ISO REGEN Listening Impressions (kicked off with some measurements)

[soares]

19 hours ago, Superdad said:

We are making progress on other innovative new pieces and I look forward to being able to speak of them once we get a bit closer to beta test and production. So stay tuned...

Thank you John. Any foreseeable timelines? 
😁

[Superdad]

1 hour ago, soares said:

Thank you John.

Nope, I'm Alex C./Superdad.  John is @JohnSwenson

 

Quote

Any foreseeable timelines? 

Yes, but foreseeable only to John and I at the moment. 

The development John has been doing (for many months now) requires us to hit a couple of proof-of-concept milestones before we will feel comfortable disclosing anything. Those milestones could be passed next week, next, month, or never. So not going to speculate just yet.  Sure hoping for them soon. Progression towards products should go smoothly after the big hurdles.

[soares]

1 hour ago, Superdad said:

Nope, I'm Alex C./Superdad.  John is @JohnSwenson

 

Yes, but foreseeable only to John and I at the moment. 

The development John has been doing (for many months now) requires us to hit a couple of proof-of-concept milestones before we will feel comfortable disclosing anything. Those milestones could be passed next week, next, month, or never. So not going to speculate just yet.  Sure hoping for them soon. Progression towards products should go smoothly after the big hurdles.

Of course Alex. I know... it’s being a long day and I am still working. 😂😂😂

In any case, thank you so much for the clarification. I wish you all the best in exploring strange new worlds and boldly go where no man has gone before... 🤗

Kind regards,

Jorge

 

[Jud]

32 minutes ago, Superdad said:

The development John has been doing (for many months now) requires us to hit a couple of proof-of-concept milestones before we will feel comfortable discoloring anything.

 

Well then I hope we are discolored soon.  ;)

[Superdad]

30 minutes ago, Jud said:

Well then I hope we are discolored soon.  ;)

 

Not even the third oddest autocorrection of my day. (Autocorrection is also a word one must be careful with around an auto corrector! )

 

Nice to “see” you here Jud. Long time no speak. Do give me a ring some time to ketchup...

[kldb]

Hello, the seller has replaced me with a new iso regen, and the problem of repeated suspension of broadcasting has been solved.  The suspension was caused by the failure of ISO regen.  Thanks again for your attention.  Now I ask you another question: The surface temperature of the ISO regent that the seller replaced me reached 37 degrees when it worked. Is this normal?  Will it affect its normal operation and lifespan?

[Superdad]

6 hours ago, kldb said:

The surface temperature of the ISO regent that the seller replaced me reached 37 degrees when it worked. Is this normal?  Will it affect its normal operation and lifespan?

Case temperature of the ISO REGEN will depend upon 3 factors:

a) The ambient temperature of your room;

b) The amount of 5VBUS current drawn by whatever DAC you have attached to its output;

c) The voltage of the power supply used to power the ISO REGEN.

 

Based on what I can see from the circuit boards in your Moon DAC—and the temperature you are reporting when usng the stock 7.5V PS—am guessing that it might be drawing between 320~400mA of 5VBUS current from the ISO REGEN’s output.

Seems quite normal and longevity will not be affected.

[kldb]

👌 ok, thanks for your attention

[Tobias]

Now that the IsoREGEN, sadly, is last year's news, it's time to add to the lore. Two more DACs that work with it : the Calyx 24/192 and the Audiomat Tempo 2.9. One DAC that doesn't : Schiit Yggdrasil with Unison USB. Two more USB cables that work with it : Wireworld Platinum Starlight 7 and Audio Sensibility Impact SE. One cable that doesn't : Audioquest Carbon.

 

N. B. The Unison-equipped Yggy _connects_ OK to the USB source through the IsoREGEN. I say it doesn't work because there is absolutely nothing gained with the iSoREGEN in the line. The Yggy Unison sounds the same both with it and without it, or as near as makes no difference. To my ear.

