Up Tone Audio USB REGEN

Do you know if the output current is more than the old model .
When I was having problems with my power management Avatar told me the IFI power
Was a little light to work with the IDSD micro .
 
Do you know if the output current is more than the old model .
When I was having problems with my power management Avatar told me the IFI power
Was a little light to work with the IDSD micro .

I dont know why Avatar would say that, first I've ever heard that complaint and I read lots of reviews....both are 1v. The new on is suppose to be a little darker in the back ground.
 
My Regen showed up today. I have it hooked up to the iDSD using the supplied and recommended USB A to B adapter.
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I have been doing a A/B test between the digital rig and the analog rig with Dire Straits "Brothers in Arms" album. I know this is not going to be a fair fight to begin with. The digital side is a WAV copy of a 20+ year old CD being up converted to 128 DSD on the fly through JRiver MC 20. The analog side being my Clearaudio table, cartridge and the Nova II phono amp. The record is a half speed mastered 180 gram copy I picked up this past weekend. Also the album is broken into to LP's with 2 songs on each side of each record. Both sources are using Kimber Silver Steaks into the Exposure amp.

Hands down the analog rig is bitch slapping the digital rig at the moment. Like I said its probably not going to be a fair fight between the Vinyl and the CD sources. The CD being a generic transfer from the 80's and the Vinyl being a remastered copy that has been given plenty room on the records to allow for better dynamic range and bass. The Vinyl is so much more dynamic sounding with deeper, tighter bass, better clarity and separation. I might re-rip that album as 128 DSD and try things out again after a week of the Regen being powered on and it has some playing hours under its belt.

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My iUSB is getting moved to go between my Mac Book and the Hegel Super headphone amp/DAC for now. As for now the Regen is passing signals but it will probably need some more time until it starts to bloom.
 
My Regen showed up today. I have it hooked up to the iDSD using the supplied and recommended USB A to B adapter.
20150720_124441_zpsvrytp88v.jpg


20150720_124457_zpspifgqssc.jpg


I have been doing a A/B test between the digital rig and the analog rig with Dire Straits "Brothers in Arms" album. I know this is not going to be a fair fight to begin with. The digital side is a WAV copy of a 20+ year old CD being up converted to 128 DSD on the fly through JRiver MC 20. The analog side being my Clearaudio table, cartridge and the Nova II phono amp. The record is a half speed mastered 180 gram copy I picked up this past weekend. Also the album is broken into to LP's with 2 songs on each side of each record. Both sources are using Kimber Silver Steaks into the Exposure amp.

Hands down the analog rig is bitch slapping the digital rig at the moment. Like I said its probably not going to be a fair fight between the Vinyl and the CD sources. The CD being a generic transfer from the 80's and the Vinyl being a remastered copy that has been given plenty room on the records to allow for better dynamic range and bass. The Vinyl is so much more dynamic sounding with deeper, tighter bass, better clarity and separation. I might re-rip that album as 128 DSD and try things out again after a week of the Regen being powered on and it has some playing hours under its belt.

20150720_124504_zps8jberyvh.jpg


My iUSB is getting moved to go between my Mac Book and the Hegel Super headphone amp/DAC for now. As for now the Regen is passing signals but it will probably need some more time until it starts to bloom.

Same happened to me the first day i was not impressed.
 
Just ordered mine.....supposed to get it by mid August. I found out about it here and after reading the overwhelming amount of positive comments on other boards I figured I'd give it a try since most of my listening these days is from the USB output of my computer.

Never thought this day would come....but it has....and I'm content with streaming, cd rips, HI-Rez etc. etc.:smoke:
 
Same happened to me the first day i was not impressed.

When I got the iDSD for the first couple of days it was nothing special sounding until it got 15 to 20 hours of playing time on it and then it started to bloom. I have the computer shuffle playing my library overnight to help burn in the Regen faster. We will see in a few of days if it starts sound better?
 
Any update Lee Harvey?

I have 40+ hours on the Regen now and I think it deepens and gives bass more definition. Strings have some more meat on them. It just turns things up another notch. I am waiting a few days to see if it improves any more and settles in. Probably next week I will try switching out my Silver Pangea USB cable that runs from the PC to the Regen. I am going to put a standard cheap USB printer cable in place. I want to test to see if UpTone's claim that it nullifies the choice of USB cable feeding it really works.
 
I am finding that UpTone Audio's statement to be true : "Although the REGEN does not eliminate all sound quality differences between USB cables in a high-end system, it significantly reduces those differences. "

I switched out the USB cable from my PC to the Regen this morning after listening to 6 different songs from 6 different albums with the pure silver Pangea 1.5 meter USB cable. Then I replaced the Pangea with a 1.5 meter plain jane USB cable that came in the box with a HP printer. I listened to the same 6 songs and I think now the cheap cable sounds 95%+ as good as the pure silver Pangea cable. In my USB cable inventory I have an Audioquest Forrest and Cinnamon and Pangea silver plated copper and pure silver cables. I can tell a difference in each of those cables as we move from the Forrest to the pure silver there was an improvement in overall sound quality. The Pangea silver plated copper cable was a noticeable improvement over the Audioquest cables and the Pangea pure silver cable was a little more open sounding than the silver plated copper cable.

