lower hardware output levels typical for Cinch/RCA usage. The new hardware reference levels of +13 dBu, +7 dBu, +1 dBu and -5 dBu also add to this.

Source: http://www.rme-audio.de/en/products/adi_2-dac.php

 

[RollsDownWindowsManually]

Schiit Jotunheim w/ DAC because it's supposed to be a "fully balanced DAC". I'd be curious to know what that means/does. I'm afraid it might be bad because it uses USB power like the plain Modi/Fulla dacs though.

 

[Randem Tox]

I am assuming its DAC portion is identical to ADI-2 DAC.

It isn't.

Very close, but not identical.

Guy I know in the Seattle area has both the ADI-2 Pro and the ADI-2 DAC, if you want I can see if he can get together with you to measure them.