ISO REGEN launch thread! (product web page up; photos, etc.)

[jtwrace]

31 minutes ago, firedog said:

It's not a yes or no question b/c no one has heard them together. Do you want an answer based on pure projection and speculation?

 

Your whole set of assumptions is incorrect. Designers think they know how their designs will sound, often when they hear them they realize the sound isn't the one they imagined. What if you are given a yes answer, buy the product and then the answer turns out to be incorrect? 

 

Who will you blame - Alex, John, or Jesus?

 

I sometimes wish companies would give us NO heads up before a product is ready for sale.

 

 Comment NOT directed specifically at Jason: People get too anxious demanding all the answers that the companies aren't willing to provide before final product is ready.  Just have a little patience, people. You don't have to have every product the day it is released. Ask yourself if you might be better off waiting till you hear reactions to the product or read reviews.  What if the reaction to the first batch is: "it only makes an incremental difference". Will you still want to spend $1K on it?

Well, since I didn't assume I am correct.  My point is simply how the SAME designer of two products has no idea how they will work together.  We're not talking about shipping truck freight here and not to mention I can't imagine there aren't prototypes around.  This isn't very complicated if you understand how the iteration process works.  

 

Your last comment that's not directed to me...well, I have plenty of patience since I haven't ordered the ISO or the unreleased ultraRendu.  

[Middy]

It's just bloody great to have options and the fruits of John Electrickory brain are so close. As a pleasant distraction here is a picture of my new baby but I have to wait 4 1/2 more months before I can judge the sound quality and volume with burn in every 2 hours..... Don't tell her she will go mad posting this and Alex...but RIP audio hobby.. I am 44 and scared as hell..

The Iso is my last treat...

 

[Superdad]

26 minutes ago, Middy said:

It's just bloody great to have options and the fruits of John Electrickory brain are so close. As a pleasant distraction here is a picture of my new baby but I have to wait 4 1/2 more months before I can judge the sound quality and volume with burn in every 2 hours..... Don't tell her she will go mad posting this and Alex...but RIP audio hobby.. I am 44 and scared as hell..

The Iso is my last treat...

 

Congrats Middy!  You and your partner will love (and hate) fatherhood and motherhood.  We have 3 kids (should have stopped at 2 as they have us outnumbered), now ages 15, 19, and 21.  And I have news for you, due to education costs, car insurance costs, and everything else, here in America kids get more expensive as they get older. 

 

I am sure you will find ways to still buy your audio toys along the way.  Being a parent has influenced my business philosophy of trying to offer meaningful sonic improvements at modest prices.  

 

Best,

--Alex C.

[Middy]

Its our first but we are still scared to death...

Baby Moses ...as I am still in-de-Nile....

Thanks though Alex...?

[Jud]

3 minutes ago, Middy said:

Its our first but we are still scared to death...

Baby Moses ...as I am still in-de-Nile....

Thanks though Alex...?

 

40+ friend of my wife's and his young spouse had three little ones in a few years and everyone told him he was crazy.  He was pretty scared too.  But years later, everyone's doing well (at least we haven't seen any shocking headlines in the local papers).

[Superdad]

3 hours ago, firedog said:

I sometimes wish companies would give us NO heads up before a product is ready for sale.

 

I appreciated your post (and the others that more explicitly explained why we shy away from making pronouncements about SQ of product combos prematurely), but aren't you the same @firedog Danny who just wrote this in the ultraRendu thread?:

 

"I do wish companies like Sonore and Uptone gave us a little more idea about their product plans. Not details and not dates, just an idea of the development tree."

 

We are damned if we do and damned if we don't. 

 

Aside from:

a) not wanting to give our competitors a roadmap or ideas (we like for our best ideas to take the market by surprise);

b) not wanting to impact sales of existing products (people stop buying if they think something else is coming);

c) not truly knowing which product will be next or even pan out (UltraCap LPS-1 and ISO REGEN were in a race for 6 months; we really did not know which--if either--would make it to the finish line first).

 

You can see that even a hint about product generates a ton of--truthfully rather distracting--questions and commentary.  And people don't like having their questions ignored.  Either one engages fully with the community or simply puts out marketing info and a product.  Half measures don't generate good will.

