UpTone Audio EtherREGEN Listening Impressions

[LewinskiH01]

Alex,

 

What's your best estimation for delivery date of new orders (placed now)? Mid Feb? For delivery in the US.

 

Regards,

Horacio 

[LewinskiH01]

On 11/15/2019 at 12:02 PM, Superdad said:

 

Happy to know that the EtherREGEN is playing nice with Focusrite Dante Rednet. Now we just need a user to confim that AES67/Ravenna with a Merging Hapi or NADAC also does okay with our switch’s 100Mbps ‘B’-side limit.

 

 

Has anybody tried the eR with Ravenna and Hapi or NADAC?

[LewinskiH01]

On 3/21/2020 at 8:41 PM, Superdad said:

 

There are several happy EtherREGEN owners (in Japan and Hungary per my e-mail searches) with Merging HAPI and NADAC.  I think the NADAC owner feeds from a Gigabit port on the 'A' side.  And @ferenc of "My Reel Club" is using the EtherREGEN with HAPI in his recording studio

 

 

 

Just as a follow up and to leave trace for others who might be interested in the future: I contacted ferenc and he confirmed B-side doesn't work with Ravenna. He connects Hapi and streaming PC both to A-side, obviously not going across the moat. Yet he hears and improvement vs a regular Gigabit switch.

 

BTW, very unfortunately my late Feb eR was delievered in the US but is grounded there per COVID so will be some time until I can try it. Oh well. Not so bad in the bid scheme of things.

[LewinskiH01]

15 hours ago, Superdad said:

 

I don't think has to use only 'A' side ports. He could connect Hapi to an 'A' side port and the network feed to the 'B' side port.  The EtherREGEN is performance-wise symmetrical around its moat. In other words, B>A direction has same quality as A>B.

 

My understanding (through my questions to users) is one needs to establish a "Ravenna network" and Ravenna as a protocol is very demanding of the network and the B-side can't cope with that. This why ferenc is connecting both the streaming PC and Hapi on the A-side. So can't cross the moat. Would be very interested in discussing with Hapi users who are crossing the moat.

 

15 hours ago, Superdad said:

Sorry to hear that Horacio.  The day after yours shipped to the US address you gave, we shipped to someone else who is also in Argentina. His was delivered to his door via FedEx in less than a week. We charge just $34 for that fast worldwide service. And FedEx is still delivering in your country now.

 

 

Interesting answer. I was just feeling sorry of myself for how things turned out. You delivered as promised and there's no grief on my end. I know why I decided the way I did, and faced with the same scenario I had at the time of deciding I would choose the same. I hope you don't really think it was to save $34...

[LewinskiH01]

22 hours ago, GryphonGuy said:

 

Ravenna appears to be a similar AOIP protocol to Dante and I use Dante across the moat on ER very successfully. The biggest issue I have is that after every windows update, windows somehow turns on network throttling which i then need to turn off to allow Dante to operate glitch free. The only way i know that network throttling is in use is that 192kHz signals played back on Roon sometimes stutters if I do ANYTHING on my PC that requires a network packet. I then run a special utility in Dante have Dante tell me the problem and then have it turn network throttling off, reboot my PC and all is well again until the next windows update.

 

Maybe something similar is happening with your Ravenna network protocols? Unfortunately I don't know how to permanently turn off network throttling but the Dante software identifies it and does it for me.

 

Regards

GG

 

Thanks for chiming in. I don't yet have the Ravenna card, but I'm considering the Merging Hapi for multichannel and been looking for eR+Hapi users, and I have only found one who, despite doing on 2 channel, said the 100Mbps port didn't work. From your comment I'm guessing that even a Dante card doing 8 channels at 192kHz would have trouble. let alone if doing DSD, which is something I consider down the road with Hapi.

 

cheers!

[LewinskiH01]

1 hour ago, auricgoldfinger said:

 

I'm not sure.  SR suggests buying fuses rated at 1.3x - 1.6x the stock fuse rating.  I follow that rule and have never had a problem.

 

Interesting. I wasn't aware of that suggestion. 

A while back I had some audiophile slo-blow fuse running in my tube amp without issues. Eventually upgraded the KT88 tubes, which blew the fuse. I put back the stock fuse and worked well. Replaced the audiophile fuse and it blew again. That was enough to let go.

 

Using a larger value fuse would have been an option, although also allowing for less protection to the circuit downstream. It's a non-issue while there is no failure, of course.

