UpTone Audio EtherREGEN Listening Impressions

[kennyb123]

The message I just sent to friends:

 

“Only 20 or so minutes of use so far, but I really like what I’m hearing.  Greater ease, reduced harshness and a more natural/beautiful sound are immediately apparent. 

It should take a few days for this to burn in, but at this point it’s already earned my recommendation.  

I’ve been sitting here unable to press send as things have gotten even better.  I’m arriving at the point where I’m about to say the EtherREGEN should not be considered to be an optional accessory given the noise present in our networks.”

 

Too early to conclude that, but color me very impressed so far.  I’ll follow up with another post after it’s settled in some more.

 

As far as usage, a 5m length of Wireworld Chroma ran from my wall jack to my Zenith.  I inserted the end of the Chroma into the EtherRegen “A” side and then used a 1m length of Wireworld Starlight to make the connection from the “B” side to my Zenith. I’m using the included power supply.  

[kennyb123]

1 hour ago, stevebythebay said:

Kennyb123: 

Just trying to understand your network before/after but what switch are you replacing with the ER?

Nothing got replaced - the EtherRegen plus a WW Starlight was Just placed right before the Zenith.

 

I have fiber coming into my house.  Cat5e runs into each of the rooms within the walls from a patch panel in a closet.  The fiber coming into my house gets converted to copper via a Fios device.  This runs into the closet there it enters a Synology router, which is also my internet gateway.  From the patch panel a very long length of copper travels inside the wall up to a wall jack in my listening room.  A 5m run of WW Chroma went from the wall jack to my Zenith..  I disconnected the Chroma from the Zenith and connected it to the A side of the EtherRegen.  Then from the B side to Zenith I used a 1m WW Starlight.

[kennyb123]

5 hours ago, elan120 said:

The music took a good step forward in just about all areas.  Sound stage is wide, high, and deep to a point the boundary is getting hard to determine.  Detail and clarity is well improved that all the music I have played through thus far show subtle details that was not detected in the past.  Music presentation is very smooth with no harshness to speak of and is more 3 dimension like then ever.  This is a very impressive engineering jewel.

 

Exactly what I’ve been hearing - I couldn’t have said it any better.

 

Harshness is a weird thing in that we pick up on it, but we really don’t get a full appreciation of how much it had been imposing upon us until we hear it stripped away.  I’ve been repeatedly surprised by the absence of a hardness that I had become accustomed to hearing.  
 

How much clarity has improved has been a surprise too.  I mean, I suspected that noise had been entering my system through the network, but until hearing it stripped away I had no clue how badly it had been harming the music.  
 

Those of you waiting to receive your EtherREGEN - you are in for a treat.

[kennyb123]

The focus of most other audiophile switches on the market seems to be on the use of much better clocks.  It’s been becoming more apparent that the EtherREGEN’s better clock plus the reduction of clock phase noise have increased precision in the time domain.  This is most apparent in the bass - especially In the attack of bass drum beaters - which have more of the “feel it in your gut” impact of a real bass drum. Time domain improvements aren’t just limited to the bass though.

 

This improvement was there from the beginning but may have improved since the EtherREGEN’s clock has had a little over 24 hours to stabilize.  

[kennyb123]

14 hours ago, Ehsu said:

Please do not ask me to do quick A/B comparison. I just don’t do that. I never see the point doing that because I know my system and music very well. I listen to my system at least 2hrs a day. Plus, people will get confused and lose the focus on music. I prefer to switch tested equipments after a few days to get fully familiar with the sound first. The best judge on any Hi-Fi gear is if I enjoy my music more than before. Which I must say, I am in love with my latest acquisition 🙂

 

 

This is very well said.  I did not have to do an A/B comparison as the improvement was immediately obvious.  And then it got better, as measured by my increase in musical enjoyment.

 

The two reports where no differences were found both mentioned reaching that conclusion via A/B tests.  I wonder if they'd reach a different conclusion if they just left the ER in their system for a week - spend a good time listening - and then just remove it.  

 

The EtherRegen continued to confirm its benefits the more music I fed it.  In a previous post, I wrote:  "Harshness is a weird thing in that we pick up on it, but we really don’t get a full appreciation of how much it had been imposing upon us until we hear it stripped away.  I’ve been repeatedly surprised by the absence of a hardness that I had become accustomed to hearing."  I don't see how A/B testing can provide this same kind of insight.  

 

[kennyb123]

Earlier this year I had compared a few tracks played off my NAS to the same tracks streamed from Tidal and Qobuz. I was a little surprised that the files off my NAS sounded better.  Here’s what I wrote to a few friends back then:  “To my surprise there was an obvious degradation when playing a streamed version relative to the NAS version - and it didn’t matter if the file was streamed from Tidal or Qobuz:  the CD rip played from my NAS sounded better - as if a veil had been stripped away.  I wonder how much the EtherRegen might help here.“
 

Now please take this with a grain of salt as 1) there have been many changes in my system since that discovery and 2) I only compared three tracks tonight - but I struggled to detect any differences between tracks played off my NAS relative to the same track streamed from Qobuz.  
 