 

The Audioquest Carbon, OTOH, just won't let a signal lock happen with the source, a 2012 Mac Mini. Superdad and JS have dealt with this kind of thing, and reasons for it, earlier in the thread.

[Superdad]

15 hours ago, Tobias said:

The Unison-equipped Yggy _connects_ OK to the USB source through the IsoREGEN. I say it doesn't work because there is absolutely nothing gained with the iSoREGEN in the line. The Yggy Unison sounds the same both with it and without it, or as near as makes no difference. To my ear.

That's fine. Tastes vary.

On the flip side, there are a number of Yggy owners who are very pleased with the benefits brought by an ISO REGEN. Basically, if you can hear a difference between USB cables with your DAC then you should hear a difference with the ISO REGEN (properly placed right at the input of the DAC). USB cables alter signal integrity (as seen on an eye-pattern); ISO REGEN greatly improves signal integrity, impedance match, clock-threshold-jitter-induced ground-plane noise, and 5VBUS quality.

 

15 hours ago, Tobias said:

The Audioquest Carbon, OTOH, just won't let a signal lock happen with the source, a 2012 Mac Mini. Superdad and JS have dealt with this kind of thing, and reasons for it, earlier in the thread.

Yep. Some of the Audioquest USB cables (and a small handful of other handmade boutique cables) are wildly out of 90-ohm spec and the Silanna galvanic isolator chip used at the input of the ISO REGEN does not take kindly to those.  That's only on the input side. An ISO REGEN will drive any USB cable on its output.

[R1200CL]

…..and The USPCB is the best cable 😀

[Tobias]

I was certainly among the Yggy owners who were very pleased to have an IsoREGEN at its USB input, while my Yggy had the Gen 5 USB card. The improvement was perfectly audible, and Superdad describes it very nicely. And now, I am still very pleased to have my IsoREGEN, because with the DAC which replaced my Yggy, an Audiomat Tempo 2.9, it continues to do what Superdad describes.

[bit01]

I am enjoying this setup and thought I should mention it here. The USB cable carries no power so I have the Iso Regen before rather after it.

 

i9-10900K server AL LXQt/J River MC in Aorus Master (TAIKO DC DC-ATX/ULPS) MB USB 3.2 -->USPCB A/B adapter-->IsoRegen/LPS 1.2 at 5V (charged by PH SR7T 19V)-->Sablon USB 2020-->NAIM DAC-V1

[LewinskiH01]

Does a good USB card make a significant difference if using a USPCB A/B adapter and IsoRegen with LPS?

 

My Paul Pang USB card failed a while back and since that I've made significant changes to my system, such as amp, a couple of eR in series connected by optic fiber, DXE filters, and frankly I don't remember how big a difference the Pang USB card vs mobo USB made. The PC doesn't have any rotating devices, has LPS, optimized operating system and just receives through RoonBridge and sends to the Lynx Hilo DAC.

 

I'm wondering if a good USB card would be money well spent. 

[bit01]

On 3/8/2022 at 7:38 PM, bit01 said:

I am enjoying this setup and thought I should mention it here. The USB cable carries no power so I have the Iso Regen before rather after it.

 

i9-10900K server AL LXQt/J River MC in Aorus Master (TAIKO DC DC-ATX/ULPS) MB USB 3.2 -->USPCB A/B adapter-->IsoRegen/LPS 1.2 at 5V (charged by PH SR7T 19V)-->Sablon USB 2020-->NAIM DAC-V1

 

This is a great SQ setup using a humble DAC and the Iso Regen- resolves even better than the one referenced above!

 

i9-10900K server AL LXQt v3.7/J River MC v30 in Aorus Master (HDPlex 800W DC-ATX/PH SR7T 19V/10A+ 19V/10A --->Sean Jacobs 12V regs for CPU EPS) MB USB 3.2--->Belkin Gold--->IsoRegen (powered with DIY MPAudio HPULN 7.5V/3A--->Alexey LT3045 6V/1A)--->USPCB A/B adapter--->Topping E30 DAC<--- Alexey LT3045 5V/1A powered with the same (split) DIY MPAudio HPULN 7.5V/3A ps.

