Looking for my first DAC

So does anyone know anything about a Pro-Ject Pre Box DS2 Digital. I ended up with one and there seems to be very little on the web about it. The Pre Box S2 is everywhere, but not the DS2. It’s a few years older but has more inputs and outputs as well as Bluetooth. It costs $900 vs $399.

Also are the AK 4490 d/a chips better or worse than the ESS Sabre 9038 chips.  I know that I won’t be getting MQA decoding, but that’s not important for now.

Thanks in advance.

JD

Generic Chinese 9038Pro DAC on eBay.  It follows the reference design spec'd by ESS Tech.  Easy to mod too.

I’ve been analog and tube all my life—currently Linn Sondek, with a Lyra Delos cartridge, with an Audible Illusions pre-amp and a Music Reference RM9–MK2.  I’ve got a tube Jolida JD 100, which I purchased used about 10 years ago. Always found digital sound fatiguing and unmusical. Thought it’s time for a quality DAC, so I purchased a Mytek Liberty from Music Direct (60 day listening period)—and broke it in for the recommended 100 hours. Also using my iPad for streaming Qobuz and Tidal. I know it sounds heretical, but there was no question in my mind that the headphone jack from the iPad sounded way better than the lighting cable output into the Liberty. Richer, deeper, with more overtones (but also still digital). Comparisons with CD to DAC (connected through the Jolida’s coax cable) vs. CD directly into pre-amp were also startling. Only advantage I could see of the Liberty was its ability to make music less fatiguing—which is obviously an asset. But not worth the $1000. I returned the unit. Placed a Lyrita recording of an Arnold Bax Symphony from the 1960s on the turntable and wondered what I was missing about the digital revolution, since analog played with my Harberth 30.1 speakers was like listening to music performed live. 

I got a used Rega DAC (original version) under $500, and it sounds fantastic.