Regen, Wow!

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Mechnutt

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A friend of mine has loaned me his Regen while he is out of town for 3 weeks. I had a holy $hit moment when I first played it. The improvement in sound was readily apparent. The background was blacker, the sound was slightly warmer and darker. There was more definition and clarity. I am placing an order for one today.
 
Ah, understand. Thanks, I just got mine but haven't hooked it up yet.
 
I been telling you guys for months! LoL

I was one of the "100". (The Greens)
 
I was in on the second round of the REGEN orders, early in the Amber version production. It makes a stunning degree of improvement with my Bricasti M1 DAC being sourced by a laptop PC which has been optimized for use as a dedicated music server. I then ordered a 9V linear power supply from China via eBay for $62 which was recommended as an upgrade, and it made a further improvement. Overall I have found the REGEN to provide a significant improvement to my enjoyment of digital audio playback, similar in degree to what I've achieved previously by spending an additional couple grand on a new DAC. Huge bang for the buck in my setup!
 
Regarding the linear power supply that I referenced, here are some further details on it for those that may be interested.

Here's a link to the LPS that was recommended in a REGEN thread on Computer Audiophile by UpTone Audio. btw, I received it in less than a week from this seller, although that can vary depending upon mail service and customs clearance.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/30W-DC9V-Hif...item20f244722e

Depending upon your DAC and how it uses USB power impacts whether this supply is suitable or not for your specific application. You should only use a 9 volt supply like this one if your DAC is NOT drawing the full 500mA USB maximum. This is to ensure that the REGEN 5V regulator circuit will not overheat by dissipating more power than it is rated for. I checked with Bricasti and their M1 only draws a maximum of 100mA from the USB supply so it's fine for my setup. This is explained in more detail in the REGEN FAQ section of the UpTone website.
 
The Regen guys also hinted online about a PSU from Rege and other small 1 amp devices for release in the fall. Cant wait for that, as I hear its KILLER!
 
I was one of the first 100 as well, but it did nothing in my setup. Sold it pretty quickly after buying it.
 
Like anything else in audio, I would expect system dependencies to exist. I suppose if you are using a USB input or converter that operates near the theoretical ideal then the REGEN may prove to be of no benefit, which is also possible if your USB source is exceptional in quality. However most users, even those incorporating very high level music servers and DACs have observed significant benefits from the REGEN in their systems. The unusually high percentage of favorable reviews supports that fact. Of course there are always exceptions, as sfox7076 has noted with his experience. Each individual's experience is unique as are most of our systems.
 
Agreed. I cannot say it does not work. It just didn't work for me. It is all YMMV. I am using a Mac Mini converted with the Uptone converter, an LPS, Danacable USB cable, and a LampizatOr Big 7.

audio.bill said:
Like anything else in audio, I would expect system dependencies to exist. I suppose if you are using a USB input or converter that operates near the theoretical ideal then the REGEN may prove to be of no benefit, which is also possible if your USB source is exceptional in quality. However most users, even those incorporating very high level music servers and DACs have observed significant benefits from the REGEN in their systems. The unusually high percentage of favorable reviews supports that fact. Of course there are always exceptions, as sfox7076 has noted with his experience. Each individual's experience is unique as are most of our systems.
Click to expand...
 
Interesting to hear that your experience was with the Lampizator, since many of their users have raved about the REGEN's impact. They even used it in some of their recent show systems and expounded about it's positive impact. It just shows how hard it is to predict whether or not any given gear will work well in a specific system. There's no substitute for personal experience and we have to be careful not to dismiss anyone else's opinions even when they differ from our own.
 
So now current backorders will incorporate the improved and updated circuit. Early adopters can get an upgrade kit for $45.

Anyone tried these with a SoTM USB card at the other end and found improvement?

There seems to be so many USB scrubbing combinations available now including iFi iUSB+iPower. If anything, the iPower 5v, 9v, and 12v warts are worth buying to replace any nasty switch-modes PSUs or even more expensive linear PSUs that you may have in your setup. iFi uses newly developed noise cancelation technology on power similar to the concept used in headphones!
 
sfox7076 said:
I was one of the first 100 as well, but it did nothing in my setup. Sold it pretty quickly after buying it.
Click to expand...
Shawn, I run the Green with a Corning Optical USB cable and I suspect that is what makes the difference. Most units out there are the new Amber and they dont need the Corning and reportedly are hurt by the addition of the Corning.

I have not yet installed the amber board, as I awaited the chinese LPSU to power it...it came yesterday...and I was on and off vacation for the last 3 weeks anyway.
 
audio.bill said:
Interesting to hear that your experience was with the Lampizator, since many of their users have raved about the REGEN's impact. They even used it in some of their recent show systems and expounded about it's positive impact. It just shows how hard it is to predict whether or not any given gear will work well in a specific system. There's no substitute for personal experience and we have to be careful not to dismiss anyone else's opinions even when they differ from our own.
Click to expand...

The show guys in Monaco used the Corning Optical cable with Fibre media converters and may even have diasy chained 2 Regens. The power for the Regen was the acclamied Uptone JS-2 that costs $900 and has 2 power outputs.
 
Steve said:
So now current backorders will incorporate the improved and updated circuit. Early adopters can get an upgrade kit for $45.

Anyone tried these with a SoTM USB card at the other end and found improvement?

There seems to be so many USB scrubbing combinations available now including iFi iUSB+iPower. If anything, the iPower 5v, 9v, and 12v warts are worth buying to replace any nasty switch-modes PSUs or even more expensive linear PSUs that you may have in your setup. iFi uses newly developed noise cancelation technology on power similar to the concept used in headphones!
Click to expand...

I am one of the first iUSB owners out there, so can tell you that the Regen takes things much further. the Regen is not really a power scrubber, its a USB signal rebuilder at the end stage just before entering the Dac where iss is no other opportunity for the deilcate signal to be screwed up again. Ethernet and USNB are packet data and create packet noise due to the interaction with the PHY level of the USB receiver. There are other noise sources too, like in the MAC layer but so far nothing can address that. Noise is not transmitted, rather its the interaction with the USB receiver that gerenates NEW noise and the Regen is all about smoothing out that interaction so that as little new noise as possible is created. The way this is done is with a new hub chip in the Regen with an optimsed Power distibution network (very low noise) and so with a high signal integrity, the PHY level does not have to do a lot of pre-processing of the signal to get it to an acceptable level, and in so doing generate the new noise from all that heavy lifting.

Everything that improves signal; integrity helps and that is why daisy chaining seems to help, even if with diminishing returns.
 
I get that the device is a signal (stream) rebuilder which prompts me to rephrase the question earlier.

Given the above, why should a quality USB cable, audiophile USB card and clean USB power really matter if the essential data stream is to be regenerated at the endpoint by this device?

On the other hand, if careful consideration has already been made with regards to the source USB output (power and cable) to mitigate signal pollution then any additional benefit is likely to be negligible?

Seems to me a suck it and see if there are further tangible gains to be had with a clean regeneration at the destination DAC input?

If the regen negates the desire to purchase a $500-$1000 USB cable or if it helps cleanup a signal from a longer run eg. >3m, I can fully appreciate the benefit of this device concept.
 
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