Absolute top tier DAC for standard res Redbook CD

Definittion of PHY here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PHY_(chip)

The other point I missed is that they use thick multi-lyares for the Regen board as this helps with SI as well (not sure how, as Swenson does not tell us everything).

Cstooner, I cant answer if Regen will be better than the shortBloc or if a combo would be better tha both together. I have the Aubisque filter and did not notice any improvement when placing that on the end of the generic USB cable before entering the Regen. I THINK I noticed an improvement when using the Corning+Regen, but now I should try the Corning+Aubisque+Regen. A pal uas my iPurifier, so cant try that for the moment.

CTSooner - I have the short block also and it resides permanently in the system. I just ordered the Regen. I'll post my results here with the short block in and out of the system.

Thanks Wisnon for trying to explain the Regen. However I think you may have misstated one or two items.

I have asked Alex, of Uptone Audio, to see if John Swenson could come on here and explain but I am not sure he ever saw my message in his overflowing mailbox. I will try again.

The PCB board they use is a four (4) layer. One of the reasons to use the four layer is to help impedance matching.

As far as the "cable impedance matching" that is one of the areas where I think you may have misspoke.

Anyway you were able to explain it much better then I could so thank you.

Yes, agreed AL, the cable mod comes from Corning experience and led them to add resistors in the Regen board at the ground connection. This is somewhat greater than 3 ohms, so it increases the resistance all going to Ground. Its not really impedance matching per se, but I could not explain it any better than that. The other point about lowering overall Dac side impedance is another matter entirely, but is somewhat addressed by the Regen as well...cant recall how now.

And yes the 4 layer PCB is for impedance matching...though even that is part of the overall SI goal, IIRC.

More from the guys themselves:
Quote Originally Posted by Superdad View Post
Well Jason at Schiit does not like to make claims (I admire that among many other excellent business practices of theirs), but in his long blog/book on HeadFi he does talk about the SQ differences the Wyrd can make. But as John pointed out, the degree depends upon both the computer and the DAC. But the design of both the Wyrd and our Regen is absolutely not just about providing cleaner 5V USBVbus power. One does not need a hub chip, clocks, etc. to do that. In fact, in designing the piece, John and I discussed whether to even interrupt the USB VBus power to provide our own, but of course it made sense to do so.

So yes, both the Wyrd and the Regen will perform their primary purpose even if the DAC does not use 5V Vbus power at all. (John did some trick things to make ours work/sound extra good: 4 layer board with impedance-controlled output, ultra low-noise regulators, external DC supply--Wyrd brings low voltage AC into it, no USB output cable--I'll be proving USB A>B solid adapter so tiny box can go at the DAC and not introduce another USB cable.)

As for the advantages, it comes back to the research he has been doing on packet noise (where poor SI makes the DAC's USB PHY and processor work harder--causing internal modulation at both 8KHz packet rate and wideband), power distribution networks, etc. So Regn places creation of new and clean USB signal right at the DAC. Kind of like an external version of an audiophile USB card (SOtM, Paul Pang, etc.), but at the correct end of the cable and not powered by the computer. A boon for Mac users for whom such cards don't even exist.