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

[roman410]

6 hours ago, kzs70 said:

 

I am also looking for an EU/UK dealer if anyone knows...

 

Thanks,

Zsolt

https://www.synergisticresearch.com/dealer-list/

[MartinT]

David Brook at MCRU

 

https://www.mcru.co.uk/product-category/diy-componants/fuses/

[Clockmeister]

• For all of you state side guys try Chris @ Vh Audio

https://www.vhaudio.com/search.html?ss360Query=fuses

 

 

[kzs70]

7 hours ago, MartinT said:

David Brook at MCRU

 

Thanks, but I just the confirmation: the promotion is USA only

[k27R]

I may get in on this deal. I only need two fused though so if anyone wants one,we can split the costs. PM me if interested.

[OldBigEars]

I have a spare IFI iPower 9v sitting in a drawer. 

• Any chance it could harm my ER?
• Do you think it could improve SQ vs the supplied Uptone unit?

I'm loving my standard power ER but interested to read these reports.

 

 

[Superdad]

2 hours ago, OldBigEars said:

I have a spare IFI iPower 9v sitting in a drawer. 

• Any chance it could harm my ER?

No harm. But if you have more than one 'A' side connection to your EtherREGEN, then use of that ungrounded, unshunted supply will make use of the EtherREGEN's desirable (see the User Guide).

 

2 hours ago, OldBigEars said:

Do you think it could improve SQ vs the supplied Uptone unit?

Not likely, but give it a go! 

[MartinT]

For those who think changes upstream of the ER won't make a difference.

 

I swapped out the Chinese 12V LPSU powering my TP-Link MR6400 4G router for a spare Paul Hynes LPSU based on the PR3iEHD I had lying around. I also swapped out the SR Red fuse for an SR Blue. It makes quite a difference in the immediacy and dynamic clout of some music, such as Jeff Beck's You Had It Coming album. Nice, and cost me nothing.

[Superdad]

1 hour ago, MartinT said:

I also swapped out the SR Red fuse for an SR Blue. It makes quite a difference in the immediacy and dynamic clout of some music, such as Jeff Beck's You Had It Coming album. Nice, and cost me nothing.

 

I don't know, those fancy fuses are $125 and $160 each. That's not "nothing!"

[MartinT]

21 minutes ago, Superdad said:

 

I don't know, those fancy fuses are $125 and $160 each. That's not "nothing!"

 

It is when it's a spare in the drawer!

[Dutch]

On 8/4/2020 at 10:52 PM, kzs70 said:

 

Thanks, but I just the confirmation: the promotion is USA only

Not true, here in The Netherlands I can get the same deal now and earlier this year.

[Discopants]

4 minutes ago, Dutch said:

Not true, here in The Netherlands I can get the same deal now and earlier this year.

online dealer ? What is the price for 3 fuses ?

[kzs70]

10 hours ago, Dutch said:

Not true

I spoke with 3 different dealers in Europe (Slovakia,  UK and Belgium) and Mattijs from Farad in the Netherlands. 

They boths confirmed that the 2+1 promotion is not available in Europe. 

[Dutch]

11 hours ago, Discopants said:

online dealer ? What is the price for 3 fuses ?

Here’s a direct link to the offer (in English): https://www.kempelektroniksshop.nl/synergistic-research-orange-fuses-5x20-mm-6-3x32-mm.html

 

46 minutes ago, kzs70 said:

I spoke with 3 different dealers in Europe (Slovakia,  UK and Belgium) and Mattijs from Farad in the Netherlands. 

They boths confirmed that the 2+1 promotion is not available in Europe. 

OK, that’s weird. The dutch importer, who also sells directly, does have the 2+1 promotion. See link above.

[kzs70]

Just now, Dutch said:

The dutch importer, who also sells directly, does have the 2+1 promotion

 

Well it is strange indeed, but this is a good news, thanks for the link!

[HumanMedia]

Has anyone used the Synergistic Oranges in the JS-2 Power supply?

Worthwhile audible improvement?

Is the standard rating enough?

@Superdad What is the fuse Size and rating for a 230V JS-2?

 

[Superdad]

5 minutes ago, HumanMedia said:

What is the fuse Size and rating for a 230V JS-2?

For 220/230/240V orientation of the JS-2’s fuseblock (which changes how the dual-primaries of the transformer get wired) a 0.5A slow-blow is what we install.  Can be either the small Euro size or the big 3AG American size—the fuseblock accepts either. If a 0.5A slow-blow is not available, a 0.7~0.8A should be fine to avoid blowing upon inrush current at turn-on.

 

It is wildly reported that many “audiophile” fuses—especially those from Synergistic—tend to blow at currents a lot lower than their ratings, so plan accordingly.

[MartinT]

From my experience the Synergistic fuses are of a fast blow design, sensitive to surges rather than constant current.

