Jump to content
IGNORED

ISO REGEN Listening Impressions (kicked off with some measurements)


Recommended Posts

  • 3 weeks later...

Hello everybody, especially @Superdad :-).

I have been a happy user of the ISOregen + LPS-1 + USPCB combo since several months now.

I have just got a Chord DAVE DAC, and I am not being able to use the IR in combination with it.

I can play music flawlessly with a direct USB connection between my laptop and the DAVE, but as soon as I add the IR in the chain, Windows does not see the DAC, and the DAVE displays USB no data on its screen. Tried with many players (HQ Player, JPlaymini, JRiver MC) and obviously, since Windows cannot see the DAC when the IR is in place, no music comes out of my headphones.

Here is what I have tried so far:

1.      Switching off the ISO on the IR

2.      Changing the location of the IR in the chain, i.e. PC > USPCB > IR > USB Cable > DAC or PC > USB Cable > IR > USPCB > DAC

3.      Changing the USB cable (tried three cables, including the stock standard USB cable provided with the DAVE)

4.      Replacing the USPCB with an USB cable

None of the above has worked.

Of course, I tried again connecting my previous DAC instead of the DAVE, with the IR in place, and everything works as usual.

Therefore, the problem seems specific to the interaction between the IR and the DAVE.

I would greatly appreciate any ideas or suggestions!

Thank you in advance,

Simone

 

ZENith MkII SE  > ISO REGEN (LPS1.2) > MScaler > OPTO DX > DAVE > Riviera AIC-10 >  AB-1266 Phi TC / Valkyria / LS3/5a

Link to comment
2 hours ago, simorag said:

Hello everybody, especially @Superdad :-).

I have been a happy user of the ISOregen + LPS-1 + USPCB combo since several months now.

I have just got a Chord DAVE DAC, and I am not being able to use the IR in combination with it.

 

Hi Simone:

 

Thanks for posting.  It is puzzling since we do have quite a few other ISO REGEN>Chord DAVE users, so it should work.

 

Can you (or did you already) try having everything hooked up and powered on EXCEPT the ISO REGEN--and then apply power to the ISO REGEN last.

 

Clearly--since you have no trouble with your other DAC with the same computer--Windows is seeing the ISO REGEN, and the downstream port of the ISO REGEN is functioning properly.

 

The other thing to try is to completely uninstall the DAVE drivers.  Then with the ISO REGEN in place and everything powered on (again, for this I would power the ISO REGEN last), reinstall the DAC driver s/w.  This is actually your most likely solution as I think your Windows machine/DAVE drivers are not "seeing" the DAC through the path of the hub (ISO REGEN).

 

We look forward to reading the further results of your testing based on the above.

 

Cheers,

--Alex C.

Link to comment

Hi Alex,

 

thank you for your very quick reply!

 

I am glad to report that the first of your suggestions (powering up the IR last) has worked fine!

 

I am very happy it did work, because I am now addicted to the goodies that the IR brings, I am glad to have them back :-)

 

Again, thank you for your support,

 

Ciao,

Simone

ZENith MkII SE  > ISO REGEN (LPS1.2) > MScaler > OPTO DX > DAVE > Riviera AIC-10 >  AB-1266 Phi TC / Valkyria / LS3/5a

Link to comment
  • 4 weeks later...

Hi Superdad - need your assistance on a small point. 

 

Have had my iso-regen and Lps-1 for a while now. I decided to use your kit with a Dac/Headamp which does not need 5v on its usb input - other than for the initial handshake.

 

I was connecting the out usb from my Aries Mini streamer to the DAC using an Elihah Isolaate cable - separate wire for the 5V and supplied via a AA battery pack. Once they have done the handshake I can always turn the battery pack off and full functionality is maintained. 

 

Once I insert the iso-regen powered by the  Lps-1, with the Elijah cable staying between the streamer and iso-regen, I can no longer turn the battery off or the iso/dac stop being recognised mid song. 

 

This is not what I was expecting - any suggestions? Or do I just revert to a cheap usb cable? 

