Double Uptone Audio Regens

[Cycleman]

It seems to me, from having read most of the posts on the Regen, that those who use two inline combine the older green Regen with the current amber Regen.

 

But what about two amber Regens back-to-back (so to speak)?

Has anyone done that?

And if you have, what are your aural impressions?

 

And how have you connected amber to amber?

Solid connectors between?

Or some USB cable?

 

I ask because I have my second Regen coming later this month.

And while it's intended for my secondary music system, I'll probably try it first with the amber Regen I already have in my primary system.

 

Oh yes, I've started this in a new thread for two reasons:

(1) It can be seen as a separate topic by itself.

(2) So that it's not buried among scores of pages.

 

Dave, who wonders if there's a third generation Regen will its little LED be blue or clear or red

[Yucca06]

Will do with solid connectors, Green plugged on Amber, when I'll be back from vacation (in 2 weeks)

...and I'll use a cheapo chinese LPSU to power the Green (the Amber is powered on the 2nd 9v output of a Mojo Audio LPSU)

 

I'm curious to hear if there's really an audible improvement...

[_JL_]

I did a double-amber comparison couple days ago. I replaced the solid connector with 0.7 Supra USB cable - I didn't analyzed carefully but I think the Supra is better overall.

 

Anyway, compare to single amber, two amber regen in cascade seems to improve lower level information retrieval a tiny bit, and a slightly more solid soundstage. However in my system the difference is very subtle and I could certainly live with one regen. In comparison going from green to amber offers a bigger improvement than going from one to two ambers.

 

As always this is going to be very system dependent. Mine already has a fiber USB hub providing galvanic isolation from the PC and everything is LPS-powered so the difference could be smaller because of that.

[Daudio]

I haven't had a chance to try two Regens yet, as my old 'green' unit is still out on loan to a number of my audiophile friends, and has resulted in 3 new sales so far

 

Once I do get it back, I'll try out:

 

Supra .7m => 'green' Regen => org. hard adapter => 'amber' Regen => mod. hard adapter => DAC

 

configuration. Through what power supplies to use is still up in the air ??

 

The 'mod'. hard adapter is one I got off eBay/Amazon, that is about a 1/2" longer then the one provided by UpTone Audio, and then I shaved off one side of it to clear my DAC's power cord IEC plug.

[Solstice380]

I have 2 REGEN Ambers powered by a JS-2 both with solid adapters into a McIntosh D150 DAC. It's getting very hard to be confident that there is really any improvement. It takes too long to swap out the setups and I'm sure I can't remember how the previous setup sounds by the time I get things up and going again!

 

Luckily I don't have to sweat it and just leave the 2 in based on the truism that no device is 100% efficient. I use the original Green in my office desktop setup where any improvement due to the Amber mod is swamped out by cheaper downstream gear and ambient noise. (My dog snores, dang it!)

[Theobetley]

Caution for those using a naked Regen Green in series with an Amber in a case. I have twisted the output USB connector on the naked Green twice now. Second time was fatal because I pulled out some of the mobo trace. Either get a case for it or don't try to use 2 in series short adapters. Btw I think double Regens are a lot better sonically ythan single a Regen

[Evo1668]

I did a double-amber comparison couple days ago. I replaced the solid connector with 0.7 Supra USB cable - I didn't analyzed carefully but I think the Supra is better overall.

 

Anyway, compare to single amber, two amber regen in cascade seems to improve lower level information retrieval a tiny bit, and a slightly more solid soundstage. However in my system the difference is very subtle and I could certainly live with one regen. In comparison going from green to amber offers a bigger improvement than going from one to two ambers.

 

As always this is going to be very system dependent. Mine already has a fiber USB hub providing galvanic isolation from the PC and everything is LPS-powered so the difference could be smaller because of that.

 

I have two amber Regens in series as follows.....

Mac mini --->70 cm Supra cable ---> Regen1 ---> Supra cable ---> Regen2 ---> hard adapter ---> Zodiac Dac.

 

i originally was using a Total Dac D1 usb cable, and had the Regens connected via the hard adapter, but when I tried the Supra cable it just sounds better with the twin Regen setup. I substituted the first Supra cable after the computer, with the TotalDac D1, although very tuneful, the bass for me became over emphasised. Yet the D1 cable with one Regen was and still is easily my first choice.

 

The other combination I tried, was two Regens and using the hard adapter between them. In this combination the sound becomes harsh/hard/tiring...this is said only in the context of being compared to both D1 and Supra set ups.

 

The sonic improvement, over using one Regen is hard to quantify, but the key areas I noticed were slightly lower noise floor ( darker backgrounds ) and mid bass is slightly more defined.

 

The other option I have to try is substituting both the second Supra cable and hard adapter connecting the second Regen to Dac, with very short lengths of USB cable. I have read somewhere on the forum that Aqvox produce short usb cable lengths from 12cm - results generally sound very positive using small cable lengths instead of the adapters.

[Tone Deaf]

I have 2 REGEN Ambers powered by a JS-2 both with solid adapters into a McIntosh D150 DAC. It's getting very hard to be confident that there is really any improvement. It takes too long to swap out the setups and I'm sure I can't remember how the previous setup sounds by the time I get things up and going again!

 

Luckily I don't have to sweat it and just leave the 2 in based on the truism that no device is 100% efficient. I use the original Green in my office desktop setup where any improvement due to the Amber mod is swamped out by cheaper downstream gear and ambient noise. (My dog snores, dang it!)

 

I added a second Regen with the solid adapter this evening - using the provided SMPS on both. Initial impression is that there is an incremental increase in the Regen "effect" after adding the second. Bass on Paper Airplane (Allison Krauss and Union Station) - Lie Awake seems to be more prominent than with the single Regen. Overall, increased clarity / naturalness, noticeable particularly with voices. Wasn't all good though - first impression of Exactly Like This (Doug MacLeod) - Serious Doin' Woman sounds a bit thin compared with the single Regen.

