UpTone Audio EtherREGEN Listening Impressions

[MartinT]

Apologies to @Superdad but I thought it best to answer here.

[Clockmeister]

What an interesting thread with quite a few UK participants I see, so any real conclusions here with regard to whether the Ether generator appreciates a good clock source over the delightful 575 Crystek O.E. fit?

[PYP]

32 minutes ago, Clockmeister said:

What an interesting thread with quite a few UK participants I see, so any real conclusions here with regard to whether the Ether generator appreciates a good clock source over the delightful 575 Crystek O.E. fit?

 

NOTE:  there is a separate thread regarding clocks for the eR, but prior to that thread starting there were many comments in this thread.

[R1200CL]

34 minutes ago, Clockmeister said:

What an interesting thread with quite a few UK participants I see, so any real conclusions here with regard to whether the Ether generator appreciates a good clock source over the delightful 575 Crystek O.E. fit?

Did you read this:

 

[Clockmeister]

Thank you guys, I will delve into this later 😎

[MarkusBarkus]

EtherReGen in the house yesterday and streaming all night and day.
 

Sounds sweet juiced with Farad3 from the "Tower of Power"rack I built for the blessed arrival. 
 

After a few days streaming, I will try to compare optical vs. PI Audio cryo-ed ethernet cable currently in play--which sounds excellent.

 

[thyname]

9 minutes ago, MarkusBarkus said:

EtherReGen in the house yesterday and streaming all night and day.
 

Sounds sweet juiced with Farad3 from the "Tower of Power"rack I built for the blessed arrival. 
 

After a few days streaming, I will try to compare optical vs. PI Audio cryo-ed ethernet cable currently in play--which sounds excellent.

 

 

 

Just a wild guess... are you a Farad fan? 😂😉

[MarkusBarkus]

...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. 

[thyname]

2 minutes 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 know I know, just a joke.

 

Is that a Mapleshade Samson rack on the right?

[PYP]

1 minute ago, MarkusBarkus said:

I thought you folks would understand. 

 

Indeed we do     It is very hard for an audiophile to use the work "excessive" when describing the lengths they have gone to for best sound.  I'm just a little surprised you haven't told us about the anti-vibration footers you use for the rack.  

[MarkusBarkus]

Yes, a Mapleshade rack I modified. I made it taller using threaded rod from Grainger. It's a sore point with me. Their shelves and plinths, in my experience, are terrible. 
 

Customer support was sad. It became easier to sand the shelves flat myself and spray lacquer rather than interact with him/them. They were unusable as delivered. One of the plinths too. Sad.

 

And no anti-vibe on the Tower of Power--only some felt pads. Maybe I'll suspend it from the ceiling with elastic. 😉

[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.  😀

 

[Abyss Man]

12 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. 

Did you get them with the Orange fuse Markus? What DC cables are you using?

 

[sgr]

13 hours ago, MarkusBarkus said:

EtherReGen in the house yesterday and streaming all night and day.
 

Sounds sweet juiced with Farad3 from the "Tower of Power"rack I built for the blessed arrival. 
 

After a few days streaming, I will try to compare optical vs. PI Audio cryo-ed ethernet cable currently in play--which sounds excellent.

 

 

Where did you get the linear power supply  strand? Did you make it. It looks very nice. 
 

I’m surprised some enterprising equipment manufacturers haven’t built stands to hold linear power supplies, Uptone Audio, Sonore, SOTM, ifi etc. 

[MarkusBarkus]

The Qutest needs the micro USB connector, which only comes in the Level 1 cable upgrade due to wire gauge considerations. 

The MScaler and eReGen devices both have the Level 2 cable upgrade. These are the cable upgrades from Farad Power Supplies. All are copper version.

Also added the Furutech Rhodium AC inlet and the HifiTuning Supreme3 silver/gold fuse.

The supplies on the Chord devices have been running for some weeks now; the supply on the ReGen only a few days.

BTW: All three devices are on Analysis Plus Pro Power Oval MKII PCs.

I did build the stand to give the F3s some breathing room. Felt like stuffing them behind the gear on the floor was clunky and poorly ventilated. It's about 100 bucks worth of oak and some time in the garage. 

[R1200CL]

IKEA:

 

Maybe someone will rebrand it 😂

[Superdad]

A gentle reminder gents: 

This is the EtherREGEN Listening Impressions thread. Please let’s not wander off into other topics... 

Thanks.

