Popular Post Superdad Posted May 13, 2018 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 13, 2018 2 minutes ago, rickca said: @JohnSwenson have you built the measurement equipment you need for your research yet? He is getting closer. The bare PCBs for the "clock cascade/blocking test/validation board" are on hand, but there are so many parts for the board that he decided to finish building his parts placing robot. Below is an early pic. It is MUCH further along now; control board wiring, camera mounting, vacuum pick-up, and computer connections are all being finished now. I can't wait until it is done so he can post a video of it in action. asdf1000, gstew, rickca and 2 others 2 2 1 UpTone Audio LLC Link to comment
look&listen Posted May 13, 2018 Share Posted May 13, 2018 26 minutes ago, Superdad said: parts placing robot WoW fine work!! Pictures please when done. Haha, notice R2D2 on window sill jjraffin 1 Link to comment
Jiffi32 Posted May 13, 2018 Share Posted May 13, 2018 13 hours ago, Superdad said: He is getting closer. The bare PCBs for the "clock cascade/blocking test/validation board" are on hand, but there are so many parts for the board that he decided to finish building his parts placing robot. Below is an early pic. It is MUCH further along now; control board wiring, camera mounting, vacuum pick-up, and computer connections are all being finished now. I can't wait until it is done so he can post a video of it in action. Definitely need a video seeing this in action!! Can't wait :-) customer server+AudiophileOptimizer >>UltraRendu (SR4) >> Lush(JSSG360) >>> IsoRegen(SR4) >>> Lush^2 >>> blu2 >>Blaxius^2D >> Dave > HD800(SDRmod) Link to comment
mansr Posted May 13, 2018 Share Posted May 13, 2018 14 minutes ago, Jiffi32 said: Definitely need a video seeing this in action!! Can't wait :-) I imagine it'll look something like this: The question in my mind is, what's wrong with commercially available pick and place machines? Link to comment
Popular Post Superdad Posted May 13, 2018 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 13, 2018 1 hour ago, mansr said: The question in my mind is, what's wrong with commercially available pick and place machines? Other than price ($50K+ when fully configured) there is nothing wrong with small, short run commercial placers (which are nothing compared the giant full production units at our board house) like the one in your video. John just needs a unit for prototype boards. It can take many hours to hand-place a 100+ tiny parts—with high risk of error. And while we often have simply given the files and BoM to our board house for prototypes, that typically will run us $2-3K—for pieces that will be tossed on the heap in a few weeks time. This DIY kit placer (LitePlacer.com) from Finland is just $2K, and the support John has received from them (including updated parts, spare part sent FedEx, etc.) has been extraordinary. Plus, John already has a countertop vapor-phase reflow oven that does beautiful soldering—even with QFN and BGA parts. gstew, MikeyFresh and opus101 2 1 UpTone Audio LLC Link to comment
mansr Posted May 13, 2018 Share Posted May 13, 2018 16 minutes ago, Superdad said: It can take many hours to hand-place a 100+ tiny parts—with high risk of error. I can imagine. 16 minutes ago, Superdad said: This DIY kit placer (LitePlacer.com) from Finland is just $2K, and the support John has received from them (including updated parts, spare part sent FedEx, etc.) has been extraordinary. Oh, it's a kit. That makes sense. I got the impression it was something he'd built from scratch. 16 minutes ago, Superdad said: Plus, John already has a countertop vapor-phase reflow oven that does beautiful soldering—even with QFN and BGA parts. That certainly helps. Link to comment
