J KENNY ISO-HUB REVIEW

[Stellabagpuss]

Hi All,

Just thought i would submit a review of one J Kenny’s new products  “The ISO-HUB”.

 In fact John has just  released 5 new units, and at the same time has a lovely new website  https://www.ciunas.biz/ 

 In terms of trying to keeps my review a simply affair, I suggest you take a quick visit, as it will give you a better understanding of his products.

Like many others, I swapped my CD Player a few years back for Computer Audio, it had all the current technology of the date, Trichord Clock 4, Never Connected Supply. I still remember plugging in a cheap Musical Fidelity USB to SDPIF , into my Musical Fidelity  XDAC V3 DAC, using my sons laptop and JRiver.....Wow, in my view, time to say goodbye to CD’s.

I Enter PC based audio, where there are so many tweeks from units, changing power supplies , let alone  PC software, it’s a paradise for improvements, in many ways it’s Geek Hi-Fi.

At present, I’m on my 2^nd PC based HI-FI setup, I personally don’t like to stream from other devices, so call me old fashioned, I like my Hard Drives in the same box as the PC. Having tried many different software players, jRiver, Monkey Media,  I have ended up using Foobar 2000, I find it offers better replay quality, reliability. In tandem, I use Windows 10 OS, Fidelizer, Process Lasso and JPlay software.

My amp is a Pioneer A300R “Full Monty” modded by Tom Evans, and my Speakers are Monitor Audio Studio 20SE, all modded with 99.99 Pure Silver Cables.

Ok, so now that I have painted a brief picture of the set up.... I first stumbled upon J Kenny products on various HI-FI  forums, one of the things that drew me towards if designs is that they where battery power, and although at this early stage of HI-FI PC based knowledge, I was fully aware of how noisy power supplies effect the environment.  One of my other hobbies I have enjoyed for other 35 years is DXing, what’s that you may ask? I have been a member of the BDXC (British DX Club) from 14 years old, (I am now 48 eek!) Anyway the hobby is similar to being a Radio Ham, the only difference being you listen for weak signals from foreign countries, one example, during winter periods and when the “Space Weather” is good, you can listen to USA on medium wave, so it’s a listen only hobby that covers frequencies.

Over the years, it’s become bordering on impossible to enjoy the DX hobby, it’s all down to modern devices, SKY Boxes, Computers, Switch Mode Power Supplies, LED lighting, and PLT internet that  uses your homes electrical wiring to extend your broadband network anywhere in the house,  kiss goodbye to your hobby. You can try this out for yourself, go outside to the end of your garden  with a portable radio on medium wave, tune to  fair medium wave signal, then work into closer to your house, it’s swamped in noise.

So with it was my experience with noise that had a major influence on purchasing a Ciunas DAC, and it’s been in place with my set-up through all those tweek’s over the past few years.

As I stated, I like to read the comments on various HI-FI forums, and although I was very late at noticing  this, there had been what’s haled  at the time a major breakthrough product called by Uptone called “The Regen”,  and without going into the complexities of reformatting a USB signal  etc, it was clear to everyone’s ears that this brought an audible improvement when patched in between your PC motherboard USB output and the input of you USB DAC. As I had stated, I entered this at a late date, and a I read through the many pages of comments, it was apparent that many people where , pushing things further, better power supplies,  and this is where John Kenny seemed to enter into the discussion, what about battery powering “The Regen” ?, and with friendly help, that’s what happened, more reports of reports of improvements. I have to thank all those Moderators on those forums, no egos, all in the name of discovering improvements for HI-FI, positive thinking, brings positive results. Then other units started appearing on the market, but no of them battery powered.

Something that surprised me at the time is why any manufacture hadn’t  jumped on this improvement that  battery powering devices didn’t can bring. I actually emailed John Kenny about the idea of a all in one unit that reformatted and had Ciunas DAC built in, of course John was all over this, and he had plans to release new products.

And so I waited, and waited ....Tick Tock, for probably 20 months, John was busy at his end testing refining. In between I purchased some Audioquest Jitterbugs, that improved, things , and a few months ago , a JCAT Femto Card, which was a massive improvement.

Then, out of blue, a email from John, errr what’s this.. Five New Products!  That’s  would be why it’s taken so long to turnaround.

Like all of John’s products , you simply power the units via a 5 Volt DC power  supply, in my case a Samsung phone charger, this keeps the batteries topped up,  like the Ciunas DAC once you power up the ISO-HUB it runs on battery only , disconnecting from the noisy mains environment.

The ISO-HUB unit I purchase is the Internal battery Type, as it didn’t make financial sense to purchase the other units, already owning the Ciunas DAC. The ISO-HUB design is in keeping with  John’s other products, so you can stack units if you wish.

