sns109

I purchased Okto Dac8 stereo last August, received in mid December. Okto compared to Auralic Vega, LKS MH DA004, Musetec MH DA005. Okto very nice dac! My more in depth comparisons of these dacs over at headfi.org under thread title: Four years after LKS DA004. I'll just say the Okto great performer at price, may be all the dac one needs.

My initial impressions of Regen were somewhat mixed. I heard the positives, slightly better sound staging, increased image dimensionality. The usual attributes I hear with a lowered noise floor. I also heard a certain lack of refinement I hadn't heard prior to insertion of Regen. I attributed this to lack of burn in and/or switch mode power supply hash insertion into AC lines. I then placed the Regen with stock smps on it's own spare dedicated AC line (away from BPT power conditioner). I also changed out Synology NAS power supply from smps going into BPT power conditioner to Teradak linear power supply (still going into BPT). These two changes completely eliminated any sense of lack of refinement! Digital now sounds the most natural I've heard, very relaxed long term listening sessions without a bit of digital fatigue. The insertion of the Regen and it's lowered noise floor exposed what was formerly unheard. I suffer no drop outs in exact mode with my Auralic Vega. I did suffer drop outs in my original setups with Auralic Vega in exact mode. Improving my ethernet cables from generic cheapies to Audiquest Cinnamon eliminated nearly all drop outs. Removing tv/internet switch installed by cable company (no longer use their tv service), and moving my modem closer to audio system so I could use a shorter Cinnamon ethernet cable from modem to router elimated last few drop outs. I've also discovered that everything in digital chain matters. I run my modem with quality power cord into BPt power conditioner, router is on linear power supply with quality power cord into BPT. MacMini on Core Audio Supply lps, quality pc into BPT, Synology NAS on LPS. Vodka and Cinnamon ethernet cables, AQ Diamond UPS, REgen into hard adapter. Only Regen is using switch mode power supply, and that is isolated from my entire system on dedicated AC. Using Auralic Vega in non exact mode is far less than than optimum, you are probably getting only 75% of its potential in my estimation. I'm using Audirvana 2.2 in direct mode, this high resolution player allows one to hear all changes. The REgen has been a extremely worthwhile improvement, any deficiencies heard after insertion are likely due to problems elsewhere.

I inserted my Regen for first listening session. I do hear positive attributes, lowered noise floor, more individualized images, slightly larger soundstage. However, I am hearing a certain lack of naturalness that I hear sans the Regen. At this point, I would describe it as a certain lack of refinement, a slightly astringent quality to the overall picture. Generally, I wouldn't make an evaluation so soon after inserting a new piece into system, but I've been following many Uptone Regen threads and don't recall reading any negatives. And so, either I'm hearing something no one else is heariing, or others have heard and not mentioned. At this point, I believe I'm hearing lack of burn in and/or stock switching power supply injecting hash into AC lines (running sps into BPT power conditioner). In an attempt to address switching power supply hash, I did attempt to use Regen with a Monolithic LPS I had lying around. Monolithic LPS supplies either 12v or 9v, both at 2.5amps. Regen caused relay to trip on both voltages (MonoLPS supplies my router just fine, so it is working), it seems the 2.5amps is not enough for Regen? What amperage is required of an LPS with Regen? MacMini~AudioQuest Diamond USB~REGEN~Hardwire Adapter~Auralic Vega