 

I hope there is another Iso-Regen product type planned for the near future!!

[Mihaylov]

On 7/11/2022 at 5:39 AM, LewinskiH01 said:

Does a good USB card make a significant difference if using a USPCB A/B adapter and IsoRegen with LPS?

I am also very interested in the answer to this question. Maybe ISO regen levels the quality of the USB output at the signal source?

[bit01]

The Iso-Regen works remarkably well in that particular setup I described above. However in other setups I have had varying levels of success (YMMV). There are permutations/combinations that come into play so to speak. If you don't like to tweak, you may be better off with a quality card solution. 

[bit01]

On 4/29/2023 at 1:40 PM, bit01 said:

 

This is a great SQ setup using a humble DAC and the Iso Regen- resolves even better than the one referenced above!

 

i9-10900K server AL LXQt v3.7/J River MC v30 in Aorus Master (HDPlex 800W DC-ATX/PH SR7T 19V/10A+ 19V/10A --->Sean Jacobs 12V regs for CPU EPS) MB USB 3.2--->Belkin Gold--->IsoRegen (powered with DIY MPAudio HPULN 7.5V/3A--->Alexey LT3045 6V/1A)--->USPCB A/B adapter--->Topping E30 DAC<--- Alexey LT3045 5V/1A powered with the same (split) DIY MPAudio HPULN 7.5V/3A ps.

 

I hope there is another Iso-Regen product type planned for the near future!!

Streaming Qobuz with the help of a NUC/Iso Regen/Topping E30 DAC:

I had some spare hardware and I thought I would put it together as a streamer for a Qobuz trial. It worked surprisingly well!

 

A lot of the ideas/pieces are from different threads of this forum (a big thanks to all the contributors).

 

A. NUC7i7NHE1 (fanless in AKASA Plato X7D case, 16GB RAM, Win10, Qobuz app-->J River MC30 WDM driver, Intel Optane 800P NVMe SSD) powered with an LPS (Paul Hynes SR7T 19VDC/10A). I happen to have a spare rail on this LPS, otherwise overkill?!
B. RJ45 to USB converter : TP-Link UE300
C. FMC (2) : TP-Link MC-110MCS powered by one LPS with 2x 9VDC/2A rails (from China via ebay)
D. Switch : (an older model metal case TP-Link TL-SG1008D) with a 7VDC/2A LPS (DIY with an old 1st gen Teddy Pardo board)

30 ft flat patch cable: Tera Grand CAT7
5 ft patch cable: Startech CAT6
2 m patch cable: Canachoice CAT8
1 m fiber patch cable: Tripp Lite N506-01M SC/SC 50/125

 

Router—CAT 7—D—CAT6—C1 —Fiber—C2—CAT8—B—A

 

connection to the USB DAC:

NUC USB---Belkin Gold USB cable--->IsoRegen (powered with DIY MPAudio HPULN 7.5V/3A--->Alexey LT3045 6V/1A)--->USPCB A/B adapter--->Topping E30 DAC<--- Alexey LT3045 5V/1A powered with the same (split) DIY MPAudio HPULN 7.5V/3A ps.

[Mihaylov]

On 5/31/2023 at 1:23 AM, bit01 said:

Streaming Qobuz with the help of a NUC/Iso Regen/Topping E30 DAC:

I had some spare hardware and I thought I would put it together as a streamer for a Qobuz trial. It worked surprisingly well!

 

A lot of the ideas/pieces are from different threads of this forum (a big thanks to all the contributors).

