UpTone Audio EtherREGEN Switch Review

[duckworp]

At times, I wonder what might compel a person to register on a forum for the sole purpose of telling the participants they are wasting their time. Today is one of those times.

Simple curiousity. I like understanding human behaviour. My time is not wasted if I get an answer that satisfies my curiosity. I am not telling anyone they are wasting their time, but curious as to what the purpose, or motivation, of people is that ends up with pages and pages of debate on a device that scientifically (as measured here) does nothing, but from which some owners derive pleasure.

 

[Jimbob54]

I am fairly new to ASR. I don’t understand this thread. 59 pages about a switch. What I fail to understand is why are you all so interested to spend so much of your valuable time on this? Some people have this switch and are happy with it. They are either hearing things not measured here or they are hearing things in their brain which are not real. Either way they are happy with their purchase.
So why the 59 pages, when it is not complicated?

I am genuinely interested in understanding why so much heated interest. Why do you all feel that it is outrageous that a product can be being sold and bought and popular when you believe it cannot work? I can only suppose that you feel it your duty to protect further people from buying such a device. But why is this such a concern? If people are buying it and enjoying it, even if it is in their imagination, so what? Why is it incumbent on YOU to try to deny them that pleasure? Or if you feel that is your duty, to be the consumer police, why not also take up a cause against loads of consumer goods which could be argued do the same. For example, interior and exterior Paint - it has been proved that Dulux (UK mass market interior and exterior paint) is genuinely better quality and available in the same colours than most of the boutique paints that cost three times the cost. That is no different a situation - people buy the boutique paint because they believe it is better, and so it is for them, and they feel good about it. To me this is fine, but to you ASR folk this should also be an anathema- people are buying ‘snake-oil’ paint. Why only crusade against Hi-Fi components you feel don’t add anything, have a crusade against paint too!

There is a perception from the outside world in Hi-Fi that ASR is a bit of a ‘cult’ and this thread shows why, as the reactions shown on this 59 page thread are so out of proportion to what it is you are discussing - a £600 network switch which some people feel adds to the SQ.

Not sure why you feel the need to walk up to someone else's house, have a good nosey through the windows then feel compelled to slide a note under the door telling them how shit the decor is.

 

[tw99]

He owns 2 of then apparently:

https://pinkfishmedia.net/forum/threads/uptoneaudio-etherregen.236414/page-5#post-4308968

 

[Jimbob54]

He owns 2 of then apparently:

https://pinkfishmedia.net/forum/threads/uptoneaudio-etherregen.236414/page-5#post-4308968

Fool me twice!

 

[duckworp]

Not sure why you feel the need to walk up to someone else's house, have a good nosey through the windows then feel compelled to slide a note under the door telling them how shit the decor is.

Or more like knocking on the door and saying, that is an interesting colour scheme you have, tell me about what motivated you to do It that way.
I don’t think the tests or comments on the ER are invalid, or comments on mains Cables, or any other component displaying no measurement changes, I am interested in the motivation for 59 pages discussing it. It is the whole pro or anti-cable issue blown up and exaggerated, so it is an opportunity to gain some understanding of behaviour.

 

[duckworp]

He owns 2 of then apparently:

https://pinkfishmedia.net/forum/threads/uptoneaudio-etherregen.236414/page-5#post-4308968

Yes. I hear a difference. Not night or day, but a difference. Enough to buy a second. But it may be in my head and not real. That’s OK though. And that is OK for most people.

 

[mansr]

Yes. I hear a difference. Not night or day, but a difference. Enough to buy a second. But it may be in my head and not real. That’s OK though. And that is OK for most people.

Did they offer you a discount in exchange for trolling here?

 

[Jimbob54]

Or more like knocking on the door and saying, that is an interesting colour scheme you have, tell me about what motivated you to do It that way.
I don’t think the tests or comments on the ER are invalid, or comments on mains Cables, or any other component displaying no measurement changes, I am interested in the motivation for 59 pages discussing it. It is the whole pro or anti-cable issue blown up and exaggerated, so it is an opportunity to gain some understanding of behaviour.

And you see no problem with "more like knocking on the door and saying, that is an interesting colour scheme you have, tell me about what motivated you to do It that way."

People like you, doing just this, are the reasons this thread is 59 pages long.

 

[vibess]

The only thing out of proportion is claiming a network switch improves sound quality. If there were a forum revealing snake oil in the paint business I would sign up there to if I could save a 1000$ next I have to redo the paint on the house.

