ISO REGEN launch thread! (product web page up; photos, etc.)

[asdf1000]

24 minutes ago, satfrat said:

 

Damn if that's not a marvelous idea, I could make up my own mind, keep the Regen w/LPS-1 or upgrade to the ISO Regen w/Meanwell and send back the LPS-1 for another day which I'm sure there would be once I sampled the Regen w/Meanwell vs ISO Regen w/LPS-1. I would know first hand how all the combinations work IN MY SYSTEM. 

 

Much thanks for telling me something I should have thought of on my own,,, duhhhh. Now I just need to find the money for at least one of them so I can sample them both.

 

Cheers,

Robin

 

Happy to help mate !

 

Check with Alex if that's cool with him of course LOL

 

The opportunity to test it in your own system, risk free, compared with deciding based on other's experiences in their system, is almost priceless :-)

 

I say almost because you have to pay postage costs to return it back to him but that's obviously very fair and common practice for returns.

 

Cheers, Sean

 

[ted_b]

John,

You deserve a mental health month!  Go fishing or golfing or whatever you like to do to get away.  Hell, I think you just moved to a legal state so try that too.   

[firedog]

Quote

There is a weird disconnect in roon using tidal between tidal library and roon library.

 

Depends how you set up Roon. If you let Roon use its genre tags on your library (in addition to yours), it totally integrates Tidal with you local library - seamlessly. There is a slight delay between new material being available at Tidal (Tidal app) and on Tidal through Roon. Roon says they are working on ways to make their database updates from Tidal shorter. Eventually it will be reduced to a gap of hours. 

[tapatrick]

19 hours ago, tboooe said:

And this is precisely why I trust Uptone and am willing to buy their products without any sort of audition.  Business ethics is not an oxymoron.

?+1

I also ordered one from Martin at Vortexbox UK and I managed to snaffle one on Monday. When Martin was setting up his webpage I thought to have a look and there it was so I ordered. Looking forward to comparing to my Wavio USB>Spdif board powered by LPS-1. 

[kalinka]

Concerning the iso regen matching with other devices, could we assume that if something works well with the original regen it will work well with the iso regen either? Or the iso regen is too different from the usb regen for we to conclude that?

[asdf1000]

31 minutes ago, kalinka said:

Concerning the iso regen matching with other devices, could we assume that if something works well with the original regen it will work well with the iso regen either? Or the iso regen is too different from the usb regen for we to conclude that?

 

That's a very fair assumption I reckon. If you have an issue you'll be able to see if it's the isolation feature that's causing the issue (by dis-engaging it) but it's a digital isolator that's been in used for a while in other products, so very low risk of compatibility issues I reckon.

 

If you have compatibility issues you can always return it within the 30 day trial I'm guessing. I only repeat this because I think I think it's great for him to offer this. It takes any guess work out of the decision making process.

 

[Middy]

i cant wait to try all the combinations i have. Ultimately lps1 iso solo would be great  but we all will be trying every combination to see what we can get. .if any extra benefit.

 

 

 

[SWL3600]

I'm not clear what the red switch is for? Vbus? I don't even know what Vbus is....

 

I will be inserting the new ISO Regen in place of my USB Regen, which is powered by the LPS-1. Will the voltage setting stay the same? How should the 'Red Switch' be set?

 

Chain will be:

 

Laptop

Curious Regen-Link 

ISO-REGEN 

USPCB adaptor

IFI Micro-link USB-Spdif converter 

DEQ 2496

Maverick Audio Tubemagic D2 DAC 

 

Thanks!

[wwaldmanfan]

27 minutes ago, SWL3600 said:

I'm not clear what the red switch is for? Vbus? I don't even know what Vbus is....

I will be inserting the new ISO Regen in place of my USB Regen, which is powered by the LPS-1. Will the voltage setting stay the same? How should the 'Red Switch' be set?

Chain will be:

 

Laptop

Curious Regen-Link 

ISO-REGEN 

USPCB adaptor

IFI Micro-link USB-Spdif converter 

DEQ 2496

Maverick Audio Tubemagic D2 DAC

 

I'm not UpTone, but vBus refers to the 5v power line from your computer to your DAC. This is used to power some DAC's, or for handshake between the devices, or not at all. I'm guessing that the red switch defeats the 5v power feed from the isoREGEN if your DAC doesn't need it. I'm sure that Alex C. will correct me if I am mistaken.

 

Now, please don't be offended, but I have to ask. Why would you string almost $1,500 worth of USB enhancement devices and extra cables between your computer and a $279 DAC? Wouldn't it make more sense just to invest in a better DAC and not have all that extra "stuff"?

[SWL3600]

5 minutes ago, wwaldmanfan said:

 

I'm not UpTone, but vBus refers to the 5v power line from your computer to your DAC. This is used to power some DAC's, or for handshake between the devices, or not at all. I'm guessing that the red switch defeats the 5v power feed from the isoREGEN if your DAC doesn't need it. I'm sure that Alex C. will correct me if I am mistaken.