nonesup Posted May 25, 2018 Share Posted May 25, 2018 On 4/24/2018 at 8:25 PM, JohnSwenson said: The switch is designed to be used with the "clean port", the 10/100 one connecting directly to the critical device for audio, (ultraRendu etc) and all other connections, such as servers, NAS, compute engines etc. go into one of the other ports which are full gigabit. Putting some other standard device in between our switch and the critical audio device (ultraRendu etc) just puts back in leakage and clock noise, negating what this switch is all about. John S. I currently have an AQVox switch, a Melco N1ZH60-2 (double RJ45 port) and a Lumin A1. Connection is from AQVox to Melco and from the second port RJ 45 to Lumin. I deduce from your answer that using your switch you should connect Melco to the dirty port of Uptone and the Clean Port of Uptone to Lumin, better than Clean Port from Uptone to Melco and second port from Melco to Lumin? Francisco Aries Cerat Kassandra Ref. MKII / Melco N1ZH60-2 / Audio Research Ref. 5 SE / Gryphon Essence Stereo / Rockport Atria I / Göbel XLR and RCA Cables / Göbel Ethernet and USB Cables / Sablon Ethernet Cabe / MIT Magnum MA Sepeakers Cables / Shunyata Everest 8000 / Shunyata Omega XC (1), Sigma NR V2 (3), Sigma NR V1(1) and Alfa NR V1 (2) / Paul Hynes SR7T for Melco S-100 Pink Faun Upgraded / Farad Super3 for IPS Modem-Router / Center Stage2 0.8, 1.0 and 1.5 Link to comment
JohnSwenson Posted May 26, 2018 Share Posted May 26, 2018 3 hours ago, nonesup said: I currently have an AQVox switch, a Melco N1ZH60-2 (double RJ45 port) and a Lumin A1. Connection is from AQVox to Melco and from the second port RJ 45 to Lumin. I deduce from your answer that using your switch you should connect Melco to the dirty port of Uptone and the Clean Port of Uptone to Lumin, better than Clean Port from Uptone to Melco and second port from Melco to Lumin? Correct, you want the clean port to be the last thing going into the Ethernet jack of whatever is the last Ethernet point in the audio chain. John S. gstew 1 Link to comment
plissken Posted May 29, 2018 Share Posted May 29, 2018 Any engineering/empirical data wrt to the improved output of a DAC? Link to comment
Popular Post JohnSwenson Posted May 29, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted May 29, 2018 Not yet, that is the next phase, the clock research. I'm building a test setup with a board with 5 possible ways of dealing with clocks, a test signal generator which starts with an ultra low phase noise clock and modulates it to generate a specific phase noise marker that will never exist naturally. This clock will be used to clock various parts of the digital audio chain feeding into a DAC, whose output goes into a 24 bit ADC which is clocked with yet another ultra low phase noise clock. I've been working on a suite of software to analyze the output of the DAC which should show any actual analog differences coming out of the DAC. Everything is all up and running except for the test board, I have the raw boards but have not stuffed it yet, there are a LOT of parts on this board and I don't really want to do it by hand. I've been building a DIY pick and place machine kit and decided to place the board with this. It is all built and wired up and I'm going through the setup and calibration phase right now. I should have it up and running in a couple days and I can then assemble the last board and get this test setup actually working. So barring some unforeseen situation I should be getting results in a couple months. There is a LOT to do to get the test setup working properly. John S. Bricki and gstew 2 Link to comment
Popular Post Superdad Posted November 6, 2018 Author Popular Post Share Posted November 6, 2018 We know that the summer and fall has passed with not much update on the EtherREGEN. John got sidetracked a bit with another engineering project, though work continued on this one and we are at last getting very close. Development has been proceeding nicely. This week we receive our third round of PCBs to conduct the next set of tests on. John did make a topology change a few weeks ago—for greater overall performance of all ports—and this necessitated addition of a second special switch chip (and it took me two weeks to get through the NDA process to obtain the full datasheet for it). So yes, we are a some months behind schedule—I was originally expecting we would begin shipments this month. But given how every technical aspect of EtherREGEN will be so completely different from any other switch presently offered, we thing it will be worth the wait. We intend to present a block diagram and some explanations closer to the launch (which we are pretty confident will be February). Boomboy, PorkChop, gstew and 1 other 2 2 UpTone Audio LLC Link to comment
