EtherREGEN - Formal Video Imaging and Audio Review

[Superdad]

@pkane2001 and @plissken :

You two have made your points and @DarqueKnight has reasonably replied with regards his methods. Stop badgering him or I will lock this thread. 
As mentioned, we receive reports from folks all over the world with regards to subtle image enhancement brought by the use of the EtherREGEN in their video systems. Not something we had particularly thought about during design, but the reason for the effect must be similar to what happens in an audio system.

[plissken]

7 minutes ago, Superdad said:

@pkane2001 and @plissken :

You two have made your points and @DarqueKnight has reasonably replied with regards his methods. Stop badgering him or I will lock this thread. 
As mentioned, we receive reports from folks all over the world with regards to subtle image enhancement brought by the use of the EtherREGEN in their video systems. Not something we had particularly thought about during design, but the reason for the effect must be similar to what happens in an audio system.

 

He's being actively helped out to improve a testing regimen. DK even agrees:

 

1. That using a video he's guessing that it's on the correct frame

2. That using a static pic (hopefully 4K with wide color gamut) would solve some issues

 

Suggesting using H.264 and Adobe Premier with it's frame function is hardly badgering. It's a lot of work vs grabbing some stock photography but it is another way.

[DarqueKnight]

The part that you ar

3 minutes ago, plissken said:

 

He's being actively helped out to improve a testing regimen. DK even agrees:

 

1. That using a video he's guessing that it's on the correct frame

2. That using a static pic (hopefully 4K with wide color gamut) would solve some issues

 

For the things I was looking for, I did not need to be on the exact same frame. If there was a critical need to compare exact frames, I would have done so. As I said before, I could have used static test patterns.

 

For a tight camera shot focused on an actor's eye, how much difference would you expect would occur in less than one second of 24FPS video in such areas as pixel sharpness, blooming, and black levels?

 

Other attributes, such as differences in the amount of perceived depth in the video image, would remain constant even from scene to scene.

[DarqueKnight]

***Addendum***

 

A second EtherREGEN unit was purchased for my pure overkill two channel stereo system at work. The speakers in this system are a pair of large bookshelf speakers: highly modified ("hotrodded") Polk Audio Stereo Dimensional Array - Compact Reference System + (SDA-CRS+) speakers, 1989 version with the "TL" tweeter modification, modified crossovers, Cardas internal wiring, cabinet modifications, and Dreadnought AI-1 isolation transformer.

 

Figure 29. The little stack on the desk: Top to bottom - Bryston BDP-2 digital player, Bryston BDA-3 DAC, Bryston BP-26 preamplifier. Foreground: docked Dell VenuePro 11 7140 tablet computer for controlling the BDP-2 digital player.

 

Figure 30. Digital source components block diagram. After the USB connection is established between digital player and DAC, the power leg of the USB cable is disconnected for better sound quality.

 

Figure 31. The big stack under the desk: Top left - TeraDak DC-30 linear power supply for EtherREGEN switch, top middle - TeraDak DC-150VA linear power supply for Synology NAS, top right - Synology DS718+ NAS, Bryston MPS-2 power supply for BP-26 preamp, Bryston 4B3 power amplifier, PS Audio P10 AC regenerator. The foam padding protects the components' corners from damage.

 

Figure 32. The EtherREGEN is placed behind the little stack.

 

Figure 33. Music files were previously stored on a 5 TB hard drive connected to the BDP-2 digital player. The hard drive was held in a Rosewill RX304-APU3-35B hard drive enclosure. Middle right: TeraDak DC-30 linear power supply for Rosewill enclosure. Rear: Signal Cable MagicPower cord for DC-30 linear power supply.

 

Figure 34. Replacement music storage system. Front row: Signal Cable MagicPower cord and NAS switch mode power supply. Middle row: Western Digital Red Pro 6 TB NAS drive, EtherREGEN, and TeraDak DC-30 linear power supply for EtherREGEN. Rear: Signal Cable MagicPower cord for DC-30 linear power supply.

