Which one to buy: UpTone USB REGEN or Intona USB Isolator?

[ElviaCaprice]

The type and length of the USB cable can have an influence on the overall operation of the Intona/DAC combo. Technically the output should be short cable to the DAC. The Intona and DAC is treated as one by the computer, rather than individual devices, the cabling forms part of this process.

 

To his credit, Daniel from Intona is awaiting audiophile cables to reproduce what we report here and observe what goes on in the Intona to report back in due course.

 

Until they (Intona) get this all sorted out or fixed, I'll remain with the Regen. Who knows, by then, someone else may soon come out with another device with better data isolation that works in all applications.

[ElviaCaprice]

The past "snowy" weekend in New England gave me some time to listen to my "PeterSt of Phasure" version of the Intona in combination with the Green and Amber REGEN powered by various sources into the Auralic Vega DAC. Three Supra cables were used to test. There have been zero connectivity issues with the Supras and the Intona. VBUS +5volts was eliminated on the DAC sides of both the Intona and REGEN.

 

First an "el cheapo" /Sbooster REGEN LPS combo was tested as power source for the REGEN. This resulted in a tradeoff. While the sound was less grainy and more natural, the prodigious bass was reduced. Hmmm...

 

I realized that a ground loop was possible with this configuration. Isn't the point of the Intona to provide isolation?

 

So the LPS was replaced with a 5volt mobile phone auxiliary battery. Wowser! The bass was now restored along with the benefit of the natural sound provided by the REGEN. The surprise was an increase in depth. The result was the best sound ever achieved in my system!

 

Swapping the Green and Amber REGEN had little, if any impact on SQ.

 

Batteries are not my favorite long term solution, but I accept the compromise until a better isolated power source can be found.

 

If anyone has ideas for a better isolated power solution then batteries, I'm all ears .

 

Thank you Larry for your impressions and experimentation with the Intona/Regen.

 

I plan on doing the JKenny battery power with the Regen come February, along with a newly ordered Intona. I stipulated to send the Intona once a new firmware is completed. Plan to use the Intona/Jkenny Regen with my Chord Hugo (no 5V required).

[ElviaCaprice]

Just received the Intona and with a cheap usb from macmini to intona and my TotalDac D1 from intona to the Chord Hugo, no problems what so ever and immediately the results were nothing short of amazing... anyone with an Hugo should check the Intona, you will not regret for sure!... still in disbelief in the magnitude of the effect...

 

Thanks, great to hear, peabreu.

[ElviaCaprice]

Hello

 

Just seen your question on battery powering the Regen, its certainly worth the effort - the cleaner the power the better the result will be and in my experience so far I've always found a battery superior to linear power supplies. Although it does of course have to be the right battery as the result will always be dependant on the voltage regulation.

The Kingrex UPower battery is ideal for the job, I was using it to power the DAC USB connection with its 5V output but it also has a 7.5V output (needed to power the Regen), the Regen will then power the 5V connection with the DAC if your DAC needs it. You can get it from Item Audio - I think they are the importers

 

Hope this helps

 

Or you use the JKenny Regen mod and power directly a 3.3V lithium battery to the board and skip the 5V power feed. Works great for DAC's not needing 5V or handshake.

[ElviaCaprice]

Have you actually done that yourself ?

 

Yes, works great.

[ElviaCaprice]

I don't know. It's going have to take something very special and well proven to get me off the Intona/(JKenny battery mod)Regen combo. They are a special USB combo in their own right. I'm not looking to purchase the new power supply (Uptone) either. Don't have any use for it at the moment.

[ElviaCaprice]

I find, whenever possible, use a USB adapter for best SQ for the $$$. See my workflow in my Signature below.

[ElviaCaprice]

>>>Which one to buy: UpTone USB REGEN or Intona USB Isolator

 

Neither, buy a modern dac that has this technology built into their dac.

 

Easy to say, but hard to prove. Not all galvanic isolation is equal. I wouldn't trust what the manufacturer claims.

[ElviaCaprice]

harder to prove the "toys".

 

it would be easier for me to believe when teac says:

All digital noise from digital sources is prevented from entering the analog section

 

than "small shop" claims...