Thanks Vincent 

Sydneysider

Link to comment

Back after a few months away, including ten weeks in India. In October, before leaving, I connected the Mac Mini via a (new, properly oriented) USPCB A>B Adapter -- instead of the LH Labs Lightspeed USB -- into the ISO Regen and then via another USPCB A>B Adapter into the Berkeley Alpha USB. The ISO switch remained on. The dropouts that had disappeared after the grounding trick suggested by Alex reappeared with the inclusion of the first USPCB A>B Adapter. I removed the grounding wire and turned off the isolation switch, and again problems disappeared. I have just now turned  the ISO switch on again, without the grounding: it has been some hours and no dropouts yet. Fingers crossed and shall keep you informed, but what gives?

 

UptonedMacMini(onJS2)>TelluriumSiverDiamondUSB>IsREgen(onLPS1onJS2)>Curious(short)>BerkeleyAlphaUSB>TomboTronBNC>MetrumPavaneDAC>SilvermithPalladium>MargulesSF(20SE)Pre>TelluriumSilverDiamond>MarguesU280c(25SE)Amp>AZAbsoluteSpeakercables>MargulesOrpheus+MarguleSub.CD:Cambridge851C>StealthVaridigSextet>MetrumPavane.

Powerconditioning/cables:AudienceAR6TSSD;KubalaSosnaElationon>AR6;OndaRaptureonPre-andAmp;KaplancablesonDAC/Transport;Combak350>JS-2;AZAbsolute>Alpha USB.

5ab04fc775d4d_2018-02-1511_30_04.thumb.jpg.bdba2e1c8a8ba2d514247b298a41222d.jpg

Link to comment
3 hours ago, sdube said:

Fingers crossed and shall keep you informed, but what gives?

 

Hi Saurabh:

 

At this point, for your system, I really do not have any idea what is causing the variabilities you have been reporting.  We know it is not your sample of ISO REGEN, as we replaced it for you many months ago.

Something in your system--or even with other appliances and lighting on your electrical system--may have changed.  It is known that the Berkeley Alpha UBS>S/PDIF--with its floating/bus-powered USB input--is rather sensitive to even the slightest signaling disturbances.

 

Full galvanic isolation with USB can be a tricky thing.  So at this point, for your system, if the problem comes up again, you may have to live with using the ISO REGEN with the isolation defeated.  That aspect of the device still accounts for only about 15-20% of its overall "greatness" in my opinion.

 

Do keep us posted though. (And maybe look around at your system and household devices.  I seem to recall you saying that in your location you have some general power problems.)

 

Best,

--Alex C.

Link to comment

A very nice gentleman in Oregon just sent me a review he wrote for another forum (https://www.audioaficionado.org), and he gave me permission to repost it here:

---------------------------

 

Test Driving the UpTone Audio ISO REGEN

Short-and-Sweet Summary for the TMI-averse: Bozhe moi!

Background: If you’ve followed the nearly year-long morphing of my laptop-based bedroom audio system from “secondary” to for-all-practical-purposes primary listening venue, you know that I’ve employed what amounts to a nickel-and-dime approach to tweaking it since treating its walls and corners with a bevy of GIK bass-trap and scatter-plate panels that have rendered it a visual Stonehenge. 

It’s an approach appropriate to a fixed-income-retiree’s budget, and each successive baby-step investment (in Wireworld Electra 7 power cords, a Walker-modded Luminous Audio passive line stage, and an Uptone Audio LPS-1 power supply for the REGEN USB-stream regenerator affixed to my TEAC digital-to-analog converter) has kicked the system’s perceived-to-these-ears sonic performance up several notches. 

I’d already achieved big performance gains with two enhancements to the entry-level purchased-in-2015 REGEN—the $35 USPCB A>B Adapter (far superior in sonic terms to a six-inch USB cable), followed late last year with Uptone’s LPS-1 linear power supply. The improvement evident with the latter was so huge (comparable to what I’d experienced with the upgraded-connector Electra 7s) that I wondered if the ISO REGEN with its upgraded hub chip and galvanic isolation could achieve a near-comparable performance bump. And you know what happens when an audiophile begins to “wonder”.

Here’s Uptone’s plain-English description of the ISO’s galvanic isolation function: The ISO REGEN creates a “moat” to isolate the power and signal grounds from computer/stream USB sources before your DAC. This “moat” blocks leakage currents and other low level interference from the source. What you should hear, Uptone adds, is more accurate bass, the unmasking of microdynamics, and more air and space around instruments and performers.

