ISO REGEN Listening Impressions (kicked off with some measurements)

[Doak]

Clean, Clean, CLEAN!! 

but by no means "sterile." 

A bit more than an hour in. 

Oh, I'd better mention TIGHT too - not just bass. It's about DEFINITION.

Only change is ISORegen vs W4SRUR - UPTONE leapfrogs ahead, again.

[Doak]

IMO at this level of music reproduction it's about increasing the level and integrity of the nuances that make the experience more "real." Those itty-bitty things that you didn't know were being masked when revealed may me just say "Yeah!".  

Running through my reference playlist of DSD stuff sounding SWEETER than ever  - path: Aries>short Supra >ISO Regen (powered by LPS-1)>My Homebrew USB A-B dongle>Lampizator L4G5 w/mods. Don't want to move, and that's always a GOOD sign.

 

[Doak]

14 minutes ago, ted_b said:

My ISO Regen arrived today (thanks Alex and co) and I will put it through its paces starting tonight (worst case tmrw).  I wanted to say that I was not paying attention when the USPCB was announced and did not realize it has an onboard VBus switch.  Nice touch!

Thanks Ted, I missed that. Will play with my dongle again after I put some more hours on the ISO-R.  

[Doak]

3 minutes ago, Speed Racer said:

is like comparing two photos on the same scene. One slightly out of focus with a color filter in place while the other is perfectly in focus with no filter.

Yes, excellent analogy.

[Doak]

18 minutes ago, Tone Deaf said:

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

 

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

 

...... 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

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. 

 

My experience also. (I think) I was prepared to wait, though must admit it was a somewhat painful feeling - then WHAM, there it was in the mailbox. Sweet.

 

I come to this, and bring to it, 40+ years of rather deep involvement with analog music reproduction. One way I could gauge how well things were working and how good the setup was, was how far down the singer's gullet I could hear, and if their voice appeared to emanate from a mouth, throat, chest, etc. We're getting a good bit of that here and that is a very good thing. 

[Doak]

17 hours ago, Superdad said:

 

Yeah well it was not very easy to even find a single position vertical mount DIP switch that would fit.  Not stocked anywhere in the USA, I had to buy 1,000 of 'em direct from the manufacturer in China.  And they don't offer them without the word ON printed in the closed position. 

Well, that sure 'splains it then. Thanks! 

[Doak]

On 7/17/2017 at 7:30 AM, Matias said:

So far I am loving my ISO Regen + LPS-1 combo. The overall smoothness and extra information I can now listen is amazing. And that is coming from a regular Regen I had before. The upgrade was well worth it.

 

What I have found is that with the ISO Regen my Win10 PC is having more issues to detect my Calyx DAC when first playing. When it does not detect I have to disconnect and reconnect the DC power cable into the ISO Regen and then Windows finds the DAC. After that it plays for hours without issues. Small bother but still the sound quality alone is well worth it.

I've had a similar issue using an Auralic Aries with Lampizator DAC - same solution. 

[Doak]

16 hours ago, kalinka said:

My experience with jitterbug was really bad, with or without the regen.

 

It may be my system, but I don't recommend this product to anyone, based on my personal experience.

+1 

[Doak]

2 hours ago, RickyV said:

Hi all,

 

What to do with our old regen's or in my case w4s recovery? Well i am still playing via a win 7 laptop with my music on a external ssd. So i thought lets connect the ssd via the recovery and a uspcb ( vbus off) adapter  to my laptop. So reclocking and clean power on the ssd. It works and sounds great, sound fuller and more relaxed. Try it.

I am very happy with my iso regen, lps-1 combo great improvement. No hiccups, drop outs or ticks at all. 

I've wondered if that may be beneficial ... but sold Recovery & Regen before finding out. 

[Doak]

Get the TV out and away from the audio system ... nothing but trouble. 

[Doak]

12 hours ago, PeteGardner said:

Thanks Doak, it does appear to be the TV, but only when it is off. When I have the TV on I have NO switching.

Freaky