One step forward: ER +lpsu

I don’t know what is radial or ring.
But I have an Hifi powerblock ( for Naim, Melco, Rega) and a different powerblock on another wall outlet ( for tv, router).
I tried both for the ER, and both for the ER linear ps: in both cases I had a better sound when using my Hifi powerblock. Is it what you name Radial ?

What I’m referring to - in my case - is that my house has three mains circuits available:

  • 1. The preexisting normal hose mains circuit - this is a ring-mains in UK, which means it makes a loop out and back to the House Mains consumer unit that feeds everything in the house.
  • 2. The ‘HiFi Ring’ I especially put in just for the HiFi equipment - the same as ‘1’ above, but just for the HiFi.
  • 3. A ‘raidial’ mains wire - meaning just one mains wire - not in a ring - which I’d placed to try for the HiFi but decided it was not to my liking so it has sat unused for years…until I tried it for the ER power supply.

So the HiFi has its own mains circuit - and everything else is on the normal ‘house’ mains circuit - except for the ER. It was just an experiment - which happened to surprise me with the positive result, so since I have it there I leave it in that circuit.

Otherwise I’d use a better Linear PS on the HiFi mains circuit from what I can deduce.
Previously I’d had the ER on the House Mains circuit. I’m otherwise trying not to plug-in any ‘dongle’ type switch-mode supplies to the HiFi mains circuit as I’ve had generally (with specific exceptions) poor results doing that with injecting noise onto that circuit.
One of the ‘specific exceptions’ in my case was the Melco - my version has a special low-noise supply which I auditioned and liked - the later versions have better supply for sure, but the one I have is good enough.

DB.

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I hadn’t thought about that. At the moment my ER is powered using the supplied SMPS, which incidentally sounds very good, plugged into the normal house ring main.

When I get my linear supply, I do have one empty socket on my Musicworks power block so I could plug it in there which is on my dedicated hifi supply so that it shares the circuit with all my Naim supplies and my Melco N1.

Something else to try… the search for nirvana goes ever onwards!

An update to my previous post I have heard back from Paul Hynes and they can build the supply optimised for the ER with the correct voltage and current specs… good news.

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Considering its price, I hope so ! :grin:
(ER + UltraCap 1.2 costs £ 1’105, in the UK)

I’ll test it tomorrow afternoon connected to the ND555 (after ~4 days connected to my main computer)

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No hope required - it is so blindingly obvious in a system like yours that you should fall-over if you were expecting no difference.
…but you may hate it - interested to read your report. :bear:

DB.

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Here are my first, very subjective, impressions on the UpTone EtherRegen with UpTone UltraCap LPS-1.2

I use the EtherRegen like so :

Roon Server----Cisco_3560—(fiber)— EtherRegen—ND555

The EtherRegen effect on sound quality is described, by some forum members, with lot of hyperbole. More details, more prat, better soundstage, more clarity, more dynamic, more, more etc.

I humbly admit I got tempted! :star_struck:

But what I perceived is rather different.

From what I heard, the ER adds nothing (which makes sense by the way).

But…

But it undoubtedly has a positive effect on sound. And that effect is really nice!

It is not as obvious as adding a Naim power supply, and it does not bring what a power supply brings (far from that, really!).

It is subtle, but very much present.

( Btw, my definition of “subtle” is not “intensely listening until a detail magically appears”. For me, “subtle” means “obviously there” but “lightly marked”. )

It does not affect “this” or “that” precisely, it is more like a “wide range effect” (from the very low end to the top highs).

It’s a very nice effect, but hard to describe.

While it adds nothing, I would venture to say that it removes something!

It removes perhaps some “graininess” and/or some “sharp-edginess”. What a neologism! We should start an audiophile thesaurus! :joy:

Details, airiness, soundstage precision and layering, are the exact same. No more, no less.

My system is quite revealing. The ER did not make it more revealing, the way a second 555PS DR did.

But everything gets more “clean” and “liquid”, and this makes the hell of a difference!

…not sure it means something, or even makes sense. Those things are hard to describe.

This is going to sound odd: my system gets closer to the Soulution presentation, which is rahter nice!

Did I make an A-B test?

Yes, of course. And the victim was my dear wife. :laughing:

I never do A-B tests myself. I’m obviously not objective (too many cognitive biases).

Her conclusions, her words: “slightly cleaner”, “slightly lighter”, “much more readable”.

As a base line she hears no difference between two Ethernet cables. For her, if it’s not obvious she doesn’t bother mentioning it, and probably doesn’t care (nor do I).