For my first test  I ran the ISO-HUB straight from my USB 3 on my Asus MB to the ISO-HUB then DAC. In my opinion this sounds better than Jcat femto to Ciunas DAC.

Then  secondly the Femto to ISO-HUB , this was even better,  not a surprise, as the Femto is far superior usb output than a motherboard.

The ISO-HUB has pushed up the audio quality up another notch, to be honest, after the purchase of the JCAT Femto card, and the improvement in sound it gave, I wasn't expecting another improvement, it's great to be proved wrong and surprised.

The biggest improvement, is a weird, add hock method of connection, which feeds my music HD  sata data cable into a small  esata to usb 3 bridge, into one of the Femto inputs, and with the other output that the femto has, it runs to the  ISO-HUB then into Ciunas DAC. This is the same method l used before the ISO-HUB.

 I think with the ISO-HUB  patched in, it's sounds far superior, sonically, I can only suggest that by plugging your Hard Drive direct , is a shorter signal path, than on your motherboard.

Low level details are cleaner, and you can really hear room acoustics on vocals, it's not that they are new, it's the way it's presented, the timing, the air,  it's when you revisit those old 1980's CD's, and you realise that your getting more sense, of what the producers vision. What is oblivious, that things have taken a big leap in audio quality. I really take on board the fact I have never tried “The Regen”, and I can only speak from the heart, my set up sounds amazing, so I am very happy. There really isn’t any point listing music played, as it needs to be something in your collection, that your used to listening too. I would say that old CD transfers that, just didn’t sound quite correct, is a bit of a ear opener!  Whatever method you go with, the ISO-HUB sounds to my ears better than the Femto, to DAC option,which is no mean feat, it just happens to sound better again if you feed the output from the Femto, and if you use my add hock method, even better again. This I am guessing is similar to playing USB files direct from a USB pen.

Am I painting a everything  is  picture perfect image,  well of course, nothing is totally perfect, we seek to improve, don’t we?

I am not a fan of where the voltage input connector is placed, I personally would have preferred it on the rear, by the USB connectors, I believe this is to fit in with the other units, again this a small thing really. And lastly I have found you need to be patience when powering up the Ciunas and ISO-HUB, with the exitcement of a  6 year old on Christmas day, I power both units up at the same time, and nothing would play! Eek, whats gone wrong, well  being impatience , that’s all. I found the method of waiting for your PC to fully boot with your programs etc ready go first, then turn on ISO-HUB, wait about 6 seconds, then switch the Ciunas DAC on wait another 6 seconds, for the units the lock together, then you are ready to go, this process also works if you turn the Ciunas DAC on 1^st, then ISO-HUB, just be patience, and get into that 6 seconds rule.

Of course if you purchase the new ISO-DAC this operational delay would never happen, and you get the bonus of less boxes, and a shorter signal path, so in theory the ISO-DAC could been even better?

In terms of service and back up, John is only a small outfit, it’s not Sony Corporation, and this is great news, I have found his customer service skills superb, always replies to emails, honest answers, no issues on repairs, returns.

I had a early issue with the Ciunas DAC, which John was very patience with,  it resulted in a return to base issue. I can laugh now, but slowly my ASUS motherboard at the time as dying, due to overheating, and some how, it changed the Ciunas to Speed Camera !  Of course, it was all very confusing, but once  I released it was the motherboard , it was all sorted, at the same time while the Ciunas was back at base, he kindly upgraded the internal wiring with 99.9% Pure Silver Wire I provided, this improved things again. By now , I guess you are getting a clear picture, to say John customers service is superb, is nearly a understatement.

John offers a 30 day trial on his products, so it’s well worth checking out. Just try looking for any used products on ebay etc....good luck, they rarely come up, as like myself, owners very rarely part with them, they are keepers!

I hope you have enjoyed my review, it’ passionate, goes off track, has poor grammar ,but helps build a general  picture, the bonus it’s something to read while the Mrs is watching the soaps LOL!

Regards

Damien Read

 

 

 

 

[Sloop John B]

Indeed I had a Ciunas DAC on a 30 day trial and very impressive it was to. In the end I went with a Hugo TT but am very interested in the ISO-HUB. 

 

.sjb

[Stellabagpuss]

Glad you enjoyed the review, as stated l only had a JCAT Femto card for 2 to 3 months,and it made a big difference

So I wasn't that positive that the ISOHUB would make much impact, the timing, air, acoustics of the room, its certainly a ear opener.

I am looking forward to read other user reviews and views

Damien

[chauphuong]

Why 4 usb out ports in ISOHUB? Why not 1 only?

[plissken]

Is it me or is this guerilla marketing?

[rickca]

2 hours ago, plissken said:

Is it me or is this guerilla marketing?

That's exactly how it struck me.

