EtherREGEN: The long development thread. [Some Gen2 dev. pics and update starting on page 92.]

[greenleo]

3 hours ago, JohnSwenson said:

For the EtherRegen there is no requirement for minimum length. You can run down to a couple inches on any of the RJ45 ports.

 

OTHER devices (not connected to the EtherRegen) may or may not have this minimum length issue.

I checked a bunch of spec sheets for Belden cables a while back and they all had similar capacitance figures. If those are representative of other cables then it probably doesn't matter much what type of cable it is. I can't tell you if some $1000 per foot cable has the same capacitance as Belden cable, the $1000 per foot guys usually don't give hardly any specs and I'm not about to spend my life measuring them.

 

John S.

Thank you John.  $1000 per foot is never my target.  What I have been used are simple CAT5, CAT5e and CAT6.  The very reasonable price Supra CAT 8 is in my radar too but I doubt if there is a proper defined standard for the CAT8.  Hence my question.

 

It seems that my previous post has upset you a bit.  If so, please accept my apology.

[JohnSwenson]

2 hours ago, greenleo said:

Thank you John.  $1000 per foot is never my target.  What I have been used are simple CAT5, CAT5e and CAT6.  The very reasonable price Supra CAT 8 is in my radar too but I doubt if there is a proper defined standard for the CAT8.  Hence my question.

 

It seems that my previous post has upset you a bit.  If so, please accept my apology.

I'm not upset at all, I just have only checked the spec sheets for Belden cable, most others don't have the spaces and I not going to spend time measuring others. SOoo all I can really say is that the Belden ones are the same and many others are PROBABLY similar except for the expensive ones that do all kinds of weird things, they will probably not be the same as the Beldens.

 

John S.

[Miska]

Am I the only one who buys bulk 100 meters coil of CAT6 UTP and uses that for wiring the house and also making some patch cables by attaching RJ45's?

 

[mansr]

1 minute ago, Miska said:

Am I the only one who buys bulk 100 meters coil of CAT6 UTP and uses that for wiring the house and also making some patch cables by attaching RJ45's?

Maybe I'll get some Cat 6 when I've used up my reel of Cat 5e.

[Miska]

I tend to have pretty random collection of cables. But there are some new thin CAT6 cables nice for short distances to small light weight ARM devices so the cable doesn't bring the whole device off a table. And some flat ribbon twisted CAT6 cables too (similar to some of those Ultra-SCSI 320 and PCIe riser cables).

 

In the middle one of my own CAT6 patch cables. Works perfectly fine with 0 errors just like the ones from shop.

 

[Superdad]

Just a reminder gents: The Ethernet cable thread is elsewhere...

https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/55537-whats-the-consensus-on-ethernet-cables/

 

Thanks. 

[rickca]

So we're now 24 pages deep into Please don't ask too many questions yet!

[thyname]

10 minutes ago, Superdad said:

Just a reminder gents: The Ethernet cable thread is elsewhere...

https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/55537-whats-the-consensus-on-ethernet-cables/

 

Thanks. 

 

‘You think it will be ready to ship in March? I can wait for a month or so. But my humble opinion: you should launch soon. The enthusiastic people on this stuff (and not many of us, considering the widespread animosity towards anything digital on Archimago type forums and disciples) are quickly getting into gigafoil v4 and SOtM. So my two cents: lost business opportunities. Please don’t take this wrong, I am rooting for you

[Superdad]

2 minutes ago, rickca said:

So we're now 24 pages deep into Please don't ask too many questions yet!

 

LOL! 

Believe me, I am most anxious to go into more detail and to reveal more about the architecture and design of the EtherREGEN.  As mentioned, the bill of materials for just the circuit board with parts (no case, etc.) is now well over $200 (for a 250 unit run), so there is a lot to this monster.  

By the way, the PCB will be a 6-layer board! Actually easier, but a bit more costly.

 

Anyway, go ahead, ask anything you like.  It is just the interesting stuff and the stuff that will generate interesting questions is the stuff we are not ready to talk about.  Yes, I guess that is for fear of tipping off competitors--though it is not as if it would be easy to create a knock off.  The product is late because what we are doing has never really been done before to Ethernet signals, so some of it is not easy.  In fact, two of the chips we are using are so new they are not yet in general distribution--we are having to buy them direct from the manufacturer for now.

 

[Superdad]

8 minutes ago, thyname said:

So my two cents: lost business opportunities. Please don’t take this wrong, I am rooting for you

 

We know. And thanks.  

You can expect it to be worth the wait. 

[rickca]

1 hour ago, Superdad said:

Anyway, go ahead, ask anything you like.  It is just the interesting stuff and the stuff that will generate interesting questions is the stuff we are not ready to talk about.

I'm glad we had this little chat.

[R1200CL]

@Superdad

Some pictures or drawings available front and back panel?

 

Any plan of adding a special designed connection between the switch and a Rendu placed  next to it on a table ? (Aca USPCB)

[nonesup]

Well we can keep asking for new specifications, so EtherRegen will be released at Christmas of 2.045 😁

[Superdad]

8 hours ago, R1200CL said:

 

Some pictures or drawings available front and back panel?

 

Soon.

