The EtherREGEN thread for various network, cable, power experiences and experiments

[MartinT]

8 hours ago, sahmen said:

There is something strikingly refreshing about this thread.  People can freely discuss at length experiences--such as hearing a difference between cables, ethernet cables, for that matter, and switches, for example--that in ofter forums, and even on other threads of this site, would have long attracted the usual crowd of vampiric objectivists and and wise-cracking skeptics, the kind, who are forever seeking to pour scorn on what they seem to consider to be signs of audiophile heresy...

 

I guess we mostly here own an EtherREGEN and were open-minded enough to purchase one and have now heard what it does.  The case for reclocking has become obvious to us and perhaps that keeps the naysayers away.

 

On the subject of ethernet cable burn-in, my 3m MeiCord Opal took about a week to settle to its best performance.

[skatbelt]

13 hours ago, kennyb123 said:

A brand new 12v Farad Super3 arrived here this morning and is now powering my ER.  The DC cable is a Farad Level 2 copper, which became a spare when I purchased an Audio Sensibility cable for the Super3 powering my TT2.  The power cord is a Nordost Magus that I had absconded from my home theater system.  It will eventually be replaced with a Shunyata noise reducing power cord.

 

The new Super3 is the one on the right with the LED that's glowing brighter because I have yet to apply a LightDim to it.

 

Past experience tells me that I should wait at least 2-3 hours before commenting on the sound quality.  I'll circle back with observations later.

 

And BTW, the ER can be seen to the right of my amp. It hanging out like that is just temporary until I get some time to move things around a bit to accommodate cable lengths.

 

 

 

 

 

Question: what did the Farad replace to power the EtherREGEN?

 

Looking at the picture: don't you think it is wise to not place the Farad's directly on the Denali and so close to each other? I have been told that it is best to keep a minimum of 20cm distance between components with toroidal transformers.

 

 

 

[kennyb123]

48 minutes ago, skatbelt said:

 

Question: what did the Farad replace to power the EtherREGEN?

 

The Uptone SMPS.

 

Quote

 

Looking at the picture: don't you think it is wise to not place the Farad's directly on the Denali and so close to each other? I have been told that it is best to keep a minimum of 20cm distance between components with toroidal transformers.

 

 

It's temporary as I will eventually have to purchase another shelf for my rack. As great as it sounds, I'm not in a rush to do so.

[kennyb123]

3 hours ago, simon_pepper said:

And this the 12v Super3 version?

 

Yes

[Blake]

13 hours ago, kennyb123 said:

Plus one on what Ray wrote.  The Cable Matters CAT8 needed at least 3 days.  I could listen with it in my system initially.  To burn it in I placed it far away from my system.

 

Plus 3 on what Ray wrote (and Farad Super3 here as well😃). 

 

I'm now running a loom of 4 Sablon 2020 ethernet cables here in my audio system, plus the prior model Sablon ethernet between my modem and router.  The Sablon 2020 cables sounded terrific when installed fresh out of the box (not surprising since they replace generic cables).  After just 2 days of burn in there were noticeable improvements with the Sablons.   

 

Just for fun and to check my sanity level, I pulled all of my Sablon cables and installed 4 generic ethernet cables.  Yes, I am still sane as there was a very obvious reduction in sound quality with the generic cables.

[kennyb123]

54 minutes ago, Blake said:

 

I'm now running a loom of 4 Sablon 2020 ethernet cables here in my audio system, plus the prior model Sablon ethernet between my modem and router.  The Sablon 2020 cables sounded terrific when installed fresh out of the box (not surprising since they replace generic cables).  After just 2 days of burn in there were noticeable improvements with the Sablons.   

 

A loom, eh?  Are you hearing diminishing returns the further away you get from your ER?  Had you tried fiber at all?

[Ponkbutler]

57 minutes ago, Blake said:

I'm now running a loom of 4 Sablon 2020 ethernet cables here in my audio system, plus the prior model Sablon ethernet between

 

How do you find the old and new Sablons compare? I quite liked the old one in many ways, but wasn't sold on its reproduction of classical instrument tones and textures or micro-dynamics which I found unconvincing for say piano, brass and cello but also drums.

[Superdad]

32 minutes ago, kennyb123 said:

A loom, eh?

 

Yes, if you have a loom you can weave beautiful things with wire...

 

Could be useful for wrapping a durable CAT(6) scratching post! 

[Blake]

Hmmm...  "loom" is the word the first came to mind, check out my cable mess:

 

 

[Blake]

@kennyb123I have never tried optical (have thought about it, but I've never been sufficiently motivated).  I dropped all the cables in at once and I never thought about testing for distance.

 

@Ponkbutler The new 2020 cables are better in every regard.  I can't think of any sonic area where the older version betters the new version.

 

[kennyb123]

40 minutes ago, Blake said:

Hmmm...  "loom" is the word the first came to mind, check out my cable mess:

 

 

No, that is far from being a mess.  Nice gear!  

[Blake]

6 minutes ago, kennyb123 said:

 

No, that is far from being a mess.  Nice gear!  

 

 

Thanks!  I am especially proud of the very expensive, custom-designed, rolled up white cloth used to support the ethernet cables going in to the etherRegen 🤪

 

Oh, and your system is awesome as well!  

[kennyb123]

13 hours ago, simon_pepper said:

And this the 12v Super3 version?

 

I should also mention that the Super3 powering my ER did not include either of the options (Orange fuse, Furutech Rhodium AC Inlet).  An Orange fuse is to be delivered today, but it's targeted for the Super3 powering my TT2.  

[MartinT]

i have an AMR Gold fuse in my LPSU powering the ER.  It does the job for an economy fuse.