[Stellabagpuss]

Hi

I am the chap who wrote the review, l find your coments very strange, the whole idea was simply to build a honest story, a hopefully enjoyable read.

What on earth is guerrilla marketing? Is it something your involved in? I have no connection with J kenny, and apart from the issues mentioned, never met  or spoken to J Kenny

I hope this clears any miss conceptions that you may have.

Damien

[davide256]

Its a bit out of place since this is the networked audio section and the device is a hub, not a network device. He also posted the same exact review June 25th  on Steve Hoffman's Music Forum. The disorganized, rambling writing style is hard to view as a marketing attempt.

[rickca]

35 minutes ago, Stellabagpuss said:

I hope this clears any miss conceptions that you may have.

OK, maybe I'm paranoid but it did strike me as thinly disguised marketing designed to create interest in the product.  My apologies if I'm mistaken.

[davide256]

Damien, you had some good content but you need to write to others, not to yourself when posting a review. Write it offline, then be a merciless editor for anything off topic. I've taken the liberty to just cut the extraneous distractions in the edited version below so that you can see how the good content was obscured by the off topic musing.

 

Quote " Just thought i would submit a review of one J Kenny’s new products  “The ISO-HUB”.

 In fact John has just  released 5 new units, and at the same time has a lovely new website  https://www.ciunas.biz/ 

At present, I’m on my 2^nd PC based HI-FI setup, I personally don’t like to stream from other devices, so call me old fashioned, I like my Hard Drives in the same box as the PC. Having tried many different software players, jRiver, Monkey Media,  I have ended up using Foobar 2000, I find it offers better replay quality, reliability. In tandem, I use Windows 10 OS, Fidelizer, Process Lasso and JPlay software.

My amp is a Pioneer A300R “Full Monty” modded by Tom Evans, and my Speakers are Monitor Audio Studio 20SE, all modded with 99.99 Pure Silver Cables.

The ISO-HUB unit I purchase is the Internal battery Type, as it didn’t make financial sense to purchase the other units, already owning the Ciunas DAC. The ISO-HUB design is in keeping with  John’s other products, so you can stack units if you wish.

For my first test  I ran the ISO-HUB straight from my USB 3 on my Asus MB to the ISO-HUB then DAC. In my opinion this sounds better than Jcat femto to Ciunas DAC.

Then  secondly the Femto to ISO-HUB , this was even better,  not a surprise, as the Femto is far superior usb output than a motherboard.

The ISO-HUB has pushed up the audio quality up another notch, to be honest, after the purchase of the JCAT Femto card, and the improvement in sound it gave, I wasn't expecting another improvement, it's great to be proved wrong and surprised.

The biggest improvement, is a weird, add hock method of connection, which feeds my music HD  sata data cable into a small  esata to usb 3 bridge, into one of the Femto inputs, and with the other output that the femto has, it runs to the  ISO-HUB then into Ciunas DAC. This is the same method l used before the ISO-HUB.

 I think with the ISO-HUB  patched in, it's sounds far superior, sonically, I can only suggest that by plugging your Hard Drive direct , is a shorter signal path, than on your motherboard.

Low level details are cleaner, and you can really hear room acoustics on vocals, it's not that they are new, it's the way it's presented, the timing, the air,  it's when you revisit those old 1980's CD's, and you realise that your getting more sense, of what the producers vision. What is oblivious, that things have taken a big leap in audio quality. Whatever method you go with, the ISO-HUB sounds to my ears better than the Femto, to DAC option,which is no mean feat, it just happens to sound better again if you feed the output from the Femto, and if you use my add hock method, even better again. This I am guessing is similar to playing USB files direct from a USB pen.

I am not a fan of where the voltage input connector is placed, I personally would have preferred it on the rear, by the USB connectors, I believe this is to fit in with the other units, again this a small thing really. And lastly I have found you need to be patience when powering up the Ciunas and ISO-HUB, I found the method of waiting for your PC to fully boot with your programs etc ready go first, then turn on ISO-HUB, wait about 6 seconds, then switch the Ciunas DAC on wait another 6 seconds, for the units the lock together, then you are ready to go, this process also works if you turn the Ciunas DAC on 1^st, then ISO-HUB, just be patience, and get into that 6 seconds rule.

Of course if you purchase the new ISO-DAC this operational delay would never happen, and you get the bonus of less boxes, and a shorter signal path, so in theory the ISO-DAC could been even better?

In terms of service and back up, John is only a small outfit, it’s not Sony Corporation, and this is great news, I have found his customer service skills superb, always replies to emails, honest answers, no issues on repairs, returns.

John offers a 30 day trial on his products, so it’s well worth checking out. Just try looking for any used products on ebay etc....good luck, they rarely come up, as like myself, owners very rarely part with them, they are keepers!"

Unquote

[juanitox]

feel a little bored with all this fakes reviews...

