EtherREGEN: Installation, Usage, Difficulty, Questions thread

[Jud]

14 minutes ago, JohnSwenson said:

 

I hope this makes some sense.

 

It makes eminent sense, thank you.

[Mike Rubin]

I am sure that similar questions have been addressed a few times in this long thread, but I hope it is a simple enough question that someone won’t mind addressing it again.

 

Can the AfterDark 12v LPS with two outputs be used to power both the AfterDark clock and the EtherRegen without defeating the EtherRegen’s isolation capability?  
 

The EtherRegen has only the modem on one RJ45 port and a NUC connected to an FMC connected to the SFP on the A side and an ultraRendu on the RJ45 on the B side.

[Superdad]

3 hours ago, Mike Rubin said:

Can the AfterDark 12v LPS with two outputs be used to power both the AfterDark clock and the EtherRegen without defeating the EtherRegen’s isolation capability?  

Absolutely not!  Not only do the two outputs of the AfterDark LPS share a common -Ve/0-Volt “ground” (defeating EtherREGEN’s active differential isolation moat if used to power devices on opposite domains), but I believe the two outputs share the same voltage regulator (hence output voltage is the same for both).

 

Power to the EtherREGEN is to its ‘A’ side domain (the ‘B’ side gets power also, but through an isolator).

The “ground” of the external clock connection is in ‘B’ domain, so the clock cable is most always going to join to the -Ve/0-Volt plane of the clock’s power supply.

[Mike Rubin]

8 hours ago, Superdad said:

Absolutely not!  Not only do the two outputs of the AfterDark LPS share a common -Ve/0-Volt “ground” (defeating EtherREGEN’s active differential isolation moat if used to power devices on opposite domains), but I believe the two outputs share the same voltage regulator (hence output voltage is the same for both).

 

Power to the EtherREGEN is to its ‘A’ side domain (the ‘B’ side gets power also, but through an isolator).

The “ground” of the external clock connection is in ‘B’ domain, so the clock cable is most always going to join to the -Ve/0-Volt plane of the clock’s power supply.

That's what I feared. Thanks, Alex. 

[richard_crl032]

2 hours ago, Mike Rubin said:

That's what I feared. Thanks, Alex. 

 

I read this .. 

[Mike Rubin]

1 hour ago, richard_crl032 said:

 

I read this .. 

Richard, I was referring to the After Dark power supply that powers the clock, not the clock itself. 

[Qstik]

Sadly I have to report that my ER has failed again.  I had previously sent it to Alex after it stopped working for me last August.  Very strangely he could not find anything wrong with it and returned it to me.  I also found it in working condition upon return - very odd!

 

Well, it has been working fine until yesterday when  I could not get an ethernet pass-through signal to my Holo Red.  Of course, I reset my Holo Red and power cycled everything.  I've made no recent changes to anything and my Holo Red works fine with a direct ethernet connection.  So I have to assume that my EtherREGEN has again failed.  At this point, I see no further reason to send my ER back to Alex.  Besides, my Holo Red sounds very good without the ER, i.e. there seemed to be only a very slight advantage if any when the ER was working properly - or maybe it wasn't?  Either way, I'm tired of screwing with it.

[Superdad]

52 minutes ago, Qstik said:

Sadly I have to report that my ER has failed again.  I had previously sent it to Alex after it stopped working for me last August.  Very strangely he could not find anything wrong with it and returned it to me.  I also found it in working condition upon return - very odd!

 

Hi Mike:

Sorry to hear that you are having some connectivity trouble again.

Based on the week of testing we did on your unit here back in July, and considering the complexity of your chain, I am not at all convinced that your April 2020 EtherREGEN is the cause.

Since we now have new production stock (of original EtherREGEN 'gen1') how about sending your unit back so that we can swap in a new board?  Then if you still have trouble, it would 100% rule out the EtherREGEN being at fault.

Please contact us via private e-mail so that we can proceed.

Thanks,

--Alex C.

[Qstik]

20 hours ago, Superdad said:

 

Hi Mike:

Sorry to hear that you are having some connectivity trouble again.

Based on the week of testing we did on your unit here back in July, and considering the complexity of your chain, I am not at all convinced that your April 2020 EtherREGEN is the cause.