After 100 hours of the Regen being powered on and 50 hours of actual playing time the Regen has opened up and is an improvement over using iUSB power supply. I hope other folks here that have purchased the Regen do the Pepsi Challenge with different USB cables between their computers and their Regens and report back their results. I am going to keep the cheap cable in place for the next week and then switch back to the Pangea silver cable and see if there is a noticeable difference after that time period.
 
I won't be able to compare USB cables. I have the blue one that came with the ifi iUSB and a AB systems 1.5 meter cable (chi-fi). Everything I've read is the regen performs best with the shortest pathway possible. I'm going to use the regen with a USB/spdif converter. I'm going to use USB A to B adaptor>Regen>adaptor>Yulong U18 USB/spdif converter> 1.5 m Canre AES/EBU cable>yulong D18 DAC. I will be able to compare Ifi iUSB and ipurifier to regen.
 
I am finding that UpTone Audio's statement to be true : "Although the REGEN does not eliminate all sound quality differences between USB cables in a high-end system, it significantly reduces those differences. "

I switched out the USB cable from my PC to the Regen this morning after listening to 6 different songs from 6 different albums with the pure silver Pangea 1.5 meter USB cable. Then I replaced the Pangea with a 1.5 meter plain jane USB cable that came in the box with a HP printer. I listened to the same 6 songs and I think now the cheap cable sounds 95%+ as good as the pure silver Pangea cable. In my USB cable inventory I have an Audioquest Forrest and Cinnamon and Pangea silver plated copper and pure silver cables. I can tell a difference in each of those cables as we move from the Forrest to the pure silver there was an improvement in overall sound quality. The Pangea silver plated copper cable was a noticeable improvement over the Audioquest cables and the Pangea pure silver cable was a little more open sounding than the silver plated copper cable.

After 100 hours of the Regen being powered on and 50 hours of actual playing time the Regen has opened up and is an improvement over using iUSB power supply. I hope other folks here that have purchased the Regen do the Pepsi Challenge with different USB cables between their computers and their Regens and report back their results. I am going to keep the cheap cable in place for the next week and then switch back to the Pangea silver cable and see if there is a noticeable difference after that time period.

From their website:

What I have been finding in looking at DACs etc with USB inputs is that there is what I am calling "packet noise". This is bursts of noise caused by the USB receiver processing the packets of data. This noise shows up on both power and ground planes. Since the rate of packets is 8KHz there are strong components of this noise in the audio band. This noise can cause jitter in clock oscillators, reclocking flops, and DAC chips. It can also go directly into noise on the output of DAC chips.

The question everybody asks then is: well what about the DACs that have full isolation between the USB system and reclocking on the DAC side? Unfortunately this noise likes to make it through even this. Exactly how this works is complicated, I have written about this in the AudioStream articles. And bits and pieces in other posts recently. The upshot is that neither galvanic isolation nor reclocking completely get rid of it. They help attenuate it some, but don't get rid of it.

This packet noise consists of two parts: noise from the USB protocol engine and from the USB PHY. The protocol engine noise does not depend on the input signal quality, just the data, so its impact is always going to be the same no matter what is done with the input. The PHY is the part that actually connects to the electrical signals on the bus, ITS contribution to packet noise IS dependent on the quality of the input signal. This is the part the REGEN targets.

A high-speed USB signal runs at 480 mega bits per second, which is fairly high. Different cables and connectors can significantly degrade the "Signal Integrity" (SI). SI consists of the rise/fall times of the signal, noise on the signal and jitter of the edges. Increases in any or all of these can decrease the SI. The decrease in SI can be so large that it becomes difficult for the PHY to determine the actual bits. Thus the PHY contains several methods used to pre-process the analog signals in order to make it easier to determine the bits. Modern high speed serial interfaces work at all because of these techniques that have been developed over the years.

When the SI is very good, the PHY can turn off the pre-processing steps and easily determine the bits. As the SI degrades the PHY turns on different parts of the pre-processing as needed. Each of these steps takes a fair amount of power to operate, thus creating noise on the power and ground planes. The more processing the PHY needs to use to determine the bits, the more noise is generated. Thus part of the packet noise is directly related to the signal integrity of the incoming signal. The higher the SI, the lower the noise.

It is very important here to realize this is noise that is GENERATED inside the DAC by its own operation, it is NOT noise on the USB bus that is somehow getting into the DAC as is commonly thought.

