ISO REGEN Listening Impressions (kicked off with some measurements)

[LewinskiH01]

I went ahead and ordered the ISO Regen plus LPS 1.2. I have now over 90 hours of burn-in time (measured as hours when data was flowing through the ISO Regen; the LPS has been powered uninterruptedly for about 4 weeks).

 

Yesterday I spent some time doing A/B listening with and without the ISO in the chain. I hear very mild differences. Not sure if my upstream isn't clean enough, I'm not using the ISO/LPS in the best possible way, or other. Would love to get input in how I might improve!

 

Signal flow: I stream from Tidal and local storage through Roon in a multipurpose PC, connected through ethernet (CAT 6) to a cheap consumer TP-Link switch, connected through CAT 6 to my AudioPC running Roon Bridge. The AudioPC is fairly optimized (you can see description at my signature). From AudioPC I run a USB Wireworld Ultraviolet into ISO Regen>USPCB>Lynx Hilo DAC. On Roon I run convolution to apply a 3-way digital crossover plus room correction (filters developed with Acourate), plus upsample to 176 or 192. From Lynx Hilo I drive a McIntosh MC275 for mids/highs, Hypex UCD400 for midbass, and a couple Rythmik subs.

 

Power: I have 2 dedicated power lines.

The TP-Link is on the regular circuit (non-dedicated line). AudioPC has a lab LPS connected to one of the dedicated lines. The LPS 1.2 is set to 7V and connected to the second dedicated line (second slot in an Oyaide R1 receptacle). The other slot in the R1 is connected to a conditioner: Core Power Equi=Core 1800, which powers the DAC and MC275. Except for the power cables to the MC275 and Equi=Core, all other power cords are stock.

 

From reading posts on this thread I was expecting a bigger impact in sound from ISO Regen + LPS. Maybe my setup is not optimal for them?

Would love to get your input!

 

Happy holiday!

[wouterk]

A/B comparisons don’t always reveal true differences - just listen for some time to music you know really well. In my setup with Roon ISO in place my system sounded more revealing and relaxed at the same time.

My setup: MacMini i7 - Roon; local storage, USB -> ISO Regen -> Singxer -> Holo Audio Spring Silver -> ATC pre amp -> ATC Anniversary 50 active

[LewinskiH01]

I've been listening continuously with the ISO and LPS in the chain. I thought it was sounding better. Maybe it was the burn in process settling in and I was assuming it was better sound? Dunno.

So went into A/B expecting to hear a difference,  but having a hard time discriminating both sounds.

 

Maybe the resolution bottleneck is further up in the chain?

[ambre]

Hi Superdad andall others,

 

I have an Iso Regen now for a couple of weeks in combination with LPS 1.2. 

 

Very nice sound and additional  improvement over the improvement already made by the Allo USBridge Signature. 

( Mac mini I7 bridged => Allo USBridge Signature=>Iso Regen=> Dac Pro-ject S2 Ultra and/or RME Adi2 Fs. 

 

Another uplift reached by adding the Ghentaudio Gotham GAC-4/1 11301 UltraPro Star Quad DC(JSSG360) Cable and the USB (JSSG360) Silver-plated Star Quad USB(JSSG360) instead of home made USB cable.

 

Thank you very much Superdad and JSSG (=John Swenson)  too.

 

Very best regards, Andreas 

The Netherlands

[jiminlogansquare]

A query to any Schiit DAC owners who decide to install the new Unison USB input upgrade. Could you relate here how that affects the sound in conjunction with an ISO Regen. On the Yggy in particular, but with other DACs, as well. Thanks 

[matthias]

On ‎11‎/‎17‎/‎2019 at 1:55 PM, lmitche said:

vbus on a lush cable via an USB power injector, and a Soekris 1321 DAC directly.

 

Hi Larry,

 

what do you use exactly as USB power injector?

 

Thanks

 

Matt

[lmitche]

2 hours ago, matthias said:

 

Hi Larry,

 

what do you use exactly as USB power injector?

 

Thanks

 

Matt

Yes, USB power injectors are tough to find. In my system an injector from the Aqvox USB power supply is in place.

 

[matthias]

17 minutes ago, lmitche said:

Yes, USB power injectors are tough to find. In my system an injector from the Aqvox USB power supply is in place.

 

 

This one from Ghent Audio should work too:

 

https://www.ghentaudio.com/usb/u22.html

 

Matt

[bodiebill]

3 hours ago, matthias said:

This one from Ghent Audio should work too:

https://www.ghentaudio.com/usb/u22.html

Matt

 

I think I would prefer something like this: 

https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/power-supply-accessories/usb-b-adapter-cable-for-55-21mm-male-power-supply-p-8791.html

as it would enable me to use a favorite usb cable and later do some swapping.

