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UpTone Audio USB Regen Listening Impressions


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Hi Amir:

 

Thanks for posting.

Enjoy your REGEN.

 

Regards,

--Alex C.

Alex

Could you tell me about square wave rise time of Regen ? is it about 25ns or it is about 5ns?

and could you tell me how regen make sound better with Asynchronous usb?

in Asynchronous usb the berekley clock the macbook and regen clock has no affect on it but the regen change the sound and this is complex to me.

is there a better way to power up regen with litium battery?

 

Thank you

Amir

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+1 Keep up the good work Amir. The more people talk the more we realise we are the same..... good music is one universal leveler..... I am waiting for Alex's next magical electronic gizmo....people keep telling me but he won't say yet....Too busy selling LPS'S and picking paint colours in the fancy new workshop...

 

Sent from my SM-G900F using Computer Audiophile mobile app

 

Thank you

I also think maybe a better way to powerup regen by a battery

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Though as I recall from your earlier posts, you are loving the REGEN with an upgraded PS, correct?

 

Yes, the REGEN benefits from better power, but I think those who report truly ill effects with it when powered from the supplied SMPS must have systems that are sensitive to ANY SMPS even being plugged into the mains circuits by their gear. A number of people (maybe even you) confirmed this by just plugging the Mean Well in without the REGEN inline with the USB at all.

I use isolation transformers on my DAC and preamp, so when the SMPS is plugged into the wall I don't hear any detrimental effect.

 

Of course we are also working on our affordable "mystery" little 1A 5/7V PS that will be the ultimate supply for low current devices like the REGEN. Not that the big, high-current JS-2 is any slouch. Will be interesting to compare the two.

 

Ciao,

--Alex C.

 

P.S. I really do not endorse--and strongly discourage--people opening commercial products and attempting to duplicate the circuits or design. It is an infringement of intellectual property rights. Small manufacturers in this industry have virtually no legal tools to protect their IP, therefore I think audiophiles should respect it. That said, I am not against DIY in the least. :)

 

Is mystery ready to sale?

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My Uptone Regen does not seem to work with my ARCAM irDAC. I'm using a mini-PC with Daphile installed. Daphile does not recognize the DAC with the Regen installed. I tried different power-on and boot configurations and no luck. I can use a stock powered USB hub with no problem. Anyone have any ideas as to why it's not working? I emailed Uptone but haven't received a reply yet.

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My Uptone Regen does not seem to work with my ARCAM irDAC. I'm using a mini-PC with Daphile installed. Daphile does not recognize the DAC with the Regen installed. I tried different power-on and boot configurations and no luck. I can use a stock powered USB hub with no problem. Anyone have any ideas as to why it's not working? I emailed Uptone but haven't received a reply yet.

 

Can you SSH into the Daphile PC? If you can you can try running:

lsusb

This will list an extra hub if it is seeing the REGEN itself. you can then try:

aplay -l (that is dash ell)

If the kernel sees the DAC it should show up.

 

If you cannot see the DAC, some form of connection sequencing will usually get the kernel to see it.

 

The one that is most likely to work is:

disconnect USB cables and power to REGEN and DAC.

Turn on computer, wait till booted

plug in USB to REGEN

Plug in power to REGEN

Plug in USB cable to DAC

If DAC is externally powered, connect power to DAC.

 

This should work in most cases. You should not not have to do this every time, just once which lets the kernel know where it is.

 

In some very rare cases you need to try a different sequence.

 

John S.

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Thanks for the quick reply, John. No dice, I'm afraid. My Mac MIni won't see it either. Must be something to do with the Arcam. The Regen gets very warm--is that normal? Unofrtunately uou cannot SSH into Daphile, which is a bit of an issue amongst users. I'll play around a bit more and see what I can see. Maybe I can coax the Mac into shaking hands with it, that might tell me something.

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Thanks for the quick reply, John. No dice, I'm afraid. My Mac MIni won't see it either. Must be something to do with the Arcam. The Regen gets very warm--is that normal? Unofrtunately uou cannot SSH into Daphile, which is a bit of an issue amongst users. I'll play around a bit more and see what I can see. Maybe I can coax the Mac into shaking hands with it, that might tell me something.

 

Is the iRDAC bus powered? If it is pulling a lot of current the REGEN can get quite warm.

 

John S.

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  • 2 weeks later...

after 186 hours of break-in the Regen sounds good but not as good as direct connection of my macbook to Berkeley.

I should say uptone regen maybe a good product in many systems but in my setup the direct connection is better. i do not judge sound by short listening sessions and i listen more to check my reaction to whole of music.

Regen give better bass , better silence and better weight but the direct connection is more natural sounding.

i will report a more detailed review in a better system.

my setup:

Macbook pro -> Purist Audio Anniversary USB 1.0m

Berkeley Alpha USB -> Purist Audio Neptune Coax 75 ohm -> EAR DAC 4 -> Purist Neptune XLR -> EAR HP4 - > HD800

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hey guys,

 

I have a question when using USB tweaks such as Uptone regen and Intona.

