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New to DAC, need advice.

I recently purchased a Parasound ZDAC here and it worked well for a short time but then started acting up with short, intermittent bursts of static while streaming Tidal. Then for a day wouldn't play certain parts of the music such as missing a guitar or piano notes. After contacting Parasound they tell me it's a circuit issue. It's out of warranty and they are offering to have me ship it there for repair. It's been error-free for a few days now and in the mean time it's been recommended to me by Jim Williams of Adcom modification fame that I should consider the Pro-Ject Pre Box S2 Digital DAC. It's roughly twice the price I paid for the ZDAC but if I send it in for repair, with shipping, I'll be right around the price of the Pro-ject DAC new, and it can decode MQA files where the ZDAC can't. So I defer to the community here. What's my best option on a limited budget?
ratboysr
ratboysr's avatar
ratboysr OP
20 posts
 
@2psyop I'm definitely playing HiFi and MQA files and did not consider that the ZDac could not handle those correctly. Well I did discover in my troubleshooting that MQA files are out but didn't know about HiFi. That may be my decision right there to move away from the ZDac.
2psyop's avatar
2psyop
779 posts
 
Ratboysr- I am wondering about your setup. I think the Project Pre-box S2 will only input a digital audio MQA signal via usb. Optical or coax will not. I don’t know if you are using a computer with Tidal app via USB as a source, but that might be something to consider. Also it does not incorporate a digital out, which would not allow you to add a better DAC later, if you wanted to do that. But I like that Pro-Ject uses a dual-mono design. That is incredible at it’s price point. I am one here, among a few, that use a Bluesound Node 2 that I like very much. In my rig, it works very well.
jond's avatar
jond
3,400 posts
 
ratboysr what you are hearing is your dac not being able to play hi rez files I had the same thing happen to me. Anything in Masters you should avoid or you will get static. If regular 16/44.1 recordings work there is nothing at all wrong with your DAC.
erik_squires
5,268 posts
 
Well, if you wanted to upgrade for cheap, the ZDac 2? 
kalali's avatar
kalali
1,645 posts
 
I think moving away from PC/USB source combo by itself will give you better sound quality and is the right way to go. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by the sound quality and ease of use switching over to Node2.
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