UpTone Audio EtherREGEN Listening Impressions

[jos]

On 11/10/2019 at 5:47 PM, Jud said:

My wife picked up the ER in the mail yesterday, but I spent most of yesterday and early this morning in bed with a reaction to the new shingles vaccine I received Friday, so I haven’t had a chance to hook it up yet. (Hey, I’ll take a day in bed over a case of shingles any time.) So these listening impressions are from the beta version. All purely subjective.

 

My system before ER: From my router, Ethernet cable to a Cisco switch; optical Ethernet to a second Cisco switch; Ethernet cable to microRendu to IsoREGEN to DAC. The Cisco switches are powered by internal SMPSs.

 

I compared one Cisco switch feeding the ER via optical to replacing both Cisco switches and feeding the ER via Ethernet cable from the router. I liked the latter better. Perhaps it has something to do with the non-grounded SMPS in the Cisco vs. the grounded SMPS for the ER. (Speaking of grounding, I'm not using the grounding knob on the ER.)

 

- The thing I immediately noticed with the ER was greater solidity of images. Vocals and instruments seemed more stably fixed in space.

 

- Initially vs. the Ciscos there was less "air" around vocalists and instruments. However, after about 10-20 hours the sound with the ER seemed to open up.

 

- Something that may be a little hard for me to explain, but I'll try: The sounds of instruments seemed to be more "integrated." The pluck of an acoustic guitar string and the note from the string, for example, were all part of the same sound rather than separate from each other. This made instruments sound more real to me, because that's how I hear it when I listen to someone playing an acoustic guitar in front of me.

 

Hopefully today I'll get a chance to start listening to the production version.

I installed my EtherREGEN, but then I had a few things to do outside, so I could warmup the ER for a about 3 hours. My first impression was the same as Jud and others experienced, greater solidity; everything seems to be more stable. My ER is replacing my Netgear GS108 switch, with on the B-side my ultraRendu feeding my Chord Qutest DAC, and on the A-side my NAS, Router, Apple TV and iMac with Audirvana. Supra cat8 cables are used everywhere. Amp and loudspeakers are Yamaha A-S2100, Revel F208. I assume things will improve later on...

[jos]

23 hours ago, bos said:

probably a silly question but here goes.

I have an Aqvox SE. Is the ETHERregen a replacement for this or can I use both ?

You can, but probably a waste of money. I would sell the ASE before the ER is well known.

[jos]

I wish I could read an ER review from Hans Beekhuyzen, others too?

[jos]

4 hours ago, Lucie said:

I would be very interested as he reviewed other audiophile switches (Aqvox and Sotm) earlier.

Indeed, that's why it would be valuable for us and he is a very, very independent reviewer too, and reviewed more Uptone products in the past. So no hurdle for Superdad too, I think.

[jos]

Recently I bought a relatively cheap Yamaha Network player, the NPS-303 for about 300 euro, primarily to add some easy to connect internet radio stations for my wife. Normally I use the ultraRendu connected to my Chord Qutest DAC. I connected the the Yamaha with spdif coax digital out to my Qutest DAC too. To my surprise I could not hear a difference between the ultraRendu and the Yamaha, so I sold my ultraRendu asap to keep things as simple as possible. I guess the ER has to do with it (some redundancy with the ultraRendu?), so the ER is a money-saver too. Do others have the same experience?

[jos]

5 hours ago, Bernie said:

 

it is the new iPower X, but the difference is indeed very small (compared to what the ER is doing). But if you read through all discussions regarding PS for the Etherregen there is no final conclusion if any PS is better. Some say Keces P3 or P8 is better, some say the original SMPS is better than these, some say the Farad 3 is the best, some others are not sure if it is really better or more different.

If the differences via different PS are so minor then I will skip this option and stick with the ifi.

Agree, and Superdad was telling us from the beginning: it doesn’t make a lot of difference in sound quality. I have the same ifi iPower  x too. The Farad 3 could be best, but to expensive in my opinion, so I am happy with a little bit better.

[jos]

There seems to be a new kid in town: the Paul Pang Quad. Did someone listen to this device?

[jos]

20 hours ago, R1200CL said:

I think this is not the place to promote competitors' equipment. Please start your own tread outside Uptone’s forum. 

True, if that is my intention, but it isn’t. Just wonder if someone have had a listen to it.

[jos]

Yes, I known, it’s off topic, but what kind of new product(s) we could expect from our UpTone Audio friends in the near future, or did I miss something?