[MichaelHiFi]

Received my ER yesterday. Plugged her in and via a CAT6 of no remarkable quality but straight from my router to the "A" side of the ER. The B side used another unremarkable CAT6 to my microrendue which inputs to a Lindemann Musicbook DSD 25. Roon core resides in Sonore Small Green computer. It is/was a very fine sounding digital system. 

 

Listening through the ER I had little expectation other than noting late last year, ears I trusted described more than subtle improvements in SQ, so I ordered one. What I heard was not what I expected. I sat in my seat and said "huh". Hard to describe. Clarity, color, space and decay. All were improved. But the bass. WTF. Bass was already stellar coming from the 11" Eaton woofers hidden inside the lower cabinets of the Ushers, but this was something different. Again, hard to describe but the bass was fuller yet tighter and more defined. It pressurized the room. Just as interesting was that I was listening at volume  ~50. I listen loud. My wife listens louder. 50 is loud but not that loud in our system. Music was flowing. I was really pleased, then decided hey, I can turn this up louder, so I did. Louder until I hit 80. That's concert level folks and what blew me away is that that was no breakup, no harshness just an image of the band as I was playing "Over now" by Alice in Chains. I was laughing hysterically. Moving to different Genres, it was more of the same. Greater insight into the recordings, better spacial cues and the bass...

 

My wife came home from work so I asked her to have a listen. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. She wanted to hear Sarah Brightman's "Angel". Not my favorite recording for sure but behind the ER the recording was somehow different. Clean with the smeary, woolly bass removed and yet deeper and more resolved. She just sat back with her eyes closed and was transported into the music. I could go on but only having a day of listening it's not really fair to access what I'm hearing objectively. But I'm loving what I'm hearing. 

 

From what I've read, the ER needs breaking in. Most everything in the Audio equipment world does. But this is what I'm hearing from a unit with just a handful of hours on it!!!

 

I ordered some Supra CAT8 cables as my dealer friend noted a definite improvement as others to had noted with these almost affordable cables. I may have jumped the gun. These cables have a great deal of shielding built in to them. Reading the ER manual, I noted that shielded CATX's can bring eddy currents with them through the RJ45 shell.

I may have to "operate" on these cables at least on the "A" side to severe the shields. Nuts. Anyone with experience with these cables? Should post this as a separate topic, I know.

Thanks!

[MartinT]

7 minutes ago, MichaelHiFi said:

But the bass. WTF. Bass was already stellar coming from the 11" Eaton woofers hidden inside the lower cabinets of the Ushers, but this was something different. Again, hard to describe but the bass was fuller yet tighter and more defined. It pressurized the room.

 

I get exactly the same effect with the ER through my Ushers and, as you say, they're not exactly lacking in the bass department.  There's another sizeable gain to come in extension and tightness by using an external clock.

[MichaelHiFi]

35 minutes ago, MartinT said:

 

I get exactly the same effect with the ER through my Ushers and, as you say, they're not exactly lacking in the bass department.  There's another sizeable gain to come in extension and tightness by using an external clock.

 Interesting Martin. It looks though that you're using a Mutec and a BG together.  Don't fully understand how that works. Is there a good result just using the BG? One left on EBAY.

 

I must have ~400 plugged in power cords... 🤔 Good thing I have solar.

[Superdad]

55 minutes ago, MichaelHiFi said:

Clean with the smeary, woolly bass removed and yet deeper and more resolved. She just sat back with her eyes closed and was transported into the music. I could go on but only having a day of listening it's not really fair to access what I'm hearing objectively. But I'm loving what I'm hearing.

 

Nice! Thanks very much for sharing Michael. Enjoy! 

[Pokey77]

2 hours ago, MichaelHiFi said:

Received my ER yesterday. Plugged her in and via a CAT6 of no remarkable quality but straight from my router to the "A" side of the ER. The B side used another unremarkable CAT6 to my microrendue which inputs to a Lindemann Musicbook DSD 25. Roon core resides in Sonore Small Green computer. It is/was a very fine sounding digital system. 

 

Listening through the ER I had little expectation other than noting late last year, ears I trusted described more than subtle improvements in SQ, so I ordered one. What I heard was not what I expected. I sat in my seat and said "huh". Hard to describe. Clarity, color, space and decay. All were improved. But the bass. WTF. Bass was already stellar coming from the 11" Eaton woofers hidden inside the lower cabinets of the Ushers, but this was something different. Again, hard to describe but the bass was fuller yet tighter and more defined. It pressurized the room. Just as interesting was that I was listening at volume  ~50. I listen loud. My wife listens louder. 50 is loud but not that loud in our system. Music was flowing. I was really pleased, then decided hey, I can turn this up louder, so I did. Louder until I hit 80. That's concert level folks and what blew me away is that that was no breakup, no harshness just an image of the band as I was playing "Over now" by Alice in Chains. I was laughing hysterically. Moving to different Genres, it was more of the same. Greater insight into the recordings, better spacial cues and the bass...

