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Thread: Uptone audio Etherregen review

  1. #1
    Join Date: Jan 2019

    Location: Kent UK

    Posts: 409
    I'm Martin.

    Default Uptone audio Etherregen review

    This is a review of a network switch that was launched in November by US company Uptone audio who have linear power supplies and USB regen and ISO regen in their stable.

    Ive been keenly following the development threads on this product since early summer and after reading the first flush of user impressions since the launch I pulled the trigger. Cost was around £660 from the UK distributor.

    So the design principles of this switch are meant to address current leakage from the ethernet sources that can travel via your ethernet cables onto your DAC circuits and create havoc as noise within those circuits. There is also a very low phase noise clock within the switch which also hells reduce noise to the DAC and minimise jitter. Im not going to expand too much on the technicalities beyond that but i will point folks to Audiophile Style if they want to know more.

    There are 4 ethernet ports on one side and just one on the other. There is an option to connect to a reference clock a ground shunted SMPS is provided. There is one optical sfp port.

    So this diminutive little switch arrived on Friday, i was on a work do and got home at 9 to put the switch in the system and have a listen. I played a couple of familiar tracks before putting the switch in to “calibrate” my drunken ears .

    My system consists of an Apple TV 4th gen and a Lyngdorf TDAI3400 power DAC. I stream spotify and watch amazon and netflix and terrestrial tv via the internet.

    First off i put the ethernet from my in the wall power network and my apple tv into the 4 ported A side and my 3400 on the B side. I fired up spotify and was immediately treated to a very different sound to what I was used to. I could hear far more details , the volume appeared to go up 1db, bass was very solid, the top end opened up and the soundstage increased significantly. The music appeared to be far more natural and at ease. I listened to a couple of albums on spotify 320 kbps and thought this was very promising.

    The next morning I woke up at 6 and crept downstairs for another album played low, wow it sounded sweet. Spotify stayed on all day until about 4 when my daughter wanted to watch TV. I stuck a couple of youtube tracks on but although the sound was better I was disappointed that its hadn’t had the same leap as spotify.

    The next morning I was playing through my favourites with a big smile on my face , then switched. to youtube again as I wanted to fiddle with the set up. Now switching to my one ethernet in on the B side and apple tv and tdai 3400 sharing the A side, i gave apple tv another whirl..... wow big jump in SQ , massive sound stage, very solid bass amazing textures on sounds particularly percussion, lovely strings too, loads more detail and inky black background. I switched back to spotify and i though i lost a little of the quality but was worth it for such a great step up from both my sources.

    Better picture on TV too.

    Will try to post pictures tomorrow.

    If you are serious about a digital front end then you need one of these or the purportedly better sounding SoTM switch ( but you need the pimped up and loaded version.

    Everything is important in digital , but wow a switch that is capable of delivering large uptick in SQ, who’d of thunk ?


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  2. #2
    Join Date: Nov 2008

    Location: Valley of the Hazels

    Posts: 9,139
    I'm AMusicFanNotAnAudiophile.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Discopants View Post
    First off i put the ethernet from my in the wall power network
    Proper ethernet would be better.
    The powerline stuff modulates shite onto the mains and it affects everything.
    It's better to not put the shite there in the first place.
    Chris



    Common sense isn't anymore!

  3. #3
    Join Date: Jan 2019

    Location: Kent UK

    Posts: 409
    I'm Martin.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Stratmangler View Post
    Proper ethernet would be better.
    The powerline stuff modulates shite onto the mains and it affects everything.
    It's better to not put the shite there in the first place.
    Ive ran a 20m cat 6 cable across the floor to check that out before and I could not hear any significant difference than the through the power network. I would have considered doing a proper retro wiring job if it was better. Ive heard other folks say this too though so I don’t doubt there could be something in it.

    What I did get some improvement from was running an ethernet transformer cat 5e that was designed for using in flame proof areas at work straight out of the power socket. That gave me an increase in soundstage but nothing as dramatic as this switch now.

    Ive been off today playing the system all day. With everyone out I cranked it right up to -5dB ( where I have a software stop as my speakers are only rated to 50w and my amp hits about 150w into their 10 ohms). I watched Fury and played a you tube recording of Toccata and fugue. Fury sounded incredible in 2.1 channel , the Bach piece was awesome too like I was in that big old church. Whatever the mains puts on the ethernet this switch shunts it all off again, at least in my system.


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  4. #4
    Join Date: Nov 2008

    Location: Valley of the Hazels

    Posts: 9,139
    I'm AMusicFanNotAnAudiophile.

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    20m for a patch lead is out of spec. The length of it is the issue.
    Patch leads are made with stranded cable, and they have higher impedance than solid core installation cable.
    Patch leads should be short, under 5m.
    Installation spec for Cat 6 is 100m, which would comprise 90m installation cable, and 10m patch leads shared between either end.
    You'd have been better off using 18m installation cable, and a couple of 1m patch leads, 1 for each end.

    I accept that it's sad that I know this stuff, but it's how I make my living

    I'm pleased that your extremely expensive switch works for you.
    Chris



    Common sense isn't anymore!

  5. #5
    Join Date: Jan 2011

    Location: Wiltshire

    Posts: 194
    I'm Alastair.

