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ISO Regen performance Improvement Cheap!


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Good Point Larry.  For my use I'll power a regen at the PC, the isoregen at the dac and my intel SLC SSD inside my PC, all draw less than .5A so this solution should work fine.  Trying to power higher amperage devices may not be advised, tho you could use 2 pairs of cat 7 for each DC + and - and up the amperage levels thru the cable using your tear it apart method.

 

Here is a RJ45 pre soldered to a breakout board that has a magnetic transformer inside, you can also buy just the breakout board and solder your own RJ45 to it with no transformer inside the RJ45.  I will try both ways.  Then play with different power leads from board to LPSU.

 

5af864282079d_RJ45magjack.jpg.ae91a53b43c7465df53a974674725189.jpg

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9 hours ago, AnotherSpin said:

Will this give any improvement with Regen first generation (amber Regen)? Thank you.

 

I put 2 PoE into my system at first, one at PC side going from LPSU to regen and one at dac side going to IR.  Did both at same time so can't comment on change for each device but the effect was very huge in my system and I was using starquad cable with JSSG mod shield as my DC connectors before this change.

 

FYI as reported on the audiomart forum different brands of cat 7 cable sound different from one another, go figure.

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10 minutes ago, Quadman said:

FYI as reported on the audiomart forum different brands of cat 7 cable sound different from one another, go figure.

 

Well since it has been confirmed that these double-pair cheating adapters (they are really not PoE adapters in the traditional sense) don’t have transformers and as applied with this tweak are simply an easy means to try various Ethernet cables as DC cables, then it should come as no surprise that different topology and constrction of CAT cables yield different results.

 

Ultimately what needs to be considered and gotten to the bottom of is which wire construction and topology sounds best and why. B|

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15 minutes ago, Superdad said:

Ultimately what needs to be considered and gotten to the bottom of is which wire construction and topology sounds best and why. B|

 

 

And I suppose it can vary by system as to which cable sounds best.  The Why part may be a bit harder to explain.

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General consensus seems to be moving towards the cables with greater levels of shielding but early days yet.

Awaiting delivery of 2 types of CAT8 cables to see if any further improvements can be found.

All complete guess work but maybe the shielding is inducting away some crap on even high quality dc supplies :confused:

 

To give me some better chance of helping the shielding I have soldered grounding lines to the shield on one end of the CAT7 cables and fed these to an earth.

I also cut back a POE connector I use and found at least the DC positive and negative are taken directly off the ends of the wire spring pins from the Ethernet connections so probably best case for this application. I expect there are varying quality cheap POE connector sets out there.

 

POE connection below, DC wires are multi-strand silvered copper. Pair 1&2 negative and Pair 4&5 positive.

IBRA_Flat_CAT7.jpg

 

IBRA Round CAT7 with soldered ground wire of shield, easy to solder shield!!

Earth_on_Shield.jpg

Audio PC - Gigabyte H97M-D3H, i7 at 800Mhz, RAM at 800Mhz & PPA OCXO Mobo, Teradak ATX Linear for 20 pin ATX on Mobo, Paul Hynes SR7EHD 12v, 5v & 5v supply on Mobo, Stammheim 12x LT3045's for 1.3v to RAM direct supply, JCat V2 USB Card, WTFPlay Linux Audiophile Player control by MELE F10, Startech LEX to REX on 12v Paul Hynes with 2x SLC cards and out by POE to ISO/Regen, PPA Red USB Cable, Lampizator Big7, Nige design Lifepo4 powered amp, Raidho C1s.

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2 hours ago, Quadman said:

 

I put 2 PoE into my system at first, one at PC side going from LPSU to regen and one at dac side going to IR.  Did both at same time so can't comment on change for each device but the effect was very huge in my system and I was using starquad cable with JSSG mod shield as my DC connectors before this change.

 

FYI as reported on the audiomart forum different brands of cat 7 cable sound different from one another, go figure.

 

Thank you for reply! I think I may try it with regen. The cables which worked for you – what are the brands/types? Is it available at Amazon?

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You guys must have missed my post in the main thread where I already opened up several different cables to inspect, including IBRA, Vandesail, and Amazon Cat7s. The IBRA was the WORST of the bunch in terms of build quality. The individual shielding is half-assed, the mesh braid felt so light and thin I thought it was fake. I laughed when I cut the thing open. Hell *I* could make a better cable with one hand. And scotch in the other. 

 

The cable with the best build quality was the Amazon. Night and day. It had the best internal construction of the lot; Multiple layers of shielding; proper and *tightly* wrapped. Thick jacket. It was the most difficult to peel apart. I was kind of surprised. I almost wonder if Blue Jeans Cable or Belden makes it. It had that kind of feel and quality of materials.

 

And yet it didn't sound as good as the rest. Or I should say, it sounded good but in a different way - a way that more aligns with one expects from superior shielded cable: Neutral, almost bland sound quality, Good micro detail, and what seemed like a little bit lower noise even. But it lacked the flowing, organic presentation of the IBRA. No question. Lacked presence. Maybe that would improve with time though, I don't know. I could see some people preferring it.