 

In the end, the smartest thing to do is just what you stated: Keep our mouths shut until we are ready to take orders and ship.  The closest I ever got to that is with the ISO REGEN.  Sometimes competitive forces compel us to pre-announce, but the result is usually a headache.

 

Ciao,

--Alex C.

[jtwrace]

4 minutes ago, Superdad said:

Sometimes competitive forces compel us to pre-announce, but the result is usually a headache.

 

Ciao,

--Alex C.

I'm sure you know the definition of insanity...

 

Also, if you don't worry about the competition and put the effort into your roadmap and what market demand is typically you will always be ahead.  

[Elberoth]

12 minutes ago, Superdad said:

In the end, the smartest thing to do is just what you stated: Keep our mouths shut until we are ready to take orders and ship.

 

+1

 

Definately the best compromise.  You already give more info and support than almost any audio manufacturer. 

[tboooe]

1 hour ago, Middy said:

 

The Iso is my last treat...

 

No truer words have ever been spoken!  When I had my 2 girls, my music hobby instantaneously stopped.  I actually ended up selling my entire system and only had a Sonos system for 7 years!  Only in the past 3 years have I been able to find the time, money, and mental capacity to cobble together my current modest system.  However, I wouldn't trade my experiences (good and bad) with my two feral kids for anything!

 

So congratulations.  Your life will truly never be the same.  I know mine hasnt been especially since boys have now entered the picture.  

[Middy]

thank you?

[Confused]

1 hour ago, Middy said:

It's just bloody great to have options and the fruits of John Electrickory brain are so close. As a pleasant distraction here is a picture of my new baby but I have to wait 4 1/2 more months before I can judge the sound quality and volume with burn in every 2 hours..... Don't tell her she will go mad posting this and Alex...but RIP audio hobby.. I am 44 and scared as hell..

The Iso is my last treat...

 

Worry not, you just need to be a little creative for a while.  As one example, recycled nappies can be repurposed to make highly effective room treatments.

[Confused]

6 hours ago, pl_svn said:

yes, same designer but two different companies: why should they merge their products?

(unless that's what *they* want to do)

 

Sergio Pininfarina has been designing cars for Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Ferrari, Fiat, Maserati and others: no one ever asked to merge those

Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Ferrari, Fiat and Maserati are all part of the Fiat Chrysler group......    

 

You are absolutely right though, once the many 'and others' are included.

[pl_svn]

4 minutes ago, Confused said:

Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Ferrari, Fiat and Maserati are all part of the Fiat Chrysler group......  

 

they are *now*. they were not in the '60s when Pininfarina signed his best cars

[Confused]

6 minutes ago, pl_svn said:

 

they are *now*. they were not in the '60s when Pininfarina signed his best cars

Very true.  Consolidation like this is fairly common though, this might turn out to be prophetic!

[Tunepotato]

Hello,

John or Alex (Superdad),

I have a question in regards to my forthcoming Iso Regen. I am using an Auralic Vega Dac that doesn't require the 5VBUS to operate. I am planning on powering the Iso with my Vinnie Rossi Mini Pure-DC-4EVR which is a fully isolated Ultracapacitor power supply; currently it is set for 5Vdc output voltage. Vinnie Rossi can upgrade this to a 7Vdc output voltage, but of course this will require that I ship it back to have it upgraded. My question is since my Dac doesn't require the 5VBUS will I be ok with just the current 5Vdc output voltage or will the Iso Regen function better with the 7Vdc upgrade.

Respectfully,

Tunepotato

[Superdad]

15 minutes ago, Tunepotato said:

Hello,

John or Alex (Superdad),

I have a question in regards to my forthcoming Iso Regen. I am using an Auralic Vega Dac that doesn't require the 5VBUS to operate. I am planning on powering the Iso with my Vinnie Rossi Mini Pure-DC-4EVR which is a fully isolated Ultracapacitor power supply; currently it is set for 5Vdc output voltage. Vinnie Rossi can upgrade this to a 7Vdc output voltage, but of course this will require that I ship it back to have it upgraded. My question is since my Dac doesn't require the 5VBUS will I be ok with just the current 5Vdc output voltage or will the Iso Regen function better with the 7Vdc upgrade.

Respectfully,

Tunepotato

 

Thanks for your clearly stated question @Tunepotato (how did you come up with THAT name?).  And as I see this is your very first post here: WELCOME to CA!

