UpTone Audio EtherREGEN Listening Impressions

[Lucie]

I received my ER in the second batch yesterday. That was more quickly than expected, as it was send on Monday and delivered Wednesday at noon in Holland. That’s a first “thumbs up”.

 

I had it running, immediately after getting home from work early, at five. Connected it to my sBooster 12V PS. It replaced a TP-Link Archer C1200 (in Holland: Ziggo wifi versterker).

 

First impressions: silky sound overall, increased midtone and bass, soundstage slightly more backward (deep). More listenable than before, but also a bit restrained.

 

After dinner, I couldn’t stop listening for hours. Then, after about four hours, I noticed a clear shift, as the music had a quite sudden increase in detail.

 

My wife came home late. The usual lyrics would be: “Can you turn the music off, or at least the volume down. Further!”

As she came in, I told her the new thing would make her happy, thinking of the “listenability” of the sound.  First thing she immediately said: “Well, this is a lot better”. (And then: Which on is the new device? Is this it? And that costs you 600 euros?). She sat down in my listening chair and wouldn’t leave it anymore. That is a “thumbs up” for ER, I can assure you.

 

Kept it running the whole night and got up early to have another short listen before going off to work. Impressions: still silky sound, lots and lots of detail, bass is tight, soundstage remains deep, but also wider than yesterday, clearer separation of the instruments than before. Volume can (and perhaps must) be turned up a bit.

 

I’m very curious how the sound will develop in the next one or two weeks. Thumbs up so far!

 

 

Compal CH7465LG-ZG modem (Ziggo Connect Box in The Netherlands) > Supra cat 7+ > ER > Roon Nucleus (B-side via AQ Vodka) > Naim NDX2 (A-side via AQ Vodka) > Chord Signature Reference RCA > Accuphase E-600 > AQ Rocket 88 > Audio Physic Avanti. All devices in the chain have their own PS (respectively iFi, sBooster, TeddyNuc, TeddyXPS and Accuphase PS-500V).

[Lucie]

A couple of days ago I reported my initial findings. Of course I didn’t stop listening these last days. And I have to report that my enthusiasm remains high as far as the soundstage (deeper), the separation of the instruments, and the placement are concerned. But these last days I had some growing doubts about the better “listenability” I reported earlier. My wife was still very positive in this respect, but over the last days for me the music had developed a certain “dryness”. This was perhaps my way of avoiding the word “dullness”. I was looking for the ‘old’ energy in my perception of the music, but I thought the most probable explanation was psychological: initial enthusiasm perhaps somewhat exagerated? Tiredness in these busy weeks during the dark months?…Who can tell? Done too much listening perhaps?

 

From the very start I had my ER connected to a sBooster 12V LPS. I had it on my former switch, and I had no doubt at all that that would be the best thing to do. Yesterday evening, I decided to connect the ER to the supplied 7.5V supply. No special reason for that, just to give it a try, before disconnecting it again and putting it in a box somewhere in the barn. Although I was pretty certain that the supplied PS would be an inferior solution, it was a revelation. I couldn’t believe my ears! If I were to read this from anybody else on this forum, I would think: interesting, but very improbable…

 

So I asked my wife for a blind test. I just had her listen to a minute or so of music (the difference is so clear, you don’t need more), changed the PS and asked her if she heard a difference. She said: "Of course, that’s clear isn’t it?!". The sBooster she described as “more dull” (in Dutch: doffer) and “more veiled” (omfloerster). That’s exactly what I hear. To me the 7.5V PS is a big improvement over the sBooster. (Re-reading this I can hear a voice say: nobody is going to believe this). In my system anyone can hear it in a minute. Beyond doubt . My wife (unlike me she likes background music) also thinks the music is less listenable, because it's more upfront. Fair to report that as well. And no worries: we’ve always figured this out together quite well 🙂 🙂 .

