ISO REGEN Listening Impressions (kicked off with some measurements)

[kissov]

Alex, I want an ISO Regen, can I Y out of my LPS 1 to power the ISO Regen and a microRendu? or am I better off using the power supply that comes with the ISO?  Thanks.

[kissov]

Another question, what do you all do with the ever growing  number of items attached to the back of you USB device (in my case a Lyngdorf TDAI 2170)?  How do you support the interconnected chain, with the supplied "hard" connectors my microRendu is 6 inches out the back with power, ethernet, and USB connected hanging there not to mention the USB in and out and power to the ISO. Please advise.  Cheers.

[spin33]

27 minutes ago, kissov said:

Another question, what do you all do with the ever growing  number of items attached to the back of you USB device (in my case a Lyngdorf TDAI 2170)?  How do you support the interconnected chain, with the supplied "hard" connectors my microRendu is 6 inches out the back with power, ethernet, and USB connected hanging there not to mention the USB in and out and power to the ISO. Please advise.  Cheers.

 

I only have a single item (ISO Regen) attached to my DAC (Ayre QB-9 via a USPCB Adapter) and didn’t feel comfortable with the weight of my 1.0m usb cable hanging down from it. A small Cardas myrtle block I had laying around worked well underneath the usb cable plug to take the load off. 

[Superdad]

6 hours ago, kissov said:

Alex, I want an ISO Regen, can I Y out of my LPS 1 to power the ISO Regen and a microRendu? or am I better off using the power supply that comes with the ISO?  Thanks.

 

You definitely can use a DC 'Y' cable to power both the microRendu and ISO REGEN with a single UltraCap LPS-1/LPS-1.2.   Please set to 7V.

[kissov]

Thanks Alex

[sligolad]

This should require its own thread and hopefully if a few brave souls are willing to try this it will end up in its own tread as I expect John Swenson will have some head scratching to do on this and no doubt will be able to come up with a good reason to all this voodoo effect.

 

Been checking here for several weeks now and I am really surprised no one has commented on the single most bang for buck upgrade you can add to your system when using the ISO Regen.

In fact I think it would be a perfect add on that should be offered with all ISO Regens at point of sale.

 

If anyone has followed Rob over at US Audio Mart (seen you there often Alex) you will be aware of the discussions on the serious uplift in sound quality you get with just adding about $10 of cable between the power supply and the IR.

Its basically a quick and easy cable snap in and then just sit back and be blown away by the greater separation, low frequency dynamics and overall amazing depth to the music never heard before, i listen to Red Book files...its all there!

 

For those looking for an explanation on how adding cheap cables into the power in on the IR could make such a difference I have to say this has me dumbfounded and I was a complete skeptic, the low cost and easy install was the only reason i tried it.

 

Its basically adding a CAT7 cable with passive POE ends to carry the DC between power supply and the IR, when you connect up the 2 pieces just stick the power supply in the female jack on one end and stick the male jack on the other end into the IR and sit back and be amazed.

 

Some links below:

POE Ends

CAT7

 

 

[lmitche]

38 minutes ago, sligolad said:

This should require its own thread and hopefully if a few brave souls are willing to try this it will end up in its own tread as I expect John Swenson will have some head scratching to do on this and no doubt will be able to come up with a good reason to all this voodoo effect.

 

Been checking here for several weeks now and I am really surprised no one has commented on the single most bang for buck upgrade you can add to your system when using the ISO Regen.

In fact I think it would be a perfect add on that should be offered with all ISO Regens at point of sale.

 

If anyone has followed Rob over at US Audio Mart (seen you there often Alex) you will be aware of the discussions on the serious uplift in sound quality you get with just adding about $10 of cable between the power supply and the IR.

Its basically a quick and easy cable snap in and then just sit back and be blown away by the greater separation, low frequency dynamics and overall amazing depth to the music never heard before, i listen to Red Book files...its all there!

 

For those looking for an explanation on how adding cheap cables into the power in on the IR could make such a difference I have to say this has me dumbfounded and I was a complete skeptic, the low cost and easy install was the only reason i tried it.

 

Its basically adding a CAT7 cable with passive POE ends to carry the DC between power supply and the IR, when you connect up the 2 pieces just stick the power supply in the female jack on one end and stick the male jack on the other end into the IR and sit back and be amazed.

 

Some links below:

POE Ends

CAT7

 

 

Over here, two POE transformers and an older cat7 cable are burning in. I have a round ibra cable arriving tomorrow.

 

At first listen, using this cable between my lps-1 and lt3045 to the iso Regen definitely makes a difference in SQ.  Clearly it needs break-in as things have become a little muddy. Stay tuned . . .

 

Probably best to open a new thread for this.

 

Larry

[jamesg11]

Many thanks to Alex for his support for a suddenly non-functioning system - a surprise! phone call across the Pacific ... now all good!!

[rah50]

Can someone kindly point me to the discussion of powering the ISO Regen at 5 volts?

 

I want to add some LT-3045 regulators between my LPS-1 and the ISO Regen but don't recall all the ramifications.

 

Thanks!