Have any of you done similar comparisons since receiving your EtherRegens?

[kennyb123]

A friend has been visiting.  He just walked into the room and spoke positively about the “pulse” of my system.  I chuckled and told him that some on this forum are saying the new firmware is killing the ability to tap their toes.  He chuckled saying he could feel it in the other room.

[kennyb123]

7 hours ago, BigAlMc said:

 

To clarify I have yet to try my LPS-1.2 (in part due to Alex and Johns suggestion its not needed, in part because its already sounding terrific - so I'm in no hurry to experiment, but will get round to it). I was commenting on CKKeungs post over on WBF.

 

But I also seem to recall John and Alex saying a better PSU shouldn't make much difference. As opposed to no difference. But somewhere in all these ER pages so I'm going by memory there.

 

Also I'm defo not suggesting anyone buy an LPS-1.2 or anything else to find out. I'm curious for those that have one to hand to try.

I just sold two LPS-1.2 supplies and never even tried either with the EtherRegen.  Such a terrific improvement with the stock supply, I think those dollars can be better applied elsewhere.

[kennyb123]

On 1/10/2020 at 4:24 PM, Lucie said:

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).

Try grounding the ER when using the sBooster.  It might not be providing the shunt to ground that the supplied SMPS provides.  It’s my understanding the effectiveness of the ER is diminished without that.

[kennyb123]

8 hours ago, FrankMA said:

 

Curious to hear feedback from anyone with a similar USB setup who has moved their server to the A side and changed to ethernet

 

So many variables that it might be tough to draw any conclusions from anyone else.  Cables themselves can be enough to swing things in a particular direction.
 

Interesting that you have a Lush 1 following a Lush 2 in the before configuration.  I found the Lush 2 to be a lot better than the Lush 1 so I would have thought to put it just after the txUSB.      

[kennyb123]

9 minutes ago, FrankMA said:

Hi Kenny - there was a wide variety of opinions where to put the Lush II.  Some said best before txUSB. Where I landed but certainly one of 1000 variables

Just 1000?  Haha

 

Usually the theory that what’s lost can’t be later restored holds true.  But with a device like the txUSB regenerating the signal, I would think the best cable last would be the way to go.  With the PhoenixUSB, my dealer found a strong preference for the much better cable coming after it, for example.  But like you said, lots of variables.

[kennyb123]

3 hours ago, Blake said:

Swapping the ER in and out of the system, I am hearing more detail, a larger, more expansive sound stage (depth, width, height), better laying/separation of individual instruments, increased transparency, and more of the "musicians are in your room" (i.e. it sounds more natural/real) with the ER installed in the chain.  The thing is, it seems that in my experience, whenever I install a new component or accessory, I look for those types of sonic improvements and when a change is deemed a "success" for me, I will get improvements in one or more of the areas noted above, without any corresponding negatives.  It is a big bonus when all of these sonic improvements are provided with just one component or accessory.  Fortunately for me, the ER, Sablon USB and Terminator all did this. 

I also recently re-evaluated the benefits of the ER.  Same conclusion:  very happy with my purchase.  I posted my recent observations in the post that follows.

 

 

[kennyb123]

Or live versions of Awaken from Yes to hear triple bass...

 

 

Chris Squire:  “The only reason I decided to use it was because of the track Awaken which along with regular fretted bass, required the use of fretless and 8-string so when it came to doing it on stage, because of the quick change-over between different sections, I knew I'd need a guitar that could produce the three sounds quickly." 

[kennyb123]

15 hours ago, MarkusBarkus said:

...a recent convert. They sound terrific. They look mint. Useful options. And Mattijs is very responsive. What's not to like? OK, well maybe a dedicated rack is over the top, but I thought you folks would understand. 

I can certainly understand having three Super3s.  😀

 

[kennyb123]

13 hours ago, Johnnydev said:

However, it kept gnawing whether the Farad super 3 could be even better, so ordered the farad 12V with level 2 DC cable and put the orange fuse in it to make the comparison with the SR4T. The difference was immediately apparent and after anticipating the choice was ultimately clear for the farad super 3. The tranquility, the beautiful full middle, beautifully layered and tight lows, detailed highs and great resolution, together with the live feeling were the deciding factors. Actually the “high-end” feeling that everyone strives for, but this is difficult for me to describe.

Thanks so much for sharing this.  My ER has been powered by an Super3 (also 12V) but I had wondered about the SR4T.

[kennyb123]

10 hours ago, Flashman said:

Just saw this on The Absolute Sound, Jan 2021.

 

Congratulations @JohnSwensonand @Superdad!!