 

I have only ever blown one, a Red, and that was my fault for plugging the power amp cable into the back with the power on. I usually use my P10 regenerator's high current surge protection socket and power on with the P10's remote control.

[roman410]

7 hours ago, HumanMedia said:

Has anyone used the Synergistic Oranges in the JS-2 Power supply?

Worthwhile audible improvement?

Is the standard rating enough?

@Superdad What is the fuse Size and rating for a 230V JS-2?

 

I can happily report JS-2 scaled up very well for my with aftermarket fuses.

My JS-2 it is 120V, original fuse was 1A, slow blow. I settled for 1,6 A, synergestic orange fuse, 1A blowed up during powering on.

Got fuse during last buy2 get1 promotion, and worth every penny.

[so-no-mah]

My JS-2 also responded quite well to first a Synergistic Blue and then the Orange fuse. I use them in anything with a fuse and I up-rate them to the next higher fuse value.

 

-Andy

[FrankMA]

On 7/22/2020 at 6:02 PM, FrankMA said:

Thanks all. Will get back to you guys. Might be awhile since I'm going to give it 400-500 hours to give it a fair shot against my current. But will post impressions

To update at 400 hours:

 

I went back and forth between the 2020 Sablon Pantela Reserva and my Ghent Belden 1303E (ET11A) CAT6A Ethernet (JSSG360)

 

The 2020 Sablon Pantela is a very nice cable. Smooth top end. Excellent separation of instruments and soundstage. A bit brighter. Had some vocal sibilance early but that has settled down at 400 hours. Ultimately it stayed in my system.

 

However what this also showed was the Ghent is also a very nice cable for the price. The difference at 400 hrs isn't huge (10% better) and the Sablon is 5x more expensive 

 

YMMV

 

Will try again at about 1000 hours just in case the Sablon really needs a long burn in

[Pokey77]

@FrankMA  Very interesting. Thanks Frank.

[Csaba]

Hello,

 

Maybe somebody has an experience or advice on this:

 

Is it possible to power the following 2 devices (using an Y cable) at the same time with a single SOtM sPS-500 power supply (9v)?

 

1st device: SOtM sMS-200 ultra (jumper is at 9V)

2nd device: Etherrregen Switch

 

Thank you very much in advance for your kind answer.

Regards,

Csaba

 

 

[audiotunesx]

Results of various experiments on my system (Directstream Jr -> Cary 200.2 -> Magnepan 1.7i/Rel s3 SHO):

 

Adding eR:

- I agree with the overall findings in this thread.  The biggest change for me was a major drop in noise floor, better timbre, and better bass resolution/depth/weight.

- Immediately before the Directstream Jr Dac provided better results than in the network closet 30 feet away.  Same sound improvements but not to the same extent.

- The stock SMPS is plugged into the a chain of power conditioners (RSA, Audience, Purist Audio) with no adverse effects

 

Adding LPSU to eR:

- In the network closet is a Keces P3.  It made a very slight difference in sound vs stock SMPS, hard to notice

 

Ethernet Cables:

- Both the cable feeding the eR and going to the DAC made dramatic changes in sound

- Supra CAT8: easiest to work with, warm sound, good density, smooth and balanced, no sibilance/harshness, but lacks top/bottom extension.

- Wireworld CAT8 (red):  has a silvery tone, better extension top and bottom, slightly better soundstage, but has a touch of sibilance on voices

- Linkup CAT8 (yellow):  very directional, needs break in time.  One direction will overemphasize the bass.  The other sounds similar to the Supra CAT8.  Slightly better bass resolution at the expense of a little less smoothness on the top.  At $30 for 1 meter it's a bargain.  A good solution for long in-wall wiring.

- Cardas CAT8:  sounds like a Cardas Clear cable.  The highest resolution of the group, great extension, and doesn't have a silvery tone.  It's perhaps slightly warm sounding.  I preferred the smoother, more mid-range focused sound of the Supra, but the Cardas is a good match with the eR, especially if your system is a little dark.

 

Footers under eR:

- Sitting on the Symposium Svelte shelf has no issues.  I don't have anything other shelves to compare against.  Footers were all tested on the symposium shelf.

- It is very difficult to use footers under a device this small with thick ethernet cables on each side...

- Adding Rollerblock Jr with base ball bearings:  4 very dark, 3 dark, 2 sound is back to normal.  However, this changes the sound only slightly.  Unfortunately, I hear a touch of forwardness that I don't need.

- Adding Stillpoints Ultra SS.  It starts to work it's magic, separating instruments and providing a liquid smoothness.  However, these clearly had an issue with the Svelte shelf.  I moved these under the DAC which also is on top a symposium shelf, replacing cerapuc's, same issue.  

- Adding SR MIG 2.0.  In all configurations there is a smoothness that made music easier to listen to.  Soundstage expands in all directions.  Background sounds are easier to follow.  Problem is that realistic timbre that the eR provides gets smoothed out as well.