[PYP]

20 minutes ago, Blake said:

I am especially proud of the very expensive, custom-designed, rolled up white cloth used to support the ethernet cables going in to the etherRegen 🤪

 

 

As you should be.  The word "artisanal" came to mind   I won't include photos of pieces of the fancy hard cardboard spacers (from the center of wax paper container) that I strategically (of course) use to keep power cords and ICs separate.  Such is the work of an audiophile -- never done.  

[Blake]

@kennyb123 I noticed you have Nordost Sort Kones as well as Stillpoints.  I am using Stillpoints under all of my gear except for Rollerblocks in a few spots. 

 

I have Stillpoints under the etherRegen.  Are you planning to use any footers under your etherRegen once you rearrange your rack and if so, what footers?

 

How do the Stillpoints compare to the Sort Kones?

 

[Superdad]

1 hour ago, Blake said:

Hmmm...  "loom" is the word the first came to mind...

 

When I tell my wife about some of the things we audiophiles do, I think "a loon" is the first word that comes to her mind... 

[kennyb123]

13 minutes ago, Blake said:

@kennyb123 I noticed you have Nordost Sort Kones as well as Stillpoints.  I am using Stillpoints under all of my gear except for Rollerblocks in a few spots. 

 

I have Stillpoints under the etherRegen.  Are you planning to use any footers under your etherRegen once you rearrange your rack and if so, what footers?

 

How do the Stillpoints compare to the Sort Kones?

 

 

A friend had asked me to try to sell two sets of those Sort Kones for him, so of course I had to try them out, but my tryout was very limited.  

 

I had been using the original Stillpoints cones under my Denali.  The Sort Kones brought a very obvious improvement.  It then struck me that I should try Stillpoints Ultra SS under the Denali.  I pulled the set of 3 from under the Zenith and in their place put those 3 Kones.  This brought another obvious improvement.  I thought for the money that the Sort Kones would be a good holdover until I can eventually afford to move up to Ultra SS across the board.  I've been keeping an eye out for good pricing to first swap out the Minis under the HMS and TT2.  

 

To sum it up:

 

Stillpoints Ultra SS > Nordost Sort Kone BC > Stillpoints original cones

 

And 

 

Sitllpoints Ultra SS under Denail > Stillpoints SS under Zenith

 

I really don't have a plan yet for the ER.  My rack itself rests on Nordost Sort Fut, so isolation is provided from just it being placed on the rack.  But maybe I'll try to see what happens if I place three of the original Stillpoints under it, as I still have a set of them.

 

[David A]

39 minutes ago, Superdad said:

 

When I tell my wife about some of the things we audiophiles do, I think "a loon" is the first word that comes to her mind... 

 

The trick is knowing how to deal; with comments like being called a loon. I get asked a lot about why I have my cables raised off the floor, and cables like Shunyata power cables and Kimber Select speaker cables aren't exactly visually retiring even before you stick them on cable raisers. My response tends to depend on the gender of the person asking and the tone and context of the question but it usually ends up being one of two answers. I either say "it makes them easier to vacuum under when I'm doing the housekeeping" or "when you've got cables like these you may as well make a feature out of them".

 

It's often surprising how telling a part of the truth, just not the most important part of it which is that I do hear a difference and prefer the sound with the cables raised, but a part that is totally unexpected as an answer and yet is also self evident can end up stopping what could end up becoming a dispute dead in its tracks because the questioner has no ready response to you.

 

If we're going to be seen as loons, we may as well play at being one as well  🙂

[simon_pepper]

2 hours ago, kennyb123 said:

 

I should also mention that the Super3 powering my ER did not include either of the options (Orange fuse, Furutech Rhodium AC Inlet).  An Orange fuse is to be delivered today, but it's targeted for the Super3 powering my TT2.  

So the base model.

[kennyb123]

8 minutes ago, simon_pepper said:

So the base model.

 

Exactly.  

 

I passed on the IEC because I use Shunyata power cords and they recommend avoiding rhodium with their power cords.  I do think it would be a worthwhile upgrade though if using a power cord that has rhodium connectors.

[Jud]

On 6/16/2020 at 2:50 AM, Ponkbutler said:

I prefer the DesignaCable Belden CatSnake Cat6a by a long margin, which is what the Ghent uses

 

I have the Ghent Cat8 JSSG360, which uses a Linkway cable.

 

Edit: This one - http://www.ghentaudio.com/pc/et12.html

[Blake]

7 hours ago, PYP said:

 

As you should be.  The word "artisanal" came to mind   I won't include photos of pieces of the fancy hard cardboard spacers (from the center of wax paper container) that I strategically (of course) use to keep power cords and ICs separate.  Such is the work of an audiophile -- never done.  

 

Good idea.  Next project, A/B demo, rolled white cloth vs. cardboard tube roll.  Grudge match to the death.

[PYP]

1 hour ago, Blake said:

 

Good idea.  Next project, A/B demo, rolled white cloth vs. cardboard tube roll.  Grudge match to the death.

 

I'm assuming a blind listening session to satisfy everyone.  Yes? 

 

I had to remove my cardboard tweak because our kitten was getting into the wires just to grab them.  Fortunately, I haven't heard a change in the SQ and said kitten has moved onto other wires besides the audio system.  

[Ponkbutler]

3 hours ago, Jud said:

 

I have the Ghent Cat8 JSSG360, which uses a Linkway cable.

That’s its Cat8 successor. How are you finding it compares (assuming you had the Cat6a in the past)? I’ve not yet heard a Cat8 that I really like, but I’ve never heard the Ghent.