 

Now, please don't be offended, but I have to ask. Why would you string almost $1,500 worth of USB enhancement devices and extra cables between your computer and a $279 DAC? Wouldn't it make more sense just to invest in a better DAC and not have all that extra "stuff"?

Curious Regen-Link = $120

ISO-REGEN = $325

IFI Micro-link USB-Spdif = $250

 

Total= $695

 

Thanks for the Vbus info.

[SWL3600]

.....forgot the LPS-1= $380.00 

 

Excellent point.....but I really have to wonder how a much better, more expensive DAC would sound compared to what I've got going on here. 

 

It sounds pretty damn good. The people that hear it are stunned that it is computer audio. Myself included. 

 

 

[Jud]

38 minutes ago, wwaldmanfan said:

 

I'm not UpTone, but vBus refers to the 5v power line from your computer to your DAC. This is used to power some DAC's, or for handshake between the devices, or not at all. I'm guessing that the red switch defeats the 5v power feed from the isoREGEN if your DAC doesn't need it. I'm sure that Alex C. will correct me if I am mistaken.

 

Now, please don't be offended, but I have to ask. Why would you string almost $1,500 worth of USB enhancement devices and extra cables between your computer and a $279 DAC? Wouldn't it make more sense just to invest in a better DAC and not have all that extra "stuff"?

 

Though these days (not with the chain you're referring to, with a 24/96 equalizer in front of it), it's slightly more understandable if you're doing your upsampling in software and don't necessarily need to pay someone for filter design in a DAC.

[wwaldmanfan]

1 hour ago, Jud said:

 

Though these days (not with the chain you're referring to, with a 24/96 equalizer in front of it), it's slightly more understandable if you're doing your upsampling in software and don't necessarily need to pay someone for filter design in a DAC.

 

The issue here is not filter design or upsampling, but a good USB interface. Some people believe, wrongly, that modern DAC designers still have not figured out how to make that work.

[Jud]

47 minutes ago, wwaldmanfan said:

 

The issue here is not filter design or upsampling, but a good USB interface. Some people believe, wrongly, that modern DAC designers still have not figured out how to make that work.

 

It's the classic old "integrated vs. separates" question, isn't it?

[JohnSwenson]

3 hours ago, SWL3600 said:

I'm not clear what the red switch is for? Vbus? I don't even know what Vbus is....

 

I will be inserting the new ISO Regen in place of my USB Regen, which is powered by the LPS-1. Will the voltage setting stay the same? How should the 'Red Switch' be set?

 

Chain will be:

 

Laptop

Curious Regen-Link 

ISO-REGEN 

USPCB adaptor

IFI Micro-link USB-Spdif converter 

DEQ 2496

Maverick Audio Tubemagic D2 DAC 

 

Thanks!

The red switch on the ISO REGEN defeats the isolation, it shorts the the upstream and downstream grounds.

 

The switch on the USPCB turns the 5V (VBUS) off for the downstream device. Both of these are for very unusual circumstances that most people will never encounter so can pretty much be ignored by most people.

 

One of the purposes of the ISO REGEN is to isolate the grounds between the upstream and downstream ports. (this also includes isolating signal and VBUS) This blocks leakage currents (not enough space here to talk about leakage currents, see the hundreds of posts I've made on the subject) and will be a significant SQ improvement for most people.

 

BUT we noted in our tests that some systems that have already gone through extensive isolation techniques that the isolation in the ISO REGEN causes the entire audio system to be so isolated from the outside world that static charges build up on the whole system which every now and then discharge through some path (unknown at this point) and when they do the data traveling to the DAC gets interrupted causing a click or pop in the audio.

 

The switch is there to short the grounds which will get rid of the ticks and pops.

 

We have found that there is usually another way to fix this problem, which is to make sure that one and only one place in the entire audio system is grounded. This prevents the buildup of static charges and does NOT cause any leakage loops and ground loops. This is the preferred method to get rid of these ticks and pops, the switch is the backup in case there is no way for you to ground some part of the system.

 

Any device with a three pin power plug is going to automatically be grounding the system (DAC, preamp, poweramp etc) so if you have something like that currently in your system you probably don't have to worry about that.

 

You can also use the switch diagnose the problem. If you add the ISO REGEN into your chain and start getting ticks and pops, try flipping the switch, if they go away you know you have a system that needs grounding at some point. So then ground something and flip the switch back to the ISO position and the ticks and pops should be gone.

 

So to recap most people can ignore the switch, it is only need in a small number of systems.

 

John S.

[SWL3600]

Thank you, John. 

[rickca]

46 minutes ago, JohnSwenson said:

The switch is there to short the grounds which will get rid of the ticks and pops.

 

 

I hope you don't mean the kind of loud, potentially damaging pops you can get with PCM/DSD transitions.