The REGEN uses a common USB hub chip to create a new USB stream. I'm calling this a regeneration not just a reclocking. Because it uses clean power and a low jitter clock the output of the HUB has low noise and low jitter. By making sure the impedances are good and the REGEN is as close as possible to the DAC the rise/fall times have very small degradation.

The result is that the PHY in the DAC doesn't have to use any of its pre-processing arsenal so the packet noise is as low as it is going to get. Note: it does not get rid of the packet noise altogether, it is just as low as it can be.

The hub chip inside the REGEN has its own PHYs, which themselves generate packet noise on ITS power and ground planes. I have worked hard to minimize this noise, but it is still there. The result is that the REGEN itself is also sensitive to the SI of the signal fed to it, which is why USB cables on its input still make a difference.

I hope that is all clear. It is about as short as I can make it.

John S.

My take: The unit cleans the signal and you may no longer need to chase a $$$ USB cable. Makes perfect sense. I used a PS Audio P300 AC regenerator and it made a difference with digital and it wasn't subtle. Thanks for the post. :thmbsp:
 
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Great follow up on the Regen Amber guys. Thanks for saving me a few coins on a lateral move, as I believe this proves to be a better option.
 
I have had the Regen for a week now. It's been powered on and had music played through it for that week. I think it has now settled in? What can I say but this is probably the biggest overall improvement to my digital system I have made. It has amped up the overall system resolution more than any cable, amp, DAC or speaker that came before it. At first it boosted the bass and it's definition and all the other stuff came over the weekend. I did some experiments like daisy chaining the iUSB between the Regen and the iDSD. That was a mistake. It just mucked things up. I am back to using my pure silver Pangea USB cable between the PC and Regen. Then from the Regen to the iDSD with USB port adapters that came in their respective boxes. I am trying to maintain the USB standard of a 90 ohm impedance for the connections between the components.

The bass settled down without loosing it's new found definition. New details such as reverb, venue acoustics, audience noises, space between the players, instruments trail off better, more voice inflections in singers come through than before the addition of the Regen. I can listen to the system at a lower volume level without loosing this new found resolution. I am going to throw a "YMMV" out there but for me this new little box is pure magic. It's worth every penny of its $185 out the door and delivered price!
 
I have had the Regen for a week now. It's been powered on and had music played through it for that week. I think it has now settled in? What can I say but this is probably the biggest overall improvement to my digital system I have made. It has amped up the overall system resolution more than any cable, amp, DAC or speaker that came before it. At first it boosted the bass and it's definition and all the other stuff came over the weekend. I did some experiments like daisy chaining the iUSB between the Regen and the iDSD. That was a mistake. It just mucked things up. I am back to using my pure silver Pangea USB cable between the PC and Regen. Then from the Regen to the iDSD with USB port adapters that came in their respective boxes. I am trying to maintain the USB standard of a 90 ohm impedance for the connections between the components.

The bass settled down without loosing it's new found definition. New details such as reverb, venue acoustics, audience noises, space between the players, instruments trail off better, more voice inflections in singers come through than before the addition of the Regen. I can listen to the system at a lower volume level without loosing this new found resolution. I am going to throw a "YMMV" out there but for me this new little box is pure magic. It's worth every penny of its $185 out the door and delivered price!

It has made the same improvements to my system also. The improvements are also very evident, there is no second guessing, the SQ is improved with the REGEN in place.

This is a product that lives up to it`s claims and has added big time to my musical enjoyment.
 
I have had the Regen for a week now. It's been powered on and had music played through it for that week. I think it has now settled in? What can I say but this is probably the biggest overall improvement to my digital system I have made. It has amped up the overall system resolution more than any cable, amp, DAC or speaker that came before it. At first it boosted the bass and it's definition and all the other stuff came over the weekend. I did some experiments like daisy chaining the iUSB between the Regen and the iDSD. That was a mistake. It just mucked things up. I am back to using my pure silver Pangea USB cable between the PC and Regen. Then from the Regen to the iDSD with USB port adapters that came in their respective boxes. I am trying to maintain the USB standard of a 90 ohm impedance for the connections between the components.

The bass settled down without loosing it's new found definition. New details such as reverb, venue acoustics, audience noises, space between the players, instruments trail off better, more voice inflections in singers come through than before the addition of the Regen. I can listen to the system at a lower volume level without loosing this new found resolution. I am going to throw a "YMMV" out there but for me this new little box is pure magic. It's worth every penny of its $185 out the door and delivered price!

If your main source is a PC via USB, I feel the digital to digital conversion is the most important link in the chain. So far one of the biggest changes I've heard in an upgrade was my USb/spdif converter. The Upgrade was far more noticeable than my DAC upgrade at 1/4 the cost.
 
If your main source is a PC via USB, I feel the digital to digital conversion is the most important link in the chain. So far one of the biggest changes I've heard in an upgrade was my USb/spdif converter. The Upgrade was far more noticeable than my DAC upgrade at 1/4 the cost.

What are you using for a USB-SPDIF converter?
 
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