UpTone Audio EtherREGEN Listening Impressions

[FileMakerDev]

Cable modem/hub > ER > AQ Cinnamon > ultraRendu > Lush^2 > ISO-Regen > Lush^2 > Lampizator Big 7

 

My ER arrived a week ago, and I wanted to give it a chance to burn in, and take some time to get used to it, before posting my impressions. But looking over many of the comments already posted here, I don't have anything original to add. My system is more lifelike (dynamic and 3-dimensional) w/ the ER in the chain. To try to say more about this would be merely to echo what others have already eloquently expressed.

 

Last night for the first time, I played the same track track (Joni Mitchell "Blue Motel Room") with the ER in and out of the chain. Things clearly sound better with the ER in place. Without the ER, music sounds more like a recording and less like "they're in the room with me". As a separate experiment, with the ER in place, I removed the ISO-Regen, so my audio chain temporarily became...

 

Cable modem/hub > ER > AQ Cinnamon > ultraRendu > Lush^2 > Lampizator Big 7

 

...and also did not enjoy my system as much, although in that case it wasn't a loss of dynamics but a loss of "sweetness" and separation. Bottom line: both the ER and the ISO-Regen are staying in my system.

 

Thank you John and Alex.

[FileMakerDev]

On 11/23/2019 at 12:47 PM, darkstar said:

My listening impressions fall in line with other owners are saying. 
Initial observations were the outstanding clarity. My wife thought the sound lost some body and warmth. I think we are both correct

 

Due in part to the ER and in part to some sizzling hot silver speaker cable I recently installed, my sentiments were similar to yours. Ended up compensating by installing a very smooth interconnect between my preamp and power amp. I could not be happier. My system has never sounded this good (in 4+ decades of audio obsession)... I’m hearing a phenomenal combination of depth, clarity and sweetness. 

[FileMakerDev]

21 hours ago, OldBigEars said:

I've been thinking about upgrading my microRendu 1.4 to one of the costlier Rendu variants but am somewhat dubious about the difference it would make.

 

For what it’s worth, I upgraded my home system from micro to ultra as soon as the ultra came out. The difference was not subtle, and I liked it enough that I purchased a second ultra (for my office system). 

[FileMakerDev]

2 hours ago, so-no-mah said:

Ralph Waldo Emerson said that one should “cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously."”

 

Those of us in the Uptone Audio "family" are thankful for all the great products your intrepid venture has produced and shared.

 

And yes, the firmware update is for the better--more transparent, detailed and live-sounding still....

 

I agree whole-heartedly with all three of these statements.

[FileMakerDev]

51 minutes ago, m3lraaHnevetS said:

I can now hear stuff that I did not know was in the recording like wall reflections from an instrument in the studio and all sorts of extra layers and echos in electronic music

 

Yes, that's been my experience as well (with many kinds of music). And even more so since the firmware upgrade. The high end, which was already gloriously open, has expanded, and I'm hearing all sorts of micro-details, most of which are pleasing, but also more "artifacts", e.g., tape hiss on analog-source recordings, mouth noises (and not just from singers -- last night I could hear a pianist breathing), ambient studio sounds, etc.

 

An example of something I never noticed (in 46 years of listening) until installing the ER... on the original Elton John "Candle In The Wind" at 0:21, a strange noise occurs in the pause immediately before "They crawled out of the woodwork..." -- I'm guessing it's a slightly-botched tape edit.

 

But of course, most of the additional details I'm hearing are musical and highly enjoyable. Put simply, my system is more revealing since I installed the ER. Music is more dynamic, alive, open and palpable.

[FileMakerDev]

4 hours ago, Jud said:

One of my favorites for listening tests, because it's short, simple, emphasizes vocals, and this time it's something pretty much everyone has heard: The Beatles' "I'll Follow the Sun."

 

Aside: if you love the Beatles, or even if you don't, what Chet Atkins does with this song on his PICKS ON THE BEATLES album is amazing. The entire album is a neglected gem, IMO.

[FileMakerDev]

15 hours ago, Superdad said:

He can not measure what we all can hear. (The fact that he heard nothing speaks more broadly to how and what he listens with--as evidenced in his other reviews--but that is a personal matter for him.)

 

Not to single Amir out, but as a general comment: I've found in my 40+ year obsession w/ audio that the better your system gets, the more clearly you are able to hear the difference when you make a change or addition to that system... be it a major component like an amplifier, a mini-component such as the ISO-REGEN or the ER, or a minor one like a tube, an interconnect, speaker wire, or a power cord. Or dare I say a USB cable or an Ethernet cable.

[FileMakerDev]

I apologize for cross posting, but this belongs here as much as in the ET^2 topic.

 

My housemate, who has been subjected to my ever-evolving stereo system over the last four years, and whose response is typically a terse "sounds good", volunteered yesterday (after hearing the EtherRegen and ET^2 for the first time the other night), "Your system sounds the best it's ever sounded -- you shouldn't change a thing ever again."