UpTone Audio USB Regen Listening Impressions

[r_w]

Hi,

 

I ordered a regen yesterday... does this mean it will be amber?

 

Sorry, I'm late at this party and don't understand 'green and amber' versions? Obviously I want the best for my Aurender N100 & Auralic VEGA.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Better yet, bring your REGEN along to the beer tasting. You'll have a conversation piece about a little device that's bringing you much new musical pleasure--and I'll watch for orders from a bunch of drunk Danes. ;)

 

Seriously though, thanks for the nice review. Very glad you are enjoying the REGEN in your system. John and I are quite pleased that so many people, with systems that run the gamut, are all obtaining such satisfying results. It is inspiring (and enabling) us on our path towards the next product.

[groovybassist]

Yes, it will be Amber. Green was the initial version, which has now been superseded by the Amber.

[wwaldmanfan]

Hi,

 

I ordered a regen yesterday... does this mean it will be amber?

Sorry, I'm late at this party and don't understand 'green and amber' versions? Obviously I want the best for my Aurender N100 & Auralic VEGA.

Thanks in advance.

 

 

I will respond on behalf of our friend, Alex, who is too busy filling orders to answer every little question. Yes, all new REGENs are now "amber". Resistors were added to the original "green" circuit to furthur improve SQ.

Go to the UpTone Audio website where you placed your order, and click on "Blog" in the menu headings. All will be explained there in more detail.

[jtwrace]

Hi,

 

I ordered a regen yesterday... does this mean it will be amber?

 

Sorry, I'm late at this party and don't understand 'green and amber' versions? Obviously I want the best for my Aurender N100 & Auralic VEGA.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

As others have said above, yes it will the amber. As someone who uses a Vega and has had the green and amber, you will be happy.

[Blake]

DAC Recognition Issue:

 

Just a quick note in case anyone else experiences a similar issue.... I received my Amber Regen in the mail, plugged it in and my USB/spdif converter was immediately recognized. Over the last few weeks I have plugged and unplugged my MacBook Pro many times and I never had any DAC/converter cognition problems.

 

Last night, I attached my MacBook Pro and for some reason, my computer would not recognize my DAC (actually, more precisely, my Berkeley Alpha Converter) and the window on my DAC noted a loss of signal. I tried rebooting the computer, turning my DAC and converter on and off, plugging and unplugging cables, tried the foregoing in different sequences, removing my iFi iUSB, etc. Nothing worked.

 

What finally worked is this- with all my audio components turned on and all cables attached/plugged in, I unplugged the power cable going from the wall outlet to the Regen's SMPS, then plugged it back in.

 

Voila! Instant recognition.

[Superdad]

 

What finally worked is this- with all my audio components turned on and all cables attached/plugged in, I unplugged the power cable going from the wall outlet to the Regen's SMPS, then plugged it back in.

 

Voila! Instant recognition.

 

Thanks for sharing that Blake. Will be helpful to others.

 

It's funny, because Macs are great at just recognizing devices and working. When I originally went to set up a test station (for 100% pretest of every REGEN PCB), I bought a $10 pair of Logitech bus-powered-only USB computer speakers to use for the test rig. I grabbed our son's rarely used small old netbooks running Windows 7 and set about plugging a REGEN in (to be seen as the simple powered hub it is). Lots of mouse clicks and machinations, and then got music to play through it. Unplugged the REGEN to try a next one--had to start all over again.

 

Remembered we still had the Apple G4 aluminum Powerbook (used throughout my Hovland years and then by our daughter throughout high school) gathering dust on a shelf. Booted up beautifully after all these years (would not count on the battery though); launched iTunes, plugged in the REGEN with Logitech speakers attached and selected in Preferences>Sound. No sweat. But what's great is that one can keep the music playing, unplug all 3 connections from the REGEN, plug another one in, and without touching the computer, the music comes right back through the REGEN and speakers. My assistant can test 100 in a hour! Can't do that with Windoz...

[HumanMedia]

The biggest selling point of owning an exaSound DAC is the bitperfect transmission, right? ("USB Input: Proprietary ZeroJitter™ asynchronous USB interface with error correction on classic B–Type connector, USB cable included.") I would like to see even a theoretical explanation of how this could possibly improve sound with those DACs.