 

I had to tolerate the NAS's switch mode power brick for a few weeks until the TeraDak LPS arrived. I had planned to use a RAID 1 configuration with two 6 TB Red Pro drives, but one of the drives was defective. The NAS could not access and initialize the drive and the NAS was seeing high internal temperatures in the drive. Western Digital's diagnostic tool indicated the drive had many bad sectors. I decided to go with a single drive JBOD configuration. The defective drive was sent back for a refund.

 

Figure 35. Left: replacement TeraDak DC-150VA linear power supply and Signal Cable MagicPower cord for the NAS. Right: the NAS's stock switch mode power supply. The DC-150VA power supply is larger (and heavier) than the NAS: 0.146 cubic feet compared to the NAS's 0.133 cubic feet.

 

Figure 36. View of speakers from my desk. The room is 11' x 12" with the speakers on the shorter wall. The listening position is 7' from the center of the speaker plane. The loudspeakers are spaced 6'-10" apart center to center

 

Computer audio has made my entire music collection, including my digitized vinyl records, available at work. Low level musical detail is very important in this office environment. The EtherREGEN, NAS, upgrade power supply for the NAS, and higher performance Ethernet cables, resulted in a substantially lower noise floor.  The lowered noise floor made the music sound apparently louder, although the actual sound level was the same.

 

Ethernet Cable Trials

 

Figure 37. Ethernet cables evaluated in work system, bottom to top: (inside cable loop) generic Cat5e cables that came with the Synology NAS ($0), Bluejeans Cat6a ($16 - 3 feet), Monoprice Cat8 ($7 - 3 feet), modified Monoprice Cat8 ($7 - 3 feet), RAL Cat8+ ($599 - 1.25 meters).

 

Figure 38. Ethernet cable plugs, bottom to top: generic Cat5e cable that came with the Synology NAS, Bluejeans Cat6a, Monoprice Cat8, RAL Cat8+.

 

Two Monoprice Cat8 cables were modified by insulating the shield from the metal shell on one end. On the cable that runs from the B port of the EtherREGEN to the Bryston BDP-2 digital player, the shield was disconnected at the digital player end. On the cable that runs from the NAS to one of the EtherREGEN's A ports, the shield was disconnected at the EtherREGEN end. The EtherREGEN to digital player cable was replaced first.

 

Compared to an unmodified Monoprice Cat8 cable, there were no differences heard in spatial rendering or mid and high frequency aspects. The bass became more detailed and articulate, with more rumble and growl. It wasn't a huge difference. On a scale of 1 - 10, the improvement was like going from a 5 to a 5.5.

 

The NAS to EtherREGEN Monoprice Cat8 cable was replaced next. There were no apparent sonic differences with that replacement.

Uptone Audio does not advise against using shield-tied Ethernet cables on the B side of the EtherREGEN (page 7 of the user guide). However, it's always good to experiment.

 

Figure 39. In the two channel work system and in the home theater system, breaking the shield tie at one end resulted in greater clarity and detail. It's an easy modification (on this brand of cable). Push back the rubber boot, carefully pry up the metal grips from the cable jacket and the flat grips on the plastic plug. Push back the metal shell.

Figure 40. Wrap the metal shield wires as flat as possible around the jacket and completely cover with electrical tape. The shield wires can also be snipped off and the remaining stub taped over...if you are sure you won't want to revert back to the shield-tied configuration.

 

Figure 41. Pull the metal shell over the plug, crimp, and pull the rubber boot back on.

 

Figure 42. Lots of listening notes. The tape measure was used to measure the distance of sound images from the listening position.

 

Ethernet Cable Performance Rankings

 

 

 

With the NAS's stock power supply, going from Cat5e to Cat6a to Cat8 to modified Cat8, there were improvements in bass definition, image weight, overall clarity and detail, and detail and clarity in background instruments such as synthesizers and percussion instruments.  There were no spatial differences among those cables. The RAL cable provided additional clarity and detail plus enhanced sound stage depth.

 

With the NAS's upgrade linear power supply, spatial differences, in addition to sound quality differences, among all the cables were heard.