 

jmo

 

I definitely wouldn't drink the koolaid from manufacturing sales claims. Individual comparisons would be far more credible.

[ElviaCaprice]

Are you saying and are you qualified to claim that what Intona is doing provides better isolation and better sq than TEAC?

I would say he does. Especially if he has first hand experience.

[ElviaCaprice]

Wouldn't it be better to convert USB to spdif optical. That way you will have perfect galvanic isolation.

No such thing.

Nothing is perfect, everything has it's drawbacks. USB offers a one for all format Hi Rez ability. Maybe needs a bit more effort for clean sound, but worth every penny which I don't doubt surpasses spdif optical when implemented correctly.

[ElviaCaprice]

My concern now is although Intona improves the sound it does cast a glaze over the sound some what similar to some power filter products in my system.

 

At first, installing the Intona, I was thinking the same thing. But now I think, not. After messing with different components outside the Intona, I've managed to rid my system of what I thought could be attributed to the Intona. I think what happens is when we apply something like the Intona galvanic isolation, it cleans up our sound so well that now it reveals other problems in SQ. Immediately we think these issues are attributed to the new component, in this case Intona. When really it was something else. Of course it could be the new component. Every one has to hear it for themselves and test.

[ElviaCaprice]

FWIW,my Uptone USB Regen also works well with extracted BluRay Video and multi channel .dts Audio , as well as 1920 x 1080 digital TV .ts streams with 5.1 Audio.

Has anybody tried the Intona Isolator with high res. A/V ?

 

How can a Regen or Intona help a digital video streamed to a digital TV/monitor? Next thing you know your going to claim that ripping a BR or DVD video is better with an Intona or Regen to a HDD.

 

Let alone you don't stream video via USB 2.0. At least I don't. Usually HDMI or DVI.

[ElviaCaprice]

Just to further clarify, your not making any claims for the video/picture, just the audio? As you do with CD.

[ElviaCaprice]

Has anybody tried the Intona Isolator with high res. A/V ?

 

As long as we are talking about the audio only part of a video. Then yes, I do it all the time, in fact I often remaster videos with hirez or redbook audio. Playback is really no different than audio hirez or redbook by itself. I use JRiver for playback. I prefer 2 channel.

The video gets streamed via HDMI to my monitor. Audio follows it's normal stream to my Hugo via USB 2.0

[ElviaCaprice]

That's not what I asked. I asked whether anybody had tried the Intona in line when exporting via USB, high res video PLUS high res or multi channel audio. My Uptone Regen will handle 1080P video plus multiplexed multi channel audio.

(I also remaster 4K or 1920 x1080 music videos with the higher bit rate .aac audio (197Kilobits) associated with only 1280 x 720 YouTube videos . I use Freemake Video Downloader and TMPGEnc Video Mastering Works 5 to do this)

 

I never do youtube. YouTube is lossy only. 192 kbps is lossy audio, I don't do lossy, ever, Redbook or bettter. Waste of time other than for informational purposes. Really don't see the purpose in running the video thru the Regen. Don't even understand how your doing it, unless using the Regen for data only, non streaming, then what's the purpose? Other than your unproven theory that non streaming data can be altered via USB even though the checksum is the same.

 

All my video work is done in Adobe Premiere.

Audio in Izotope RX4

[ElviaCaprice]

if your dac is mains powered does that mean it does not need the 5v from intona? maybe just for the handshake? in this case does the dac just benefit from the isolation only.

 

If the DAC has built in galvanic isolation it will need the 5Vbus (warning, not all galvanic isolations are equal). Also some DAC's power up on being flashed the 5Vbus. Some DAC's are powered from the 5Vbus. Handshake is thru the ground.

 

What kind of isolation?? Uptone's power isolation with the LPS-1 or/and Intona's USB isolation or/and thru networking/Ethernet, MicroRendu? All are good, pick your path.

[ElviaCaprice]

I remember Sandy saying he was in the process of moving and would not be posting for awhile.  But that was a few months ago.  If his health is failing, hope for a speedy recovery, mate.