 

Since your DAC does not 5VBUS, then yes, ISO REGEN (original USB REGEN) will be perfectly happy with 5V for all the rest of its circuits--which all operate at 3.3V, leaving plenty of drop for their voltage regulators to function.

[scan80269]

12 minutes ago, Tunepotato said:

Hello,

John or Alex (Superdad),

I have a question in regards to my forthcoming Iso Regen. I am using an Auralic Vega Dac that doesn't require the 5VBUS to operate. I am planning on powering the Iso with my Vinnie Rossi Mini Pure-DC-4EVR which is a fully isolated Ultracapacitor power supply; currently it is set for 5Vdc output voltage. Vinnie Rossi can upgrade this to a 7Vdc output voltage, but of course this will require that I ship it back to have it upgraded. My question is since my Dac doesn't require the 5VBUS will I be ok with just the current 5Vdc output voltage or will the Iso Regen function better with the 7Vdc upgrade.

Respectfully,

Tunepotato

Not John or Alex, but speaking as a happy owner of an Auralic Vega DAC, I'm pretty sure an ISO REGEN driving a Vega can be powered by 5V DC from your Vinnie Rossi power supply.  The Vega does not utilize USB VBus power at all, so it doesn't care what VBus voltage comes out of the ISO REGEN.

 

[Superdad]

2 minutes ago, scan80269 said:

Not John or Alex, but speaking as a happy owner of an Auralic Vega DAC, I'm pretty sure an ISO REGEN driving a Vega can be powered by 5V DC from your Vinnie Rossi power supply.  The Vega does not utilize USB VBus power at all, so it doesn't care what VBus voltage comes out of the ISO REGEN.

 

 

Thanks Sam. Can I please forward all my e-mail to you as well?  Answer 100 user questions and earn a free ISO REGEN! 

[scan80269]

3 minutes ago, Superdad said:

 

Thanks Sam. Can I please forward all my e-mail to you as well?  Answer 100 user questions and earn a free ISO REGEN! 

I can only imagine the amount of email you get for both shipped and unshipped products...

 

Perhaps a FAQ put together with help from the more geeky members would be useful.  There's so much HW out in the field with so much variation it's virtually impossible for anyone to be a know-it-all, except possibly John and yourself...

 

Earlier today I posted about an idea of getting an LPS-1 to output 5.25V to power both ISO REGEN and SU-1, and was hoping John or you could weigh in, but then I realized tampering with an LPS-1 would void its warranty.  I guess John's answer to those wanting to do this dual powering is good enough.

 

[JohnSwenson]

1 hour ago, scan80269 said:

I can only imagine the amount of email you get for both shipped and unshipped products...

 

Perhaps a FAQ put together with help from the more geeky members would be useful.  There's so much HW out in the field with so much variation it's virtually impossible for anyone to be a know-it-all, except possibly John and yourself...

 

Earlier today I posted about an idea of getting an LPS-1 to output 5.25V to power both ISO REGEN and SU-1, and was hoping John or you could weigh in, but then I realized tampering with an LPS-1 would void its warranty.  I guess John's answer to those wanting to do this dual powering is good enough.

 

Changing the voltage on an LPS-1 requires re-writing the firmware in the FPGA, not a trivial task. I think that would be one of the more ambitious reverse engineering tasks. 

 

John S.

[Jud]

4 hours ago, Superdad said:

 

Thanks for your clearly stated question @Tunepotato (how did you come up with THAT name?).

 

Ask his brother Juanpotato.

[Middy]

He starred in chips..

?

[greenleo]

3 hours ago, JohnSwenson said:

Changing the voltage on an LPS-1 requires re-writing the firmware in the FPGA, not a trivial task. I think that would be one of the more ambitious reverse engineering tasks. 

 

John S.

John,

 

I'd rather you may produce  an LPS-12V version first, an item that has been anticipating, talked long time ago, and wanted for a long time.

[kalinka]

I bought my iso regen just minutes after the site started taking orders. Does that mean that my order will be among the very first to be sent?

 

[scan80269]

8 hours ago, JohnSwenson said:

Changing the voltage on an LPS-1 requires re-writing the firmware in the FPGA, not a trivial task. I think that would be one of the more ambitious reverse engineering tasks. 

 

John S.

Thanks, John!

 

I'll keep my paws off my UpTone gear and work on other things like modding my SU-1 (to use LPS-1).