Popular Post tboooe Posted November 6, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted November 6, 2018 Hey Alex...how about accepting Pre-orders perhaps providing a little discount for early adopters! I am afraid by Feb I will be out of money because of xmas, property tax, etc...in other words take me money now!!!!!!! pl_svn and R1200CL 2 12TB NAS >> i7-6700 Server/Control PC >> i3-5015u NAA >> Singxer SU-1 DDC (modded) >> Holo Spring L3 DAC >> Accustic Arts Power 1 int amp >> Sonus Faber Guaneri Evolution speakers + REL T/5i sub (x2) Other components: UpTone Audio LPS1.2/IsoRegen, Fiber Switch and FMC, Windows Server 2016 OS, Audiophile Optimizer 3.0, Fidelizer Pro 6, HQ Player, Roonserver, PS Audio P3 AC regenerator, HDPlex 400W ATX & 200W Linear PSU, Light Harmonic Lightspeed Split USB cable, Synergistic Research Tungsten AC power cords, Tara Labs The One speaker cables, Tara Labs The Two Extended with HFX Station IC, Oyaide R1 outlets, Stillpoints Ultra Mini footers, Hi-Fi Tuning fuses, Vicoustic/RealTraps/GIK room treatments Link to comment
bobfa Posted November 6, 2018 Share Posted November 6, 2018 Alex, I am looking forward to more updates as you get closer to release. Things like power supply requirements, application notes/suggestions. I will not ask about pricing yet! Do not give away the farm! Please do not let the noise over here distract you too much. Hopefully, with the ending of this political season people, will start being more civil all around us. As Hans says: "Enjoy the Music!" Bob My Audio Systems Link to comment
Popular Post Superdad Posted November 6, 2018 Author Popular Post Share Posted November 6, 2018 2 hours ago, Bruce Orr said: Sorry, if I missed this, Alex. Will your EtherRegen have a Reference clock input port? Yes, it will, though it will already have built in what is about the lowest phase-noise production XO on the market, the Crystek CCHD-575. As important is how clocking is handled. Because EtherREGEN will have a true digital isolation "moat"--with expensive high-speed digital isolators and differential flip-flops (as opposed to just Ethernet transformers modules for isolation), there has to be separate clocking on each side. There are 5 clocks total (at 3 different frequencies), so we use the excellent (and again expensive and hard to get) Silicon Labs clock synthesizer (actually 2 of them). Since those each have 4 outputs and 2 inputs, we will use one input for the CCHD-575 and program the other input to accept an external reference 10MHz clock if people wish to get extreme. All that said, excellent clocking is but one aspect of what will make this switch special. A whole lot else will contribute to the performance. As we get closer, we will likely publish a block diagram to explain a bit more about the topology of this unique switch. Bricki, RickyV, gstew and 2 others 3 1 1 UpTone Audio LLC Link to comment
audiojerry Posted November 6, 2018 Share Posted November 6, 2018 Very excited to learn how it does... Can you describe how it would benefit a PS Audio Direct Stream Dac streaming music via its ethernet port? I'd be surprised but thrilled to find it's possible to hear sonic benefits from this device. Link to comment
Superdad Posted November 6, 2018 Author Share Posted November 6, 2018 1 hour ago, tboooe said: Hey Alex...how about accepting Pre-orders perhaps providing a little discount for early adopters! I am afraid by Feb I will be out of money because of xmas, property tax, etc...in other words take me money now!!!!!!! Sorry Tommy, we can't do that. a) It goes completely against my business ethics to accept money in advance for a product that does not yet have production PCBs and cases in production with firm delivery dates; b) We would have to pay taxes this year for a product that will ship in 2019. c) We have not added up the final BoM (Bill of Materials) yet, so no final pricing has been set yet. We will do our best to keep the price very competitive (and I know it will be well under a rather pricey competitor), but there are a LOT of costly chips in this thing. At last count I think were were up to 10 LT3042/45 voltage regulators, and those account for just half the power supply stuff. There are quite a number of individual parts that themselves cost $10-15 each. It is adding up quick! gstew 1 UpTone Audio LLC Link to comment
