UpTone Audio REGEN Power Supply Add-On

[rickca]

And this new PS is far from the only thing we have up our sleeves for the first half of this year.

Great! Your creative ideas keep things interesting.

[camel]

Alex,

 

It would be great if this new PS had also a switch to the third voltage level: 3.3V DC.

 

Can you provide it?

[Duke40]

That's about right. We are a bit off schedule, but given the broad implications of what it is (broader than just the first 5/7V 1A model), it is worth doing right. Still, John and I have been discussing the timing of disclosure--that will probably be when the pre-production boards are running at board house, sometime in late February I expect. I had wanted to wait until full production boards, etc. are on order, but I don't want to wait so long that people lose interest. One we reveal there will be a lot talk about

 

Look forward to some more news about this, hopefully learn a bit more late February.

 

John

[zerung]

Alex,

 

It would be great if this new PS had also a switch to the third voltage level: 3.3V DC.

 

Can you provide it?

 

Yes! I am sure it will......

[Superdad]

Yes! I am sure it will......

 

Very presumptuous of you. But as it turns out, I was discussing this with John just the other night. And while 7V will be the max for this supply, it will not be hard for him to program in a third level at 3.3V. Now it is up to me to find a small 3-position PCB mount switch with distinct detents.

 

3.3V could be nice not only for some computer rail injection, but maybe more broadly for DIY board projects where lots of chips want 3.3V or 5V.

We'll see.

 

Great strides are being made on the supply this very week. Not ready to announce a ship date or to spill the beans on the tech, but it won't be long.

 

I can promise it will have been worth the wait.

 

Best,

--Alex C.

[rickca]

it won't be long

Well, we are in the 3rd trimester!

[satfrat]

Well, we are in the 3rd trimester!

 

Take an epidural and ride it out.

[HumanMedia]

Any info on what output connector will be on this device?

2.5mm DC barrel connectors like the JS2? It would be great if I could use the same cable that came with my JS2. Please?

[Superdad]

Any info on what output connector will be on this device?

2.5mm DC barrel connectors like the JS2? It would be great if I could use the same cable that came with my JS2. Please?

 

Sorry, 5.5mm x 2.1mm for both input and output. Matches the REGEN and the class of devices that people will power with this 1A supply. It will come with a 68cm cable with 2.1mm barrel plugs at both ends (one is even 90-degree per request). Already had 1,000 of them custom made.

 

That said, since moving production of it to an outside firm, we are now able to sell widely the heavy gauge Oyaide/Belden shielded, star-quad cable (what came with your JS-2) to anyone. And I am stocking it in all 3 combinations: 2.5mm>2.5mm, 2.5mm>2.1mm, and 2.1mm>2.1mm--all only in 1.5meter length. They have been $60, but once I put them up on their own page on my web site I am likely to set the price at $70. Costs have gone up and that is still VERY competitive for a 15awg cable with those nice plugs (the only kind that will take that big wire). No fancy woven outer sleeve, no silver-plating. What matters for a DC cable is wire gauge and shielding.

 

John and I hope to be sharing more and making announcements soon. The mystery of this "mystery LPS" should be revealed soon! Then there will be plenty to talk about.

 

Have a great weekend everyone.

 

--Alex C.

[HumanMedia]

Huge thanks for the info. As long as it comes with its own cable. What is the quality like of that cable? Same construction as the ones with the Oyaide/Belden? Or more of a stock cable? If it is different will there be a purchase option to get the Oyaide/Belden with the unit, replacing the stock?

 

So it will provide 5v, 7v and perhaps 3.3v and has 2.1mm DC out connector.

If it works with the Regen stock Meanwell supply, then it has a 2.1mm DC input and accepts at least 7.5v. Does it accept a range of input voltages for charging?

 

And will we be able to order on your announcement?

[Superdad]

Huge thanks for the info. As long as it comes with its own cable. What is the quality like of that cable? Same construction as the ones with the Oyaide/Belden? Or more of a stock cable? If it is different will there be a purchase option to get the Oyaide/Belden with the unit, replacing the stock?

 

So it will provide 5v, 7v and perhaps 3.3v and has 2.1mm DC out connector.