Only one way to find out if this was true, so I ordered one. It arrived a couple of days later via Two-Day Priority Mail.

Hookup:
As is suggested by the comparative size of its USB ports, the ISO REGEN is as diminutive as its entry-level sibling. The dip switch in the red area on the input side allows the user to switch galvanic isolation “on” or “off”. The default “down” position is “on”, and that’s how I leave it configured for normal operation. 

picture.php?albumid=528&pictureid=4589A semi-rigid USPCB A>B adapter is included as standard with the ISO REGEN. The “A” connector is inserted into the the regenerator’s output, the “B” into the TEAC DAC’s input (circled in red).

picture.php?albumid=528&pictureid=4590Installing the ISO REGEN leaves its chassis bottom suspended about 1.25” above the shelf top, with its only support the semi-rigid USB adapter inserted in the DAC. Not a good idea, in my view, given the downward force gravity and the ISO’s power supply and USB input cables exert on the device’s rear. So, as I’d done with the original REGEN, I cut a 1.25”-high piece of .75”-thick oak to support the ISO.

Listening: 
Right off the no-settling-time bat, the ISO REGEN demonstrated that it had earned its keep. And, with galvanic isolation enabled, a whole lot more.  

I added the “galvanic isolation enabled” qualifier because I hear a distinctly audible difference between the “on” and “off” modes. Don’t get me wrong. Even with the isolation function disabled, the sonic presentation with the ISO REGEN installed is more open and more transparent than what I hear with the original REGEN. I’d call it an incremental improvement. But enable galvanic isolation, and, with anything resembling a halfway-decent recording…

To begin the audition, I loaded Leonard Bernstein’s reading with the New York Philharmonic of the fourth movement of Bela Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra (Columbia/Sony 16/44 rip, recorded 1959 at Brooklyn’s St. George Hotel) into JRiver and clicked “Play”. And shook my head almost immediately. (I also let fly with a juicy exclamation at that point, but since this is polite company…) 

Yes, the soundstage widened more than a tad to extend itself fully wall-to-wall, it deepened considerably farther behind the front wall boundary, the overall spatial sensation was even “airier”—by a considerable margin--than it had been following the Walker-mod Luminous Audio passive line stage upgrade, bass was tauter, and instrumental tonality struck me as purer—or, if you’d like, more accurate. But that was just for starters.

If you’ve glanced at my last couple of reviews, you know that I’ve alluded to the progressively increased sensation of being able to “reach in and touch someone” in the soundstage. Well, in listening to the Bartok with the ISO in place, that paradigm flipped. The performers—or rather their instruments--were reaching out and touching me. It’s not that their physical locations had moved forward. Their now more fully-fleshed-out images remained firmly rooted in the more expansive space they occupied. But the output of their instruments was, for want of a better word, energizing the listening room space (including, I suspect from the enhanced sense of in-room ambience, the scatter plates fronting my rear-corner GIK traps) in a manner that communicated “live” in spades.  

A couple of months ago, Serge initiated a thread asking if any of us had experienced a sensation tantamount to room pressurization initiated by a recording. If what hit me with the Bartok was not quite measurable in isobars, it was nonetheless way ahead of whatever’s in second place. 

A one-off? I next put on a rip of the Buddha Records CD reissue of Henry Mancini’s score for “Peter Gunn”, with Mancini conducting a not inconsiderable array of jazz talent. Originally released by RCA in 1959, this is a “Living Stereo” recording in the best sense. With the ISO REGEN installed I could feel Dick Nash’s trombone, Pete Candoli’s trumpet, and the key strikes of pianist Johnny Williams to a far greater degree than what I’d heard pre-ISO. More than that, I was darned near sitting in with them.

A round of now-more-dimensionally-layered choral embedded in the Emil Tchakarov-conducted “Polovtsian Dances with Choir” from Borodin’s Prince Igor (Sony 16/44 rip) continued the “good grief, they’re in the room” hot streak. And it’s kept rolling since during more than 100 hours of listening to rips and hi-rez downloads of classical, filmscores, jazz, opera, and vocals. Not that the ISO will render pan-potted-to-death studio recordings, Phase 4s, and the like step-into-them holograms, though in every one of those instances where I’ve listened to such the output is noticeably more resolved top-to-bottom across the frequency spectrum. 