 

With the good technical descriptions from John and the abundance of empirical feedback from Regen users, I would be more concerned about wether the generic marketing hyperbole from exasound actually equates to a USB implementation that does anything at all about USB carried electrical noise and its effect on the audible signal.

And doesnt every DAC have bit perfect USB transmission?

[Superdad]

I really was hoping to get to the end of June before this happened, but I just checked the order list, and any new REGEN orders placed from this moment forward will not ship until mid-August.

 

If your order number is between 1382 and 1640, your REGEN is still scheduled to ship in July.

Circuit boards and cases for all of those will be in house by July 6th, and we will assemble and test quickly then, but we will not have enough of the 7.5V/2.93A Mean Well SMPS units on hand to ship all 250 REGENs early-July. Certainly by mid-to-late July and this may improve.

 

(I've had multiple purchase orders for large quantities with scheduled dates with several distributors for some time--and I have even flown in batches of 30-50 from Europe and Asia where I could find them. Anyone who can find me a good quantity (50-150) of real stock-on-the-shelf of the GS25A07-P1J from a wholesaler will get points and some sort of bonus from me. Don't bother looking in the USA, don't tell me about 5-10 units at some high price somewhere, and don't tell me about deals with a lead time for end-of-July as I'll be covered by then.)

 

Again, if you place an order now, your order number will be 1640 or above and your REGEN will not ship until August.

I am sorry. Could anyone really have seen this train coming so fast? I've been trying, and each month the parts and order numbers get bigger. We will continue to grow in numerous ways--especially once the next product is announced and shipping.

 

John and I thank you for all your support and enthusiasm, and we are delighted that everyone is enjoying their USB REGENs so much.

 

Regards,

 

--Alex C.

[jtwrace]

Could anyone really have seen this train coming so fast?

Regards,

 

--Alex C.

Yes, that's why I started these threads and told you they were going to sell like hotcakes.

[Superdad]

Yes, that's why I started these threads and told you they were going to sell like hotcakes.

 

Yes, thank you Jason. But believing something is going to sell well (which I always have) and putting out many tens of thousands of dollars for every increasing orders are two different things. After early adoption, broader awareness sales come, and then eventually market saturation and slow down occurs. The unknown is just how big the USB DAC market is. And of course soon I have to start to actually promote. All this is with no advertising and no formal reviews (but they are calling every week now). Luckily the REGEN (unlike the JS-2) is not a labor-intensive product so scaling up is not hard. We'll see...

[jtwrace]

Yes, thank you Jason. But believing something is going to sell well (which I always have) and putting out many tens of thousands of dollars for every increasing orders are two different things. After early adoption, broader awareness sales come, and then eventually market saturation and slow down occurs. The unknown is just how big the USB DAC market is. And of course soon I have to start to actually promote. All this is with no advertising and no format reviews (but they are calling every week now). Luckily the REGEN (unlike the JS-2) is not a labor-intensive product so scaling up is not hard. We'll see...

 

Right. I think you're doing it right though. Now that it's proven, you can possibly scale up while still being cautious. Of course promotion is great but word of mouth is ideal. Of course the other products that are coming will help too.

[JohanS]

I really was hoping to get to the end of June before this happened, but I just checked the order list, and any new REGEN orders placed from this moment forward will not ship until mid-August.

 

If your order number is between 1382 and 1640, your REGEN is still scheduled to ship in July.

 

[snip...snip].

 

Regards,

 

--Alex C.

Happy my REGEN is order 1395 . You're doing a great job, Alex. A REGEN is just like good wine: it takes some patience, but then it tastes even better!

[duxservit]

Listening impressions:

 

So I received the Regen Amber a couple of days ago and have tried it with my old DAC (Fostex HP-A3). I purposely used the crappiest USB cable I could find in the house (from an old inkjet printer). I also have a Supra-USB cable which I will test later.