[lmitche]

9 hours ago, bodiebill said:

 

I think I would prefer something like this: 

https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/power-supply-accessories/usb-b-adapter-cable-for-55-21mm-male-power-supply-p-8791.html

as it would enable me to use a favorite usb cable and later do some swapping.

The Audiophonics injector is closer to what I had in mind. Several people have tried to have this model shipped to the US and the price was outrageous.

[Rhed6]

Anyone run a high quality USB cable to the ISO? And will it make a difference? Looking at a Curious USB. It’s going to plug in straight from my current model Mac mini to ISO REGEN.. thanks

[bodiebill]

In my setup a Lush cable to the ISO made a clearly positive difference.

And the same for a (really short) Lush^2 cable between the ISO and the DAC (replacing the hard connection that goes with the ISO).

[ambre]

6 minutes ago, bodiebill said:

In my setup a Lush cable to the ISO made a clearly positive difference.

And the same for a (really short) Lush^2 cable between the ISO and the DAC (replacing the hard connection that goes with the ISO).

I have really good results with the USB(JSSG360) Silver-plated Star Quad USB(JSSG360 made by Ghentaudio for $35 per meter.😃

[sdube]

3 hours ago, ambre said:

I have really good results with the USB(JSSG360) Silver-plated Star Quad USB(JSSG360 made by Ghentaudio for $35 per meter.😃

Posting after a long time. I use a Tellurium Silver Diamond USB between Mac Mini and Iso Regen. (This replaced a Curious and later a Light Harmonic Lightspeed 10 G, and a couple of others before.) The Tellurium is expensive, though not much more than the revamped Curious, and really good. The point is that after reading this thread, especially the bit about the  "(really short) Lush^2 cable between the ISO and the DAC" I too replaced the hard connector with a short Curious between ISO Regen and Berkeley Alpha USB and sense a change for the better.  (It is early days yet, and if matters change, shall report again.)

[bodiebill]

59 minutes ago, sdube said:

Posting after a long time. I use a Tellurium Silver Diamond USB between Mac Mini and Iso Regen. (This replaced a Curious and later a Light Harmonic Lightspeed 10 G, and a couple of others before.) The Tellurium is expensive, though not much more than the revamped Curious, and really good. The point is that after reading this thread, especially the bit about the  "(really short) Lush^2 cable between the ISO and the DAC" I too replaced the hard connector with a short Curious between ISO Regen and Berkeley Alpha USB and sense a change for the better.  (It is early days yet, and if matters change, shall report again.)

 

Interesting, thanks for letting us know... And please do...

[bodiebill]

On 2/10/2020 at 7:21 AM, bodiebill said:

I think I would prefer something like this: 

https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/power-supply-accessories/usb-b-adapter-cable-for-55-21mm-male-power-supply-p-8791.html

as it would enable me to use a favorite usb cable and later do some swapping.

 

I found one of these at home, albeit with a USB A plug instead of a DC male plug to provide the VBUS with 5V power. I think I will DIY such a cable with Supra CAT8, so I took of the heatshrink. See pic: it seems this little DIY project will not be too difficult 🙂

For best usability (the Supra is bulky and stiff) I think I will keep the black and red wires as shown, and attach the Supra to those, keeping everything as short as possible.

 

[sdube]

11 hours ago, bodiebill said:

 

Interesting, thanks for letting us know... And please do...

The short Curios cable -- old version -- is way better than the hard adaptor, in terms of clarity and fidelity. (Please return to the thread in order to get details and context.) It is my fault, but I have taken Superdad's words as representing truth: he should ease back on some of the cant on the hard adapter. I know it is business, after all, but there are some of us who believe despite that model, and it is not nice to be disappointed. 

[DelsFan]

On 2/11/2020 at 4:48 AM, Rhed6 said:

Anyone run a high quality USB cable to the ISO? And will it make a difference? Looking at a Curious USB. It’s going to plug in straight from my current model Mac mini to ISO REGEN.. thanks

Until I can try something more expensive (so, by definition, better, right?), I found the CAT8 Supra Ethernet cable to be better than whatever Ethernet cable I had laying around.  And they make USB cables too.  For "cheap", I'd recommend trying one of their products.

[sdube]

On 2/11/2020 at 4:48 AM, Rhed6 said:

Anyone run a high quality USB cable to the ISO? And will it make a difference? Looking at a Curious USB. It’s going to plug in straight from my current model Mac mini to ISO REGEN.. thanks

Yes, they make a substantial difference. Do see my posts above. In a jist: I use a Tellurium Silver Diamond USB between Mac Mini and Iso Regen. (This replaced a Curious and later a Light Harmonic Lightspeed 10 G, and a couple of others before.) The Tellurium is expensive, though not much more than the revamped Curious, yet really good. The point is that after reading this thread, especially the bit about the  "(really short) Lush^2 cable between the ISO and the DAC" I too replaced the hard connector with a short Curious between ISO Regen and Berkeley Alpha USB and there is a substantial change, way for the better. 