[wwaldmanfan]

5 hours ago, Jud said:

 

It's the classic old "integrated vs. separates" question, isn't it?

 

If by that you mean a DAC that has a functional USB input, requiring only one USB cable between computer and DAC, as opposed to a lesser DAC that needs several accessory USB hubs, cleaners, and isolators, all with dedicated power supplies, and a chain of jumper cables, then, yes, I prefer the "integrated" unit.

[JohnSwenson]

4 hours ago, rickca said:

I hope you don't mean the kind of loud, potentially damaging pops you can get with PCM/DSD transitions.

No They are not very loud. In load music you may not even notice them.

 

John S.

[tapatrick]

9 hours ago, JohnSwenson said:

The red switch on the ISO REGEN defeats the isolation, it shorts the the upstream and downstream grounds.

 

The switch on the USPCB turns the 5V (VBUS) off for the downstream device. Both of these are for very unusual circumstances that most people will never encounter so can pretty much be ignored by most people.

 

One of the purposes of the ISO REGEN is to isolate the grounds between the upstream and downstream ports. (this also includes isolating signal and VBUS) This blocks leakage currents (not enough space here to talk about leakage currents, see the hundreds of posts I've made on the subject) and will be a significant SQ improvement for most people.

 

BUT we noted in our tests that some systems that have already gone through extensive isolation techniques that the isolation in the ISO REGEN causes the entire audio system to be so isolated from the outside world that static charges build up on the whole system which every now and then discharge through some path (unknown at this point) and when they do the data traveling to the DAC gets interrupted causing a click or pop in the audio.

 

The switch is there to short the grounds which will get rid of the ticks and pops.

 

We have found that there is usually another way to fix this problem, which is to make sure that one and only one place in the entire audio system is grounded. This prevents the buildup of static charges and does NOT cause any leakage loops and ground loops. This is the preferred method to get rid of these ticks and pops, the switch is the backup in case there is no way for you to ground some part of the system.

 

Any device with a three pin power plug is going to automatically be grounding the system (DAC, preamp, poweramp etc) so if you have something like that currently in your system you probably don't have to worry about that.

 

You can also use the switch diagnose the problem. If you add the ISO REGEN into your chain and start getting ticks and pops, try flipping the switch, if they go away you know you have a system that needs grounding at some point. So then ground something and flip the switch back to the ISO position and the ticks and pops should be gone.

 

So to recap most people can ignore the switch, it is only need in a small number of systems.

 

John S.

Thank you John another valuable piece of information on grounding/leakage etc that helps fill in the knowledge gaps. 

[R1200CL]

On 27.4.2017 at 3:25 AM, satfrat said:

I'll just PM Alex and ask him what should I be spending money on, a LPS-1 or ISO Regen.

 

You may tell us a little how your setup is. As the LPS-1 won't help you much unless it's feeding something. 

 

But for sure you should use your money on the ISO regen, if you today run only a USB cable between your PC and DAC.

 

 

[flummoxe]

Please bare with me as this may be a dumb question.

 

Is there any worth in using the ISO REGEN before a microRendu which then feeds a Mutec MC-3+ Smart Clock USB?

 

Thanks

 

Paul

[R1200CL]

41 minutes ago, flummoxe said:

Please bare with me as this may be a dumb question.

 

Is there any worth in using the ISO REGEN before a microRendu which then feeds a Mutec MC-3+ Smart Clock USB?

 

Thanks

 

Paul

 

This is the question we all MicroRendu owners ask.

(After the MicroRendu of cause). 

 

And John and Alex more or less tried to answer it the best possible way they could. As you probably know John has not tested, but he said that since the SI (signal integrity) is better on the ISO regen, you may achieve something. Then also it has been discussed how many LPS-1 to be used ?

 

I think the answer to your question is to either purchase one and test, or to wait until various user reports arrives.

 

Still only your ears will tell you if this is something for you and your setup.

 

Don'f forgot that the USPCB may also add something or a lot. 

 

Since there is a 30 day money back guarantee, I suggest you place an order ASAP, before June production is gone ?

 

(And yes, I ordered as well).

 

Maybe you also can find some help here:

 

[Matias]

I have a LPS-1 + microRendu and just ordered a second LPS-1 + ISO Regen for another system. But I will be able to test them together and will report back if the improvement is significant or not.

[drjimwillie]

 I have three questions for a reality check please  

 I have a caps pipeline within HD Plex ATX LPS  which means that everything in my computer including the SOTM USB card get clean power.   I have a shunyata USB cable connected to an eastern electric mini max DAC supreme.  All of my components are plugged in to a Shunyata hydra. 

1.  Would the ISO regen help me?

2.  Would it defeat the ground isolation if I powered it with my HD Plex ATX ?

3.  Slightly off-topic,  I am assuming that with my set up a micro Rendu would not be a benefit is this correct?

 What do you suggest I do, please. 

 Thank you 

Bill