[JohnSwenson]

The guts of the ISO REGEN all work at 3.3V or less, so powering at 5V is fine. The problem is the VBUS on the downstream USB port, it is set at 5V, when you feed a 5V regulator with 5V you get something less than 5V out AND it is not regulated. If the device connected to the downstream USB port does not use VBUS at all there is no problem powering the ISO REGEN with 5V. If it just uses the VBUS to sense a connection, again no problem. BUT if the VBUS is used for powering circuitry ( say a bus powered DAC), then the unregulated VBUS MAY degrade performance, it may not, but that is something that is impossible to make a general statement about.

 

John S.

[rah50]

Thanks John!

 

I'll double check with Sonore, but I don't think that my ultraDigital uses any VBUS power so I'll be good to go.

[rah50]

Hi John:

 

Looks like I was wrong and the ultraDigital does use the VBUS to power it's input and the external supply powers the output only.

 

What I was going to do was add two LT3045's to drop the LPS-1's 7 volts, down to 6 volts, then 5 volts.

 

Maybe I could just add one and output 6 volts. But would I gain anything since I assume the VBUS would still be outputting from the lessor ISO Regen regulators?

[R1200CL]

@rah50

Maybe purchase a LPS-1.2 and you will have the ultimate PS ?

[rah50]

I'm saving my pennies but I have 3 devices that could use an LPS-1.2 so they are all not going to get one! Probably just the ultraDigital sometime this summer.

 

I have found that adding the LT-3045 regulators is a big help for very little expense when they can be used properly, unfortunately not for ISO Regen it seems in my situation.  They are great on the HDPlex powering my microRendu though.

[Hauser]

Wouldn't you still get a benefit with one LT3045 to six volts from the seven volts from the LPS1?

 

Martin.

[rah50]

Perhaps, for $25 I think it's worth a try!

[JohnSwenson]

22 hours ago, rah50 said:

Hi John:

 

Looks like I was wrong and the ultraDigital does use the VBUS to power it's input and the external supply powers the output only.

 

What I was going to do was add two LT3045's to drop the LPS-1's 7 volts, down to 6 volts, then 5 volts.

 

Maybe I could just add one and output 6 volts. But would I gain anything since I assume the VBUS would still be outputting from the lessor ISO Regen regulators?

In the ISO REGEN all the regulators are already LT3042 (lower current version of LT3045), EXCEPT the VBUS which is a TI TPS7A4700. (the LT3045 did not exist when the ISO REGEN was being designed) Given that the TPS7A4700 is not quite as good as the LT3045, its not clear which will give a better output, LT3045 at 6v so the TPS 7A4700 can do its best, or feeding it 5V from a LT3045.

 

This is not a normal configuration and it is very unclear which is best. Your best bet is to try both and listen!

 

John S.

[look&listen]

23 hours ago, rah50 said:

What I was going to do was add two LT3045's to drop the LPS-1's 7 volts, down to 6 volts, then 5 volts

Maybe change to, LPS-1 @7V to 6.5V, to 5.5V (or similar) to leave some extra V for following regulation ?

[rah50]

The LT-3045's from LDOVR only come in even number voltages, so I ordered the 6 volt, no biggie if it doesn't help much at just $25. I'll be ordering an LPS-1.2 soon anyway.

[sbenyo]

I have been using ISO REGEN for some time with very good results.

Recently I added LPS-1 which significantly improved the SQ. I don't think anyone should go with ISO REGEN without it.

My full setup was PC with PPV2 USB->Chord USB cable->ISO REGEN (with LPS-1)->USPCB->T+A DAC8.

SQ was very good.
 

No long ago I got a sablon usb cable. This is a hand made special cable that is not completely a standard usb.

 

When I got the sablon cable I could not make it work by just replacing the chord. The only way I could make it work is like this:

PC with PPV2->USPCB->ISO-REGEN (LPS-1)->sablon usb cable->T+A DAC.

 

This also worked for me very nicely. I felt it was better than the chord setup.

 

After some time enjoying this setup, I felt something was still not optimal and I tried removing the ISO REGEN using only the sablon usb cable. For my surprise this was noticeably better to me. The sound was crisper with clearer highs/mids and a bit less overwhelming bass. I did not believe it.

 

I change the sablon for chord again and sablon was again better noticeably. 

 

Currently my preferred setup is with PC (PP V2) and sablon usb only.

 

The only other thing I changed before all this started  are the speaker cables. I used QED silver anniversary which is a very good cable replaced by Clearday double shotgun. The Clearday is a hand made well respectable cable which competes nicely which high cost high-end cables.

 

Maybe this changed everything and caused the ISO REGEN not to shine as before. I know it sounds silly but I can't really explain it.

 

I will continue experimenting but I am writing all this after a few good hours with the sablon only.

I am currently certain it works best for me this way. I want to emphasize that before I had the sablon, the setup with ISO REGEN (LPS-1) was definitely the best.

 

[Bdht]

Id like to add my experience with the regens, sorry for the diatribe but wth Im pretty sure im an outlier in the userbase.