 

Since recently, some friends of mine recommend Entreq ground box to me and I'm surprised about the SQ improvement from Entreq.

 

However, my options for adding ground box for DAC and amplifier is limited because of lack of extra GND conncetor or RCA conncetor. I'm thinking about maybe adding ground box to my PC might be another good attempt.

 

Now I've asked some experienced users, they told me that there are two ground line: analog ground and signal ground and they encourage me to add Entreq ground box on the PC, specifically from signal ground side, i.e. USB port of PC. (i.e. a ground cable with one Y-spade end and USB type A end, connecting between PC and ground box).

 

First of all, since there are no such Y spade-to-(type A USB) ground cable from Entreq, I might need to contact Entreq for customization. What do you guys think of this solution?

 

But more importantly, since I use so many USB tweaks such as Intona, Uptone regen, Sbooster 5V isolator, jitterbug, to do the galvanic isolation from PC.

Will it still be effective if I add an extra ground box connecting to USB port to improve the SQ?

Sorry to be a pain asking too much and any help would be appreciated.

Software: Roon, Tidal, HQplayer 

HQplayer PC: i9 7980XE, Titan Xp, RTX 3090; i9 9900K, Titan V

DAC: Holo Audio MAY L2, T+A DAC8 DSD, exasound e12, iFi micro iDSD BL

USB tweaks: Intona, Uptone (ISO) regen, LPS-1, LPS-1.2, Sbooster Vbus2, Curious cables, SUPRA Certified HiSpeed USB cable

NAA: Logic CL100 powered by Uptone JS-2

AMP: Spectral DMC 30SV, Spectral DMA 300RS

Speaker: Magico S3 MKII

Rack: HRS SXR signature

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Will it still be effective if I add an extra ground box connecting to USB port to improve the SQ?

 

Absolutely. I have a Entreq box connected to my router. Also tried it on my mac mini. Surprisingly large difference.

Roon client on iPad/MacBookPro

Roon Server & HQPlayer on Mac Mini 2.0 GHz i7 with JS-2

LPS-1 & ultraRendu → Lampizator Atlantic → Bent Audio TAP-X → Atma-sphere M60 → Zero autoformers → Harbeth Compact 7 ES-3

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after 186 hours of break-in the Regen sounds good but not as good as direct connection of my macbook to Berkeley.

I should say uptone regen maybe a good product in many systems but in my setup the direct connection is better. i do not judge sound by short listening sessions and i listen more to check my reaction to whole of music.

Regen give better bass , better silence and better weight but the direct connection is more natural sounding.

i will report a more detailed review in a better system.

my setup:

Macbook pro -> Purist Audio Anniversary USB 1.0m

Berkeley Alpha USB -> Purist Audio Neptune Coax 75 ohm -> EAR DAC 4 -> Purist Neptune XLR -> EAR HP4 - > HD800

Hello, I am new in the forum. Altough I just registered, I 've been reading with attention all of discussions and used some of the advises published by members.

 

I have to confess that I have the same issue than Amir57bs. After more than 200hs of break in, Regen doesn't sound as good as direct connection from my mac mini late 2014 with my wadia 121. I am using stock power supply and USB cable by Schiit/PYST cable.

 

I now this dac could be problematic. I have a classic old school gear: Forté 4a Class A Amp/ Forte f44 pre and apogee stage speakers. I can run between preamp and amp on balanced but not from dac wadia to preamp, as this type of connection has hum.

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I don't have any idea how to do it. Is there any improvement on this?

 

Best regards,

 

i use activity monitor in my mavericks mac osx to get coreaudiod PID code.

i run terminal and i type :

sudo renice -20 PID

 

for example if the PID of coreaudiod is 119 i type below:

sudo renice -20 119

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  • 5 weeks later...

I already have an iFi iPurifier 2 and I'm happy with it. However, I've recently heard nice things about the Regen, and found an article where the reviewer reported great results when using the regen and the ipurifier together. So, I'm contemplating the possibility of getting a Regen myself.

 

What do you think about that? Will I experience benefits from this combo or using em both together would be redundant?

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I already have an iFi iPurifier 2 and I'm happy with it. However, I've recently heard nice things about the Regen, and found an article where the reviewer reported great results when using the regen and the ipurifier together. So, I'm contemplating the possibility of getting a Regen myself.

 

What do you think about that? Will I experience benefits from this combo or using em both together would be redundant?

 

Hi Kalinka:

 

Welcome to CA--thanks for posting!

 

I received your private message before seeing your post, so I already replied in some detail to it. Others can certainly chime in as well.

 

Best,

 

--Alex C.

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  • 5 months later...

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