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?
128x128ratboysr

Showing 2 responses by kalali

What source component are you using for streaming Tidal? If a computer using USB, you may want to just get a dedicated streamer/DAC like Bluesound Node2 and go completely wireless. I suspect the built-in DAC in Node2 is on par or maybe even better than a zDAC and you get MQA quality sound from both analog and digital outputs. Just a thought. 
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.