I’d read a review of the ISO REGEN on another website where the reviewer stated that while he heard greater clarity and a more silent background with the unit in the loop, he sensed a diminution of pace, rhythm, and timing. That’s not the case here, as I haven’t detected a single PRaTfall from a recording fed through the ISO. Quite the opposite. The ISO delivers on its promise of unmasking microdynamics, and in my listening that achievement--and the concurrent unmasking of previously under-the-radar inner voicing, a sharper delineation of attack, sustain, and decay, and the fleshing out of instruments and voices energizing the space around them--facilitates a more enhanced perception of PRaT.

Conclusion: The ISO REGEN is enough of a transformative game-changer in the bedroom system that I don’t expect to muck around with any more upgrades there. But I have started to save my pennies for an ISO REGEN to install in the living-dining-room system.
__________________
Jim T., Corvallis, OR

Living-Dining Room: Win 10 AMD A12 laptop/JRiver Media Center 22 audio player, with music fed by 3TB external drive; Wireworld Starlight 7 USB cable; TEAC UD-501 DAC; upgraded SOTA Sapphire III; Origin Live Encounter Mk3c/Ortofon 2M Black, Graham Slee Era Gold V; McIntosh MR77; Oppo BDP-83; conrad johnson Premier 17LS (6922EH); conrad-johnson MF2500; Paradigm SE-3. Wireworld Equinox 6 ICs, Blue Jeans/Belden 5T00UP SC. PS Audio Dectet, Wireworld Electra 5/2 PCs (PR17LS, Dectet), Hubbell HBL5362 duplex outlet. GIK standard 244 and scatter-plate 244 and Monster traps.

Home Office: Win 10 PC/JRiver Media Center 22 audio player, with music fed by 4TB external drive; Uptone Audio REGEN via USPCB A>B Adapter; TEAC UD-501 DAC; Luminous Audio Axiom Mk. II passive line stage; c-j Sonographe SA250; Paradigm SE-1. WW Equinox 6 IC, Blue Jeans/Belden 5T00UP speaker cable, Shunyata Hydra PLC, Wireworld Electra 5^2 power cord from PLC to UD-501. 

Bedroom: Win 10 i7 laptop/JRiver Media Center 22 audio player; Wireworld Silver Starlight 7 USB cable to Uptone Audio ISO REGEN via USPCB A>B Adapter; Uptone Audio LPS-1 power supply; TEAC UD-501; Luminous Audio Axiom Mk. II Walker Mod passive line stage; c-j Sonographe SA250 w/Vampire input jacks and Cardas binding posts; stand-mounted Paradigm Studio 20 v.5. WW Eclipse 7 ICs; Blue Jeans/Belden 5T00UP speaker cable; Blue Circle Thingee FX 0e PLC; upgraded-connector WW Electra 7 power cords (from wall to PLC and from PLC to UD-501); PS Audio Power Port; Stillpoints Ultra Minis under laptop, LPS-1, and SA250; GIK 244, 244 Scatter Plate, 224, and Monster traps, DIY 4"-thick 12"x15" traps.
 
Link to comment
2 hours ago, Superdad said:

 

Nice set-up Saurabh!  B| 

Very glad to know that things are working well for you.

--Alex C. 

Thanks so much, Alex. As I have mentioned, I write with music playing, so that is going well, too. (Touch wood.) I will send a question your way on email about the new LPS.

UptonedMacMini(onJS2)>TelluriumSiverDiamondUSB>IsREgen(onLPS1onJS2)>Curious(short)>BerkeleyAlphaUSB>TomboTronBNC>MetrumPavaneDAC>SilvermithPalladium>MargulesSF(20SE)Pre>TelluriumSilverDiamond>MarguesU280c(25SE)Amp>AZAbsoluteSpeakercables>MargulesOrpheus+MarguleSub.CD:Cambridge851C>StealthVaridigSextet>MetrumPavane.

Powerconditioning/cables:AudienceAR6TSSD;KubalaSosnaElationon>AR6;OndaRaptureonPre-andAmp;KaplancablesonDAC/Transport;Combak350>JS-2;AZAbsolute>Alpha USB.

