ISO REGEN Listening Impressions (kicked off with some measurements)

I purposely have not read any other impressions before writing this because I did not want to bias my findings so forgive me if my post is similar to what others have said.

I am finding it really hard to describe what I am hearing because its less about sound and more about a feeling.  If I had a pick a word, it would be unadulterated.  The music sounds and feels simpler and more bare.  It is if my brain does not have work so hard to dealing with noise or artifacts that shouldnt be there.  Instead, its free to just hear the music as it was recorded.  What I am left with is a sound that is very quiet and smooth.  I feel like the entire atmosphere in my listening room is more relaxed.  Its like the IsoRegen removes all the dirt off what you are left with is something that is beautifully bare, simple, and natural.

I know I am not doing a very good job of describing what the isoRegen is doing in my system.  Whatever its doing, i love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1 hour ago, tboooe said:

I purposely have not read any other impressions before writing this because I did not want to bias my findings so forgive me if my post is similar to what others have said.

 

I am finding it really hard to describe what I am hearing because its less about sound and more about a feeling.  If I had a pick a word, it would be unadulterated.  The music sounds and feels simpler and more bare.  It is if my brain does not have work so hard to dealing with noise or artifacts that shouldnt be there.  Instead, its free to just hear the music as it was recorded.  What I am left with is a sound that is very quiet and smooth.  I feel like the entire atmosphere in my listening room is more relaxed.  Its like the IsoRegen removes all the dirt off what you are left with is something that is beautifully bare, simple, and natural.

 

I know I am not doing a very good job of describing what the isoRegen is doing in my system.  Whatever its doing, i love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have just as hard a time describing the sound of my headphone rig with the ISO REGEN installed and powered by LPS-1.  The sound became more pure, more relaxed, more dynamic and more engaging all at once.  Some of these attributes don't normally go together, so it's been major ear candy, and I almost could not put those headphones down the other day.

What's also incredible to me is how a USB improvement brought by the ISO REGEN can change the sound of my Holo Audio Spring DAC so much, considering the Spring is currently configured for I2S input driven by my modified Singxer SU-1 DDC with the ISO REGEN located upstream.  In this configuration, USB is one complete box removed from the Spring DAC.  If anything, this is a testament to the importance of signal integrity for an audio transport bus that does not carry actual audio clocking.

I'm secretly hoping UpTone can keep churning out products to clean up other interfaces utilized to transport digital audio, such as Ethernet and I2S.

An update...

After further listening, it became evident that I had lost some low end heft.  I suspected the Y-cable powering both the microRendu and ISO REGEN might be the culprit as previous use of it to power the microRendu and an FMC had revealed it to be doing the microRendu a disservice.

So out came the Y-cable.  The microRendu went back to being powered by the LPS-1 via a very short DC cable that Barrows kindly made for me.  My "el cheapo" supply was then put back in service to power the ISO REGEN.  That change seemed to have returned some low end weight. I'm not sure I hear a downside yet, but will have to do some more comparisons.  All the positives I reported in an earlier post are still present.  

I will have to experiment more with different ways to power these devices another night.  I intend to try powering either the microRendu or ISO REGEN with the second rail on my JS-2.

One other thing I tried was defeating isolation with that little switch on the back of the ISO REGEN.  There was an obvious loss in magic.  So it appears galvanic isolation in the ISO REGEN can benefit even DACs that are said to be galvanically isolated, such as my Hugo TT.

To be continued...

Not all GI is equal.  Great to hear your TT benefits from the added GI of the ISO Regen.

6 hours ago, Cornan said:

 

I am not sure if I understand you right or not? Do you mean that the GI switch gave you a loss in magic, but it still improved upon your Hugo TT? This would make assume it is the re-clocking that are the real improvement with the ISO Regen in your setup so far. Right or wrong?

 

GI is on by default.  Turning off GI caused the loss in magic I reported hearing.  I didn't invest  enough time with it in the off position to get a good sense of how much magic still remained due to re-clocking. 

My impression is short but infinitely long.  "What is the sound of one hand clapping?"  With the ISOREGEN I was quickly able to let my mind go, stop listening to my already nice sounding system and be drawn into the music.  This product is legit.  It didn't just replace an Amber REGEN plus Intona, it easily surpassed the combo. 

Thank you Alex and John. 