 

My source is a early-2013 MacBookPro (MacOS 10.10). The HP-A3 is a PCM-only DAC which uses the Asahi Kasei AKM AK4390 chip (supports a 32 bit input data and up to a 216kHz sampling rate). The tracks are 16/44 only . The Amp section is very minimal, but ok. Played all tracks using iTunes. (I have JRiver20 on a newer 2014 MBP but for some reason the newer MBP today refused to play anything through the HP-A3 with either JRiver or iTunes. I suspect its some driver issues).

 

So my setup is the following: MBP-->crappyUSBcable-->Regen-->HP-A3-->TH900.

 

So far the result is positive. I played the same tracks with and without the Regen several times. I don’t know the words to describe the effects, but on some tracks it has removed the rough “blaring edges” (especially when I turn up the volume on the HP-A3). With the Regen a track would sound quieter/filtered to begin with, and so I would need to turn up the volume but at the higher volume the track sounds pleasant. In contrast, the same track without the Regen would just “blare” when the volume was turned up to the same level.

 

I don’t know Regen’s “magic sauce”, but thank you and congrats to John & Alex! The Amber is a keeper :-)

[tne]

At last I will make my REGEN evaluation as I have had a bit more time (including being alone in the house so the volume can be turned up LOUDLY). After all of the glorious comments from others here, I feel a bit like Elizabeth Taylor's fifth husband on their wedding night - I know what I need to do, but I am not sure how to make it interesting.

 

My recent tests are as follows, using the Xfi powered by LPS. These were all sighted tests and I am aware of the potential consequences of expectation bias in these evaluations. Hopefully some blind tests soon.

 

All equipment is listed in signature:

with and without REGEN, and REGEN with adaptor or Mapleshade Clearlink Plus in to DAC, REGEN with adaptor and either Mapleshade or LHL Lightspeed 2G USB cable from Mac Mini to REGEN.

 

First test was with and without REGEN. With REGEN quieter background and wider sound stage. Detail and seperation improved.

 

The second tests involved comparing the REGEN with adaptor into DAC versus using the Mapleshade from REGEN to DAC. Surprisingly to me (as stated in earlier post), I prefered the adaptor between REGEN and DAC. Even fuller sounding, better detail and instrument separation, more "natural" sound.

 

Then I removed the LHL Lightspeed 2G and installed Mapleshade from Mini to REGEN. This led to what (to my ears) was an incrementally more natural sound. It should be noted that the LHL 2G is a split cable and the power leg was plugged into my LPS. Once I get the REGEN on an LPS, this improvement may be even larger.

 

So now, the system is as listed in signature. I usedHQPlayer to convert all files to DSD128.

[reverendo]

Loved your analogy with Liz Taylor's fifth husband, @tne

Despite that, here I go with my impressions of the Amber REGEN. Please take into consideration that I already had the Green and that it was on par with direct ethernet into my DAC with the Fibre Media Converters. I'm also using the solid adapter.

Simply put, I won't have to compare with the ethernet input at all. Tridimensionality and tonal balance were greatly enhanced, but the real difference was in timbre, color and texture, which is now off the charts. Density of everything in the music is far more accurate, making wood, strings, voices, etc. sound more life-like. The upgrade affects the whole system. The difference was large enough for my kids to sense it. First they thought that is was louder (and it actually sounds so), but the sizes of instruments, voices, etc. don't grow larger as with a volume increase... they simply have more body, the right density, texture and color, more presence.

Maybe some day, when I feel like it, I'll check if the Amber levels the USB cables' playing field (something that the Green was all but achieving already), but, at the moment, I don't feel like comparing... I just feel like listening to music!

Until today I used to consider the Squeezebox Touch followed closely by the Cambridge Audio Dacmagic the best cost/benefit audio devices, but now they have found their match: the Amber REGEN!

The green is now connected to my Audioengine 2+ speakers and made a huge difference there, too.

Thanks John and Alex. You guys could live off this level of credibility! #respect!

[Superdad]

Thanks John and Alex. You guys could live off this level of credibility! #respect!

 

Thank YOU Andre, and Thomas, and EVERYBODY. We certainly could live off the nourishment of the very kind words in this--and the other REGEN--threads.

