UpTone Audio EtherREGEN Listening Impressions

[hieukm]

1 hour ago, hols said:

                                                My struggle with EtherRegen first 72 hours

Some background on my system. I have been a 'loyal' Uptone supporter all along and I still am. I have in my possession one JS2, two LPS1.2, LPS1.0 and isoRegen and now two ER. Before using the ER in my system I have been using a SOtM switch (highest spec) and fed by Cybershaft OP20 as 10M reference and using Habst cryo'ed silver clock cable. I have been using the SOtM switch between my Doppio server (designed by my buddy) HQplayer embedded and the NAA and connected via USB to Denafrips Terminator. There is no problem with connection all along. We have tried to stack 2 SOtM switches connected by single mode optical and sounded excellent compared with only one. And we have been looking forward to the EtherRegen and see whether it can achieve that kind of improvement.

 

I first used the Uptone SMPS and internal clock to replace my SOtM and I would say there is a very significant drop in wattage of the resulting SQ. There is shrinkage in soundstage, loss of detail and sound is dull. This is not unexpected because this is the first 15 minutes of connection and one cannot make any conclusion from that. I then powered off the ER and connected the 10M clock input pushed the button to external clock and then powered up again. And I immediately encountered stuttering which lasted for 10 minutes without improvement. I have to power off and then power up again and this time after stuttering for a few minutes it runs normally without dropout. The sound improves a lot compared to without 10M clock but to my ears the sound is not on par with the SOtM. My estimate is only about 50% to 70% of that of the SOtM. This is again not unexpected with a not yet boiled gear. I then changed the power supply to LPS1.2 and I would say there is not much of improvement with using the LPS1.2 and there was again some dropouts in the beginning. I then changed to JS2 giving it a 12V power supply. The sound appears a bit more solid but there is a slightly heavy mid range with JS2. That is about 1.5 hours after using the ER. My friend came over to join me at that juncture and I was playing a DGG Fournier & Gulda Beethoven Cello sonata. One thing that caught us both is that the piano comes off with excellent shape as if the Grand piano just stands up and you can hear all the delicate touch by Gulda. But at the same time the cello becomes shrunken. I guess this is due to a more quiet background and better delineation of the highs and SuperHighs  compared with lows that contributes to this spatial delineation of the grand piano. This is a very different presentation compared with SOtM which gives a much richer timbre especially in the range of Cello. We then decided to try to stack the ER behind the SOtM and see whether we can get the best of both worlds(I have studied the manual a few times and know that the B side of the ER should always be closest to the DAC to prevent leakage currents from interfering). 

 

I connected through single mode fibre SFPs and when powered up we face stuttering again and this time it persisted for 10 minutes or so so I have to change it to RJ45 ports with ethernet cable. There is some scattered dropouts and it goes on normally afterwards. As for the sound there is a combination of the 2 characters, the balance between Cello and piano is more natural now. The piano is still excellent but there is a less holographic presentation compared with before. But I would say that the SQ still lacks behind that of 2 stacked SOtM switches. The ER is left powered on till next day

 

When I played music through the next day there is not much of improvement compared with before which is again not unexpected because the boiling process need to continue a bit longer.  But I encountered some stuttering again when I changed to other files. And I found out from this forum that I am not alone and John is trying his best to deal with it. At that time one of my buddies just communicated that he has no problem on the first day but on second day there is stuttering and then cannot even connect. Hope that John can find out solutions to that.

After stabilizing a bit the music seems to be stable and I tried to experiment with my second ER. This time I tried to put it between my Asus 88 router and my Synology NAS using RJ45 ports and ethernet cable. There is stuttering again and this time the stuttering continues. But amidst the dropouts I can hear that there is an improvement in SQ. But I have to give up because after a while there is interrupted connection.

 

Onto the third day today and I've got the biggest surprise which I didn't expect. The system is still on the SOtM +ER stack (without NAS ER)there is some improvement in the sound the orchestra sound more coherent with good layout and yet hearing more details. No stuttering. And I continue to explore by adding a ER between my NAS and router and voila suddenly the orchestra opens up and the widest and deepest soundstage I have ever achieved. And more important is that I can hear the details and ambiance and the air around the instruments are the best ever. The double bass are just rock solid in their place way back in the soundstage and yet giving out a detailed and musical sound echoing the other instruments of the orchestra. The layout is very natural and not the artificial pinpoint focus. One can just feel the rapport  amongst the various instruments of the orchestra. As my friend commented it's like being the conductor of the orchestra. And fortunately there is no more dropouts today. And it seems that adding this second ER gives the best reward and is well worth its price. Now the SQ has surpassed the 2 stacked SOtM switches.  Bravo Alex.

 

So to conclude my first 72 hours impression with ER 

(1) Direct comparison with SOtM the ER may not have advantage and will need further boiling before any definitive conclusion

(2) The sound character of ER is different from SOtM

(3) The stacked SOtM with ER can give additive effect

(4) Second ER between NAS and router can give big boost in SQ

(5) The power supply to the ER needs further testing

 

And in my system using two ER becomes a must.

 

Having said that I am still confused about the cause of the dropouts and I shall raise the questions over in the installation thread.

Thanks again for your great product Alex and John.

 

So @hols you are daisy chain ER and SOTM switch both clocked to Cybershaft OP20 and used between Router to server/render while another ER was in between the Router and NAS??