5ab04fc775d4d_2018-02-1511_30_04.thumb.jpg.bdba2e1c8a8ba2d514247b298a41222d.jpg

Link to comment

Received IR and LPS 1.2 last week, hooked up on Friday and have been listening/burning in since. At first connection, a change was notable (iMac->Silver Dragon USB cable ->IR->USPCB A>B->Chord Dave->Black Dragon Headphone cable->Focal Utopias). Context: I am relatively new to digital audio and was previously a 2-channel listener with an AudioResearch CD-Player, etc. I couldn't abide fully digital listening until I listened to music streaming from my iMac into a Chord Mojo DAC (iMac->Silver Dragon USB cable->Chord Mojo->Black Dragon cable->Focal Elears). A new sense of ease ensued. I could hear music again. I moved forward to the Dave and Focal Utopias and I was able to engage with the music in a way the nearly matched my 2-channel listening experience. With the IR powered by the LPS 1.2, things have shifted to much greater ease in listening. I am hearing each instrument clearly and integrated into a closer approximation to a live experience. Localization cues are better. Ambience (from live recordings) is much better. There are still constraints, but they don't prevent me from relaxing into the music. I had a new experience of thinking something had fallen somewhere in the house when it was in the recording. The IR with the LPS 1.2 has significantly improved my musical enjoyment.

 

I'm curious. At AudioBacon, replacement of the stock Uptone Audio DC cable with a ZenWave silver cable reportedly improved sound. Anyone here willing to comment?

 

Next step, Innuos MkII SE server starting with Silver Dragon USB cable to IR. Next step Chord Blu2. I could stop where I am and be content. But I can tell from TT.vinyl experience that more might be attainable.

 

Lastly, Alex is simply amazing. I don't know how he finds the hours to do what he does at Uptone. His customer service is incredible. I await with great interest in what inventive mischief he and Mr. Swenson are up to. I love the way this company rolls.

Link to comment

Ditto, Inigo, on Alex's customer service. Where he finds the hours to deliver it mystifies me.

 

I'd add that after a few hundred hours' operation, the output I hear with the ISO REGEN/LPS 1 in place* exhibits the ease and flow I associate with well-recorded analog, while maintaining the dynamic reach and punch of digital. I'm surprised at how liquid and venue-spacious ripped CDs (mostly large-ensemble classical and jazz) I'd considered marginal pre-IR/LPS 1 sound. And well-made high-resolution downloads? I spent part of last night shaking my head at the lifelike "they're in the room, and they've made it huuuuge" presence of the ensemble in the  24/176 iteration of Eiji Oue's reading of Rachmaninoff's "Symphonic Dances" with the Minnesota Orchestra (a Keith Johnson Reference Recordings production). And not just the presence, but the unmasking of previously-buried low-level details of inner voicing that enrich the sense of rhythmic and melodic flow. It's all there.

 

Now I'm saving my pennies for an LPS 1.2 to complete the system.

 

* Yeah, I'm the guy Alex graciously misidentified as a "gentleman" a few posts back (he doesn't know me very well).

 

Jim

 

 

   

Link to comment
21 minutes ago, Bigbwb said:

will the mean well power supply that comes with the LPS-1 work safely to power the ISO Regen?

 

Most definitely!  

 

But just to be clear about the other direction: The 22W Mean Well SMPS that comes with the REGENs (and with the original UltraCap LPS-1) is not sufficient to power the new generation LPS-1.2., which requires the 36W charger we ship ship with it.

 

Have a great weekend everyone,

 

—Alex C.

Link to comment
3 minutes ago, Superdad said:

 

Most definitely!  

 

But just to be clear about the other direction: The 22W Mean Well SMPS that comes with the REGENs (and with the original UltraCap LPS-1) is not sufficient to power the new generation LPS-1.2., which requires the 36W charger we ship ship with it.

 

Have a great weekend everyone,

 

—Alex C.

 

Thanks alex for the prompt reply! I recently sold my original Regen and now have a ISO Regen and LPS-1 (used) on the way!  I may end up just keeping the ISO Regen.