 

So if you really want to test the shielding theory, get the Amazon Cat7 and compare. The IBRA as quality shielding/build though... don't think so.

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We should be careful when lumping cable shielding under one brand since my experience after opening a flat IBRA CAT7 it had really good shielding on the pairs. The foil was really heavy and coated and it took a bit of work to open it.

I will open one of the round IBRA CAT7 cables i have to see how good it is.

Audio PC - Gigabyte H97M-D3H, i7 at 800Mhz, RAM at 800Mhz & PPA OCXO Mobo, Teradak ATX Linear for 20 pin ATX on Mobo, Paul Hynes SR7EHD 12v, 5v & 5v supply on Mobo, Stammheim 12x LT3045's for 1.3v to RAM direct supply, JCat V2 USB Card, WTFPlay Linux Audiophile Player control by MELE F10, Startech LEX to REX on 12v Paul Hynes with 2x SLC cards and out by POE to ISO/Regen, PPA Red USB Cable, Lampizator Big7, Nige design Lifepo4 powered amp, Raidho C1s.

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5 hours ago, lmitche said:

Rob , aka Tubelover, at usaaudiomart has found a mistake in my use of the current capacity by wire gauge table above. I will correct this and repost here later in the day.

 

Larry

 

 

After more research it appears the Ibra cable with 2 26 awg conductors at a length of 1 meter conductors is safe for at least 1 amp of current.

Pareto Audio aka nuckleheadaudio

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49 minutes ago, sligolad said:

We should be careful when lumping cable shielding under one brand since my experience after opening a flat IBRA CAT7 it had really good shielding on the pairs. The foil was really heavy and coated and it took a bit of work to open it.

I will open one of the round IBRA CAT7 cables i have to see how good it is.

 

I did not get the flat IBRA, but I would be very, *very* surprised if its shielding is as good as say, the Amazon. The flat Vandesail I opened up certainly was not that impressive. Being flat, it can't have had the same layers of shielded as some of the round ones. The Amazon has a quality outer copper shield, an outer foil, and then very, very tightly wrapped shield around each twisted pair (may be more but I don't remember - see my post at USAmart). Shielding is not the reason for what we are hearing. And there is a large degree of variation between brands. I suggest you guys get a bunch of different cables, both flat and round and open them up, like I did, and you'll see what I'm talking about. 

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I think I will try Supra Cat 7+ that I have in a drawer collecting dust. Instead of using the passive PoE adapter I will try different DC plug connections. One of each wire in shield tube connected +/-. One shield pair connected to + and another shielded pair to - etc. Interesting to find out how the shielding and the wire gauge affect SQ with different wire configurations. Hopefully I will have time to try it out during the weekend. ?

 

 

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My second order of cat 7 tables came and I quickly made a JSSG shielded cable from OS SSD (intel SLC) to outside the case where I connected the cheap $2 PoE to it with uGreen cat 7 cable.  Fired the PC back up and it worked fine.  Tonight long listening session and tomorrow I'll report if that also offered additional improvement.  

 

I placed the order yesterday for RJ45 breakout boards, RJ45 Females and a pre soldered RJ45 breakout board with transformers inside the RJ45.  Reports on those and if they further improve the cheap PoE this weekend or early next week.

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I'm in for testing!

 

Currently running Canare 4S6 Starquad DC cable between an LPS-1 and IR. 

 

Just arrived:

 

1. iCreatin Passive PoE Injector and PoE Splitter Kit with 5.5x2.1 mm DC Connector 

 

2. IBRA 3 Feet CAT 7 RJ45 Ethernet LAN Network Cable 

 

I will test the IBRA against my already owned Audioquest Cinnamon CAT 7 1.5M and Wireworld Platinum Starlight CAT 8 .5M.  

 

Will give each 20+ hours of burn in before listening. Should be interesting. Stay tuned....

 

 

 

 

 

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So I took a basic Monoprice Cat7 26awg cable, cut the ends off, twisted two pairs each together for + and -, and connected to a male dc barrel screw connector on each end for inbetween the LPS-1 and microRendu. It’s subtle, but better than the already very good and certainly better looking Ghent Audio Canare Starquad. At first the Cat7 doesn’t sound as exciting as it smooths out some of the higher level hash (that one doesn’t even know was there), but after half an hour this longtime tinnitus sufferer realized he hadn’t winced at a trumpet or piano high note yet. Bass energy is almost too much, though improves low volume listening. Overall more natural and analogue sounding, but def. not the repeated exclamations and fist pumping change as seen by Tubelover. 

 

Next step is to try different pairs of twists (i.e. one cable from each pair with another from a different pair) to see if maybe the bass can be mitigated a bit, and maybe clean it up with a tinning of the wire ends. Tried a cheap Teragrand Cat7 as well, and it wasn’t as good as the Monoprice. And to try other cheap patch cables. Lots of variables in play here for subtle effects. The poE adapters certainly make it easier to swap cables, but I also cringe at the number of connections being made. The screw barrels allow one to change pretty easily vs straight soldering, which is probably one step even better. Keep in mind there might be more change with a Regen than a microRendu, and I’m waiting on an Lt3045 board which will change things yet again. 

