ISO REGEN Listening Impressions (kicked off with some measurements)

[Tone Deaf]

Didn’t get my tracking notice last Friday as expected.  Sigh….  

 

Then Monday an unexpected Priority Mail package arrived in the mail! 

 

Been listening with the ISO Regen for a couple of days now - the ISO Regen replaced a standard Regen (LPS-1) immediately before my QB-9 DSD.  I also have an Icron Ranger (LPS-1) in the system – see signature for specifics.  Divided my listening between the ISO and the standard Regen, and for a baseline, I also listened a bit with both Regens out of the system.

 

My system was completely powered down after being away for a long weekend, so I powered it up and listened to music while it stabilized.   I also powered up the ISO, but left it out of the system. 
 

When I switched in the ISO I was expecting subtle, but what I got was “Vivid”.  The first thing I noticed was that voices had a “throaty” quality hadn’t been there before.  Guitar strings also had more “pluck” and for lack of a better term, “shimmer”.  Notes from cellos were strikingly cleaner, more textured.   Cymbals stood out more than before.  I completely agree with jcn3’s “organic nature” description. 

 

Decay and dynamics were the other immediately obvious changes.  Notes took longer to fade away with the ISO.  Room reverberations were more obvious.  Music was punchier, especially the bass and drums. 

 

Could say more, but you get the idea.

 

ISO vs Standard vs without. 

·      Without Regens.   First thought was “still sounds great”.  Somewhat flat sounding.  Soundstage had shrunk to between the speakers.  Speakers didn’t completely disappear. 

·      Standard Regen.  Soundstage expands significantly in height and to outside the speakers in width, images were sharper, speakers disappear.  Music still sounds a bit flat. 

·      ISO Regen.   Vivid.  Soundstage gets larger yet and speakers really disappear.  Much sharper definition / location within the soundstage.  Significantly more real than I’ve ever heard before.  Everything I’ve already stated above….

 

Sometimes you don’t realize what you have until it is gone.  Didn’t realize the noise I had before, and now is gone with the ISO Regen.  Thrilled!

 

Thanks Alex and John!

 

Standard caveat:  my system, my ears – YMMV.

[Tone Deaf]

15 minutes ago, Speed Racer said:

I have over three days of listening in now with the ISO Regen/USPCB in place. The differences I keep coming back to are in soundstage, clarity, detail, and reduced noise. The best metaphor I can come up with is that everything was a just a bit blurry before and is now in razor sharp focus. The timbre in instruments and voices have more resolution. In my setup, the individual differences are subtle, but the overall effect is not. 

Having recently picked up a new camera body, I have a similar, but slightly different analogy.  Compared to my previous camera, the new has improved resolution, contrast, and color rendition.  Pictures from each of them can be equally in focus.  But when comparing pictures between cameras, pictures from the newer camera tend to be more "striking", and I can see "deeper" into them, resulting in more "wow, that's a really great photo" with the new body.

 

Pretty similar to the effect of the ISO Regen.

[Tone Deaf]

Headphone impressions – speaker impressions in a post earlier today.

 

LCD-3’s and GSX mk2.   The first obvious impression with headphones was that bass was super, super tight and punchy.  The overall impression was one of clean, quiet, and extreme detail – and LCD-3’s aren’t particularly known for extreme detail….  The changes due to the ISO didn’t jump out at me like they did with speakers though.  Maybe due to the loss of spatial information with headphones when compared to well set up speakers.  Improvements in clarity and detail due to the ISO were clearly there, but with my LCD-3’s, the improvements seemed more subtle than with speakers.

 

Transportable system – see sig.  Spent a day at work (lol) switching between the ISO and standard Regen – I actually tried to get some work done, honest!  The Westone ES5 isn’t the most detailed CIEM out there, but much of the “vivid” character that I appreciated with speakers still managed to make it through on this system.  Could be bad for wallet.

 

Standard caveat:  my system, my ears – YMMV.

[Tone Deaf]

6 minutes ago, greenleo said:

how many times did you switch between IR and Regen?  I expect that would be 1s for all?

You might think that - lol.   But I probably switched back and forth at least 20 times trying to understand the differences.

[Tone Deaf]

50 minutes ago, scottmac62 said:

Just wondering if anyone can compare the tonality of the original REGEN to that of the IR.  

One comparison here:  

 

[Tone Deaf]

On 6/19/2017 at 2:43 PM, DancingSea said:

Out of curiosity, has anyone ordered the ISO Regan without the expensive LPS-1 add on?  If yes, what are your impressions of sonic improvements?

 

I'm debating between getting an iPurifier 2 (arrives today) and a used W4S RUR vs the ISO Regan without the LPS-1 - which is more money than I care to spend at this time.

 

Thanks.

I don't believe I've seen any comparisons of the ISO Regen (without LPS-1) either.  So I spent some time this morning comparing the ISO Regen with Mean Well to a standard Regen with LPS-1.  I felt the ISO Regen (Mean Well) was a noticeable step up over the Regen (LPS-1) combination with generally the benefits mentioned in this thread.  This was on my "transportable" system which isn't super transparent.  

 

Adding the LPS-1 to the ISO Regen further improved things.

 

I think you could be pretty happy with the the ISO Regen and Mean Well combination, and agree with Superdad that the LPS-1 isn't required to get a pretty big benefit with the ISO Regen.  

 

 

[Tone Deaf]

2 hours ago, DancingSea said:

Would you term the ISO as adding warmth, brightness, or is neutral?

I find it to be entirely neutral.  It seems to remove background noise that you don't realize is there until it's gone, with the result that more of the music gets through.

[Tone Deaf]

2 hours ago, TomNC said:

Now I wonder whether anybody has succeeded in using an iPhone/iPad as a digital source through a CCK lightning adaptor leading to the ISO and then a DAC

 

If you have made it work with an iPhone/iPad and the ISO, please enlighten me how you did it. Thanks.

That is my regular work desktop setup.  No problems.  iPad mini -> CCK -> hard adapter -> ISO Regen -> hard adapter -> Solo -db.  I've also previously used the standard Regen with a similar setup into my QB-9.  Feel free to PM me also.

[Tone Deaf]

On 7/6/2017 at 1:33 PM, austinpop said:

Quick question regarding the red GI switch.

 

ON == GI off

I == GI on?

 

or vice versa?

Everyone is looking at the ISO Regen all wrong.  If you look at it this way it is simple!

It is "I" for isolation, and "NO" for no isolation.

[Tone Deaf]

9 minutes ago, mancebito said:

Hey, guys... I´m wondering about ordering the ISO Regen... I already have a Sbooster Vbus2 Isolator... Have any of you tried adding the Vbus2 in the chain (before or after the ISO-R?

 

It wouldn't make sense to place it before the ISO Regen, as the ISO Regen draws power from the USB connection.

 

As to after, the USPCB adapter that comes with the ISO Regen has a switch to disconnect the Vbus power should you want to do so.  If you use the USPCB, the Sbooster Vbus2 Isolator wouldn't be needed after either.