 

To me the smile and the joy are back and the “dryness” completely disappeared. The volume can be turned back down a bit. The other advantages I reported before stayed unchanged: the soundstage remains deep, perhaps the separation and placement of the instruments improved a bit. That’s my impression for now at least. I’ll have to do more listening to confirm that.

 

I have no explanation for this very big PS effect. On the contrary: it seems improbable, disturbing. Note that the sBooster is 12V, the PS 7.5V. Could that make any difference? By the way I grounded the ER when the sBooster was attached and the grounding is still connected.

 

Now on to the next 100 hours. A good friend of mine, who also had his ER in the second batch, comes for some music listening just before Christmas. We’ll do some blind testing then. I’ll report our findings later.

[Lucie]

Some more music recommendations:

(Americana) Birds of Chicago, from American Flowers: American Flowers (voices)

(Jazz) Omar Sosa/Paolo Fresu, from Alma: Under African Skies (layers)

(Jazz) Nenad Vasilic e.a., from live in Theater Akzent: Groznjan Blue (separation of instruments)

(Jazz) Arild Andersen e.a., from If you look far enough: Svev

(Jazz) Paul Motian e.a., from Sound of Love: Misterioso (music leaps out of the speakers)

(Pop/folk) The Accidentals, from The Accidentals: Sleeve (nice young band, playing as if they were live in front of you).

(Avantgarde jazz) Sons of Kemet, from Your queen is a reptile: My queen is Ada Eastman (if this doesn’t turn into a mess, I think that proves the system is ok).

(Jazz) Bruford/Borstlap, from In concert in Holland: Game of chess (the first minute or so)

 

I can be very clear after the first month: the ER is a big big improvement in my system.

[Lucie]

Thx for your recommendation, Nick. I didn’t know Elias, but I found the recording on Tidal and Qobuz right away. These are resp. MQA ans CD recordings in Tidal en Qobuz. I don’t have access to recordings in genuine DSD format.

That triggered another question. It’s interesting to compare DSD files I do have access to to Tidal, or Quobuz before and after ER. I have one DSD recording I know quite well: Charles Mingus “Ah um”. Before ER I know the difference between DSD and Qobuz was very clear. DSD was far better, i.e. had much more intensity, as if there was more information in the file. I now have to switch several times between the formats and I still can’t tell if there is any audible difference. There seems to be, ...but difficult to grasp. The Tidal MQA is different, probably because my Naim NDX2 won’t decode it fully and plays it ‘only’ CD-format. The decrease in quality of CD as compared to DSD and 96khz/24bit is beyond doubt.

Getting a last beer as the night falls in the Netherlands, cheers!

 

[Lucie]

Appreciation for the refinement of your observations and choice of words, Dougster!

Couldn’t agree more.

[Lucie]

After one if my first post I have retried the sBooster LPS one or two times with the same disappointing results I reported before.

 

But there may be more to say about ER and power. In the end of year sales, I had the opportunity to buy a power regenerator (Isotek Evo 3 Genenis One) which I decided to use for feeding the digital side of my system (ER, Nucleus and modem). The Isotek reports bringing the THD down from around 5.8 to around 2% (depends, it fluctuates). My mains pollution is really high.

 

With the the original SMPS connected to the Isotek (via an Isotek EVO3 Polaris) the sound got (even) more detailed, cleaner, the soundstage opened up even more and the music came (even) more loose from the speakers. Connecting the LPS sBooster (gave it another try) had the negative effect I noticed before (dullness).

 

In my system the original PS is a winner so far. But to me it’ s also clear that clean power is an important factor and can improve ER. I would therefore guess that a good LPS could improve the ER, but in the same time I’ve gotten a bit reluctant of even thinking about it, because of my disappointing experience with sBooster (not the last model, no ultra). Looking forward to reports of people who may have tried LPS 1.2, Teddy Pardo, CHC, Paul Hynes, Keces, Farad, or any other LPS with ER, compared to the original SMPS.

[Lucie]

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