If it works with the Regen stock Meanwell supply, then it has a 2.1mm DC input and accepts at least 7.5v. Does it accept a range of input voltages for charging?

 

And will we be able to order on your announcement?

 

Well the 27-inch cables I had made are a 16awg coax, so they really should be quire fine for the amperage. But yes, as mentioned, a web page for our more elaborate Oyaide/Belden, 15awg, star-quad, shielded cable will soon allow for those to be added to an order, and 2.1mm>2.1mm will be one of the options for those who wish to go all out with the new supply (or who need the 1.5m length that one comes in).

 

As for the "energizing" supply. The range and current requirements for it will be:

7.5V/2.5A (the Mean Well is 7.5V/2.93A and we are having the mystery LPS accept 7.5V specifically so existing REGEN users can use the piece they have);

9V/2.0A

12V/1.5A. 12V will be the max, and yes, it needs to be 1.5A to energize this special 1A DC-DC LPS.

 

When people buy the complete supply on its own (as opposed to having us omit the AC>DC adapter because they already have one from a REGEN or some other that falls in the range), it will come with a 12V/1.5A adaptor. Most likely it will be a small SMPS (which matters not one bit to the final DC output of our isolated LPS), but I am also searching for an inexpensive tabletop regulated linear tat won't kick as much back into the wall as an SMPS. These have become very rare--at least in the 12V/1.5A range--as SMPS have taken over the world. Most of the linear adaptors available are wall-warts (not that I am completely opposed), but there are NONE of those offering 12V/1.5A (that's a big transformer and electronics to put on the wall).

 

I am also really not fond of wall warts (SMPS or otherwise) because for international sale one needs to either stock them with each of the plug types (and sort and track buyers, etc.), of include the kind with the snap-on plugs. Then do we include every plug for every buyer just for ease of inventory/order fulfillment, or just give the right one to each buyer. If everybody all the plastic plugs for all the countries (what a waste), then the cost ends up such that I'd rather put the money into a better "tabletop" supply and not make people fight with fitting a wall wart onto their power strip or wall (always a pain).

 

Obviously that's what I did with the REGEN, and I purposely chose an adaptor with an IEC outlet so everyone in each country could just plug a local "computer cord" into it (or cut the plug off the 18-inch USA one included). This worked out well since in the case of just the REGEN with an SMPS, the quality of the supply made a sonic difference. That 22W/2.93A was not chosen because the REGEN draws such crazy current (it doesn't), but because that Mean Well has the largest amount of output capacitance for its price-class and physical size. It sonically beat a whole pile of other warts, tabletops, and even an 800mA linear.

 

Anyway, I share this all as insight into the challenge of finding just the right affordable and customer-friendly power adaptor at a reasonable price. I suppose if we were in the position to buy a few thousand all at once then we could have something custom made, but at that point we have other ideas (both SMPS and LPS units still kick harmonics back into the wall--and maybe we will at some point offer something inexpensive that does not; right now, our JS-2, by virtue of its choke filtering, is the only power-factor-corrected LPS on the market--it conducts over 97% of the AC waveform so its diodes kicks virtually zero harmonics back into the wall).

 

Oh, here are pics of both the DC cable that will come with the new supply, and a shot of the case itself (before machining and silkscreening). BTW, found the 3-postion slide switch last night (don't like toggle switches for output voltage--too easy to bump in the wrong position), so the supply will definitely offer 3.3/5/7V selections.

 

Best,

--Alex C.

 

P.S. You asked about ordering. Am planning to have the web page up on the day we reveal the tech--mostly so the page can answer a few of the obvious questions people will have. I had been planning to accept advance orders upon announcement--but that depends upon how close we are to production at that moment. While the idea was to announce while production boards were in fully in process (a well-defined 30-day window) and everything else (packaging, etc. was set), John and I are anxious to spill the beans a bit sooner--if only so people don't loose interest and wander off. But I am deeply opposed to taking money from people without a fully tested product in final production at the board house. Other firms do that and it rarely ends well...

 

 

[JohnSwenson]

I just wanted to add that the cable Alex is going to be including with the product is a REALLY nice cable, it is 16 gauge coax, MUCH better than you get with practically anything else. That very special star-quad he is offering IS better, but not by a huge amount. The one everybody gets in the box is a big step above the average. The special one is REALLY special. Just remember you are getting a top notch cable to begin with.

 

John S.

[Qhwoeprktiyns]

Hi,

 

Can you tell us what the price will be?

[Superdad]

Hi,

 

Can you tell us what the price will be?

 

Not yet. It is a sophisticated piece (over 100 parts, including a FPGA) and we have not yet added up the bill of materials or gotten quotes from our board house on fabrication and population of the 4-layer PCB.

We will try hard to keep it as reasonably priced as possible, because:

a) I don't believe in gouging on price and don't use "what the market will bear" thinking in setting price; I always us the same cost plus profit multiplier to make my business work.

b) This supply, while being a demonstration of our new tech--having some broad implications for the future of audio power supplies--is still meant to be an upgrade for the very large number of people who have REGENs or all sorts of other small devices, drives, cards, etc. that can run from 3.3V, 5V, or 7V, on 1 amp or less.

 

Sorry we can not answer your question with a number just yet. I could guess at a target price, but doing so might paint us into a corner and is antithetical to how we actually arrive at product prices.

Thanks for your patience.

 

--Alex C.

[Melvin]

Exciting news Alex. Can't wait to see what you and John have been up to. No doubt I'll be ordering at least one.

[photonblur]

Squeezebox touch- Rodney Dangerfield of streamers.......

 

Any truth to the rumor that John Swenson uses a

sbt? If so what modifications have been made?

 

Thoughts on whether a sbt/edo->regen, both

powered with UpTone mystery LPSs just might

embarass some high price streamers?

 

pb-

[JohnSwenson]

Squeezebox touch- Rodney Dangerfield of streamers.......

 

Any truth to the rumor that John Swenson uses a

sbt? If so what modifications have been made?

 

Thoughts on whether a sbt/edo->regen, both

powered with UpTone mystery LPSs just might

embarass some high price streamers?

 

pb-

 

Yep,

I have two SBTs, one in the listening room and one in the lab. In the listening room it goes through a REGEN (prototype amber) to a Bottlehead DAC (A DAC I designed). I use SqueezeCommander on an old Android phone for control. The REGEN and DAC are powered by a JS-2 and the SBT is powered by an early choke based PS of mine.

 

In the lab the SBT goes through a REGEN green prototype to a prototype Bottlehead DAC, both powered by a prototype JS-2. No cases, everything screwed to pieces of plywood with cables all over the place, it looks right at home in the lab.

 

I don't have any speakers in the lab, DAC out goes to a Total AirHead amp driving Senheiser PX-100 headphones (original NOT the II), with a $10 cable literally from Radio Shack. This $120 system can EASILY discern subtle details in DACs and cables, etc. So people that say you HAVE to have a megabuck system to hear the differences are wrong.

 

Neither of these SBTs have been modified. All the modifications I have done were to make the internal DAC sound better or improve the S/PDIF out. None of those have any affect on the USB out.

 

That's what it was last week, that is now changing. As some of you know I'm also the designer of the Sonore microRendu, this is now replacing the SBT/REGEN combos. The microRendu is simply an amazing device, when feeding the BH DAC it is like nothing I have ever heard before, major league goosebump time. I knew it was going to sound good, but I was not prepared for the level of transformation this brings.

 

The SBT in the lab is still going to remain, as a controller for the microRendu. The microRendu, has no UI at all, it is in the same case style as the REGEN but about twice as long, so you still need some form of control.

 

John S.

[Cornan]

Wow! Sonores microRendu seems to have just about everything I need to make the jump from my pc based setup. Extremely interesting! Any time table for the release?

[Superdad]

Wow! Sonores microRendu seems to have just about everything I need to make the jump from my pc based setup. Extremely interesting! Any time table for the release?

 

You will need to ask Jesus over in the thread on the microRendu: http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f26-sonore-sponsored/sonore-microrendu-ethernet-universal-serial-bus-industry-standard-cables-connectors-and-communications-protocols-between-computers-and-electronic-devices-output-27389/

 

Should be getting very close as at last the hardware is all done and I believe heading into production. I'm almost as excited about the microRendu as John and Jesus and everyone else is--and I have not even heard it yet. But I was privy to excruciating details along the entire 14-month hardware engineering cycle. It is quite amazing what has gone into those tiny boards. But of course all the great work that Jesus, Andrew, and team put into SonicOrbiter OS is what will make it a highly functional and flexible product.

 

And the LPS that is the subject of this thread is going to make an awesome match for microRendu!

 

The best part for me is that now that John's part with the microRendu hardware is all done, he is making much faster progress towards completion of this new 3.3/5/7V 1-amp LPS and its groundbreaking tech. This might be the most complicated small LPS in the world. Can't wait to tell you all about it. Won't be too long…

 

--Alex C.

[Qhwoeprktiyns]

That's what it was last week, that is now changing. As some of you know I'm also the designer of the Sonore microRendu, this is now replacing the SBT/REGEN combos. The microRendu is simply an amazing device, when feeding the BH DAC it is like nothing I have ever heard before, major league goosebump time. I knew it was going to sound good, but I was not prepared for the level of transformation this brings.

 

John S.

 

You've got talent in marketing as well (please take that as a compliment) !

[Cornan]

You will need to ask Jesus over in the thread on the microRendu: http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f26-sonore-sponsored/sonore-microrendu-ethernet-universal-serial-bus-industry-standard-cables-connectors-and-communications-protocols-between-computers-and-electronic-devices-output-27389/

 

Should be getting very close as at last the hardware is all done and I believe heading into production. I'm almost as excited about the microRendu as John and Jesus and everyone else is--and I have not even heard it yet. But I was privy to excruciating details along the entire 14-month hardware engineering cycle. It is quite amazing what has gone into those tiny boards. But of course all the great work that Jesus, Andrew, and team put into SonicOrbiter OS is what will make it a highly functional and flexible product.

 

And the LPS that is the subject of this thread is going to make an awesome match for microRendu!

 

The best part for me is that now that John's part with the microRendu hardware is all done, he is making much faster progress towards completion of this new 3.3/5/7V 1-amp LPS and its groundbreaking tech. This might be the most complicated small LPS in the world. Can't wait to tell you all about it. Won't be too long…

 

--Alex C.

 

Thanks Alex! I am 100% interested in both the microRendu and the UpTone Audio LPS to supply it. Count me in for the pair of it! I am all ready to make the move away from the "moody" Windows10!

[YashN]

I'm also the designer of the Sonore microRendu, this is now replacing the SBT/REGEN combos. The microRendu is simply an amazing device, when feeding the BH DAC it is like nothing I have ever heard before, major league goosebump time. I knew it was going to sound good, but I was not prepared for the level of transformation this brings.

 

Very much looking forward to its release, John. I don't have a Bottlehead DAC, but a combination of my iFi iDSD Nano in Quad DSD native with my DIY Single-Ended Triode should be quite magical too.

[pipis2010]

Very much looking forward to its release, John. I don't have a Bottlehead DAC, but a combination of my iFi iDSD Nano in Quad DSD native with my DIY Single-Ended Triode should be quite magical too.

 

Can I please ask you YashN, because I also own an iFi Nano DSD, are you able to upsample to DSD256 and higher? What pc and software do you use?

 

I am asking you because until now, in Windows 7-JRiver I was unable to do so, getting constant dropouts and noise, even though my cpu should be more than able to handle it (AMD Phenom X4)...

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Computer Audiophile mobile app

[rickca]

And the LPS that is the subject of this thread is going to make an awesome match for microRendu!

Jesus has just announced the micro rendu price, with ordering information coming soon. I'd really like to get your new power supply to go with it, so I hope you can disclose more about your PS technology and production timeframe by the time Jesus opens his order queue. I understand you have to stick to your discipline re business practices. I just hope it works out this way.

[satfrat]

I'm excited to try out the Power Supply Add-On with the Uptone Audio supplied MeanWell SMPS which I've already had excellent results from the Regen as-is. I'll be interested in making audio comparisons with the Add-On, hopefully to hear an improvement that'll justify it's cost.