 

My wife came home from work so I asked her to have a listen. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. She wanted to hear Sarah Brightman's "Angel". Not my favorite recording for sure but behind the ER the recording was somehow different. Clean with the smeary, woolly bass removed and yet deeper and more resolved. She just sat back with her eyes closed and was transported into the music. I could go on but only having a day of listening it's not really fair to access what I'm hearing objectively. But I'm loving what I'm hearing. 

 

From what I've read, the ER needs breaking in. Most everything in the Audio equipment world does. But this is what I'm hearing from a unit with just a handful of hours on it!!!

 

I ordered some Supra CAT8 cables as my dealer friend noted a definite improvement as others to had noted with these almost affordable cables. I may have jumped the gun. These cables have a great deal of shielding built in to them. Reading the ER manual, I noted that shielded CATX's can bring eddy currents with them through the RJ45 shell.

I may have to "operate" on these cables at least on the "A" side to severe the shields. Nuts. Anyone with experience with these cables? Should post this as a separate topic, I know.

Thanks!

 

I too hear the same type of significant improvements. I'd say that my ER took more than 3 weeks to fully burn in and settle, but it was surprisingly very good 10 minutes out of the box.

 

I use Supra 8+ and it is much better than the Monoprice Cat5e I was using before. I also have the Cable Matters 8 and am waiting for them to finally burn in. The Supra 8+ took around 4 weeks to burn in/settle, but I really like them. The CM8 was initially, even after four days, mechanical and non-musical. Lately it seems pretty musical. But I'll know when I compare to the Supra 8+. Hoping to do that this weekend.

 

I think my next step is to power the ER with an LPSU like an SR4T or Farad3. And will look into the clock mentioned above. Price on that is under $100.

 

Please update us as your ER burns in. Cheers.

[MichaelHiFi]

37 minutes ago, Pokey77 said:

 

I too hear the same type of significant improvements. I'd say that my ER took more than 3 weeks to fully burn in and settle, but it was surprisingly very good 10 minutes out of the box.

 

I use Supra 8+ and it is much better than the Monoprice Cat5e I was using before. I also have the Cable Matters 8 and am waiting for them to finally burn in. The Supra 8+ took around 4 weeks to burn in/settle, but I really like them. The CM8 was initially, even after four days, mechanical and non-musical. Lately it seems pretty musical. But I'll know when I compare to the Supra 8+. Hoping to do that this weekend.

 

I think my next step is to power the ER with an LPSU like an SR4T or Farad3. And will look into the clock mentioned above. Price on that is under $100.

 

Please update us as your ER burns in. Cheers.

 

Interresting. I may be falsely assuming that the grounds are connected at both ends of the Supra CAT8 cable. In the UpTone ER manual, it stated that you don't want to carry a ground on the ethernet cable to the "A" side of the ER. Did you cut the shield on the Supra?

 

Clock was $135 on EBAY. Is there a better price on a clock? 

 

Thanks for sharing your experience. I'll keep folks updated as the ER burns in and the Supra cable upgrade when they show up which maybe tomorrow.

[MartinT]

2 hours ago, MichaelHiFi said:

 Interesting Martin. It looks though that you're using a Mutec and a BG together.  Don't fully understand how that works. Is there a good result just using the BG? One left on EBAY.

 

I'm using two reclockers: the ER and Mutec.  The BG OCXO simply supplies both with an external clock.  The benefits are doubled but even just an ER gets a good uplift from an external clock.

[PLGA]

Hello guys

I own the ER and Im very very pleased with it.

 

I dont follow closely this thread and I dont know the links created here for gadgets or other digital complements for the digital rig, so I will post it here. 

 

I cannot recomend enough the Ubiquiti X-SFP Router. Its an incredible upgrade for the price. I placed it between a wireless modem and the ER. Then from the Ubiquiti I run an extra Ethernet cable for the WiFi end point. Just incredible! 

 

My music digital rig is:

 

Wireless Modem 

Ubiquiti 

ER

SOtM SMS-200 Ultra Neo 

Audio-gd DI-20 (digital converter) 

Audio-gd R8 DAC 

 

I couldnt be happier. Ive heard systems costing many time mine with out being close (of course they didnt have all the digital conditioning). 

 

Who ever says that digital are just ones and zeros and nothing else, has no idea about how important digital conditioning is. Just non sense