 

In fact, does anybody know of a way to "back-up" or download an entire thread (as opposed to saving each page as a web archive)? Not that I've done anything to tick off Chris (and we are all still waiting for his roll-out of the Sponsored Forum section which I already told him I would sign on for), but could you imagine if this whole thread disappeared one day? I mean you guys are the testimonial/ promotion engine that sped up the REGEN train in the first place. (And I don't want to sound cocky, but I'm even guessing that the REGEN threads are themselves generating a bit extra traffic to the CA site.)

 

Anyway, it is a happy but busy time, and John and I are pleased and grateful that REGEN has been such a big hit. We are working hard on its unique companion piece--hopefully for early-fall production.

I am also trying hard to get to the bottom of my ever-growing e-mail box. I promise you will each get a response soonish.

 

--Alex C.

[sandyk]

Alex C

If you continue at this rate, you may need to consider setting up your own UpTone Audio Forum ?

Regards

Alex K.

[Superdad]

Alex C

If you continue at this rate, you may need to consider setting up your own UpTone Audio Forum ?

Regards

Alex K.

 

Thanks Mr. K. but I am pretty happy here at CA (it's where all my "peeps" hang out ), and as explained just above, UpTone will be one of the first sponsors of a forum in the Manufacturers' Forum area that Chris is going to be setting up soon.

 

Are you getting snow down there? We are hot and miserable here in Central California right now.

 

Cheers,

AJC

[wwaldmanfan]

ser•en•dip•i•ty |ˌserənˈdipitē|

noun

the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way : USB REGEN arrives by mail, and wife leaves on week-long business trip the next day ;>)

[sandyk]

Are you getting snow down there? We are hot and miserable here in Central California right now.

 

Cheers,

AJC

Hi Alex C .

We could do with a little of your heat here, but without the horrendous bushfires!

You could probably use some of our relatively light rainfall for days at a time too !

Presently , it's more like a U.K. summer here, or what passes for summer in places like Scotland.

When you finish your summer, Elvis and the other big Firefighting choppers will once again prepare to head Downunder again.

Kind Regards

Alex K

 

 

Sydney

 

 

The Weather Channel

Showers

Today

Showers17°c High 7°c Low

 

Mon

Showers19°c High 8°c Low

 

Tue

Showers20°c High 11°c Low

[reverendo]

ser•en•dip•i•ty |ˌserənˈdipitē|

noun

the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way : USB REGEN arrives by mail, and wife leaves on week-long business trip the next day ;>)

laughing.... a lot!

[Argopo]

In fact, does anybody know of a way to "back-up" or download an entire thread (as opposed to saving each page as a web archive)?

--Alex C.

 

Alex,

 

Take a look at HTTrack: HTTrack Website Copier - Free Software Offline Browser (GNU GPL)

 

It is free software that allows you to download webpages (or forum threads) to a local folder. I've used it in the past to create backups of "expired" threads/forums.

 

It is Windows only.

[Tone Deaf]

ser•en•dip•i•ty |ˌserənˈdipitē|

noun

the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way : USB REGEN arrives by mail, and wife leaves on week-long business trip the next day ;>)

 

Reading that brought a big smile that isn't going away!

 

Mine just left for a couple of days in the mountains, however it didn't happen by chance. All it took was a suggestion that with the hot weather on tap, it would be a lot cooler in the mountains, and off she went. And I am very much enjoying the Regen that arrived earlier this week!

[zerung]

Yes, that's why I started these threads and told you they were going to sell like hotcakes.

 

I used to get pissed with Jtwrace when he used to discount Lampizator in their forum, for not having measurement. I have lamp DAC and love it.

 

When he started this thread, I was surprised in his endorsement, without any measurement! I joined the bandwagon and was utterly charmed and have bought just about every thing they sell.

 

Now I am simply fettered with curiosity on what this new JS/Alex Union is going to produce. I assume a Spdif converter done right.

[jtwrace]

ser•en•dip•i•ty |ˌserənˈdipitē|

noun

the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way : USB REGEN arrives by mail, and wife leaves on week-long business trip the next day ;>)

 

haha