[DelsFan]

On 2/1/2020 at 6:30 PM, jiminlogansquare said:

A query to any Schiit DAC owners who decide to install the new Unison USB input upgrade. Could you relate here how that affects the sound in conjunction with an ISO Regen. On the Yggy in particular, but with other DACs, as well. Thanks 

Bump.

 

I'm curious as there are three products out now (EtherREGEN, Iso REGEN, Unison USB) that could conceivably be used in conjunction with one another.  Does any one, by itself, "solve" all or most problems?

[darren700]

I own two ISO regens each powered by the LPs-1.2's. I have one in my headphone system and one in my speaker system. I enjoy them so much I would never consider removing either, they make that much of a difference. Even with my very complicated streamer to ddc setup, when inserted into the chain, the iso regen still removes a veil from the sound, allowing background details to be more easily heard. Many times I have heard sounds in well known tracks that I never knew were there before. I highly recommend the iso regen and matching lps1.2 to any DAC setup. Alex has been absolutely amazing to deal with and their customer service is second to none. Also, I highly recommend trying their new etherregen switch if you use a streamer in your setup.

[TomWoB]

Hi all,

 

old thead, but because of Qutest questions a few posts above and because of "Grounding" seems to be the major topic of this thread I will share my (short) experience with Qutest and ISO REGEN with you!. Odered on Thursday, delivered on Monday (not bad for California -> Switzerland) my ISO REGEN is running now for 72 hours nonstop in my system, which consists of:

• Intel NUC7i3BNH (in Akasa fanless case) running Roon ROCK
• ISO REGEN
• Chord Qutest DAC
• Lehmannaudio Linear Headphone Amplifier (Revision II)

I have no SMPS in my complete system. The Linear Amp has a build in LPS (which is grounded), the other three components are all powered by an own Sbooster LPS. All power cables are plugged into an Isothek EVO3 Sirius mains distribution block.

 

 

Grounding

The LPS of the Linear Amp is internal grounded with the shown RC-part (for DC it's a 100 Ohm resistor to Earth). Via the analogue RCA-cable the Qutest is grounded too. I measured 100 Ohm from Coax-Input of the Qutest to Earth (as expected). Because of galvanic isolations and because of Sbooster DC outputs are not grounded (see Point 1 of Sbooster FAQ), I have two independent floating components in my system:

• Intel NUC running Roon ROCK (NUC network is also galvanic isolated by a Pinkfaun LAN isolator)
• ISO REGEN

Does this system work?

It works perfect! It's absolute stable: in the last 72 hours

• I never had a drop-out
• I never had a lost connection
• I can touch all cables, Qutest, ISO REGEN or Intel NUC without any effect

Power consumption of ISO REGEN

I measured 300 mA on the DC input of the ISO REGEN, this is exact what is expected, because:

• Alex C. said IR consumes 240 mA (link)
• Rob W. said the USB input of Qutest (USB decoder and isolation circuitry) consumes 60mA (link)

Really no problems?

Yes, there is one problem, the USPCB adapter is not working. My first setup was with the USPCB adapter and Roon can't see my DAC anymore .... argh ... shit. So I changed the adapter with an USB cable -> everything OK. Inserted adapter again, tried with GI switched off/on on IR -> not working. Once it was working for 10 minutes ... than DAC was lost again. So, it looks like that my USPCB adapter is "somehow working" but very, very unstable. For me not a big issue, because as a "cable freak" I prefer anyway "real cables". Now I use two Audioquest Carbon USB cables on input and output of ISO REGEN and I'm absolute happy with them.

 

... and ... how does it sound?

I will not "finally rate" the sound already, because I think ISO REGEN is still burning in ... but it sounds really fantastic 👍. I think I have to update one of my other threads sometimes (link) 😁 ...

 

[R1200CL]

I have a theory that dual usb reclocking may have the same effect as dual etherRegen. 
Has anyone tried the dual IsoRegen in series ? (With good PS). 

 

I think there may be possibilities in DDC design not yet seen. 

[jamesg11]

I’m pretty sure there numerous experiments with series regen + iso regen when the latter was first made available.

[CheapSplurge]

Kind of money tight right now.. Had to sell all but my aduip equipment. 

I'm interested in this iso regen but I definitely won't be able to afford the power supply too. 

Without the power supply... Is it still ok?