- At this point I need to find Cerapucs which work extremely well with the symposium shelf and try that

 

Adding hobby 10mhz clock w/Oyaide copper 75 ohm bnc cable:

- Details in another thread in this forum

- Clock version is adjustable, 50 ohm taps, DAPU 4G clock

- Stock SMPS did not like power conditioning, plugged into another outlet

- Sweeter sounding, soundstage spreads out more, slightly higher resolution.  Bass energy was slightly diminished.

- Move Sbooster MKII from NAS to Clock.  Did not sound as good, may be because the NAS was now powered by ifi SMPS.

- Overall, probably need a good LPSU to make this work but at this time I'm satisfied with the internal clock

 

Effect upstream:

- With eR in place feeding DAC

- Swapped ethernet cables in network closet to see if difference can still be heard with eR feeding the DAC.  Sonic changes can be heard as usual.

- Removed Entreq grounding from NAS and Router.  Sonic changes can be heard as usual.

- Removed Blue Circle FX2 power conditioner.  Sonic changes can be heard as usual.

- Removed Sbooster from NAS and put in iFi.  Sonic changes can be heard as usual.

- I can conclude that all investments made to removing noise in the network chain are still needed.  I would prioritize eR first, power conditioning second, linear power supplies third, and SR fuses/upgraded power cables to power supplies fourth.  Note: I have not tried a Farad LPSU which by all accounts here makes a significant impact

 

Adding Bonn N8:

- First tested the Bonn N8 in closet and removed eR from DAC location

- Bonn has a similar sound to eR but at in all aspects is weaker in effect.  In this experiment this was my target.  Get low heat switch (hot closet), with 8 ports to plug in all my network gear and remove some noise before the signal gets to the eR.

- The Bonn responds extremely well to the Keces P3, but the combo will still not exceed 50% of the eR performance.  The eR is the better price/performance option.

- Adding eR back to chain.  The combo of two audio grade switches smoothed the sound too much, not in the MIG 2.0 manner but everything sounds a bit dull and unnatural.

- Adding the Ghent 4S6 OFC cable to power the Bonn from the Keces adds significant energy (DC cable effect is not subtle, I was very surprised) but introduced some brightness.

 

Entreq Grounding:

- Everything aside from power conditioners are grounded in my system.

- eR grounded by copper Eartha cable RJ45 to Silver Minimus Infinity/Atlantis - significant energy is added to the music but some brightness is introduced

- eR grounded by hybrid Eartha cable (spade to binding post) - very dull, overly smooth, significant bass bloom

- Neither option provided a benefit, the eR is better off without grounding to the Entreq boxes that I have

 

Is PS Audio wrong that audio grade ethernet switches won't make a difference:

- Yes, given all testing was done on their dac/bridge.  This will end up being the same thing as their pre-amp stance a few years back.  I'll keep an eye out for a PS Audio $5,999 switch in a few years time.

 

Bonus experiment - fuse shootout:

- Note, not all components are impacted to the same magnitude in my system.  In order of magnitude:  Mangepan's, DAC, Keces, Sbooster, REL.

- SR Orange.  On Magnepans this is night and day.  This is similar to a full fuse bypass (which I've done before on the original 1.7's).  Top is similar to the Blues, but mid and bass is tremendously more present.  Timbre accuracy improves over Blue, and is much sweeter/warm sounding.  After 21 days of burn-in the fuse reveals enhanced soundstage behind speakers and even more vocal clarity.  On REL, it provides slightly better bass clarity and more warmth than Blue, there is more naturalness especially in the vocals.  On Sbooster a little more refined than Blue, and warmer.  However, as I add Orange fuses there is a slight forwardness (mainly upper mids to low bass) that increases.  Very pronounced on the Magnepans, and only slightly elsewhere.  I don't see any comments on this, so this may be something unique to my system.

- SR Blue.  Going back to the SR Blue on the Magnepans, it's more laid back.  I wouldn't say it's smoother than the Orange, just a lot less energy stepping into the room and in front of the listener.  My suspicions of this fuse being a little cool, analytical sounding is confirmed.  In my system though, because if it's laid back nature it still has a place.  If you have brightness issues, and don't need more warmth this is still a solid option.

- SR Orange vs Beeswax SHD (not the Ultimate).  The SR now sounds a lot like the Beeswax SHD, warm, powerful, high resolution, realistic.  On the DAC, the Beeswax still sounds slightly more natural and thicker.  SR is a little faster, and bass may have a touch more bottom-end slam.  I'm ordering a newer Beeswax Ultimate for the DAC.

 

This thread has been very helpful for me and I thank all for your past insights!

 

[PYP]

Although this is the thread for all eR fetishes, there is a separate thread for clock fetishes, so I posted my impressions of adding a Cybershaft OP13 there: