Uptone Audio Regen

[Qhwoeprktiyns]

Well we thought about using ferrets, but they are illegal here in California.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]19355[/ATTACH]

 

lethal weapons

[Duke40]

Well we thought about using ferrets, but they are illegal here in California.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]19355[/ATTACH]

 

That reminds me of (rumours) of another movie star ... maybe I am getting the vermin mixed up.

 

Anyway, mid September, that is about 12 weeks ... 84 sleeps until the announcement ... not that I am curious about it or anything

[jamesg11]

Can someone remind me again of when batch #2 of the $45 Ambers head out? No, not getting toey. Nope, definitely not.

[Duke40]

Can someone remind me again of when batch #2 of the $45 Ambers head out? No, not getting toey. Nope, definitely not.

 

Post #1657 ... from Superdad on 20th June

 

"Hi Mike:

Only 30 amber upgrade kits went out this week. I have 300 boards coming in over the next 10 days, and when the first 100 or so arrive about the 26th, we will immediately test and send out kits to the remaining 63 people who ordered one. Thanks for your patience.

--Alex C."

 

So hopefully it is real soon now (unless I missed some other update posted by Alex C.).

 

John

[Al Jones]

Haha, thanks for reminding me Al Jones! I've had one for years, just got it out of the closet and connected it to the Regen!

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]19351[/ATTACH]

 

PS: No this no CGI but a real photo of my BOTWS linear PSU (with integrated SBooster module) and a Regen!

 

Devs,

 

I look forward to hearing your impressions.

 

Please note that your BOTWS (Best of Two Worlds Solutions) was replaced a while back by the even more clumsily named BOTW P&P ECO (P&P apparently stands for Power & Precision) on their website.

[devs]

Hi Al Jones, thanks, yes I am aware they've upgraded their line. I used to use the BotWS (yes, clumsily and even 'silly' named devices! ) to power my DSpeaker Anti-Mode Dual Core 2.0 active DSP that sits between my Devialet 250 and JL Audio F112 sub but to reduce' clutter' I stopped using it when I received a HDPlex LPSU which had both a 12V and 19V rail.

 

I'm changing too much at once at the moment (JPlay 6.1 upgrade, Devialet 8.1 firmware upgrade, switch from copper ethernet to fiber optics ethernet and the Regen) so I'm taking a bit more time evaluating everything but will eventually form a more definitive opinion.

 

Right now I am not fully convinced the Regen will stay, it does things very well but there's also things I don't like about it. So I am hoping a LPSU or the upcoming Uptone PSU add-on will improve things. FYI posted more details about that here: http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f6-dac-digital-analog-conversion/uptone-audio-regen-listening-impressions-24078/index23.html#post439112 (there's too many Regen topics! )

[jtwrace]

I really do not want to fuel speculation about the crazy thing John and I are working on, but let's just say it will be a forth way, different from any of the above-named three.

 

Ciao,

--Alex C.

 

Do you mind answering this. For those of us with a JS-2 will this new device be of any advantage?

[Jud]

Well we thought about using ferrets, but they are illegal here in California.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]19355[/ATTACH]

 

lethal weapons

 

Everyone *must* read this:

 

The King of the Ferret Leggers | Outside Online

[Duke40]

Everyone *must* read this:

 

The King of the Ferret Leggers | Outside Online

 

That can not be real, can it?

Why would a man risk himself like that?

I was both laughing and crying reading it.

[Jud]

That can not be real, can it?

Why would a man risk himself like that?

I was both laughing and crying reading it.

 

It is indeed real. It was written in 1983 (despite the 2012 date on the web page), and sadly, since then, Mr. Mellor has shuffled off this mortal coil. However, his memory assuredly lives on.

[Duke40]

It is indeed real. It was written in 1983 (despite the 2012 date on the web page), and sadly, since then, Mr. Mellor has shuffled off this mortal coil. However, his memory assuredly lives on.

 

Thanks for confirming.

Sad to hear he has passed away ... he certainly was courageous & brave.

 

Certainly makes being an Audiophile look like a much saner hobby

[sligolad]

A tip for anyone connecting for the first time with USB cables over 1 metre:

Connect to your PC with the short USB cable provided first!!!

 

The reason for this tip is as follows, I reset my main Audio PC back to GUI mode based on advice here for Server 2012 R2 and when I connected using my 1.2 metres PPA Red USB cable I got the following:

Unknown USB Device (device descriptor request failed) with the usual window error symbol on the USB device list.

 

I then booted up my Win 8.1 laptop and tried it using an Ultraviolet 1.5 metre cable and the same problem occurred!!

 

I could not find any guidance on what to do here or on the Uptone site so after all kinds of reboots and uninstalls and attempts at generic driver installs I tried the short USB cable that came with the Regen and straight away I could see in Device Manager it picked up the device fine.

 

The tried the long Ultraviolet cable again and all OK.

Back to my main Audio PC with Server 2012 R2 and same procedure got the device recognised straight away.