Tldr: iso regen and lps1.2 make virtual headphone audio from a pc amazing.

 Full disclosure I listen almost exclusively to death metal(i know...) and listening at adequate volume would piss alot of people off, as well as not having the space for properly placed speakers, but i love full range 2 channel stereo systems and the feeling of being pummeled by sound, ditto with movies, so i set out to make a virtual room. 

Using a headphone system(older audio gd nfb7, nfb1amp, audeze el8) with this program http://fongaudio.com and a shaker system did the trick, great surround for movies, suprisingly realistic impact from the shakers, and a proper wide front soundstage, but this makes using pc usb mandatory, and more reverberant rooms didnt have the clarity I wanted.

So I decided to try a used usb regen and immediately noticed a difference in imaging and clarity.  This allowed me to use slightly more reverberant rooms with certain material. 

After spending alot of time(several months) with the usb regen, disconnecting it every few weeks to make sure I wasn't crazy, and reading everything about the iso regen and lps1.2, i felt confident in making a purchase and couldnt be happier.  The combo did everything you'd expect, a significantly cleaner signal, with oodles of detail and pinpoint imaging.  I was very suprised by the size and placement of front to back pans in movies, which were never anywhere near as well defined, the rear soundstage expanded as well. Again more reverberant rooms sounded more natural(the cello stradivari premier has become my goto now), and any material sound incredible with any preset.  It's really shocking how well the system renders such distorted fast dissonant cacophonous music(if anyones wondering, Archspire, Zealotry, Inferi, Anata, Beyond Creation, Defect Designer, Vale of Pnath, Skeletonwitch, Virvum, Deceptionist). Espacially when considering its adding binaural processing and   room emulation(so much data o.O).  Really letting the dac stretch its legs and operate at its full potential.

So thanks Uptone for a mandatory piece of equipment.  This has been intensely fun.

For what its worth the lps1.2 is also powering the bus power galvanivally isolated amanero usb to i2s in my dac.

 

[Superdad]

On 6/9/2018 at 1:21 PM, Bdht said:

Id like to add my experience with the regens, sorry for the diatribe but wth Im pretty sure im an outlier in the userbase.

Tldr: iso regen and lps1.2 make virtual headphone audio from a pc amazing.

 Full disclosure I listen almost exclusively to death metal(i know...) and listening at adequate volume would piss alot of people off, as well as not having the space for properly placed speakers, but i love full range 2 channel stereo systems and the feeling of being pummeled by sound, ditto with movies, so i set out to make a virtual room. 

Using a headphone system(older audio gd nfb7, nfb1amp, audeze el8) with this program http://fongaudio.com and a shaker system did the trick, great surround for movies, suprisingly realistic impact from the shakers, and a proper wide front soundstage, but this makes using pc usb mandatory, and more reverberant rooms didnt have the clarity I wanted.

 

Thanks for your post!  While indeed you system and musical tastes are likely quite different from the typical audiophile, I think you would be surprised at just how widely the musical proclivities of CA members run.  Over in a thread on world-musics, someone posted this gem of Canadian sinus singing (at least that's what we called it) :

 

But seriously, we are very happy to know that you are enjoying the ISO REGEN/UltraCap LPS-1.2 in your unique music system!

Cheers,

--Alex C.

 

 

[lmitche]

45 minutes ago, Superdad said:

 

Thanks for your post!  While indeed you system and musical tastes are likely quite different from the typical audiophile, I think you would be surprised at just how widely the musical proclivities of CA members run.  Over in a thread on world-musics, someone posted this gem of Canadian sinus singing (at least that's what we called it) :

 

But seriously, we are very happy to know that you are enjoying the ISO REGEN/UltraCap LPS-1.2 in your unique music system!

Cheers,

--Alex C.

 

 

Speaking of Canada, I hear North Korea has offered to host peace talks between Canada and the US!

[taggart]

I have had an Amber Regen and since some weeks now an ISO Regen as well.

The ISO is definitely an improvement over the Amber. Powered with two trickle charged LiFePO4 cells (6.4V) or with a PWS-04B-T (6V) from Funk-Tonstudiotechnik (Germany) it does a really, good job!

 

I tried it with different sources:

• Smartphone Samsung S7 (with USB Audio Player PRO)
• Optimized Windows Audio PC (booted from a USB-Stick directly to RAM, Players: JPLAY and JRMC)
• mRendu

Any of these sources profited from the ISO Regen. Each in it's own way.

That also means: Though the ISO Regen reclocks and isolates the USB signal and for comparison tests I always used the same power supply for it, sources still sound different. On a higher level than without the IR ... but different.

 

Does anyone of you have an idea why this is true?

 

Christoph

[bmnathe]

Hey guys,

 

Maybe you can help me with this issue:

 

With my iso regen in the chain, I lose USB connection to my DAC after some time.  I remedy this simply by unplugging/replugging the iso regen.

 

My chain is: MBP > IR > SU-1 > Holo Spring > amp

 

I'm guessing this is a mac-issue.  I have tried resetting the PRAM to no avail.

 

Any advice?

 

thanks,

B