 

With the much smaller speakers used in this system, the large improvements in bass performance and tactile sensation heard in the home two channel and home theater systems were not available. The home two channel system has very large full range tower speakers. The home theater system has large tower speakers plus a very large subwoofer.

 

Work Two Channel Stereo System Associated Equipment

 

Bryston BDP-2 digital player with IAD sound card upgrade
Bryston BDA-3 digital to analog converter
Bryston BP-26 preamp with MPS-2 power supply
Bryston 4B3 power amp (300 wpc 8 ohms/500 wpc 4 ohms)
Synology DS718+ NAS
TeraDak DC-150VA linear power supply for NAS
Monoprice Cat8 Ethernet cables (shield-broken)
Uptone Audio EtherREGEN audiophile Ethernet switch
TeraDak DC-30 linear power supply for EtherREGEN switch
PS Audio xStream Transcendent XLR interconnects for DAC and preamp
Revelation Audio Labs Prophecy Cryo-Silver split leg USB 2.0 cable
Revelation Audio Labs 6pin XLR Power Umbilical cable for MPS-2/BP-26
PS Audio Premier SC power cords for DAC, digital player, power amp and preamp
Signal Cable MagicPower cords for TeraDak power supplies
PS Audio P10 AC regenerator
PS Audio AC-12 power cord for P10 AC regenerator
Polk Audio SDA CRS+ loudspeakers, 4 ohms nominal-post modification (1989 version) (heavily modified)
Douglas Connection CDF92 speaker cable (9 AWG)
HiFi Tuning Classic Gold fuses for amp, preamp, AC regenerator
HiFi Tuning Silver Star fuse for DAC.
Dell Venue Pro 11 7140 tablet computer, with dock, for digital player and DAC control
Logitech Harmony One universal remote for preamp and DAC

 

Revisiting Video

 

In the home theater system, a dedicated Cisco SG110D-08 Ethernet switch is placed between the Synology DS918+ NAS and the Oppo UDP-205 player. The SG110D-08 switch's stock switch mode power supply was replaced with a TeraDak DC-30 linear power supply. Improvements in picture and sound were realized by replacing the Bluejeans Cat6a cables with Monoprice Cat8 cables. Smaller improvements were realized by replacing the Monoprice Cat8 cables with shield-broken Monoprice Cat8 cables.

 

The initial trial of installing the office two channel stereo system's modified Monoprice Cat8 cables in the home theater system provided some performance improvements. When a pair of Monoprice Cat8 cables were modified for the home theater system, the dangling shield wires were snipped off and the little stub remaining was taped over, since I knew I wasn't going to revert back to the shield-tied cable configuration.

 

Figure 43. Scene from "Star Wars - Revenge of the Sith". The stock and modified Monoprice Cat8 cables provided increased rumble, growl, and tactile sensation from the Venator class star destroyer's engine sounds.

 

Figure 44. Sharper and clearer howl, whine, whiz, and zing as the sound of the Jedi fighters entered the sound stage from the upper right rear and swooped down toward the front lower center.

 

Summary Of Results

 

Uptone Audio's EtherREGEN audiophile Ethernet switch was evaluated in three of my systems: home two channel stereo system, home theater system, office two channel stereo system.

 

The performance of the EtherREGEN was enhanced by replacing the stock switch mode power supply with a linear power supply.

Replacing the media storage units' (NAS, hard drive enclosure) stock switch mode power supplies resulted in significant improvements in sound and picture quality, particularly in the areas of color rendition, dynamic range, and depth for video, and particularly in the areas of bass definition and articulation, image weight, and three-dimensional spatial rendering for audio.

 

Breaking the shield tie connection on the Cat8 cable resulted in small improvements in audio and video.

 

The best sound and picture quality was achieved with Ethernet cables built to Category 8 standards.