 

Hope this helps, need to get back to Core mode again now and start listening to some music.

Cheers, Pearse.

[jaguone]

Received my regen and audioquest USB cable today! Really thrilled to try regen with my iDSD micro. Leaving in five hours for a vacation in Turkey so no time for listening[emoji22]

[Superdad]

A tip for anyone connecting for the first time with USB cables over 1 metre:

Connect to your PC with the short USB cable provided first!!!

 

The reason for this tip is as follows, I reset my main Audio PC back to GUI mode based on advice here for Server 2012 R2 and when I connected using my 1.2 metres PPA Red USB cable I got the following:

Unknown USB Device (device descriptor request failed) with the usual window error symbol on the USB device list.

 

I then booted up my Win 8.1 laptop and tried it using an Ultraviolet 1.5 metre cable and the same problem occurred!!

 

I could not find any guidance on what to do here or on the Uptone site so after all kinds of reboots and uninstalls and attempts at generic driver installs I tried the short USB cable that came with the Regen and straight away I could see in Device Manager it picked up the device fine.

 

The tried the long Ultraviolet cable again and all OK.

Back to my main Audio PC with Server 2012 R2 and same procedure got the device recognised straight away.

 

Hope this helps, need to get back to Core mode again now and start listening to some music.

Cheers, Pearse.

 

Thanks very much for the tip Pearse! Although the REGEN is functions just like a USB hub (only MUCH better sounding due to purpose-built design details), there are indeed a world of possible little quirks in getting the DAC recognized through it for the first time--mostly with Windows. But once you s/w learns its path, it generally remembers. Not sure why some USB cables add to the confusion sometimes, but that does seem to be a pattern.

 

Anyway, glad you got it going. Enjoy!

 

--Alex C.

[gstew]

Hang on gentlemen:

 

Some explanation is in order. And I would not want to see an earnest engineer from another small firm bashed about in this or any REGEN thread.

 

Mr. Draaijer of SBooster did telephone me a couple of weeks ago. I believe he will be sending us two versions of his devices to try. And he was/is interested in our potentially endorsing them for use with the REGEN. I was polite and interested in learning more about what he is doing, and while I may have mentioned to him that we have our own plans for a PS add on, I did not go into any details (and what we are doing is ENTIRELY different anyway).

 

From what I understand of the SBooster/BoTW approach, he takes, in the case of the inexpensive in-line products, an SMPS and tames it with filters. Every SMPS has its own characteristic high frequency noise signature depending upon is design, and his approach is to design filters appropriate to each. He told me that he tested a Mean Well (either the exact one I supply or from a similar Mean Well series), and designed a couple of versions of filters for it specifically (though I do not believe he has a REGEN itself).

 

<SNIP>

 

Another data point...

 

Soundcheck (of Touch Toolbox fame) also mentioned the SBooster filters and supplies favorably in his blog post on hardware & network optimizations for a Squeezebox environment here:

 

soundcheck's - audio@vise: Touch Toolbox 3.0 - HW and Network

 

I have no experience with them, just thought people would want to know about this 2nd data point.

 

OTOH, I am VERY interested in the above-mentioned PS JS & Alex are working up in their diabolical lab! Nope, I don't have a Regen and am doing my best to avoid needing one (no USB in my computer/digital music playback systems, either current, planned, or envisioned). AND my experience is that JS's work tends to have potential for positive impacts in other applications.

 

Greg in Mississippi

[Audioclyde]

Man, I'm eager for those additional boards to arrive and the remainder of the Amber replacement boards to be mailed--I've been pretty much thrilled with the sound of my Regen green, so the talk about significant improvement has me excited about updating to the Amber!!

 

Randy

[MikeJazz]

Thanks very much for the tip Pearse! Although the REGEN is functions just like a USB hub (only MUCH better sounding due to purpose-built design details), there are indeed a world of possible little quirks in getting the DAC recognized through it for the first time--mostly with Windows. But once you s/w learns its path, it generally remembers. Not sure why some USB cables add to the confusion sometimes, but that does seem to be a pattern.

 

Anyway, glad you got it going. Enjoy!

 

--Alex C.

 

They could as well expact to an audiophile special "switch", with good power, input ethernet, output usb & SPDIF.

The problems are more a less the same for the ethernet transmition; how to block noise, and how to deliver timelt (low jitter).

[zilch0md]

Can someone explain the "phsysics" behind so many USB Regen users reporting improved bass performance?

 

In my handicapped understanding of John Swenson's posts explaining how the USB Regen works, I'm left thinking that its beneficial effects would not be frequency-dependent, that the USB Regen would bring improvements that are more or less uniform across the audible spectrum.

 

Mike

[REShaman]

Thanks very much for the tip Pearse! Although the REGEN is functions just like a USB hub (only MUCH better sounding due to purpose-built design details), there are indeed a world of possible little quirks in getting the DAC recognized through it for the first time--mostly with Windows. But once you s/w learns its path, it generally remembers. Not sure why some USB cables add to the confusion sometimes, but that does seem to be a pattern.

 

Anyway, glad you got it going. Enjoy!

 

--Alex C.

 

Offered to support the contrast frame for comparison to other members' experience with their equipment, OS, USB cables, converters etc: My system recognized the Regen Amber immediately, when installed alone, using the solid adapter and powered by the Mean Well SMPS. I checked AMS, and saw my W4S Dac2 DSDse which is tethered to my Mac Mini mid 2011 Thunderbolt Edition by a LightHarmonic LightSpeed (0.8M, standard, the red one). I am employing OSX 10.10.3.

 

After installing the MMK and connecting all the UpTone Audio components/cabling to the JS-2 including removing the Mean Well SMPS and connecting the Regen Amber to DC Outlet 1 set at 7V, Mac Mini to Outlet 2 set at 12V, and connecting the sensor cable from JS-2 sensor port to the port on the MMK for regulating the Fan Controller in the Mac Mini, the same outcome, to wit: All equipment was recognized immediately by OSX and AMS without any hitches.

 

Best,

Richard

 

PS

I did not notice improved bass performance which from my system "as was" was fabulous before the Regen Amber was introduced. So was the soundstage and location of instruments. What I noticed was that the voicing of the instruments took on a clarity and smoothness and additional dimensionality (what the words mean and what the sound sounds like are subject to interpretation). There wasn't more bass there was more pronouncement, brushes on snare, cymbals, sibilance, tonality, timbre, as if a 3D screen was upgraded to 5K (mixing metaphors of sound and vision).

PPS

I wanted to turn the volume down and did so without any loss in detailing.

[ted_b]

Can someone explain the "phsysics" behind so many USB Regen users reporting improved bass performance?

 

In my handicapped understanding of John Swenson's posts explaining how the USB Regen works, I'm left thinking that its beneficial effects would not be frequency-dependent, that the USB Regen would bring improvements that are more or less uniform across the audible spectrum.

 

Mike

 

My $.02, and I don't have a Regen yet: bass performance (including gain, a reduction of one-note bloat and better weight) is the easiest to quickly discern, especially in a system that may not be especially balanced to begin with. Akin to weight loss being determined by belt size (all the while a tightening up of all areas, and a feeling of ease and strength while doing daily routines are as significant).

[rah50]

Can someone explain the "phsysics" behind so many USB Regen users reporting improved bass performance?

 

In my handicapped understanding of John Swenson's posts explaining how the USB Regen works, I'm left thinking that its beneficial effects would not be frequency-dependent, that the USB Regen would bring improvements that are more or less uniform across the audible spectrum.

 

Mike

 

I'm totally with you on this question. I can fully see how the reduction in noise can produce the benefits of blacker background, ease and relaxed sound, better sound stage, etc however you want to describe the benefits of the Regen, but don't comprehend how it can produce that bass. I would love an explanation too.

[Audioclyde]

I'm totally with you on this question. I can fully see how the reduction in noise can produce the benefits of blacker background, ease and relaxed sound, better sound stage, etc however you want to describe the benefits of the Regen, but don't comprehend how it can produce that bass. I would love an explanation too.

 

Maybe I'm oversimplifying (and I only have the original Regen, not the Amber), but given the frequencies involved, it makes sense to me that noise more easily obscures bass frequencies than higher frequencies....thus with less noise as the result of the Regen, I hear what I would describe as tighter bass, not necessarily more bass...

 

Randy

[Jud]

I'm totally with you on this question. I can fully see how the reduction in noise can produce the benefits of blacker background, ease and relaxed sound, better sound stage, etc however you want to describe the benefits of the Regen, but don't comprehend how it can produce that bass. I would love an explanation too.

 

As mentioned in a couple of prior notes, I actually thought the music in general was louder with the Regen. Though I measured and found it wasn't the case, it sounded louder, perhaps due to less obscuring noise. Couple that with a sense of greater detail throughout the audible range (not artificial, "zippy" detail, but the idea that even small things are comfortably audible), plus improved soundstage and imaging for easier localization and following of instrumental lines, and the impression of more audible (though tighter) bass pretty well falls out naturally from that, I think.

[elcorso]

Finally I get my Blue USB Regen. No problem with customs here, but with the rivers and dangerous jungle to reach his destination.

 

Thanks Alex & John for the pure silver DC cable.

 

I have not had time to listen but I guess that far surpass the green and amber I already had.

 

 

 

 

Roch

[elcorso]

My $.02, and I don't have a Regen yet: bass performance (including gain, a reduction of one-note bloat and better weight) is the easiest to quickly discern, especially in a system that may not be especially balanced to begin with. Akin to weight loss being determined by belt size (all the while a tightening up of all areas, and a feeling of ease and strength while doing daily routines are as significant).

 

Or... more accurate timing like in DSD...!

 

Roch