So, does the ER make a difference?
Unfortunately, yes very much so.
The effect is subtle but I like it, a lot! :smiley:

Is it worth the outlay?
Well, this is silly question. Isn’t it?! :wink:

  • NOTA BENE :

Knowing that the above could be used as a “buying advice” I’d add the following:

In my opinion, if you have a bare NDX2 and you’re planning to buy a fancy switch, well don’t do it!

The ER + UltraCap 1.2 costs £ 1’105, in the UK.
That’s a lot of money!

If I had a NDX2 I’d save my cash for a Naim 555PS DR and would use a Cisco Catalyst (with the latest firmware) as my main switch.

Both Cisco Catalyst 2960 or Catalyst 3560 are brilliant switches in terms of sound and have useful features, (like IGMP Snooping) and cost peanuts on the second hand market.

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This is interesting. I also got ER given the many great comments and reviews. I cannot say that it improves the sound quality but doesn’t degrade it either. My main observations is that it discernibly gets the noise floor down in my installation. It is clearer.

That’s exactly what it is supposed to do.

I did not mention the noise floor because I don’t actually know where the noise gets lower. And what’s going on. But I suppose that what I perceived is related to a lower noise floor.

I just described my impressions.

Adds nothing but the sound is better, is like playing with words. In that spirit of thinking, no component adds something, but enables the sound to explain more itself, removes noise, glare…so yes, adds nothing.

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I have not Magico/ 500 series system but on my more modest system the ER/MCRU gave more improvement than going from xps 2 to 555dr on my Nds. I don’t exaggerate.

Thanks for the comprehensive review.

I think in the best case, the signal is an unchanged passthru. IMHO, If you have a well-designed DAC, such a device doesn’t improve anything. If you don’t have a well-designed DAC, it makes sense to invest the money in one. But again, it’s my view and and my money.

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Indeed, there is no audio signal to change. It’s data that is transmitted to the streamer.

If the DAC is perfectly isolated from the streamer section , and if the streamer section handles correctly the “ethernet noise” than yes a switch like the ER would be useless. Unfortunately, that’s not the case for the NDxxx.

What the ER does, and the fiber probably even more, is to isolate the ND555 from the rest of the network. I suppose one could achieve the same result by other means.

I notice that the ER bandwidth is around 10 mbps, so it means that you cannot stream any sample rate higher than 192/24 or DSD 128?

It’s 100 Mbits, just like the P800 streaming platform.

I stream DXD files (PCM 24 bits / 352,8 kHz) , and it’s rather fine :grin:

I am sure @Michaelb will approve: with the ER and good linear ps, vs Cisco, you hear more clearly into the recording and the meaning, the why of the playing. The details come in sharper relief, the bass is better defined and extended, the prat is better, there are more colors and textures, and the soundstage is wider. The sound is also more fluent, easy going.
It adds nothing? In an objective way of thinking. But subjectively, the ER/ps adds a lot more in the listening experience.

Thank you for your honest report Thomas and I think you describe the effect of the Ether Regen very well.

My Paul Hynes Designs SR4T linear power supply is on order and will be delivered at the end of the month. I will of course report back once it has had a chance to settle in compared to the already very good SMPS supplied as stock with the ER.

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Thanks Micheal!
It’s not an easy task :sweat_smile:

Adding a stable and quite power supply to the ER should make a difference.

And using the ER’s SFP port is also worth trying, if your main switch has one.

Look forward to your findings with the Paul Hynes Designs SR4T.

The ER grew on me a lot and only after removing it for a bit after a few months did I realize how much was missing! It may not ‘add’ anything but it certainly stops a lot of things being removed and non-musical crud overlaid.

At first on week 1 or week 2 of use I’d have just said a bit better - worth having and overall nice upgrade. But after having it settle-in for many months something had got a lot better and I’d now describe it as an important part of my system.

Yes - that is how I hear it too. Also far more dynamic range perception - possibly helped by lower noise-floor.

DB.

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I’m planning to do that after a couple of weeks. Just like I did with the 555PS. I guess it reveals the differences even more.

This is interesting. In a month or two, I’ll try connecting the ND555 back to the Cat.3560. Then get back to the ER.

As for the ER being part of the system I couldn’t agree more!
Unfortunately I dare say. I would be happy to pay a couple of thousands more for the ND555 just for not having to add a special switch to the system.

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I would say that the ER , or better powerblock and cables , are working like gates in an hydraulic dam.
It’s still water, but if the gate is more open, more water will pass through, so more energy and water life.

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