 

The more electrical noise reduction deployed in a system, the greater the differences in Ethernet cables were seen and heard, and the better the resulting audio and video quality. All three of the systems discussed in these evaluations use AC regenerators, linear power supplies for media storage units, linear power supplies for the EtherREGENs, and a linear power supply for the dedicated Cisco Ethernet switch between the NAS and Oppo media player in the home theater system. The home two channel stereo system is served by three dedicated 20 amp AC circuits. The home theater system is served by two dedicated 20 amp AC circuits. The Oppo UDP-205's stock switch mode power supply was replaced with an Oppomod LPM SE linear power supply.

 

If my video media did not include uncompressed Ultra High Definition (UHD) video (commonly, but inaccurately referred to as "4K"), a third EtherREGEN would have been purchased for my home theater system. This is something to hope for in the future.

 

[Superdad]

Wow!  Thank you again Ray for your extreme diligence and dedication in performing all the above new evaluations. Quite impressive!

So glad that you are enjoying the EtherREGEN units in your systems and that you continue to explore methods to extract the very best of their performance.

With kind regards,

--Alex C.

[DarqueKnight]

The Supra Cat8 costs 7X the price of the Monoprice Cat8, and facilitated more information retrieval, but it was not 7X better in any aspect of stereophonic performance in my office system.A member of this forum suggested the Supra Cat8 ($49 - 1meter) cables as a higher performance alternative to the shield broken Monoprice Cat8 ($7 - 3 feet) cables. I found his advice to be correct.

 

Both the stock and shield broken Supra Cat8 cables revealed a little more fine detail and spatial information than the shield broken Monoprice cables. I did not evaluate the Supra cables in my home two channel audio and home theater systems.

 

Figure 45. The Supra Cat8 cables come in a resealable plastic case, which is nice in case you want to return them.

 

Figure 46. Distinctive ice blue jacket.

 

Figure 47. Each cable comes with a tag denoting the assembler.

 

Figure 48. Monoprice Cat8 and Supra Cat8 plugs.

 

Monoprice Cat8 specs:
outer shield: aluminum-magnesium alloy braid
inner shield: aluminum foil
resistance = 93.8 ohms per km
capacitance </= 3.3 pF per meter
conductor size: 24 AWG

 

Supra Cat8 specs:
outer shield: oxygen free 5N pure copper braid, tin plated
inner shield: aluminum foil
resistance = 145 ohms per km
capacitance </= 43 pF per meter
conductor size: 26 AWG
conductor material: oxygen free 5N pure copper
insulation: air injected low capacitance polyethylene
impedance: 100 ohms

 

Figure 49. The Supra's metal shell is retained by four tabs and is more difficult to remove than the Monoprice's.

 

Figure 50. The Supra's metal shell makes contact with the braid shield via a metal tab, shown broken off here.

 

Figure 51. The metal shell was put back on the plug. I initially was going to use the Supra cables with the metal shell removed from one end. However, I did not like the plug's looser fit in the jack with the metal shell removed.

 

Figure 52. If I ever want to return the cables to stock condition, plug kits are available for$6.

 

Figure 53. The Supra Cat8 costs 7X the price of the Monoprice Cat8, and facilitated more information retrieval, but it was not 7X better in any aspect of stereophonic performance in my office system.

 

I read a review where the reviewer, and others, commented that the Supra Cat8 cables caused a loss of high frequency detail in their systems. I did not experience that in this system. On high frequency content such as cymbals, tambourines, shakers, and female voices, I actually heard more high frequency detail with the Supra cables compared to the Monoprice cables.

 

Speaking of diminishing returns, I ran across a deal on a pair of 1.5 meter AudioQuest Vodka Ethernet cables. The 2020 retail on these is $600. When I evaluated a loaner pair of Vodka cables in my home two channel stereo and home theater systems, I found their spacial properties to be in a class above that of the other Ethernet cables, except for the Revelation Audio Labs Cat8+.

 

Figure 54. I ran across these while shopping for something else. Purchased from an authorized AudioQuest dealer.

 

Figure 55. The Vodkas, like all of AudioQuest's Ethernet cables, are Cat7.

 

Figure 56. In the distant future, when I am more dedicated to audio than I am now, I might splurge on some higher performance, higher diminishing returns Ethernet cables for my work system, but for now, these will do.