 

Personally, I expected lesser change. Makes me curious how much effect adding the second Regen would make if using a better power supply - guess finding that out will have to wait until the mystery power supply becomes available. I wouldn't be surprised if the improved power supply reduces the effect of the second Regen in my system.

 

Then of course, with the time it takes to swap the second Regen in an out, I could be imagining all this. I think I might have to listen for a few days with both in the system and then take the second Regen out to be sure.

 

What's really bizarre though is, with two Regens, the display of my QB-9 reliably displays all the digits of the sample rate. Before, at times portions of the LED display wouldn't light up - sometime 192 would display as 192, sometimes as 92. Always thought it was the QB-9. This makes me think what I am hearing just might be real. But if not, at least it fixed the issue I had with the QB-9 display, and that might be worth it by itself.

[sandyk]

Makes me curious how much effect adding the second Regen would make if using a better power supply - guess finding that out will have to wait until the mystery power supply becomes available. I wouldn't be surprised if the improved power supply reduces the effect of the second Regen in my system.

 

Judging by what several of us heard recently when using a +9V "Super Regulator" to supply a single Amber Regen , there may no longer be much further improvement over using a single Amber Regen. Perhaps the "Law of Diminishing Returns"? Are you using a single 7.5V SMPS plugpack to power both Regens ?

[Tone Deaf]

Judging by what several of us heard recently when using a +9V "Super Regulator" to supply a single Amber Regen , there may no longer be much further improvement over using a single Amber Regen. Perhaps the "Law of Diminishing Returns"? Are you using a single 7.5V SMPS plugpack to power both Regens ?

 

Separate SMPS to each Regen.

[Blake]

Good idea for this thread Dave!

 

My goal has always been to try to get my system to a point where it really does a convincing job of making it seem as though I am in the room with the band.

 

Before I purchased the Regen, I decided I was close enough, but the Regen is relatively cheap so....

 

Chronology:

 

A) 1 Regen- definite improvement.

 

B) iFi iUSB inserted ahead of the Regen- a step backwards and some odd, variable listening experiences. iUSB removed.

 

C) Next, I swapped in the El-Cheapo Chinese Ebay LPS in place of the stock smps. (subtle, but nice uptick)

 

D) Then I bought a couple Jitterbugs.....

 

E) 1 Regen + 1 Jitterbug: OK, now this is really getting good. The Jitterbug absolutely complements the Regen and no way is the Jitterbug going back to Music Direct.

 

F) 2 Regens + 2 Jitterbugs: Holy ****! No hyperbole, this is shocking. Perma-grin on my face. The band is in my room. The sound is so life-like that it is almost creepy.

 

 

It is early, but I am not hearing any downside. Just positive improvements.

 

For the moment I am MBP > TotalDac > Regen > adapter > Regen > adapter > Berkeley Alpha.

 

Next, I will experiment with MBP > Lightspeed > Regen > TotalDac > Regen > adapter > Berkeley Alpha.

 

As always, YMMV, my ears, etc.

[Booster MPS]

Blake you have your hand in my pocket again, I thought we talked about this...... Appreciate the perspective. Where are you jitterbugs located in the chain?

[Blake]

Blake you have your hand in my pocket again, I thought we talked about this...... Appreciate the perspective. Where are you jitterbugs located in the chain?

 

Hey George! Yeah, I am a bad influence... stay away!

 

I did read some posts with negative reviews of the Jitterbug, so who knows, but I can't believe how good things are sounding right now.

 

I have two usb ports on my MacBook Pro. The sockets are too close together to put the Jitterbugs side by side, so I am using a short usb extender cable.

 

The Jitterbugs are plugged into these separate ports- my usb cable plugs into one Jitterbug, and the other Jitterbug is plugged into the usb extender cable, which is plugged to other usb port.

 

With Music Direct's liberal return policy, I figured I'd give the Jitterbugs a shot and I'm glad I did.

[sandyk]

Separate SMPS to each Regen.

 

Let's hope that the rest of your system isn't being degraded a little by the additional rubbish going back into the AC mains supply. You may be losing part of the advantage of having 2 separate Regens ?

[sbgk]

would be interesting if uptone are investigating ways to chain 2 in the same box without needing the adapter, would imagine further gains could be made.

[Jud]

would be interesting if uptone are investigating ways to chain 2 in the same box without needing the adapter, would imagine further gains could be made.

 

Let's say $300 in a single case. The expense and size/weight might cut out a substantial portion of the market for what is, after all, an accessory. Just my own thinking, of course. After having two in series I would never willingly give up that sound quality; but if getting to this point had involved buying two at full price it would have changed from a no-brainer to a decision requiring some consideration.

[Tone Deaf]

Let's hope that the rest of your system isn't being degraded a little by the additional rubbish going back into the AC mains supply. You may be losing part of the advantage of having 2 separate Regens ?

 

It wouldn't surprise me at all if that is the case. Fortunately my system doesn't seem as sensitive to the mains garbage as some on this site, and I seem to have netted a nice additional gain by adding the second Regen - in spite of the additional SMPS.

 

I probably won't determine how much I am potentially losing before Alex decides to grace me with a JS-2....

[[email protected]]

Hi Blake

Interesting ! may be you should try 3 REGENs or upgrade the clock in 2nd REGEN to FEMTO level?!

Do you need separate LPS for each REGEN to maximize the improvement? do you put the best LPS for the REGEN which is nearest to the DAC.

 

For me, Im using 9v-battery SOTM LPS, do you think one LPS like this can be used for both REGEN?

 

Thks

 

Tuan