Since we now have new production stock (of original EtherREGEN 'gen1') how about sending your unit back so that we can swap in a new board?  Then if you still have trouble, it would 100% rule out the EtherREGEN being at fault.

Please contact us via private e-mail so that we can proceed.

Thanks,

--Alex C.

 Hi Alex,

 

OK - I thought carefully about your comments above and decided to try one last check before sending my ER back to you for board replacement.  Since they are low-power passive EMI filters, I hadn't considered that one of my inline DXE-ISO-PLUS modules could have failed.  However, after removing modules at the start and end of a 75 ft run of CAT 5e cable between my router and ER, I now have ethernet connectivity and a fully functioning EtherREGEN again !

 

I can only speculate that the EMI filters attenuated signal levels to a marginal range which then fell below reliable ER input levels over time.  Maybe my ISP reduced levels somewhere in their distribution system; who knows...

 

Bottom line - I'm back in business and will not be sending in my ER.  As always, thanks for your quick response and generous offer to replace my board.

 

I still tentatively plan to purchase a Gen 2 ER when they become available and use one for video streams into my Apple TV 4K and the other for audio streaming into my Holo Red.

 

Happy Holidays,

Mike

[Superdad]

1 hour ago, Qstik said:

Bottom line - I'm back in business and will not be sending in my ER.  As always, thanks for your quick response and generous offer to replace my board.

That’s great Mike!

I did notice that you had multiple extra in-line transformers (that’s all the DXE ISO things are) in your chain and wondered if they could be a factor. 
They really are not needed when using an EtherREGEN since all our RJ45 ports have 12-core-per-port magnetics (whereas most other devices use just 4, 6, or 8 cores for each port. 
 

Thanks and have a lovely holiday and New Years.

—Alex C.

[Schafheide]

On 9/5/2023 at 6:39 AM, Superdad said:

 

Okay, but you may recall that my suggestion was to put a cheap, unmanaged switch just upstream of the EtherREGEN ('B' side in your "turned around" B>A set up) and to connect the NAS and the EtherREGEN feed to that. 

While it might conceptually seem the same to use extra ports on your main router for such, that may be the cause of why you found it not to function as well at DSD1024 (as having everything on the 'A' ports of your EtherREGEN).  

Please continue to experiment.

Like lots of your satisfied owners, I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of my EtherRegen Gen2.  But, in the mean time -

Regarding reversing the EtherREGEN, so that the output is the A port.

I cannot understand that, if my Mac/HQPlayer (set to output DSD1024) is therefore connected to the B port (which is limited to 100MBps), how I can expect DSD1024 output from the A port ??

[Superdad]

6 minutes ago, Schafheide said:

Like lots of your satisfied owners, I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of my EtherRegen Gen2.  But, in the mean time -

Regarding reversing the EtherREGEN, so that the output is the A port.

I cannot understand that, if my Mac/HQPlayer (set to output DSD1024) is therefore connected to the B port (which is limited to 100MBps), how I can expect DSD1024 output from the A port ??

 

You can't!  DSD1024 is not going to happen through a 100Mbps port.  That's what the original EtherREGEN is limited to on the 'B' side.  All 'A' side ports are 10/100/Gigabit capable (except the 'A' side SFP cage which is Gigabit-only).

[Schafheide]

As I thought - hurry up Gen 2 release!

BTW what is the latest re the Gen 2 ?

[Technomad]

I'm just on the cusp of ordereing the EtherRegen. I'm running a Mola Mola Tambaqui DAC, usually via its built-in ethernet streamer, fed by a Mac Mini running Roon Core. The DAC is currently isolated from every other device via a pair of FMCs, connected back-to-back via an SFP Active Optical Cable. Reading the EtherRegen documentation, it seems that a number of configurations are possible. My primary concern is to optimise the feed to the DAC, so how best to configure the system - is the configuration shown below the best possible use of the EtherRegen or would you suggest another way to set it up? You'll note from this that the Roon Core is on the A side and the DAC on the B side, but all local devices are isolated from the rest of the LAN via the optical link.