[davide256]

I still have a JK MKIII asynch USB converter sitting in the closet, time has passed it by but at the time I bought it (several years ago) better options were far more expensive and it surpassed the Vlink and other converters I already owned.

 

This is the link to the self powered model on the Ciunas

 

https://www.ciunas.biz/product-page/iso-hub-internal-power

 

Doesn't seem to have any of the hoopla about minimizing device LRC interaction  so that's a minus when compared to the Regen. The fact that you can connect 4 USB devices to it as a hub doesn't resonate, sounds like a bad idea to have your audio peripherals on the same USB hub. But I'm into network audio connectivity, maybe someone who is focused on PC attached audio can share their experience, thoughts?

[Elberoth]

What makes you think it is a fake review ? 

 

I had Jkenny's USB-SPDIF converter a few years back, also battery powered, and it was a very solid performer. I like the idea  of powering stuff with an internal LiFePO4 battery. IMO it makes a lot of sense, making stuff like UpTone Audio LPS-1 redundant. 

[juanitox]

Quote

What makes you think it is a fake review ? 

because i'm not born yesterday.

 

and this kind of adverstising from a fresh newbie member is usual and should be in the sponsored part of the forum.

 

[Stellabagpuss]

1 hour ago, juanitox said:

because i'm not born yesterday.

Or you refuse to believe my honesty, and perhaps you prefer to believe you are correct.

If you wish to PM myself ,  l will happily speak to you via the telephone, l think you will find nothing fake at this end.

II have nothing to do, or any association with J Kenny.

I look forward to myself proving my association with J kenny wrong, if you will allow me too?

 

Damien

[Elberoth]

1 hour ago, juanitox said:

because i'm not born yesterday.

 

and this kind of adverstising from a fresh newbie member is usual and should be in the sponsored part of the forum.

 

 

Let's not get paranoid. 

[Sloop John B]

Sometimes when one hears and enjoys a product from a lesser known manufacturer one has more desire to let the world know than if one bought an iPhone, good as an iPhone may be, most people probably have heard of them. 

 

How this could possibly upset anyone I just don't know. 

 

Do some people just look out for threads to annoy them?

 

nowt as queer as folk. 

 

.sjb

 

Disclosure: I do know John Kenny, he called to the house with extra USB cables when I was trialling the Ciunas DAC. He is evangelical about the positive effects of battery power and I tend to think he may well have a point, it's what attracted me to the Hugo TT. 

 

 

[juanitox]

sorry if i hurts someone but i was just giving my point of view and i can be wrong .... sometimes.

[Stellabagpuss]

No problem juanitox, I totally understand, l simply enjoyed the product, hadn't seen anything written, and just share my feelings.

 

Damien

[Nikhil]

Damien,

 

Welcome to Computer Audiophile!

 

No need to explain your position - it's not like the others don't have their own agendas on here.

I for one value opinions like this highly.  I also like John Kenny's work and comments online.

 

I use the Uptone Audio Regen in my setup for some time now.   

I would be interested in comparison of the ISO HUB with the Regen or ISO Regen.

 

Regards

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Stellabagpuss]

5 hours ago, Nikhil said:

I would be interested in comparison of the ISO HUB with the Regen or ISO Regen.

Yes, I am really looking forward to peoples comparisons, I would have purchased a Regen, but as I read into various threads, I could see people where trying different PSU and batteries, running different boxes etc, and simply decided to wait on J Kenny ISOHUB, which in all honesty took to long to get out in the market, so long I got a Femto card. I guess the issue with the ISOHUB could be that many people have already invested in the Regen and other units etc.

Time will tell, and I am looking forward to the views

 

Damien

[Kilauea50]

I just received my ISO-Dac with the external battery power and couldn't be happier.  I cannot believe how black the background is - I mean not a hint of noise.  So far, this unit paired with an ultrarendu is the best my system has ever sounded.  

[Stellabagpuss]

1 hour ago, Kilauea50 said:

So far, this unit paired with an ultrarendu is the best my system has ever sounded.  

That's great to read. One of the pluses is the soundstage,almost holographic, l am still hearing new bits and pieces as l rediscover my collection.

Anyway, it's good to see someone elses view.

[Kilauea50]

On 7/30/2017 at 0:23 AM, Stellabagpuss said:

That's great to read. One of the pluses is the soundstage,almost holographic, l am still hearing new bits and pieces as l rediscover my collection.

Anyway, it's good to see someone elses view.

If you want a real treat, buy the ISO-PS to power your uR.  I have the battery connected to the 5v LPS-1 setting and the uR to the battery and it just sounds crazy good.  This battery technology has me convinced.  To say the background is black is an understatement.  I am hearing music like I never before

[Stellabagpuss]

Sorry what is a ur ?