05-Oct-2015, 22:36
Well.... This is an interesting one.
Have had the Regen powered up for two days.
It's hooked up with its supplied SMPS and hard adaptor into the Dev, using Guillaume's kindly loaned Audioquest Carbon USB cable. Standard dedicated Mac mini semi-optimised, and with internal ssd. Roon in exclusive mode. No fancy power cables or dedicated mains.
I played music through it for over 24 hours continuous, listening on and off on Sunday. There was no wow moment for sure, but I had initially thought there was a subtle improvement, but then again I'd never left the D200 on and playing music (quietly) for over 24 hours before so I thought that might have been a factor.
Tonight I tried again on a very limited set of tracks, and did a small set of AB session of 'critical' listening. Nothing scientific - just me, eyes closed, on a few well known tracks one at a time, each time listening all the way through then again half way through swapped out removing the Regen (but keeping it powered while it was out of the chain). There is a bit if a delay switching over. Roon kindly remembers the paths through once both setups are saved, but at the height mines on the wall it's a faff to see the USB socket on the 200. Anyway, I did my best to do it quickly. On each occasion where i'd thought I'd heard extra details or 'smoothness' or 'tightening up of bass' or whatever, they turned out to be just the same when listening again with it removed. My guess is when I concentrate on listening, I hear subtle things I may miss otherwise, and that this might be mistaken for an 'improvement'.
I know the Dev doesn't use the 5v power so as I understand it all we're looking at is its alleged signal regenerating and impedance matching. My best conclusion after today's test is if it's doing something it's subtle. I didn't detect anything negative.
That seems to contradict a lot of other users, and now I'm hugely intrigued. My bias hopefully should be balanced as I've read that circa 1700 people think it makes an improvement, and also that people have measured that it does nothing useful.
I drew the same conclusion on the jitterbugs so some may say my ears/setup aren't up to it, and perhaps that's true, but I feel I can hear tiny changes in other situations.
So, because I'm really interested in this debate now, I've ordered a BOTW booster 6v linear ps (it was a previous model on sale) and will test when it arrives, as well as some more in the meantime if I get time.
I really hope it does give an improvement I can hear. Will report back after the next wave. Maybe I'll be of a different opinion next time round.
Have had the Regen powered up for two days.
It's hooked up with its supplied SMPS and hard adaptor into the Dev, using Guillaume's kindly loaned Audioquest Carbon USB cable. Standard dedicated Mac mini semi-optimised, and with internal ssd. Roon in exclusive mode. No fancy power cables or dedicated mains.
I played music through it for over 24 hours continuous, listening on and off on Sunday. There was no wow moment for sure, but I had initially thought there was a subtle improvement, but then again I'd never left the D200 on and playing music (quietly) for over 24 hours before so I thought that might have been a factor.
Tonight I tried again on a very limited set of tracks, and did a small set of AB session of 'critical' listening. Nothing scientific - just me, eyes closed, on a few well known tracks one at a time, each time listening all the way through then again half way through swapped out removing the Regen (but keeping it powered while it was out of the chain). There is a bit if a delay switching over. Roon kindly remembers the paths through once both setups are saved, but at the height mines on the wall it's a faff to see the USB socket on the 200. Anyway, I did my best to do it quickly. On each occasion where i'd thought I'd heard extra details or 'smoothness' or 'tightening up of bass' or whatever, they turned out to be just the same when listening again with it removed. My guess is when I concentrate on listening, I hear subtle things I may miss otherwise, and that this might be mistaken for an 'improvement'.
I know the Dev doesn't use the 5v power so as I understand it all we're looking at is its alleged signal regenerating and impedance matching. My best conclusion after today's test is if it's doing something it's subtle. I didn't detect anything negative.
That seems to contradict a lot of other users, and now I'm hugely intrigued. My bias hopefully should be balanced as I've read that circa 1700 people think it makes an improvement, and also that people have measured that it does nothing useful.
I drew the same conclusion on the jitterbugs so some may say my ears/setup aren't up to it, and perhaps that's true, but I feel I can hear tiny changes in other situations.
So, because I'm really interested in this debate now, I've ordered a BOTW booster 6v linear ps (it was a previous model on sale) and will test when it arrives, as well as some more in the meantime if I get time.
I really hope it does give an improvement I can hear. Will report back after the next wave. Maybe I'll be of a different opinion next time round.
>>> 1st Place Award: Devialet, last decades most disappointing technology purchase. <<<
