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UpTone Audio EtherREGEN Listening Impressions


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So my EtherGEGEN was waiting for my at the DHL Service Delivery point, following my return from a business trip to Mozambique. Collected, straight from the airport at 7.30am, as they opened!

 

Given my system had been off for the week, and it has been cold in Dublin, in addition to warming the house up, I also allowed the system to warm up after being powered back up.

 

So, inserted earlier this evening - replacing a Cisco Cisco SG100D-05 5-port unmanaged switch in my ‘front-end’ network segment. The ‘backend’ with the NAS units, Wireless AP, Firewall, Fibre Modem and Roon ROCK core using Netgear Prosafe GS108 & Prosafe GS105, both managed switches - where I have QoS port priorities set on those used for the streaming based data paths.

 

So I am using the EtherRegen in this configuration

 

Screen Shot 2019-10-11 at 6.32.19 PM.png

 

The SonoreUPnP Bridge runs on an UltraRendu powered by an UltraCap LPS1

The Bridge is fed by a connection from the Roon Core - both of these are connected to the A-side.

On the B-side is the connection to a Naim NDS network player with the 555DR power supply, or combo Streamer/DAC (Ethernet in, analogue out) as the UPnP Endpoint.

Analogue out to the SimAudio Moon amp is True Signals Ultimate DIN-RCA cable.

 

The B-port is connected to the NDS with Chord Sarum Streaming cable.

The UltraRendu is connected to thr B-ports with Chord Anthem streaming cable.

 

I also have a RPi running Asset R6.4 connected via AQ Vodka to A-ports, as backup playback path with the Naim App.

Plus AQ Vodka is used between the A-ports and the upstream connection to the ‘backend’ NAS for the music library  & Roon Core which is upstairs.

 

The EtherRegen is power by a LPS, which was existing for the Netgear GS105 and then CISCO SG  switches before it. So I haven’t needed to use the provided Meanwell supply.

 

The EtherRegen has brought further details to the sound, both in bass detail and transient reproduction, but also a lower noise floor of the track being played. A cleaner window to what is being played.


Just going through a selection of known tracks now.

And I understand from others is give 72-hours for burn-in.

 

Bring it on - this unit represents a substantial upgrade element in a streaming system.

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I also have an AppleTV Gen3 connected in to the ‘A’ side of the EtherRegen.

As yet have not been able to see any improvement in PQ, however my Video path involves a Lumagen processor to provide the pixel motion adaptive deinterlacing and scaling support before the picture is displayed on a B&O Beovision 7 stand mounted TV (no speaker). A separate audio processing path is then implemented through a TAG McLaren AVR-32R from the digital out of the Apple TV, back into my main system with my 2-channel speakers as L-R fronts.

The desired role of the EtherRegen was for the A-B path feeding my Naim NDS from audio content rather than a media source.

Maybe a further thread is required to cover PQ improvements the EtherRegen is bringing, either directly or as a by-product, to IP stream video streams.

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So a week on, since installing the EtherRegen into my system - it has been played morning and evening this week, and very pleased with how things are sounding.

No networking issues to report - all devices on all ports are happy.

Played a couple of albums, last night and it was the best I have heard them.


Roon has also been upgraded to 1.7, which is reported to bring improvements to Tidal (and Qobuz) streaming. Just played a couple of tracks from Tidal, that I heard last week at the Dublin Audio Show, and wow they are excellent - the transient response and soundstaging.

 

So will be interesting what the new firmware brings in terms of SQ.

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On 11/25/2019 at 6:56 AM, Dutch said:

My first impressions/listening notes after my first listen (I’m not counting the 15 minutes or so I listened when I hooked it up) and around 140 house of continuous operation of the ER.

 

In short: WOW! 🎶

 

Stronger foundation, more punch and the (upper) bass/lower midrange octaves seem to have filled up a bit in my system

Microdetail in spades without distracting or anything specific drawing my attention

More ambiance or reverb is heard, better soundstaging in all three dimensions 

Incredible separation, delineation and natural portrayal of voices and instruments (harmonies OMG)

Emotion is really oozing from recordings

Less digititis (again?!), no sharpness, peaky or intermingled/smeared highs, just well balanced not dark or filtered in any way. Lively recordings still sound lively.

 

One very weird ‘effect’; music seems to play a bit slower, of course it doesn’t (or so I hope 😁) but I think this is because it sounds more right and relaxed (good thing!) It must be my brain adjusting to something no longer there or the opposite: missing before.

 

Very happy so far!!! Thank you Alex and John! 👍

 

My system topology in attached picture (clickable for larger version). The ER is a drop in replacement for a TP Link MC220L fiber ethernet converter plus EMO Systems EN-HD70 LAN isolator. I’ll update my system details in my profile next.

