USB Regen from Uptone Audio

[sima66]

is this reclocker and isolator?

https://www.wyred4sound.com/products/di ... s/recovery

[jkeny]

There might be a glimer of hope with USPS but 70 bucks is what I'd expect for shipping a dozen
Maybe import duty is included?

The mutiple signal return route isn't just a problem for tony but all of us using a desktop mobo and monitor
It would be a shame to be buying isolators just to rectify a gnding issue

A b testing intona with a laptop might be as handy

No import duty mentioned in the shipping charge.
Sure, more testing of isolators would be useful

Did you come across any up skirt pics of the coolgear?

Nope, none that I can find. I doubt it is a FPGA solution, like the Intona. It could be using one of the Silanna isolator ICs but I didn't think they were released to market yet (I could very well be wrong about this though)

[jkeny]

is this reclocker and isolator?

https://www.wyred4sound.com/products/di ... s/recovery

It doesn't state that it's an isolator so I would assume it isn't

[tony]

The isolator isolates three wires that may be of benefit d+ d- and gnd not mentioning +5 as it should be powered cleanly
In Tony's the isolator benefit was obvious
But then again Tony has/had two gnd connections to this DAC one via USB and the other via PC monitor and mains earth into LZ and or amp via interconnects
This means gnd is not actually isolated and still connected by a very long dubious route and the only wires isolated is now d+ and d-
But it did stop a ground loop possibility
Propose that the intona is restested in PC DAC ground loop free conditions
Might not solve anything but think it's the only Rock we didn't turn over that day

You have mentioned the pc screen before but I turn that off sometimes and it never affects the pc. That doesn't mean it is not part of noise creation on the grounds etc. I have a serious problem with voltage in the house. ESB have finally recognised this and are replacing the cable from the sub station to the house. A lot of the houses are affected.Next door neighbours cooker often fails to work correctly.Voltage seems to drop very low at peak times and even outside those periods. It doesn't affect my amp as it is on a regenerator.

But as an example if I forget to power on the 63's and am a bit late turning them on even though the PC is turned on after they have been powered up it affects the pc. You all know the switching on and off of stuff that can affect my pc and just maybe it is down to the voltage in the house or items like the 63's behave unpredictably at start up and as Nigel has advised before the grounds of the pc have been weakened or fecked up because of the clock and battery installs.

Your last point happy to go back again and test the intona as I would like to see how it works with your clone regen. I could do next Saturday or maybe Saturday week if that works for people.Let me know. Hopefully I will have the PPang card back from Paul but I don't think it will shift Nigels card.

[jkeny]

I think the only really clearcut way of testing the Intona isolation is to use a laptop running off it's battery with a battery powered DAC directly into headphones or into a battery powered amplifier. This avoids all ground issues from devices connected to mains & leaves only ground potential differences between devices.

If the Intona still made an audible difference then it would be worth checking running a ground wire from each device to a central point (a star ground) & see if it provided the same audible improvement?

This also gets into Entreq ground territory :)

[nige2000]

The isolator isolates three wires that may be of benefit d+ d- and gnd not mentioning +5 as it should be powered cleanly
In Tony's the isolator benefit was obvious
But then again Tony has/had two gnd connections to this DAC one via USB and the other via PC monitor and mains earth into LZ and or amp via interconnects
This means gnd is not actually isolated and still connected by a very long dubious route and the only wires isolated is now d+ and d-
But it did stop a ground loop possibility
Propose that the intona is restested in PC DAC ground loop free conditions
Might not solve anything but think it's the only Rock we didn't turn over that day

You have mentioned the pc screen before but I turn that off sometimes and it never affects the pc. That doesn't mean it is not part of noise creation on the grounds etc. I have a serious problem with voltage in the house. ESB have finally recognised this and are replacing the cable from the sub station to the house. A lot of the houses are affected.Next door neighbours cooker often fails to work correctly.Voltage seems to drop very low at peak times and even outside those periods. It doesn't affect my amp as it is on a regenerator.

turning it off is no good you either have to unearth the power cable or plug it out during testing