auricgoldfinger Posted November 6, 2018 Share Posted November 6, 2018 Hi Alex, Will you be offering the option of a 50-ohm master clock connector for those of us who are locked into that impedance? Link to comment
Superdad Posted November 6, 2018 Author Share Posted November 6, 2018 2 minutes ago, auricgoldfinger said: Will you be offering the option of a 50-ohm master clock connector for those of us who are locked into that impedance? Well I might start a poll because it seems like half of you want 50 ohms and the other half 75 ohms. We can do either--but not both. It is simply a single tiny surface mount resistor change--and either the 50 or 75 ohm BNC. But it is not cost effective to run both versions of the board--and rear panel labels (then get stuck with more of one versus the other), especially since 90%+ of buyers will never even be using it with an external clock. gstew 1 UpTone Audio LLC Link to comment
auricgoldfinger Posted November 6, 2018 Share Posted November 6, 2018 2 minutes ago, Superdad said: Well I might start a poll because it seems like half of you want 50 ohms and the other half 75 ohms. We can do either--but not both. It is simply a single tiny surface mount resistor change--and either the 50 or 75 ohm BNC. But it is not cost effective to run both versions of the board--and rear panel labels (then get stuck with more of one versus the other), especially since 90%+ of buyers will never even be using it with an external clock. Understood, but it's a little disconcerting from the consumer's perspective and could affect purchase decisions. elan120 1 Link to comment
Popular Post austinpop Posted November 6, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted November 6, 2018 4 minutes ago, Superdad said: Well I might start a poll because it seems like half of you want 50 ohms and the other half 75 ohms. We can do either--but not both. It is simply a single tiny surface mount resistor change--and either the 50 or 75 ohm BNC. But it is not cost effective to run both versions of the board--and rear panel labels (then get stuck with more of one versus the other), especially since 90%+ of buyers will never even be using it with an external clock. Perhaps an impedance selector like this? gstew and elan120 1 1 My Audio Setup Link to comment
R1200CL Posted November 6, 2018 Share Posted November 6, 2018 8 minutes ago, Superdad said: We can do either--but not both. One batch of each ? I suppose you still will do 250 pieces a time. Link to comment
auricgoldfinger Posted November 6, 2018 Share Posted November 6, 2018 I agree with Alex that hardly anyone will be using a master clock. But, I will be using one. elan120 1 Link to comment
Popular Post elan120 Posted November 6, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted November 6, 2018 8 minutes ago, austinpop said: Perhaps an impedance selector like this? Or go with 50 ohm impedance as standard and use something like this for the 75 ohm impedance cable? MikeyFresh, gstew and R1200CL 1 2 Link to comment
Superdad Posted November 6, 2018 Author Share Posted November 6, 2018 8 minutes ago, auricgoldfinger said: Understood, but it's a little disconcerting from the consumer's perspective and could affect purchase decisions. Really?! There are so many other aspects that will make our switch terrific. Frankly we went back and forth about even including the external clock option since we don't want to give the impression that use of one is required to obtain superior performance. 5 minutes ago, austinpop said: Perhaps an impedance selector like this? Given that all the major 10MHz reference clocks on the market have both 50 and 75 ohm outputs, why does it matter which we choose for input? gstew 1 UpTone Audio LLC Link to comment
Superdad Posted November 6, 2018 Author Share Posted November 6, 2018 5 minutes ago, R1200CL said: One batch of each ? I suppose you still will do 250 pieces a time. Sure, and you'll front me the extra $60K to do the alternate impedance board run? UpTone Audio LLC Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now