UpTone Audio EtherREGEN Listening Impressions

[JamesBardsley]

I have router - ER - Naim 272/555DR, 150x, SL2s.

 

Wondering whether I should try:

1. Add back a Cisco 2960 between router and ER connected by Blue Jeans Cat6a ?

2. Add Cisco connected by optical to the ER?

3. add a Sonore optical Module Connected via fibre to the ER?

[JamesBardsley]

18 hours ago, roman410 said:

modify Cisco to feed with LPS.

Do you feed a Cisco 2960 with an LPS?

is that commonly done on this forum?

which LPS is best to use?

Quote

 

[JamesBardsley]

7 hours ago, LowMidHigh said:

 

For this sort of money, you'd be better off chaining two ER's.

The boost in sound will be more significant, and you'll be left with some spare change. 

Have you directly compared 2 ERs vs ER with posh LPS in your system?

[JamesBardsley]

I sold my dCS Network Bridge over a year ago.

I realized that I'd hugely overestimated the impact it made on SQ.

 

I used the funds to buy a Naim 555DR linear psu for my Naim 272 streamer/DAc/preamp.

Now that new psu had a huge positive impact on SQ.

a Delightful uplift - as good as it gets in my experience of hifi (i.e. since 1980).

 

Anyway, funnily enough I just bought an EtherRegen from Audiostore a few weeks ago.

I've just ordered a Custom HiFi Cables DC3 linear psu for it.

 

So actually I'm more interested in that than network bridges.

 

I'm planning to try a fibre optic link from my PoE Cisco 2960's to the ER soon.

(Right now the ER is plugged straight into my PlusNet router with a Blue Jeans Cat 6a copper ethernet cable.)

If anyone knows what SFPs and cables would suit that task please let me know.

It's covered on various threads here, but most of them are about 50 pages long!

 

(sorry for thread digression)

 

[JamesBardsley]

There are some threads on this on the Naim forum.

I think Bluesfan may have done that.

[JamesBardsley]

1 hour ago, scolley said:

One thing is certain, I could not be more thrilled with the purchase. 🙂

 

PS - I will mention that based on my brief experiences, independent of obvious your-mileage-may-vary-on-your-network considerations, I would suggest that if you can normally clearly hear the difference between high-res tracks and 44.1/16, then this is a slam dunk. If you can’t though, this may be a tweak that your system may not resolve quite so well.

 

PPS - I hear FAR far greater differences over my speakers than my headphones.  My cans are Oppo PM-3’s with stock cable, amplified by a Mytek Brooklyn Bridge. But that difference may well be due to having invested much, much more in my speakers and speaker amplification, which could be a bit of evidence backing up my conclusions above: the better your system resolves sonics, the better improvements the EtherREGEN can bring.

What is your speaker based system?

[JamesBardsley]

Nice system - must be very revealing of the audio data.

I can see why hires would sound better than 16/44 on that.

 

Your theory that being clearly able to distinguish hires from CD res is a good proxy for deciding whether to get an ER seems spot on to me.

It is entirely in line with what I've noticed among those members on the various threads about the ER (and the English Electric switch) on the Naim forum, which is where I mainly hang out.

 

Sorry if you said it above, but what do you use as a psu for your ER?

[JamesBardsley]

Interesting.

Why not get an 8 port Cisco 2960?

These are very high quality telecoms switches that cost hundreds new but can be bought for about £50 on Ebay or say from a reseller like ECProf.

(I worked for BT for a decade.)

This would provide more ports on your network for Roon, AV stuff etc. and also take traffic away from your streamer/dac.

 

Also, most users report that the big SQ uplift comes when they add the psu.

 

The (Sean Jacobs) Custom HiFi Cables DC3 is used with 1 and 2 ERs by several members of the Naim forum with very revealing systems.

 

Anyway, it seems sensible to give the ER a try with a better quality psu.

[JamesBardsley]

Yes, I saw that note on the Uptone site.

(I tend to take such statements with a pinch of salt, as not many manufacturers are likely to say that their new gizmo really needs the addition of a LPS that costs more than the item itself to make it really sing. This would put off lots of potential buyers - many of whom do in the end buy an excellent LPS.)

 

Yes, I also saw Hans say that in his video on the ER as it beat his other cheaper and more expensive switches. That was his finding with his ears and his taste in music and his system in his (odd-shaped) listening room. But many users on the Naim forum and elsewhere are excited about the uplift from adding a posh LPS to their ER.

 

But then you're 100% right to relax and get into the music.

 

Premature optimisation can divert us from just 'lodging on a plateau' and floating downstream with the sounds as they are.

[JamesBardsley]

That's a fortuitous experiment.

Great that you got such a good result.

 

There's a chap on the Naim Forum called French Rooster who tried a Farad on his ER, but he didn't like everything about what it did to the SQ.

So he ended up returning it and getting an MCRU psu.

 

But each person's system and tastes and room are different, so it about what works in each system.

[JamesBardsley]

Yes, a chap called MichaelB has on the Naim community.

 

He has 2 ERs both powered by a Sean Jacobs/Custom HiFi Cables DC3, in an excellent Naim system and he is very happy:

 

https://community.naimaudio.com/t/listening-experience-for-linear-ps-and-switches/8487/193

[JamesBardsley]

Yes, I have used MConnectHD for a few months to stream Tidal and Qobuz to my Naim 272 streamer/DAc/preamp via 2 Cisco Catalyst 2960 switches connected by Power-over-Ethernet (PoE reduces EM noise entering the streamer).

 

The files are actually transferred via WiFi from my router to the iPad into the MConnect app, then back to the ISP router, then onwards via ethernet cables.

 

You can test this by swtiching off the iPad and the sound dies.

 

I've now switched back to the Naim app which sounds better.

 

You don't get hires by using the MConnect app that way - the maker of the app (Conversdigital) confirmed that to me in an email.

[JamesBardsley]

Hi Mikey

i was not trying to claim that MConnectHD can only play 16/44.

it can in fact play hi res files.
your use cases prove that

when I use MConnectHD the app itself states the correct bit depth and sample rate for the file

 but as mentioned I am playing the files into a Naim 272 streamer 

Naim dacs do not decode MQA so when you play any MQA tracks from Tidal using any streaming gear Tidal just sends the 16/44 equivalent 
 

In that case the Naim box does not state a sample rate

so how the app works with each dac and signal chain varies 

Jim

[JamesBardsley]

By the way the difference between using the Naim app vs using MConnectHD in my system is very small.

 

they both sound very good

 

i often would not be able to tell the difference in a blind test, although I have not tested that blind