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    A week or so ago, I wanted to do an A-B comparison with my RPI4/USB and RPI/DigiOne (Coax) so I dug out a NETGEAR GS305 switch I had lying around, connected the cable from my wifi extender (which had been going top one RPI) to the input and then a couple of short Cat 6 cables to the RPIs. When I had finished comparing them, I went back to the directly wired RPI4/USB and it was rather flat and lifeless in comparison. Following a hunch, I put the switch back an place and lo and behold it was lively and dynamics again. Needless to says its staying there. It takes a 5V DC input so I might try it with a battery next...

    Like Ethernet over the mains, I expect my wifi is also rather noisy (even if its a 140Mbps link) and I am guessing that the switch is doing something similar to the Ethergen (but for £24 instead of £600+). So, if you are interested in going down that path, you might want to try such a switch first...
    Cheers

    Alastair

    RPI4/PI2AES running PiCorePlayer/LMS-> AQ Carbon AES -> Topping D90 DAC-> Khozomo Passive Pre-Amp -> 4x Temple Audio Monoblocks powered by 2xLiFePO batteries->Van Damme Black Bi-Wired to B&W 804 Nautilus and Sommer Carbokab 225 Interconnects

  6. #6
    Join Date: Mar 2009

    Location: Chelmsford, Essex

    Posts: 433
    I'm Gareth.

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    https://www.audiosciencereview.com/f...2/#post-279746

    For those interested in how this device measures

  7. #7
    Join Date: Jan 2019

    Location: Kent UK

    Posts: 409
    I'm Martin.

    Default Uptone audio Etherregen review

    Quote Originally Posted by Getgaff View Post
    https://www.audiosciencereview.com/f...2/#post-279746

    For those interested in how this device measures
    Don’t let that review put you off trying this switch , Amir seems to have a massive axe to grind with Uptone audio the developer. He claims to have listened to the switch Its not surprising he could not hear anything as he has been ranting on for a month that it wont and cant work and he paired it up with a DAC that he is totally unfamiliar with ( another offering sent for him to test with his $25000 rig). I’d be surprised if he listened to more than 2 tracks and certainly not critically.

    Amir also measured my amp the Lyngdorf TDAI3400 and declared that to be shit too, based on his measurements but then he actually listened to it for a week and said it was excellent.

    Uptone has been very clear and upfront about this product right through development. They have explained that the switch development is based on theoretical work by the lead designer John Swenson. Prototypes were tested by ear and showed sound improvements , John states that there are no tools currently available to demonstrate how the switch actually cleans up the leakage. He is trying to build a device to actually prove the theory with measurements.

    I bought this switch after seeing the first round of reviews from actual users, knowing i could return for a full refund within 30 days.

    In my system, which is only used to stream media the switch delivers significant and immediately noticeable improvements. If anyone is in east Kent they are welcome to a demonstration vs my old Cisco switch. I would say in my system the switch was the equivalent of stepping up a tier in major component quality.

    Its possible that Im getting atypical gains to the average user so YMMV.




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  8. #8
    Join Date: Aug 2009

    Location: Staffordshire, England

    Posts: 37,779
    I'm Martin.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Discopants View Post
    Don’t let that review put you off trying this switch , Amir seems to have a massive axe to grind with Uptone audio the developer. He claims to have listened to the switch Its not surprising he could not hear anything as he has been ranting on for a month that it wont and cant work and he paired it up with a DAC that he is totally unfamiliar with ( another offering sent for him to test with his $25000 rig). I’d be surprised if he listened to more than 2 tracks and certainly not critically.
    I don't think that is fair. The measurements showed it did nothing and theory says it can do nothing and the proof of it doing something that is currently unmeasurable has not (yet) been presented. And the listening test was done blind. I don't know but I suspect that if he had been able to pick it out on the blind test he would have said so as it would indicate that there is a known unknown as it were.

    He won't have listened to tracks either, he'll have swapped quickly between short segments, this being proven to be the best way to spot any differences.

    As you say there's 30 days return so if someone trys one and think it does make an improvement, and £650 worth of an improvement, then it's money well spent.
    Current Lash Up:

    TEAC VRDS 701T > Sony TAE1000ESD > Krell KSA50S > JM Labs Focal Electra 926.

  9. #9
    Join Date: Jan 2019

    Location: Kent UK

    Posts: 409
    I'm Martin.

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    https://youtu.be/Io4SDi5hLxs


    Hans Beekhuzen has now reviewed the etherREGEN switch and likes it very much, in fact its now staying in his reference system.

    4 months after launch and only 2 customers posting on the listening impressions thread who don’t like the switch in their system. One of them heard no difference in their system and took it out early. The other heard significant changes many of which for the better but after break in is now left with brittle treble which they cant live with but they are keeping the switch and trying to work out the source of the problem.

    Im still delighted with mine


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  10. #10
    Join Date: Jan 2019

    Location: Kent UK

    Posts: 409
    I'm Martin.

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    https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/06...f?v=1583429386

    The above link is a white paper published from the chief design engineer about how the switch works and the 2 of the issues its designed to address.

    Still no definitive measurements to support the theory as yet, although I hope they can eventually follow up with this.





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