Phono Box S2 (Black)

I did allot of research on the top preamps for under $200. The choices were between The Pro-ject Phono Box S2, the Schiit Mani and the ifi Zen preamp. Two things that really set the Pro-ject apart from the other two are: the Pro-ject has an on/off switch on the front of it. You may feel this is no big deal, you can just plug it into the "switched" outlet of the amplifier. The problem with that is whenever you turn the amp on, if you don't turn the volume down, they'll be a huge pop threw your speakers that can ruin them. The second, and bigger reason, the Pro-ject you can adjust the capacitance load out of your preamp. The other two have a set capacitance load of around 100pF. This made a huge difference for me in the sound output to my speakers. I'm using an old school Shure m97xE cartridge because it's a great cart for rock and roll but has a slightly rolled off high end. So I swapped the stylus out for a LP Gear vivid line stylus which brightened the high end up too much with my preamp that had a capacitance out of 100pF. With the Pro-ject, I can set the capacitance load to 200pF and WOW, what a difference. The sound was no longer overly bright and the bass now had a punch to it that was perfect for my rock albums. The gain is also much more in line with what my setup needed. I tried the 40db setting at first and found that even too low. So I changed it to the 43db gain and was much more in line with the other components in my system. A gain of 36db would be much too low for what I needed. This is what steered me away from the iFi Zen preamp. I had no problem at all understanding the instructions on how to set the dip switches. There are two banks of switches that need to be set the same. One for the left channel and one for the right. I have them set @ 47Kohms, 43db, 200pF. Another thing I really noticed about this preamp was the stereo separation was much better than my old preamp. Probably because this amp uses two separate mono circuits to keep the sound separated. The amp is also dead quite with not the littlest bit of noise or hum that I can hear. The enclosure seems to work perfectly. Even when turned up loud this amp is dead quit.

I was hesitant on going with an external preamp because I thought my system sounded great as it was. Well, once I decided to make the plunge, my soundstage opened up immensely. Details were flying out of my speakers. Channel separation was so much greater. I cannot say enough good about this thing. Once you dial in the DIP switches on the bottom per your cartridges specs, (by the way, there are two sets of switches because left and right channels get their own set of switches. It had my confused for quite awhile at first) it’s sublime. Plus it’s just got one button on the front, on or off. Simplicity!! Oh and it’s solid metal construction so it’s a freaking tank. You can feel the quality Pro-ject puts into their products. To sum it up: it’s worth every penny. You can hear all the nuances that you didn’t know existed and the overall sound is just amazing.

I put this on a fluance rt82 +++ with a vintage sure v15 type 3 and a lpgear vivid and its magic. The dip switches on the bottom are easy to figure out if you take the time to read and understand that your switching left and right channels independantly. Theres enough adjustment to go from the factory om10 to a orto blue to a pickering tl3 to a shure v15 with the flip of a couple of switches. Very small footprint and sounds as warm as my highbred yaquin b23 tube preamp. I liked it so much i bought a second unit for my project xpression iii My only complaint is for 200.00 bucks each the ground lugs are junk, i replaced them both with quality Vampire brand ground lugs.

I bought this in September 2022, so I had it several years. I have a phono input on my Denon receiver, but wanted to try something with more setting flexibility for older albums, so I connected the S2 output to my receiver’s CD input. I had a new Audio-Technica VM95 cartridge; and I set the impedance, capacitance, and gain on the S2 based on the recommendations. I did think the S2 improved the sound quality for my albums and I was happy! About 6 months ago, I was playing an album and all sound stopped. Bypassing the S2 and going directly from my Lynn Axis to my phono input fixed the issue. I am writing this review now because I just retried several things on the S2 and it still does not function. I don’t play many albums and doubt whether the unit was used more than 50 times over its lifetime! While the build quality seemed good, this product did not hold up, even though I handled it with kid gloves!

Certains vinyles m’ont relevés des sons que je n’avait jamais écouté. Il exige certains réglages, mais une fois fait, c’est impeccable.

Arrivato ieri e subito installato. Incredibile come questo "oggettino" possa cambiare la tua vita musicale! I miei LP hanno avuto una botta di energia, sono risorti a nuova vita donandomi nuove emozioni. Il confronto tra il pre-phono del mio ampli (Denon PMA 900) e questo "piccolino" è veramente imbarazzante se non addirittura impossibile. Non c'è storia, una volta inserito nella catena dona emozioni nuove e ascolti da paura. Ho provato a far suonare i miei LP sia con la mia testina mm (Nagaoka mp 200) sia con una testina mc prestatami da un amico (Denon dl 103r) ed i risultati sono similmente eccezionali. Sono anche spariti i rumbe ed i bzzz che, prima, si innescavano all'alzare del volume. Veramente incredibile! Pro-ject ha creato in "mostro" che regala Musica (con la M maiuscola) a tutto tondo senza se e senza ma. Sicuramente ci saranno pre-phono migliori di questo ma a prezzi molto meno accessibili. E questo Phono Box S2 è praticamente irraggiungibile nel rapporto qualità/prezzo. E naturalmente grazie ad Amazon che con la sua politica sui resi mi ha permesso di provarne alcuni altri prima di approdare a questo piccolo "gioiellino". Se amate la musica: SUPERSTRACONSIGLIATO!

J'ai acheté ce preampli car le son de mes vinyles me semblait faiblard sur mon installation (ampli Sony STR DH190 et platine Audio Technica AT-LP60XUSB),quel changement une fois le preampli mis en service,je ne suis pas audiophilie ni spécialiste, mais je suis pleinement satisfait de cet achat !!!

Obwohl ich mit meinem bisherigen Setup eigentlich zufrieden war, hebt der Pro-Ject S2 mein Klangerlebnis auf ein völlig neues Niveau. Der Sound ist nicht einfach nur "besser", sondern wirkt wie befreit. ​Die wichtigsten Unterschiede: ​Bühne: Das Klangbild ist deutlich breiter und tiefer gestaffelt. ​Klarheit: Das vorherige, leicht matschige und breiige Gefühl ist komplett verschwunden. ​Präzision: Instrumente und Stimmen stehen nun messerscharf und sauber getrennt im Raum. ​Ein absolut lohnenswertes Investment für jeden, der Tiefe und Detailreichtum sucht.

Un bon petit pré-ampli phono. Je suis assez surpris de sa qualité et il s'adapte assez facilement à de nombreuses cellules. Son niveau de sortie est assez élevé, ce qui lui permet de s'associer à des cellules à niveau de sortie relativement faible tout en conservant une bonne dynamique. Coté sonorité, il ne donne pas de dominantes particulières. Aucun bruit de fond. Le vrai plus est l'adaptation du niveau de sortie par jumper et de la capacité assez rare dans cette gamme de prix ce qui le rend très polyvalent avec de nombreuses cellules. Satisfait de mon achat et de sa sonorité. Venant d'un Cambridge Audio, marque pourtant plutôt réputée, je le trouve meilleur, plus dynamique et plus polyvalent.