UpTone Audio - USB Regen
Posted by: dayjay on 21 September 2015
After reading many good things about it on various forums I've just placed an order with UpTone Audio for a USB Regen to sit between my Mac Mini and my Hugo. I don't often buy blind but the cost was cheap enough, at only 230 dollars including insured postage, to take the risk and, at that price, if it can improve on what I currently get from the Mac and Audirvana into my Hugo, which is excellent, then it's well worth the price. It won't ship now until October but if anyone is interested I'll post my findings once it arrives.
My gut feeling tells me that if there was any benefit in these products that the processing would be built into a product like the Hugo just after the USB input.
But I don't use USB so don't care anyway 
I would be careful about the UpTone people. They are smart. I have no proof but my gut tells me they have hired one or more people to create debate about their Regen (and other) products in forums like these. You see similar posts here, Headfi, Pinkfish, ComputerAudiophile, and others. This is not pure organic growth. It's targeted social media marketing.
Doubtful - there are enough people with way too much time on their hands to endlessly debate these things on certain forums without needing to hire them.
It's a decent product. Cheap to try out and easy to sell on if it doesn't work for you.
And even easier, given it has a 30 day money back guarantee if you are not satisfied.
In a post on the 'science' thread referenced above the Regen chap quoted 1700 + units sold and 8 units returned for refund. Not bad I suppose considering it is all on word of 'keyboard' as he calls it.
While I agree they have used the hi-fi forum frenzy to their advantage and used that as a type of marketing springboard, (I think they have no other formal marketing to date - save their website) I would be very surprised and quite disappointed if they had paid operatives in the forums.
John Swenson, the engineer/designer behind the product is I believe to be very sound. He was very active on the Squeezebox forum in its heyday and came across as a knowledgeable and sincere contributor. I am not sure if he was associated with Logitech or not but he certainly had a deep understanding of the product, its strengths and shortcomings, and never promoted or endorsed silly improvement schemes, relying also on measurements and a more scientific approach, thus appearing far more in the objective than subjective camp.
For this I am happy to give his designs a go, especially at these types of prices.
The other chap who is more responsible for the business side of the venture does seem to be a bit more caught up in the frenzy - but I suppose he is very pleasantly surprised by the initial success of the device;
6 months in production and some simple maths says around $300k in top line sales + some probable spillover into other products they sell - a linear PS being one - I guess I'd be happy too.
Meanwhile, someone has recently taken some science to the product and offers these results:
It doesn't get any more scientific than.
"In other words, the differences imagined or real, are well within placebo range."
Compare it unsighted, but there is no evidence that either device improves the analogue output ( the part we hear ) even the manufacturer admits that.
H
Gosh, you are getting tedious. I'm really not sure what you are trying to prove especially as it seems you've never heard or are interested in hearing the Regen.
The evidence - the part we hear, in my system (which is highly revealing), clearly and categorically demonstrates a change in the sound which I interpret as an improvement.
I don't need to do a blind test. I've done a far more rigorous examination called the "wife test". She doesn't give a shit about HiFi, but she can clearly hear the difference too.
Mine was despatched today so hopefully I will be able to test soon
Gosh, you are getting tedious. I'm really not sure what you are trying to prove especially as it seems you've never heard or are interested in hearing the Regen.
The evidence - the part we hear, in my system (which is highly revealing), clearly and categorically demonstrates a change in the sound which I interpret as an improvement.
I don't need to do a blind test. I've done a far more rigorous examination called the "wife test". She doesn't give a shit about HiFi, but she can clearly hear the difference too.
Whether there is a difference is in little doubt in my mind, but whether it is better............? I am looking forward to the opinion from Dayjay.
Hope it's better than Audioquest JitterBug, which did nothing in my system.
Whereas the Uptone Regen seems to improve the sound of some recordings on the PC>Chord Hugo USB setup, I find it subtracts too much from the DAC-V1 USB. It does aid or enhance some detail depending on the cables etc, but it alters the 'musicality' (almost all the time). DAC-V1 gives that illusion at times that you are listening to vinyl on say an 80s LP12/Valhalla/Ittok, but not so with the USB Regen in the path!