Link to comment
On 3/9/2018 at 12:15 PM, jimtranr said:

I'd add that after a few hundred hours' operation, the output I hear with the ISO REGEN/LPS-1 in place exhibits the ease and flow I associate with well-recorded analog, while maintaining the dynamic reach and punch of digital. I'm surprised at how liquid and venue-spacious ripped CDs (mostly large-ensemble classical and jazz) I'd considered marginal pre-IR/LPS 1 sound.

 

Gentleman Jim (B|), 

Thanks for posting your impressions.  Indeed it seems that there is lots of life and nuance--ease and flow as you put it--still to be found on the humble CD.  We are happy to be a contributor to folks getting more satisfaction from their music collection.

ENJOY!

 

--Alex C.

Link to comment

Sorry if this question has been asked before.  Can I safely run my ISO Regen off 5V if my dac (Chord DAVE) only needs the 5V to recognise a usb input?

Zenith SE > USPCB (5v off) > tX-USBultra 9V (SR4) > Sablon Reserva Elite USB > M Scaler > WAVE Stream bnc > DAVE > Prion4/Lazuli Reference > Utopia/LCD-4/HE1000se

Link to comment
22 minutes ago, str-1 said:

Sorry if this question has been asked before.  Can I safely run my ISO Regen off 5V if my dac (Chord DAVE) only needs the 5V to recognise a usb input?

 

Sure, that's fine.

 

The 4 ultra-ultra-low-noise LT3042 voltage regulators on the the downstream side of the ISO REGEN--powered by whatever external DC supply you have attached--at all set to 3.3V for the various circuit elements (2 for the USB 3.1 hub chip, 1 for the Crystek 575 clock, 1 for the downstream side of the isolator chip).  So 5V in, 3.3V out gives the regs plenty of drop to regulate in.

 

Now the 1-amp TI TPS7A4700 that we dedicate to producing very clean 5VBUS power does normally need to be feed more than 5V to regulate to 5V.  With just 5V in the VBUS output won't be regulated.  But two factors in your circumstance make this not a big deal:

 

a) You indicate your DAC really only needs VBUS for a handshake, so getting 4.9 volts instead of a full 5V is no big deal--as your DAC is not presenting much(any?) load pulling that unregulated voltage down lower;

 

b) I seem to recall that you are using one of our UltraCap supplies to power the ISO REGEN, and since that is already VERY clean power, it is not a big deal if it essentially is passed through for the VBUS.

 

All that said, please remember that the ISO REGEN itself does need 5VBUS coming into its USB 'B' input jack.  It sips about 15mA of VBUS to power the upstream side of the isolator chip.  (And that is where the 5th LT3042 is used--to make 3.3V for that side of the isolator instead of using the chip's noisy internal 3.3V regulator as others do.)  Even if your DAC does not need VBUS power to operate, the ISO REGEN does. (That's a common question we receive, so I mention it here.)

 

Best,

--Alex C.

Link to comment

Alex- is there a longer replacement cord for the one between the ISO Regen and the LPS 1 so I can move the LPS 1 further from my devises?  My LPS 1 that powers my IR is now sitting on my small desk along with my Concero HD dac and Schiit Jot. It seems the LPS 1 may be causing some interference making my headphones way brighter than normal. I cannot move the LPS 1 off of my desk with the lack of cord length and where the IR is positioned now. Please advise.  I am powering the Concert HD with a aqvox USB power supply.  I am running the power from the LPS 1 to the IR at 5V now after the aqvox install. I also have the galvanic iso off at the IR. This never has never worked in my system for any longer than 30 minutes before losing signal. 

 

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

Paul F.

Link to comment
34 minutes ago, RamDawg said:

I also have the galvanic iso off at the IR. This never has never worked in my system for any longer than 30 minutes before losing signal. 

 

Paul, I don't know if this will help, but initially I had issues with my DAC randomly losing the input signal via the IR (with galvanic isolation enabled) after several minutes. At the time, the IR was unsupported from below, its chassis bottom suspended a little over an inch above the shelf top. I cut a wood block to fit and put it under the IR. I also moved the LPS-1 powering the IR from its right-next-to-the-DAC location to a different shelf (the stock power cord was long to enable the move). Bottom line: No more dropouts with GI enabled. YMMV.

 

Jim

Link to comment

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now



×
×
  • Create New...