 

[duckworp]

Fool me twice!

I actually bought the first having read the review on ASR. I know enough from other measurement based reports to know that it is possible to hear improvements in SQ that are not measured, even if they are invented in our minds.
All publicity is good publicity and 59 pages on ASR is a fair amount of exposure in this small industry.

 

[duckworp]

Anyway, so the question being, is the point of the extended comments on this device is that the people of ASR want to save others from wasting their money? That is what I think it is, but I'm interested if there is more.

 

[Mart68]

Simple curiousity. I like understanding human behaviour. My time is not wasted if I get an answer that satisfies my curiosity. I am not telling anyone they are wasting their time, but curious as to what the purpose, or motivation, of people is that ends up with pages and pages of debate on a device that scientifically (as measured here) does nothing, but from which some owners derive pleasure.

There are some people here to whom it is an anathema and some that would like to see sales of such items banned.

However I think the majority of us just like to see the case against them put eloquently and backed up with evidence. Just so that anyone considering buying one can make an informed decision having seen the arguments made both for and against.

I agree that even if the device does nothing they may still get some pleasure from using it even if it is psychosomatic. But they could be getting genuine pleasure by instead spending the money on something that really does make a difference, like better loudspeakers.

There's people who own a lot of questionable devices which add up to a lot of money whilst still using loudspeakers that could easily be bettered if they had spent the money there instead. I see that a lot on forums. Tweaking round the edges. It makes no sense.

 

[Jimbob54]

I actually bought the first having read the review on ASR. I know enough from other measurement based reports to know that it is possible to hear improvements in SQ that are not measured, even if they are invented in our minds.
All publicity is good publicity and 59 pages on ASR is a fair amount of exposure in this small industry.

Ah, so now we come to the real nub of it. You just want to open up the whole "not everything that affects what we hear is measured" debate on this thread too. Tell you what, take it to https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ngs-that-cannot-be-measured.20808/post-688995

 

[Jimbob54]

Anyway, so the question being, is the point of the extended comments on this device is that the people of ASR want to save others from wasting their money? That is what I think it is, but I'm interested if there is more.

The point of the extended comments is people like expressing their views on things they are interested in . It's kind of the point of Internet forums, no?

It's not proselytising if it's within ones own church.

 

[duckworp]

There are some people here to whom it is an anathema and some that would like to see sales of such items banned.

However I think the majority of us just like to see the case against them put eloquently and backed up with evidence. Just so that anyone considering buying one can make an informed decision having seen the arguments made both for and against.

I agree that even if the device does nothing they may still get some pleasure from using it even if it is psychosomatic. But they could be getting genuine pleasure by instead spending the money on something that really does make a difference, like better loudspeakers.

There's people who own a lot of questionable devices which add up to a lot of money whilst still using loudspeakers that could easily be bettered if they had spent the money there instead. I see that a lot on forums. Tweaking round the edges. It makes no sense.

Thanks for this. That’s the sort of answer I was looking for. I agree re speakers. I did spend a long time searching for my ultimate speakers and eventually found them. And I can't treat the room further, which is the other major factor in improving SQ. So for people like me, who want the best SQ, all we can do is tweak the edges.

 

[Jimbob54]

Thanks for this. That’s the sort of answer I was looking for. I agree re speakers. I did spend a long time searching for my ultimate speakers and eventually found them. And I can't treat the room further, which is the other major factor in improving SA. So for people like me, who want the best SQ, all we can do is tweak the edges.

Or use EQ.

 

[duckworp]

Or use EQ.

Yes. I do EQ the bass as I have dsp-controlled semi-active speakers, and bass was my room's big issue so I took 45Hz and 90Hz down around 6db. The room sounds good once the bass was sorted. I tried DSP for the mids and top end in roon but did not like the effect. Anyway, we are getting off topic.

 

[duckworp]

Did they offer you a discount in exchange for trolling here?

I am sorry if this is considered trolling. I shall stop commenting.

 

[vibess]

I think it's a pretty sane discussion so far and no trolling from my perspective.

 

[Purité Audio]

Thanks for this. That’s the sort of answer I was looking for. I agree re speakers. I did spend a long time searching for my ultimate speakers and eventually found them. And I can't treat the room further, which is the other major factor in improving SQ. So for people like me, who want the best SQ, all we can do is tweak the edges.

Regarding speakers, your job entails listening to the final mastering for a record company does it jot, yet you use one of the most coloured loudspeakers available , I struggle to see how the two conflate?
Keith