UpTone Audio EtherREGEN Listening Impressions

[flkin]

Ok here it goes, something most here wouldn’t like to hear, but it’s my observation in my system. 

 

Over a listening period of 2 months and many different configurations of power supplies, external clocking and Ethernet cables, I’m going to conclude that the EtherRegen isn’t for me. 
 

Yes, the information retrieval is great and so is the imaging and bass control but I’m unable to reduce the harder and treble-centric sound to a level I’m happy with. My initial impression after a week of breaking in was very positive in line with what most here have found - many positive attributes especially improvements to the speed and control of the music but with lengthy listening sessions, I’m experiencing fatigue due to the harder treble.

 

After 2 months, I returned to direct from router to my Pink Faun 2.16x and immediately found relief - like an old comfortable sofa. Bliss and more connection with the music and singers. More emotion and more pulls on my heart strings. For me this matters most, not the analysis of the sound but the emotions imparted. 
 

I’ll keep my EtherRegen as it’s an intriguing device and hope to find a way to incorporate it in the future but in my current setup, it’s not staying in the system. 
 

For reference my signal path is:

 

Orbi satilite -> dCBL-CAT7 -> iso-Cat6-> dCBL-CAT7 -> PF2.16x

 

(the dcblcat7,isocat6,dcblcat7 is a SOtM cable)

 

Added the EtherRegen between the Orbi and the PF. 
 

Tried: A-B, B-A on the EtherRegen, different power supplies for the Orbi and EtherRegen, external OCXO clock and without, different Ethernet cables with different lengths before and after the EtherRegen, metal and plastic Ethernet heads, different cable conduit wrappings with mu-metals, different DC cables, external earthing the EtherRegen or not. 

[flkin]

47 minutes ago, matthias said:

 

Thanks for sharing.

It is interesting that Emile from Taiko Audio also disliked the ER when configured A-B or B-A.

He found the ER best sounding when everything was connected to the A-side.

Did you try this configuration?

BTW, send you PM.

Thanks

 

Matt

Didn’t try all A side yet. Will add this to my todo list. I read about that somewhere and should have tried but forgot. 

 

1 hour ago, Johnnydev said:

 

Have you tried the ER without the SOTM dcbl cat7 and without the SOTM dcbl cat6 lan isolator?

 

I obtained the best result without these cables.

 

What I have kept is the 50 cm black, gray and dark gray cables of 50 cm from the SOTM dcbl cat6 SE version to tune with very good results.

 

I use the SOTM black and dark grey in combination with diy SUPRA cat8 and monoprice cat8 and have sold the SOTM dcbl cat 7 and the SOTM dcbl cat6 lan isolator. I have also sold the audioquest cinnamon, carbon and the Vodka

 

Yes I tried without the SoTM cables but I only have Ghent, Blue Jean, Supra and other SoTM ethernet cables at hand. No higher end ones. Didn’t seem to help enough. 

[flkin]

On 2/8/2020 at 8:10 AM, tapatrick said:

Thanks for an interesting report @flkin. I find the ER applies a magnifying glass to every aspect of sound quality exposing any flaws in recording quality. I'm curious which power supplies you used with your ER? I have settled on a Ciunas Supercaps 7.5v supply which really helps with a smoother treble. As always system dependent...

I used the sPS-500 through a HPULN 5A cleaner, and a Gophert CPS-1610 II through double HPULN 1.5A. Also a 30W, 9V zerozone. And the including switching unit. 
No configurations managed to tame the treble. Within my specific system.

[flkin]

On 2/9/2020 at 5:12 AM, Ponkbutler said:

 

May I ask where your ER is installed. I found that having it near my Streamer DAC/Pre-Amp and their power supplies in particular (separate on my system) resulted in a more dynamic, less fluid and more brittle treble

 

On 2/8/2020 at 9:30 PM, One and a half said:

@flkin, thank you for the post and diligence in finding the best method to suit your ear. Am trying to find a reason why the treble is not the best. It is known from galvanically seperate devices like the iGalvanic, the treble is a victim of creating false noise as well as removing USB noise from the source.

Consider then, the hard treble is already present in the system, somehwere, let's start from the PF to the DAC. It's not present when the EtherRegen is installed since the effect is masked by the cables and to a certain degree common mode noise (aka leakage currents) from what's already being contributed by the other components. It's great to see star earthing, every bit helps.

When the EtherRegen is added, that path that allows the masking is gone, and you then hear the bad treble. To confirm, you could replace the Habst USB cable with a USB printer cable. If the treble is worse (and most likely all other sounds will be), then you've tracked a noise source.

I am really leaning toward that the EtherRegen is doing it's job and there's a problem in a section of the rest of the system and agree with @Guidof but more in the digital chain. The clue was no matter what PSU you used for the EtherRegen, the hard treble was always present, since the EtherRegen is agnostic to its power supply.

Tried switching to a generic Ghent USB cable but as expected the soundstage collapses, details are lost, imaging is blur and more. But the stronger treble balance remains. Looks like I still have to continue tracking the source of the treble balance...

 

On 2/9/2020 at 5:12 AM, Ponkbutler said:

 

May I ask where your ER is installed. I found that having it near my Streamer DAC/Pre-Amp and their power supplies in particular (separate on my system) resulted in a more dynamic, less fluid and more brittle treble

Tried a few locations including 6 inches before the streamer or right after the router in the room but the treble balance doesn't seem to change that much, other sonic attributes do though.

 

I suspect it's something else not related to the streamer or upstream components. There are simply too many people with good results with the ER. 

Many here have offered constructive comments - many thanks to all for their thoughts. It's one of great attributes of this AS site!