76BFF077-CC8C-40EC-A13F-DED22852E5AF.jpeg

 

But with Devialet Roon Ready support now available why not go ‘B’ port into the 250 unit, and skip the conversion to USB and the NUC based endpoint (which is not going to be electrically the cleanest endpoint).

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Ok, couple of weeks in (3 and over a week since I applied the V2 firmware) and I am noticing so much more detail on every track. The detail was there before, as the same recordings/files, but now it is just there - is it that the noise floor has dropped so making the fine details more audible or is the signal timing more accurate allowing the micro-detail to come into better focus. It is equivalent to a source upgrade, a better cartridge, next gen DAC technology etc. Whatever it is and why, it is excellent, thank you.

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Just been watching the AppleTV which is on the A ports of the EtherRegen, the PQ is definitely improved from before. No other changes apart from the replacement of the 5-port Cisco switch with the EtherRegen.

And my AppleTV outputs picture via HDMI into a Lumsden HDpro Video processor and then via single DVI-D to a B&O Beovision 7 panel. The Audio is a Toslink digital output from the ATV to a Tag MacLaren AVR32 AV processor before feeding Fronts and Sub.

Maybe a new topic under ‘PQ impressions using EtherRegen’ for when one A port is used for a media server configuration.

Simon

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  • 1 month later...
1 hour ago, Ed Sky said:

So now I sit, with about 24 hours on the EtherREGEN and the following descriptors come to mind: clear, alive, holographic, realistic, impactful and detailed bass (which is quite addictive I must warn) and a sense of space between instruments and voices. It's definitely elevated my system and I think completely removed the issues I've felt I had, though I'd need more time with it just to be sure.

Just wait to see what happens after a couple of weeks once the EtherRegen is burnt in, and stabilised - based on the 2 months I have had an EtherRegen the initial improvement is doubled again, and everything just gets even better.

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  • 1 month later...
2 hours ago, Superdad said:


Welcome to AS Jerry.

 

Uh, that Zerozone/SGC supply is a safety hazard if not mains-grounded!


I use these supplies on my NAS, NUC, RPi, switches (3 including the EtherREGEN) without issue.
 

There is a Ground connection from the EtherREGEN to the earth connection on the Russ Andrews Mains block, but this was only recently applied.

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  • 1 year later...
19 hours ago, Superdad said:

 

 

 

Yes, global chip shortages have been making production and development VERY challenging! In fact, since Intel/Altera will not have any FGPAs available for the next 2 years, we have been forced to discontinue the UltraCap LPS-1.2 and are beginning to migrate to a different brand FGPA platform (with a whole new development environment s/w to learn) for our new products. 

 

Not only has the lack of parts slowed new product development, it has become a major hinderance to continued production of EtherREGEN! :(

Clock buffers, high-speed digital isolators, clock synthesizers, the intermediate Ethernet transceiver/format converter we use on both sides of the moat, and the main Ethernet switch chip--all in exceedingly short supply. All year I have been ordering parts ahead to stockpile for future EtherREGEN production runs--to the tune of nearly $80K in advance parts.  Has gone mostly well until this past month when several chip manufacturers pushed the promised shipment dates (for parts I advance ordered months ago) out to the middle of 2022.  And the main switch chip? Who knows if we will ever see any again!

 

Right now we have about 50 EtherREGENs left in stock--and those will likely all sell out by early-November.  Assuming our June 500 piece order of the aforementioned T.I. transceiver chips actually ship mid-December as promised, then we'll have enough parts to run 225 boards--so those could complete units for shipment end-of-January.  But unless we all of a sudden start to see many of the above bottlenecked parts start to flow (especially the main switch chip--which I doubt), that run of 225 may be the final production of EtherREGEN in its current design.  We are starting now in new direction, one that could free us from being beholden to a single supplier's production of an application-specific part. But as you all know, development and testing of new designs takes many months...

 

The above is quite distressing for us. While we continue to produce the JS-2 at a rate of about 200 units/year, the forced discontinuation of both the ISO REGEN and the UltraCap LPS-1.2 have narrowed our offerings quite a lot. We are coming up on the 3,000 unit mark for EtherREGEN (since first shipments in November 2019). Simple math makes obvious that the EtherREGEN has been the most important and successful product UpTone has ever offered.

 

Of course we would love nothing more than to bring out all the new products John and I have designed (both on paper and in various stages of development, prototype, even one that went to secret beta).  But gone are the days where John can work out and test all the elements, we produce a few rounds of development and pre-production boards, and then submit the bill-of-materials for production by our board house. No, the entire design process has been flipped over--as we spend hours researching and discussing viability and availability of desired parts, both presently and for the future.

 

So there you have it. Thanks for all your support and enthusiasm,

--Alex C.

 

Sorry to hear about the disruption to your supply chain and product offerings. And the changes to your product lineup being forced upon you.
Could I ask about in-field support for existing products - I have a UltraCap LPS 1 (powering an UltraRendu) and an EtherRegen, if there were issues with these, what is going to be the available options?

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