[LewinskiH01]

3 hours ago, LowMidHigh said:

 

I received my 3rd ER a few days ago. As expected, during the first 3 days, the SQ took a step back, as it takes time for the ER to settle in. In the present, my categorical conclusion is that adding a third unit gives the listening experience a boost—although not as much as when adding a 2nd one. In my system, rough edges are smoothed out, and some details come to the fore more distinctly. The sounds stage is a tad stretched out too. Again, it’s not a dramatic change, and some people may find it not the best-bang-for-the-buck, but I’m perfectly happy. 

Thanks for reporting this. My recollection is you were running 2 eR in series both with the supplied SMPS, and that you have tested the 2 eRs vs 1 eR with LPS 1.2. Have you tested the LPS on 2nd eR vs the 3 eRs?

[LewinskiH01]

22 hours ago, Rsbrsvp said:

I received my second ER a few days ago.  Definite improvement.

 

What is interesting is that currently I prefer the OM out of the picture with two ER's in.

 

I find overall that I do not like the OM effect on tone even with one ER.   Things are brighter than without the OM.

 

I wonder if those SFP modules effect the tone and if there are SFP modules which are mellower?

 

Any advice would be appreciated...

 

Thanks for reporting. I understand your eRs are connected through copper cable now. Have you tried using fiber between them? I also decided for a second eR instead of an OM, and interested in how material the link between both might be (fiber vs ethernet).

[LewinskiH01]

43 minutes ago, jas said:

Chungjh. I recently purchased a second ER and believe it cleaned the signal nicely. The purchase allowed me to install optic fiber but I had about a month using copper first, so my comments come that experience, even with initial break in going on. Music sounded purer and more relaxed to me, and there was no doubt that everything was more engaging, even tracks I had not liked. Did it "get rid of the noise the first eR didn't"? I'd say it did, but only because the results improved so much and not because I can explain what was fixed. 

 

Now, with optic fiber in place, SQ improved yet again. I actually thought it might improve only some, but in my system it was more than that.  I guess you could interpret that to mean that even with two ER's in place, the optic fiber cleaned things up a little more because there was more cleaning was needed--but I don't know. 

 

Hope this is helpful.

 

 

This is helpful.

 

Just making sure I'm getting it right. You compared:

1) system with 2 eRs both connected a>b thru cat cable, vs

2) same system, same power suppliers amenities, same cat cables, except fiber between both eRs.

 

Which optic modules and fiber did you use?

 

I have 2 eRs a>b on cat cable. Thought about 2) but didn't do it. Would like to learn more about how big an improvement this made. 

 

Thanks for posting this!

[LewinskiH01]

5 hours ago, chungjh said:

@Lewinski, do you also feel that two ERs are better than one?

 

I can't say for sure yet. I've been making several significant changes in the system: new SET amp driving top range, and big mods on my DIY speakers. So the reference has been moving (and I'd rather listen to music than A/B test over weekends), but I think I do.

 

My first eR in the chain is powered by the included SMPS connected to a power conditioner which is on a dedicated line. eR1 receives through A-side through cheap cat 6 (that I assembled) from the ISP router/modem with their std SMPS, connected to a separate general purpose power line.

eR1 B-side connects to eR2 A-side thru cheap cat 6. eR2 has LPS 1.2 with Ghent Gotham fed from same power conditioner. Ghent Cat 8 from eR2 to audio server.

 

I tried one eR with SMPS vs LPS 1.2, and preferred the LPS. Tried both eR1 plus eR2 with LPS plus BG7BTL clock to eR2 and couldn't hear a difference so I removed it. BG7BTL with stock SMPS, Ghent BNC cable. FWIW I stopped using ISO Regen plus LPS - wasn't hearing a difference there either.

 

Trying an Afterdark clock might be down the road, but have other audio priorities before going there. Fiber in between eR is interesting for potentially blocking leakage current from SMPS upstream, per John's earlier comments. Another LPS for eR1 (or ISO Regen back in the chain?) would come before the better clock.

 

It will be a couple of months until my new DIY speaker is completed, I dial in on the sound, and can reliably judge 1 vs 2 eR, cat vs fiber. Meanwhile I learn

[LewinskiH01]

3 hours ago, Nikko1960 said:

 

In my experience, adding a mid-range AD clock (with AD LPSU and top-of-the-range AD clock cable) made as much improvement as adding the ER in the first place.  It is not trivial nor subtle.

Thanks for the input!

Which clock and PSU would you recommend? AD has a "Queen - Square Wave EtherRegen SE" for about $750. Would that be it? And have to add a PSU?