USB Regen from Uptone Audio

[sima66]

Does anyone got a chance to compare Regen with W4S Recovery USB Reclocker, or are they doing the same thing?

Regen: http://uptoneaudio.com/products/usb-regen

W4S: https://wyred4sound.com/products/digita ... s/recovery

[internethandle]

There are more than a few reviews that compare the two, and yes my understanding is they are pretty similar - here's some examples:

http://www.audiostream.com/content/wyre ... f7LUhFd.97

http://www.digitalaudioreview.net/2016/ ... -recovery/

Also a lot of comparison threads on Comptuer Audiophile's forums.

FWIW my understanding is that John Swenson spent at lot of time with the Regen designing it to have a matched impedance, which I don't find evidence of the Recovery doing.

[sima66]

Most of the people like better the W4S than REgen, but I like the John Kenny's idea to power directly with 3.3v battery.
Thant might be the advantage of Regen in this case!

[jkeny]

Most of the people like better the W4S than REgen, but I like the John Kenny's idea to power directly with 3.3v battery.
Thant might be the advantage of Regen in this case!

Thanks! When the goal of a device is to regenerate a digital signal by processing it through an active, powered device, then the quality of the power is paramount & this is proven to anyone trying my suggested battery power directly to the clock & USB hub chip in the Regen.

I believe Nigel declared it was as big an increase in sonics as when putting the Regen in-line.

I have a new product coming soon which incorporates the various technologies in one case - a USB isolator & USB regenerator - all directly battery powered. I already demonstrated this in Tony's & Nige's & it fared better than Intona + Regen in-line

Shortly, I'll be putting some out in the field, locally for user testing.

[nige2000]

yea the battery regen is bout twice or three times as good as stock regen

jkenys isolated usb reclocking solution is the one to get!

[sima66]

yea the battery regen is bout twice or three times as good as stock regen

jkenys isolated usb reclocking solution is the one to get!

I have no doubt about John's product and I know that was talking about that a while ago, but nothing after!!
Since two days ago, something hapened with my "regen"-usb card combo and I have no way to try them separately, I ordered the new JCAT FEMTO USB card and their Intona!
That's why I thought also to try either the w4s Reklocker or Regen in the chain.......if would make any improvement.
I wish that I'm in Ireland and able to see (hear) the John's new product!

[jkeny]

Thanks, Nige
@sima - many obstacles to finalising this - keep an eye on here for user trial reports

[sima66]

Thanks, Nige
@sima - many obstacles to finalising this - keep an eye on here for user trial reports

I never took my eye from here! ;-)
I might not be in or from Ireland, but I have more connections there then anywere else!
Bad mouths will say now that, in that case, I'm screwed! :)

[motberg]

I have both the Regen and Recovery, and tried both with batteries and LPS.
Both following an Intona with the USB coming from a nice dedicated server (LPSx3, PPAv2/LPS, PPA SATA cables, fanless, etc..)

Compared to the original signal, I find the Regen to offer increased micro dynamics, cleaner background, wider stage.
Compared to the Regen I find the Recovery to be somewhat more refined and detailed, sound stage a little deeper and denser, not quite as dynamic. Since I sit near-field, for now the Recovery better suits my system.

I have recently tried with the Recovery - a Kingrex Upower battery PS, and another from Taobao (2x18650) and both these resulted in less-detailed/softer bass compared to the LPS I am now using (which is an upscale TeraDak with an iFi DC iPurifier attached with the LPS fed by an Audio-GD HE-350 220V power regenerator).

Unfortunately, I have not the skills or stuff to do the jkeny Regen mod, which sounds like a perfect idea.

Next for testing will be an Uptone LPS-1, which is already delivered but will be very late December until I get the chance to try that.

In the past I used a 9V Joyo JMP-01 which was very good (need reverse the output polarity, there is a cable supplied) with the Recovery. I damaged my JMP-01, but may give that a try again also to compare against the current LPS setup.

I really like the quietness batteries offer - and will be looking forward to the upcoming jkeny device.. hope everything goes smoothly with the development and production..

[jrling]

Great report 'motberg'.

I noted that all three of your battery devices appear to have quite a lot of 'circuitry' inside their cases to cater for charging and regulation.

My experience with battery power generally (not with Regen, Recovery or Intona) was that mobile phone Li-ion battery packs were surprisingly good compared to powering from regular mains PSU - however the real improvement came when using A123 26650 batteries 'float charged' by a mains PSU, as advocated by jkeny, nige2000 & Rick Mcinnis amongst others here.

The A123 LiFePO4 Nanotech technology is reputed to be better than others using the same chemical composition. I think your battery packs are using LiPo technology, which again give less good audio performance IMHO ( I tried RC Aircraft LiPo battery packs too).

I was sceptical that attaching a (polluted) mains supply PSU to the batteries to float charge them (kept on all the time so no charging cycles required), would pollute the clean battery supply. But that was simple to test and refute by turning off the charger whilst playing music, leaving just the batteries powering the equipment and I could hear no difference.

Jonathan