 

8 hours ago, R1200CL said:

Any plan of adding a special designed connection between the switch and a Rendu placed  next to it on a table ? (Aca USPCB)

 

No plans for such. A short Ethernet cable will do just fine. 

[incus]

 

I for one cannot wait for the EtherREGEN - it should solve a location issue that forces me to have my modem and first switch in the basement with a long run of CAT 5a through the walls to the main listening room. I hope to use this to clean up the signal coming into the room and give me a real baseline for analyzing different digital components that come after it. Look forward to release!

[nekoaoyama]

Hi Alex, I understand the EtherREGEN will be grounded if we use the Uptone power supply. Will the EtherREGEN be grounded if we use the LPS 1.2 with the ground-shunted power supply? 

[Superdad]

17 hours ago, nekoaoyama said:

Hi Alex, I understand the EtherREGEN will be grounded if we use the Uptone power supply. Will the EtherREGEN be grounded if we use the LPS 1.2 with the ground-shunted power supply? 

 

No, it won't. Use of a ground-shunted charger with the UltraCap LPS-1.2 absolutely does not ground the LPS-1.2's output! (If it did then the entire complication of our floated, bank-alternating, never AC-connected design would be for nothing. )

 

For any use of a "floating" output power supply--be it an UltraCap supply, a JS-2, batteries, or some other brand of LPS (or even someone's ungrounded SMPS)--it will then be desirable to earth-ground the EtherREGEN so that it can be effective at its port-to-port blocking of leakage that may arrive to it from Ethernet cables that are connected to computers and other devices powered by SMPS.  

Please see this in-depth post on the subject:

 

 

[R1200CL]

So, next revision of LPS-1.2 (and JS2) should have a similar earth spade connector, as the EtherRegen 😂

 

 

[Superdad]

11 minutes ago, R1200CL said:

So, next revision of LPS-1.2 (and JS2) should have a similar earth spade connector, as the EtherRegen .

 

No they should not.    Please go back and read my long post on the subject and also this response to the someone else suggesting we add ground screws to our floating power supplies:

https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/38968-etherregen-early-general-details-we-are-late-but-getting-closer/?do=findComment&comment=923301

 

The correct place to handle this is at the EtherREGEN.  Either use a supply whose zero-volt output "ground" is already grounded, or use the ground terminal provided on the EtherREGEN.  Simple as that. 

[mfaoro]

I might have missed this...do you have a mailing list that will let us know when this comes out?

[Superdad]

10 minutes ago, mfaoro said:

I might have missed this...do you have a mailing list that will let us know when this comes out?

 

At the lower-right of our home page there is a line that says "Receive an infrequent newsletter?", and a box below that for you to enter an e-mail address.

 

I am a lousy marketeer, so to-date our mailing list has only ever used for major product availability announcements.  It's been over one year since we e-mailed to the list--so nobody need worry about being bombarded with promotional material (as with seemingly ever other company one signs up with).   And of course the list is 100% private--and never shared with any other company.

 

Also, anyone who has ever bought something from us--as well as those who have contacted us with questions--is already on our mailing list.  

Yes, I know that there are new laws about these things, but if someone really wants to complain about receiving a text e-mail from us once in a  while then they are welcome to. 

I will probably move to some more sophisticated system this year (MailChimp or similar), mainly because my current primitive system does not support having an "Unsubscribe" link in the e-mails.

 

Thanks!

--Alex C.

[plakey]

Sorry I'm so late to this topic, but I'm curious when this will be released? I'm in the market for a switch... Thanks.

[R1200CL]

On 2/18/2019 at 7:20 PM, plakey said:

Sorry I'm so late to this topic, but I'm curious when this will be released? I'm in the market for a switch... Thanks.

 

If you read some posts back, you should see Alex’s answers. 

 

Somtime between any date date in March and hopefully by Easter.

You may also noticed the name of this thread has changed 😀 

 

Be sure it will be announced here whenever an update is available. So just follow this thread. 

[jos]

A few weeks ago there was a review on the ‘Hans Beekhuyzen channel’ for similar devices. I would like to advice Uptone Audio to send a review device to him for review. Hans is a  independent guy with lot of followers. I guess that will boost sales, if the EtherRegen is a winner.

[Superdad]

4 hours ago, jos said:

A few weeks ago there was a review on the ‘Hans Beekhuyzen channel’ for similar devices. I would like to advice Uptone Audio to send a review device to him for review. Hans is a  independent guy with lot of followers. I guess that will boost sales, if the EtherRegen is a winner.

 

Thanks.  I know Hans well.  He favorably reviewed our original UltraCap LPS-1 and also the ISO REGEN (and he recently received an UltraCap LPS-1.2).  

When the time is right we will produce a lot of (non-marketing-speak) material explaining how and why the EtherREGEN is so completely different from the other "audiophile" Ethernet switches out there. Just the sort of stuff that Hans loves to put up as slides in his videos.  

And who knows, maybe John's clock-block, "Golden Gate Bridge" test system will be allowing us to offer DAC-output measurement proof (of what will be heard) by then. But first and most importantly will be users receiving and enjoying this unusual product.  

 

Have a great weekend everyone!

--Alex C.

P.S.  John says hi to everyone.  He has not been posting much lately as he is heads down in engineering--EtherREGEN and our other future surprises!