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

[musickid]

after asking so many questions here are my first impressions;

 

the industrial black arrived yesterday but due to a mountain of work i've just set it up now. my compact system built purely by reading these forums and headfi is; imac 27 late 2013 512gb ssd--audioquest forest 0.75m--intona industrial--0.5m wireworld chroma--modi multibit dac--cambridge audio 0.3m rca interconnects--earmaxpro II tube amp--beyerdynamic dt880 600 ohmm headphones. hours of reading forums.

 

anyhow i have listened to 1 track with the intona vybz kartel she's holding on. a very deep vocal element with plenty of emotion. without the intona i thought awesome with the intona its like going from standard definition video to 4k video.the same picture just crystal clear now. if you've spent your life only watching SD you wouldn't know any difference. a veil over the music is lifted. it sounds like someone is talking to you directly in a very natural and relaxed manner. very very reminiscent of the LP analog sound. for someone new to this level of hifi it is nothing less than compelling and makes you want to explore further possible alternatives and take this a step forward. future prioritisation of components becomes less clear now as you question your set up further. with the intona it has gone from listening to music as a spectator or observer to now almost interacting with the artist like playing a top console game. you feel like you are participating in the music and every new listening session arouses excitement. all of this with no burn in whatsoever. i didn't know what to expect and this has turned out to be a lovely stocking filler for christmas. repeat after me receiver--isolator--repacketizer!!

[musickid]

and tidal hifi.

[musickid]

My intona industrial is working fine. i have a WD external hard drive attached to my imac and when the imac is in sleep the HD continues to operate quietly in the background and the intona's light flickers occasionally indicating it is in standby. intona have told me this is normal. when i wake the imac i get a string of messages saying the harddrive was not ejected properly. this does not happen when i switch the computer off and on again. there is no harm being done as the hard drive and intona are working as intended. i have the mac and HD plugged into a mains conditioner/master slave surge socket with the imac as master. ie the othe devices only operate when the imac is on. not really a problem but can someone explain why the HD is behaving like this? many thanks

[musickid]

Just to let everyone know im ugrading to a metrum musette dac where ill be using coax in. ive decided to put my intona industrial for sale to fund this. pm me if interested.

[musickid]

getting new intona for hugo. is there any likelyhood and putting aside all the positive effects of the intona that it can interfere with the finely tuned sound signature of a dac like chord hugo. ie making the dac sound different to the manufacturers intention, possibly as the dac was not intended to operate with an intona type device?? cheers mk

[musickid]

1) how does the intona feed a clean 5v supply to some dacs. linear internal psu maybe?

 

2) i understand the 5v is for usb powered dacs, a mains powered dac does not need 5v from intona? just handshake.

 

3) with the chord hugo which is battery powered even when the charger is plugged in, does this affect the benefits of intona because charger comes after intona? does it utilise the 5v from intona or is it just a handshake again. confused here? hugo is not usb powered but still a portable with a battery.

 

 

4) is the intona compatible with micro usb ports. i will check also with daniel. was the intona even designed to output to micro usb..umm?

 

 

5) is there any better device on the market now or does intona still lead the way? uptone device?

 

 

6) transparent intona means zero effect on dac sound signature.?

 

 

7) if the intona is bidirectional and asynchrous dac clock is master controlling communication of data packets to and from the computer this works downstream with intona. but with upstream how can the reclocking of the data by intona work upstream and not interfere with the asynch. control of the dacs clock. never understood this. ok so this requires more than a yes or a no...lol

 

 

yes/no replies much appreciated. learning fast here.

thanks to all. mk.

[musickid]

Thankyou very much Manpowre. with regards to hugo and intona it must work because reports are there talking about hugo with intona. i asked because i wanted to double check but still don't understand how intona's works with microusb.

[musickid]

basics again,

 

with a mains powered dac after the intona is the isolation provided by the intona compromised here? also if say using a hugo where here Rob Watts has told me as long as the source is isolated there is no further problem. is it the same when using an intona with a usb powered dac? i ask because i know if you insert a regen for eg after the intona due to it being plugged in unless using lps1 is used again intona is compromised. this is very basic stuff but i am not from a technical background. cheers mk