 

TIA…

[Superdad]

12 minutes ago, Technomad said:

I'm just on the cusp of ordereing the EtherRegen. I'm running a Mola Mola Tambaqui DAC, usually via its built-in ethernet streamer, fed by a Mac Mini running Roon Core. The DAC is currently isolated from every other device via a pair of FMCs, connected back-to-back via an SFP Active Optical Cable. Reading the EtherRegen documentation, it seems that a number of configurations are possible. My primary concern is to optimise the feed to the DAC, so how best to configure the system - is the configuration shown below the best possible use of the EtherRegen or would you suggest another way to set it up? You'll note from this that the Roon Core is on the A side and the DAC on the B side, but all local devices are isolated from the rest of the LAN via the optical link.

 

Your proposed connection configuration looks perfect!  Mola Mola DAC alone on the 'B' side of the EtherREGEN. That's most important.  And you are nicely further isolating via fiber optic feed of your network to the 'A' side SFP cage.  It's going to sound great.

Since it seems you are in the UK, I encourage you to order your EtherREGEN from our fine UK dealer, AudioStore/VortexBox.  Martin is a great guy and he has EtherREGEN currently in stock.

Thanks and Happy New Years!

[Technomad]

Many thanks for such a prompt and helpful response! And my next question was going to be if you had a UK distributor - now I just need to decide whether to wait for the v2 or not 😀

[skatbelt]

1 hour ago, Technomad said:

I'm just on the cusp of ordereing the EtherRegen. I'm running a Mola Mola Tambaqui DAC, usually via its built-in ethernet streamer, fed by a Mac Mini running Roon Core. The DAC is currently isolated from every other device via a pair of FMCs, connected back-to-back via an SFP Active Optical Cable. Reading the EtherRegen documentation, it seems that a number of configurations are possible. My primary concern is to optimise the feed to the DAC, so how best to configure the system - is the configuration shown below the best possible use of the EtherRegen or would you suggest another way to set it up? You'll note from this that the Roon Core is on the A side and the DAC on the B side, but all local devices are isolated from the rest of the LAN via the optical link.

 

TIA…

 

 

Tip: do not share the power supply for the EtherRegen with the TP-link.

[Technomad]

4 minutes ago, skatbelt said:

 

Tip: do not share the power supply for the EtherRegen with the TP-link.

I wondered about that - if its properly designed the two sides should be effectively isolated, but I’ll do some experiments with the Aune and the standard TP-Link wall wart

[One and a half]

If I need to power down the network that feeds the ER and ending up at the Lumin, there's a ritual of what to boot up first as far as networking is concerned. Eventually, there's music again, takes about 30 mins to figure out what component is not happy, it's usually the ER though.

Once power is on the ER, it just works until today.

 

5 days continuously on after a power shutdown, music was playing, then stopped dead.

Lumin U1 advised to 'check network connection'.

Noted the A side network indicators were still working, so the network is OK.

Moved the B cable to the A side and the Lumin is connected again.

Moved the B cable back to the B side, and  'check network connection'.

 

Replaced ER with a Netgear GS108 with the same PSU for the ER 12V 1.5A  ex Lumin U1.

Works fine (actually the SQ is not so bad)

Setup a Lenovo PC wired connection to B side on the workbench with a 5A 12V SMPS and went through several reboots and updates, the B side is fine, network indicator is OK on the B side.

Disconnected the test setup, and reinstalled ER to system.

Works again as if nothing happened.

 

Is the ER on the fritz, it was shipped March 16, 2021, getting old?

[Superdad]

On 3/9/2024 at 9:50 PM, One and a half said:

Setup a Lenovo PC wired connection to B side on the workbench with a 5A 12V SMPS and went through several reboots and updates, the B side is fine, network indicator is OK on the B side.

Disconnected the test setup, and reinstalled ER to system.

Works again as if nothing happened.

Is the ER on the fritz, it was shipped March 16, 2021, getting old?

 

Hi Gary:

Well it sounds like your EtherREGEN is working correctly.  Perhaps something with you Lumin not finding a path back to your router for IP address after power-on. Or grounding issues with whatever PS you normally use; or Ethernet cable issue?  Really hard to say without seeing a diagram of your whole system. You are not using an external clock, right?

But really I think you will find greatest stability by keeping your networking gear powered on all the time.  

Feel free to write to us with more details.

Thanks,

--Alex C.