SERVER CLOSET (in office directly below living room stereo):NUC 7i5BNH with Roon ROCK (ZeroZone 12V on the NUC)>Cisco 2690L-16PS switch>Sonore opticalModule (Uptone LPS 1.2)>

LIVING ROOM: Sonore opticalRendu Roon version (Sonore Power Supply)> Shunyata Venom USB>Naim DAC V1>Witchhat DIN>Naim NAP 160 Bolt Down>Chord Rumor 2>Audio Physic Compact Classics. OFFICE: opticalModule> Sonore microRendu 1.4> Matrix Mini-i Pro 3> Naim NAP 110>NACA5>KEF Ls50's. BJC 6a and Ghent Catsnake 6a JSSG ethernet; AC cables: Shunyata Venom NR V-10; Audience Forte F3; Ice Age copper/copper; Sean Jacobs CHC PowerBlack, Moon Audio DIN>RCA, USB A>C. Isolation: Herbie's Audio Lab. 

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1 hour ago, charlesphoto said:

Overall more natural and analogue sounding, but def. not the repeated exclamations and fist pumping change as seen by Tubelover. 

 

 

It may help to actually do what he did. Although interesting, you did something completely different.

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Just now, wushuliu said:

 

It may help to actually do what he did. Although interesting, you did something completely different.

 

Yes, and with entirely different pieces of gear. And also started out with a very nice point to point cable as well. But the fact that it is better (to my ears with my gear) with $1.00 worth of connectors and 1M of cat7 than a $40 audiophile cable is interesting and relative. Could be any number of factors why it isn’t AS dramatic. But I do find listening less fatiguing now. I tried a 20khz parametric eq in Roon - whilst similar this is better and more organic. 

 

I did try a same Monoprice cable this morning with only the colored of each pair hooked up orange/brown + and blue/green -. Nice, but not as much bass energy. Hooked up 6 wires. Still not as much bass. All eight does it. Again, super subtle and depends on gear, room, and your ears. I did try the poE connected before I brain farted and accidentally trimmed the dc and not the rj45 end from it. Early morning doh! I thought it a bit dulled and robbed some dynamics, whilst still less fatiguing in the highs like now. Anyway, expect to see audiophile Cat7/8 dc cables soon. I thank fellow Seattlite Tubelover for this trick. Now you all need to try a Cisco 2960 and be amazed. 

 

 

SERVER CLOSET (in office directly below living room stereo):NUC 7i5BNH with Roon ROCK (ZeroZone 12V on the NUC)>Cisco 2690L-16PS switch>Sonore opticalModule (Uptone LPS 1.2)>

LIVING ROOM: Sonore opticalRendu Roon version (Sonore Power Supply)> Shunyata Venom USB>Naim DAC V1>Witchhat DIN>Naim NAP 160 Bolt Down>Chord Rumor 2>Audio Physic Compact Classics. OFFICE: opticalModule> Sonore microRendu 1.4> Matrix Mini-i Pro 3> Naim NAP 110>NACA5>KEF Ls50's. BJC 6a and Ghent Catsnake 6a JSSG ethernet; AC cables: Shunyata Venom NR V-10; Audience Forte F3; Ice Age copper/copper; Sean Jacobs CHC PowerBlack, Moon Audio DIN>RCA, USB A>C. Isolation: Herbie's Audio Lab. 

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We’ll see. I just ordered a meter of unterminated Supra 8 to compare to the Monoprice I’m using (it is blue inside the inner wire foil). Supra sold by someone here in Seattle so should get it quickly. 

SERVER CLOSET (in office directly below living room stereo):NUC 7i5BNH with Roon ROCK (ZeroZone 12V on the NUC)>Cisco 2690L-16PS switch>Sonore opticalModule (Uptone LPS 1.2)>

LIVING ROOM: Sonore opticalRendu Roon version (Sonore Power Supply)> Shunyata Venom USB>Naim DAC V1>Witchhat DIN>Naim NAP 160 Bolt Down>Chord Rumor 2>Audio Physic Compact Classics. OFFICE: opticalModule> Sonore microRendu 1.4> Matrix Mini-i Pro 3> Naim NAP 110>NACA5>KEF Ls50's. BJC 6a and Ghent Catsnake 6a JSSG ethernet; AC cables: Shunyata Venom NR V-10; Audience Forte F3; Ice Age copper/copper; Sean Jacobs CHC PowerBlack, Moon Audio DIN>RCA, USB A>C. Isolation: Herbie's Audio Lab. 

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3 minutes ago, charlesphoto said:

We’ll see. I just ordered a meter of Supra 8 to compare to the Monoprice I’m using (it is blue inside the inner wire foil). Supra sold by someone here in Seattle so should get it quickly. 

 

Why not just order an IBRA or UGreen (round) as well to have as the point of reference? Should get to you in the same time as the Supra and it's just a couple bucks. No one else has used Monoprice or the Supra in this application that I'm aware of. 

 

 

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