 

 

 

[kerisabe]

Great detailed review, thank you @DarqueKnight! I also love my RAL CAT8+ cable been running it for about a year now. Have you had any experience with the latest Sablon Audio Ethernet 2020 cable? I need to purchase 2 more ethernet cable for my multiple switch setup and been trying to finalize my choice between the RAL, Shunyata Sigma, Pachanko Aphelion or the Sablon 2020. 

[Bdht]

This is very cool, I had briefly experimented with powering mm om3 fiber hdmi extenders with uptone ultracaps, the chain got overly complex, however, and I have just been using cheap jameco lps instead of the stock switching supplies.

 

A couple points that Im not sure have been made regarding the counter-arguements, as theyre generally like reading 8kun and a waste of time.

 

1.) OLED uses sample and hold, not pulsed rolling scan.  Theres no sync required in a static frame, the only advice would be to let the automatic brightness limiter engage fully before capturing photos.  Seriously... its not even sequential RGB solid state DLP(900hz color frequency with a 0.01ms per pixel impulse response. Yes, I have a Sim2 Mico) its sample and hold...

 

2.) And I cant believe I have to say this but when you pause video it doesnt randomly interpolate a new frame to pause on.  It pauses on the frame, of which there are typically 24 per second...  and you can frame skip... ugh...  Only if you're using frame blending or frame interpolation would a new frame be created, and you could pause on that new frame and make comparisons between them as well.  Its an utter strawman arguement that the same and original frame isnt being used.

 

3.) Im not a photographer but even my cellphone has professional modes where you can lock exposure and other settings to accurately make comparisons.

 

4.) Im unsure why people think error correction is perfect, if you can negate error correction with power and signal quality then do it.  If they existed, these people would have you believe star trek transporters could function propely using crap power and error correction... no thank you.

[Bdht]

Than theres the same misconception that displaying a still image is the same as rendering video, much like how a 12khz fft isnt the same as real time audio rendering. I had some audio minimalist tell me recently that if the transducer can replicate a frequency than theres no difference between transducers. In terms of video, that pixel response only effects motion... Completely ignoring that video is motion. smh This mentality is prevalent throughout the av forums. So @DarqueKnight I commend you for experimenting and sharing your experiences. @superdad I commend you and @johnswenson for providing new innovating and incredible products.

Ive also experimented with isolating the htpc, audio system, and projection systems with the mm om3 fiber hdmi extenders, running the systems on topaz line noise suppressors with filterless distribution, and I have the avr and projector on vh audio flavor 4s, as they have varied current draw ranging from 0.5a to 3(projector) to 7(avr) amps.

I dont know that I see any difference with the Mico with power/signal optimizations as Ive never done any comparison without. It uses current driven leds(30amps) and the mirrors modulate by binary switching and electrostatic attraction. But I did see improvements with a projector that used a p-vip lamp as well as dynamic lamp dimming, which had pumping artifacts that appeared very stepped and unwatchable, and that stepped pumping was alleviated by use of the topaz and quadrapole power cable. Additionally, due to removing most external line noise the internal switching supply and ballast functioned better and improved lamp voltage delivery resulting in improved full field uniformity from whether black or white.

It also takes absolute precision voltage delivery to correctly modulate liquid crystal and oled. These imagers are subject to overvoltage(which causes inverse ghosting) and under voltage(not hitting the correct luminance value). And often use some form of dynamic capacitance compensation to modulate more quickly and accurately. The effect of external noise on switching supply performance can and will affect modulation performance resulting in inaccurate video.

[DarqueKnight]

On 8/6/2020 at 11:09 AM, kerisabe said:

 @DarqueKnightHave you had any experience with the latest Sablon Audio Ethernet 2020 cable? I need to purchase 2 more ethernet cable for my multiple switch setup and been trying to finalize my choice between the RAL, Shunyata Sigma, Pachanko Aphelion or the Sablon 2020. 

No experience with the Sablon Ethernet cable.