 

A. NUC7i7NHE1 (fanless in AKASA Plato X7D case, 16GB RAM, Win10, Qobuz app-->J River MC30 WDM driver, Intel Optane 800P NVMe SSD) powered with an LPS (Paul Hynes SR7T 19VDC/10A). I happen to have a spare rail on this LPS, otherwise overkill?!
B. RJ45 to USB converter : TP-Link UE300
C. FMC (2) : TP-Link MC-110MCS powered by one LPS with 2x 9VDC/2A rails (from China via ebay)
D. Switch : (an older model metal case TP-Link TL-SG1008D) with a 7VDC/2A LPS (DIY with an old 1st gen Teddy Pardo board)

30 ft flat patch cable: Tera Grand CAT7
5 ft patch cable: Startech CAT6
2 m patch cable: Canachoice CAT8
1 m fiber patch cable: Tripp Lite N506-01M SC/SC 50/125

 

Router—CAT 7—D—CAT6—C1 —Fiber—C2—CAT8—B—A

 

connection to the USB DAC:

NUC USB---Belkin Gold USB cable--->IsoRegen (powered with DIY MPAudio HPULN 7.5V/3A--->Alexey LT3045 6V/1A)--->USPCB A/B adapter--->Topping E30 DAC<--- Alexey LT3045 5V/1A powered with the same (split) DIY MPAudio HPULN 7.5V/3A ps.

 

Similarly. NUC7i7DNH (fanless, LPS inside)->usb cable Furutech->iso regen->Topping e30ii (mod). Topping P50 - linear power supply for e30ii and iso regen .

I like the sound very much 😉.

 

 

[bit01]

6 hours ago, Mihaylov said:

 

Similarly. NUC7i7DNH (fanless, LPS inside)->usb cable Furutech->iso regen->Topping e30ii (mod). Topping P50 - linear power supply for e30ii and iso regen .

I like the sound very much 😉.

 

 

Neat, thanks for posting.

[matthias]

From the Uptone Audio HP:

UpTone is developing several new USB products. One will be an improved USB REGEN (think ISO REGEN but without galvanic isolation yet with some enhancements) in same case size and similar price. The other two new USB products are VERY radical and advanced designs (drawing on some of EtherREGEN's tech), but those will be larger and at higher price points (similar to EtherREGEN price). Please STAY TUNED!

@Superdad

Would you care to give an update on the two mentioned higher priced USB products?

Certainly you do not want to share technical details but maybe some info about the release date.

Thank you

 

Matt

 

[Mops911]

I just setup my second system and it includes an ISORegen. In my first system the NAA never disconnects and stays in a connecting/disconnecting loop until I repower the ISOREgen, but here it does constantly (3-5 times a day)... OS is Server Core 2019 with AO. Any idea?

[Superdad]

On 8/12/2023 at 7:59 AM, Mops911 said:

I just setup my second system and it includes an ISORegen. In my first system the NAA never disconnects and stays in a connecting/disconnecting loop until I repower the ISOREgen, but here it does constantly (3-5 times a day)... OS is Server Core 2019 with AO. Any idea?

 

Hi:

Your report is a little confusing to me but we wish to assist. Can you please e-mail with all physical hardware/wiring details of the system in which you are having trouble with connection through ISO REGEN?

Thanks,

--Alex C.

 

[Mops911]

On 8/12/2023 at 8:59 AM, Mops911 said:

stays in a connecting/disconnecting loop until I repower the ISOREgen

 

Quite likely a user error but even if not, Alex CALLED me today to expedite troubleshooting. Wow!!

 

I am myself taking care of customers post sales (in an enterprise setting) and I know how ignorant customers can behave.. ;-) and how much patience it takes ...

 

5 stars for customer service at Uptone. Thanks Alex!!

 

(and 5 stars for my JS2, ER and IRs..!!!)

[Mops911]

On 8/15/2023 at 3:21 PM, Mops911 said:

stays in a connecting/disconnecting loop until I repower the ISOREgen

 

Quick and last update on this matter - and it is a bit embarrassing ;-) as it is a PURE user error....had the ISO switch in the wrong position and my Dac looses sometimes connection - and this was known by me at some point. WIth the right settings ALL works 100% and sounds 110%.

 

Sorry Alex....cheers Tom