But as an example if I forget to power on the 63's and am a bit late turning them on even though the PC is turned on after they have been powered up it affects the pc. You all know the switching on and off of stuff that can affect my pc and just maybe it is down to the voltage in the house or items like the 63's behave unpredictably at start up and as Nigel has advised before the grounds of the pc have been weakened or fecked up because of the clock and battery installs.

absolutely nothing to do with the batteries its just the badly implemented clock mod

Your last point happy to go back again and test the intona as I would like to see how it works with your clone regen. I could do next Saturday or maybe Saturday week if that works for people.Let me know. Hopefully I will have the PPang card back from Paul but I don't think it will shift Nigels card.

yea im up for the retest
ppa card will need to be burnt in before a proper comparison
although the ppa will have a better resale value

[nige2000]

I think the only really clearcut way of testing the Intona isolation is to use a laptop running off it's battery with a battery powered DAC directly into headphones or into a battery powered amplifier. This avoids all ground issues from devices connected to mains & leaves only ground potential differences between devices.

good idea will it be resolving enough?

If the Intona still made an audible difference then it would be worth checking running a ground wire from each device to a central point (a star ground) & see if it provided the same audible improvement?

maybe im over thinking it but if theres two usb signal return paths one in the usb cable and another through the wall socket
will that effect the usbs signal integrity?
will these isolators add any jitter?
just have a hard time understanding what exactly the intona is doing to gain that bit of sq
the gnd network is a bit of a mysterious beast
issues dont always present in hum or noise but also in a flat, dull sound not unlike the characteristics of the improvement we heard

This also gets into Entreq ground territory :)

Tonys already picked out a nice box for it:)

[jkeny]

I think the only really clearcut way of testing the Intona isolation is to use a laptop running off it's battery with a battery powered DAC directly into headphones or into a battery powered amplifier. This avoids all ground issues from devices connected to mains & leaves only ground potential differences between devices.

good idea will it be resolving enough?

In my experience the less devices in the signal path the closer to the signal we can get (I find preamps often are the cause of masking of what are generally audible changes). Sure, headphones might not be conducive to the sort of changes that we previously heard with the Intona. A battery powered amp might be a better or at least alternative option?

If the Intona still made an audible difference then it would be worth checking running a ground wire from each device to a central point (a star ground) & see if it provided the same audible improvement?

maybe im over thinking it but if theres two usb signal return paths one in the usb cable and another through the wall socket
will that effect the usbs signal integrity?

My intent was to try the star grounding without the Intona inline (so no wall socket grounding anywhere) to see if it did the same job as the Intona did?

will these isolators add any jitter?
just have a hard time understanding what exactly the intona is doing to gain that bit of sq

Sure, it seems all isolators will add some jitter but on the other hand what it takes away provides more audible benefit than the added jitter - that's the way I look on it, anyway.

the gnd network is a bit of a mysterious beast
issues dont always present in hum or noise but also in a flat, dull sound not unlike the characteristics of the improvement we heard

Yep, ground noise can steal dynamics - I believe it depends on the spectrum of the noise - low freq 60Hz can result in hum, radio frequency (above audible band - high KHz, MHz, GHz)

This also gets into Entreq ground territory :)

Tonys already picked out a nice box for it:)

I was only talking to him about this & we figured cigar boxes would give a nice smoky sound - perfect for jazz & with wine boxes we could ask Ivor for advice :)

[Mike19]

With more than a couple of hundred hours on the USB Regen since my last post at end Nov 2015 it is difficult to discern much more of an improvement. Taking the Regen out of setup I notice that the 3 meters of Supra USB cable now gives the expected frequency responce - previously there was a slice of the upper trebble missing. I have now included a battery ground tweak on my infinite baffle loudspeakers (9v battery and 48,000UF Al electrolytic caps [by-passed]). The battery ground tweak is also said to work on other components including digital - improvements include more detail and a richer more organic sound.

[tony]

Tonys already picked out a nice box for it:)]I was only talking to him about this & we figured cigar boxes would give a nice smoky sound - perfect for jazz & with wine boxes we could ask Ivor for advice :)

That project is on the back burner at the moment but cheapo wine box in O'Briens definitely fits in with the concept of Entreq at Chinese prices.
I might pig out and go for a lump of oak from B&Q