8 hours ago, Cornan said:

I am not sure if I understand you right or not? Do you mean that the GI switch gave you a loss in magic, but it still improved upon your Hugo TT? This would make assume it is the re-clocking that are the real improvement with the ISO Regen in your setup so far. Right or wrong?

 

Everyone is welcome to experiment with the switching off the galvanic isolation (but please be gentle as that single vertical DIP switch does not have any support besides its two through-hole lead straps and whatever constraint the back panel cutout gives).  

What I think you will find is that you will always prefer it with GI on (switch pushed DOWN as shipped--not the UP/ON position which is defeat).  But I also think you will find that the GI adds contributes perhaps about 20% of the overall goodness greatness of the this significantly enchanted REGEN.  At least that is the case in my system--admittedly already decently isolated in other ways.  We suspect that for many others (average computers, other power issues), the galvanic isolation of the ISO REGEN will be a much bigger deal.

By the way, a big thanks to all who have posted so far with their early experience with our new product.  Your reports not only help answer questions and help further sales , but they may also have a calming effect on the rest of the buyers as they anxiously await their turn for delivery. Then of course there are many rabid folk who will never be calm waiting for their new toys (you know who you are!). 

Anyway, as I always say, I don't consider a product a success until a large number of people have it and are raving about it.  Guess we are off to a good start...

--Alex C.

Some impressions from the testing phase and listening to the release version:

- In the testing phase I received two ISO Regens, simply labeled "G" and "M."  I immediately thought the "G" version sounded better, despite the fact that, very frustratingly, in my system there was plainly audible noise/distortion we dubbed the "warble" with version "G."  But even with very audible noise over top of it, I could tell immediately that the music through version "G" was better.  It was that striking.  (@lmitche, whose system wasn't subject to the distortion, immediately came to the same conclusion without knowing my thoughts, and we each independently told Alex and John.)  I was able to trace the source of the distortion to my laptop's SMPS, and was then able to play noise-free music by running the laptop from its battery.  Eventually I made system changes (changed layout, added a couple of small iso transformers) that allowed me to keep the laptop plugged in if I wanted to.

- Both the "G" and the "M" were superior to the regular Regen.

- The release version, which I have now (full disclosure: received it for free from Alex in return for testing), has the USB hub chip and the isolation chip from the "G" model, with some changes, including a better clock.  It has no noise problems, even after getting rid of the iso transformers.  I think music through the release version is better yet than the "G" test model.  Probably the most concise way for me to express what I hear is to say that when I play a piece of music that I've heard before, even with the test versions, but not up to that point with the release version, I often catch myself thinking "Wow, that album is better than I remembered."  It seems to me I'm hearing more of the artists' expression and intention and feeling more of what they wanted me to feel.

- The little USPCB that Alex throws in for free(!!) is significantly better than a $135 USB cable I'd had in my system for years, which up 'til now was the best USB interface I'd heard.  (That cable, the Mapleshade Clearlink Plus, was itself significantly better than the $275 Audioquest Coffee it replaced.)  I'd get another to replace the USB cable that's still in the system, but my DAC doesn't have the usual USB "B" input.

12 hours ago, kennyb123 said:

After further listening, it became evident that I had lost some low end heft.  I suspected the Y-cable powering both the microRendu and ISO REGEN might be the culprit as previous use of it to power the microRendu and an FMC had revealed it to be doing the microRendu a disservice.

..

Could it be that the low end has become more defined and tight and thus more real but that you perceive this  as a loss?

I am another one joining the WOW – this is amazing club!

Got the shipment yesterday, installed both IsoRegen and LPS-1 to my chain and power up for about 3 hours while finishing up other chores.  Once I started listening to this new configuration, my feeling was wow, this is amazing.  The music becomes more musical, more defined detail, more engaging, better impact, and is now much easier to get drawn into the music, in the meantime, hard to stop playing next track.  This new-found experience is quite a good surprise to me since I have been searching for ways to improve my system for a short while, especially the last few months with different mods that made very positive incremental improvements to the point I thought will be hard to gain sizable improvement, then IsoRegen changed that right away.  Alex and John sure hit a home run with this new product, and I am very happy having one in my setup.

As for reference, my current temporary setup consists of HQPlayer > NAS > ROON server > wifi router > FMC > ROON endpoint > iMicro USB > Gemini USB Cable > IsoRegen (LPS-1) > modified SU-1 (LPS-1) > Holo Spring LTE (level 3) > iCan Pro > Norne Audio Silvergarde S2 > HD800S