ISO REGEN Listening Impressions (kicked off with some measurements)

[TomNC]

I've got my ISO Regen + LPS-1 from the 2nd batch amd have been very pleased with the marked improvement they have made for my system. The ISO alone sounds better than either the SU-1 interface alone or ISO + SU-1. Therefore I have sold the SU-1 (my DAC, Aqua La Scala Optologic, does not accept I2S from the SU-1 which may explain why I do not preceive additional benefit of the SU-1).

 

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. So far it does not work for me. However, it works well with my PC laptop as a source. 

 

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

[TomNC]

17 minutes ago, rajacat said:

Ah, that's very informative that the  ISO alone sounds better than either the SU-1 interface alone or ISO + SU-1. My DAC (MP-D2) doesn't accept I2S either. I was going to try the SU-1 but then started to follow the ISO discussion and subsequently ordered one. Maybe this will end the accumulation of add-on boxes. I plan to use the LP1 with the ISO and my Acopian 12V PS with the SOTM 200. The Acopian has very low jitter (0.25 mV RMS) and is very tightly regulated.
 

 

To clarify, I think the USB interface in my Aqua DAC is pretty good and with the cleaner signal sent through the ISO, the performance is very pleasing. How well it may work with another DAC is really dependent on the USB implementation in that particular DAC. So the SU-1 or another USb interface might still be useful for a certain DAC. It seems to me that ISO remove noises or other contaminations but not alter the signal. In contrast, SU-1 seems to enhance the  

smoothness and density of the sound but smear the microdynamic details to some level which I do not like.

 

That said, I think it is a good idea to start with the ISO alone to see how much improvement you can perceive.