Mine is currently clearing customs so will hopefully be with me at some stage this week. I have no preconceived views on it and, at the price, am happy to give it a try and trust my ears. If its not for me I will just move it on.
Before you hook it up to the Hugo check the level of the connectors and use a slim support if necessary so that you don't stress the micro B.
edit:You need a USB A male to Micro B male connector (adapter).
Before you hook it up to the Hugo check the level of the connectors and use a slim support if necessary so that you don't stress the micro B.
I will, thanks
Mine finally arrived today, after I paid the 20 odd quid for customs clearance and I have just, rather hastily set it up. Its a little messy at the moment and there are cables everywhere but I'm in the middle of decorating and wanted to have a quick listen.
First impressions; its very nicely packaged, has a nice premium feel to it. The device is much smaller than I thought, the USB cable to connect it to the Mac is a little too short and I had to use a different kettle lead to the one supplied but it all connected up easily and worked from the odd.
i know there has been mixed views on whether this can have any affect and, at the relatively cheap price, I was happy to listen and make my own mind up. Let me be very clear, in my system it undoubtedly has an affect on the sound. Initially I thought it was subtle but after an hour of listening it clearly is anything but subtle. The sound is 'cleaner' which allows more detail to be heard and tempts one to turn the volume up. Voices and instruments are more 'solid' which sharpens up the soundstage. the biggest change though is in the bass which is cleaner, deeper and faster.
Tori Amos Precious Things sounds incredible and still coherent with the sound up high. Losing It by Rush, which I love and have known well since the day it came out sounded better than I have ever heard it before. My wife, who loves music but has no interest in hifi at all and who was unable to hear a difference when interconnects and speaker cables were changed commented instantly on how much better Tori sounded.
Only an hours listening but so far so good; I'll spend some time when I'm not up to my eyes in wall paper paste and have a proper listen but I'm impressed so far.
Welcome to the club.
Had mine in for four weeks and its not coming out despite the measurists oh so confident opinions that it cant possibly work.
Its always a good sign when you stop listening to the change and instead spend an evening listening to every type of music you can think of and enjoying it immensely. My wife and I had a great night but the volume was a little louder than normal and some alcohol was consumed. I'll test it a little more properly as the week goes on at normal volumes but I'm pretty sure its a keeper. The bass is damned impressive for some reason.
It's a pretty neat little device. If you really need to convince yourself, take it out and you'll find it's not long before you put it back in again. A bargain really 
Thanks for the updates dayjay. More food for thought!
How is it you're connecting to your Hugo?
I bought a usb male to male adapter which plugs straight into the Hugo (it replaces the one supplied with the regen which is a different connector). I've used the suppplied usb cable from the mac to the regen which, although a little short, seems to do the job.
Congratulations - I also think Hugo does benefit from the USB Regen most of the time. I do hope Chord will take notice!
Indeed the Hugo does not use a decoupled USB port - that was introduced with the TT. Probably why I prefer the SPDIF on the Hugo to the USB. But also worth noting that with USB Async audio, the transport clock is important as with modern SPDIF implementations (nothing to do with sample clocks BTW), and the Regen seems to introduce a new low noise transport clock - so there should be less transport clock noise coupled through to the DAC. I guess that coupled with the ground isolation is what you are mostly benefiting from.
Simon
^ Likely - but it is not a perfect little unit as it seems (to me) that USB Regen adds some 'hardness' to choral crescendos
^ Likely - but it is not a perfect little unit as it seems (to me) that USB Regen adds some 'hardness' to choral crescendos
interesting. I have you played and tried different Regen power supplies?.
^ Likely - but it is not a perfect little unit as it seems (to me) that USB Regen adds some 'hardness' to choral crescendos
interesting. I have you played and tried different Regen power supplies?.
No I have not, but will do some time.
My wife and I had a great night but the volume was a little louder than normal and some alcohol was consumed.
I have to get one now