UpTone Audio EtherREGEN Listening Impressions

[feelingears]

Yes, blah blah blah. There's a band whose bassist plays a bass that goes to eleven necks... 😉

 

Ha ha, thanks for both those pics. Putting on Awaken now...(and of course Squire would use the EtherRegen if here were still alive!)

[feelingears]

EtherRegen arrived this afternoon. Nice gift to myself fortuitously appearing on this sunny Friday afternoon. Impressions? Ha ha ha, here's the one you're gonna love to hate (great Halford song, by the way): My intended use was to place the ER ahead of my DAC like everyone else. I just needed something ahead of my DAC that would accept Ethernet input. And I meant to get something (Lumin, Auralic, Innuous, or something...), but with all that's going on, it just never happened (at least not yet).

 

So, why let this go to waste? I put it in where it made "sense," as close to the DAC as possible:

MacBook server/Ethernet -> EtherRegen/Stock PwrSupply/Ethernet -> Orbi Mesh Wi-Fi -> Apple AirportExpress/Mapleshade Clearlink Optical -> W4S Remedy/Uptone LPS-1.2 -> Yggy A2/Naim/Tellurium Black/PSB

 

Go ahead, doubters gonna doubt, haters–yep this is another one you love to hate. I'm just going to say that as with all Uptone products I own, the clearly audible improvement (not just "different") in recording transparency, freq extension, timbral realism, micro dynamics, sonic coherence, and PRaT is putting such a BIG grin on my cabin-feverish face that I am glad we just got extended another month here in Seattle. The ultimate achievement: I'm hearing things and hearing balance and feeling energy that makes me want to listen all night, rediscovering my music collection.

 

Just soooo good...thank you Alex and John, yet again!

 

[feelingears]

1 minute ago, adamaley said:

Hi @feelingears. Have you tried placing the etherRegen after the Orbi mesh Wi-Fi? Is that the router or the satellite? I think you will getter better sound the closer you can get it to the DAC. I use the Orbi mesh system myself, and have the etherRegen coming right after my satellite. If you have the current configuration because you want to take advantage of fiber, I believe the etherRegen has an SFP that you can utilize for that particular scenario.

 

Thank you, @adamaley. No, what is unexpected (or perhaps entirely expected) is that putting ER before Orbi mesh wi-fi yields so much sonic goodness in my system. As I wrote, I had not intended to use it this way and I had hoped to have a device after the wi-fi as you suggested to enable me to use both Ethernet and the ER just before the <Lumin/Auralic/whatever> sending AES to the DAC. I expect this will take things to another level entirely, but things are really pretty dang awesome already. I'd rather spend $$$ on better speakers now than more digital! (And digital is complicated for me because the software is part of the mess.)

 

This has been a supremely satisfying journey of stepping up my system via various changes that have yielded substantial improvements. I use the same test tracks and have both vinyl and digital. The vinyl "doesn't change" (much) so it's a long-standing reference point, and I've heard other effortlessly outstanding systems as well. For my config and home and ears, the ER truly lets digital sing (even if it's ahead of wi-fi by necessity).

[feelingears]

1 minute ago, jcn3 said:

 

i'm sure it sounds great the way you have it, but I think it's worth trying it as suggested.  Can't hurt, right?

 

Agreed, can't hurt to try but in my situation I don't have a renderer that accepts Ethernet input. As I said, software is part of the mess and I know how good the Uptone LPS-1.2 sounds driving the W4S Remedy fed by Mapleshade optical. Very idiosyncratic chain, I know, but it sounds glorious with local network files. Spotify, meh, good enough for parties if I'm not really listening. Need to try Qobuz as other ears I trust say it's better.

[feelingears]

23 minutes ago, Jud said:

 

It wouldn't work to have it running Ethernet into the Airport Express? (I don't know if that would make any difference, of course.)

 

So it would be Orbi Satellite receiving wi-fi then Ethernet to AExpress (not Extreme) and then optical out.... Huh, I don't know if that will work. I wonder if you have to turn off the AEx's wi-fi in the setup. So if this does work, I'd put the ER in before AEx as you say.

 

Thanks for posting @Jud–I'll look into it later this week perhaps. Hmmm...

[feelingears]

5 hours ago, GryphonGuy said:

 

Just be aware that running a wi-fi transceiver on a feed of 100mbit/sec may impact your LAN. If you are sure that you have CD quality music 2.8mbit/sec and no more than, say 2 devices connecting to your wifi your throughput should be good. But any more than that and you run the risk of flooding your 100mbit/sec EtherRegen connection.

 

Thank you–I typically only have phones connected to wi-fi although lately Google Chromecast has been in use. I wish I knew more about networking as I tried Jud's suggestion by setting up my AEx in bridged mode. Things connected but no sound came forth. But whatever, a couple unexpected non-sonic benefits came from the experiments.

[feelingears]

@Jud OTOH, with the EtherREGEN and a Transparent Audio Ethernet cable out the B-side, the sound is so fantastic I can listen with eyes open and feel the emotion as if my eyes were closed or I were in a darkened room!

 

But I still do prefer a darker environment as I believe our brains are too wired for sight. There's some research about plasticity and how even a little bit of light reaching the eyes will cause our brains to bias for sight rather than amp up other senses like hearing. Seems reasonable. Anyway, what an glorious time to have such affordable hi-res gear!