UpTone Audio's USB Regen is a powered, single-port USB 2.0 hub that takes the USB signal from your computer, regenerates (ie, reclocks) the data, provides cleaned-up 5V power from a built-in, ultra–low-noise regulator, and sends an impedance-matched signal to your DAC. The Regen is designed to sit as close to your DAC as possible; UpTone supplies a male/male USB A/B adapter—a solid, double-ended plug, which they recommend over the 6"-long male/male USB A/B cable they also provide. At one end of the Regen's small (2.2" wide by 0.7" high by 1.8" deep) case of black-anodized aluminum is a USB Type-B port for connecting the USB cable from your computer, and a 5.5 by 2.1mm barrel jack for the included supply. At the output end is a USB Type-A port for use with the adapter plug mentioned above. An amber-colored LED indicates the power status.

UpTone talks about four main issues the Regen is designed to address: PHY noise, signal integrity, packet noise, and "frequency optimizing" of the power-delivery network. Again, each of these pertains to noise inside the DAC that could pollute the analog signal.

Listening

I began my listening sessions with my reference Auralic Vega DAC). The rest of the system comprised a Pass Labs INT-30A integrated amplifier and DeVore Fidelity The Nines speakers.

I listened for a few weeks with the Regen in, then took it out. Wow: not subtle. Absent the Regen, it was as if my music had just come back from a week at weight-loss camp: Everything had less body and weight, and the overall spatial sound picture was reduced in every dimension. On a scale of sonic difference of 1 to 100, with the greatest difference possible in a hi-fi system's sound being 100, the Regen was a solid 15.

The Regen also offered a less brittle, less "digital" sound. Subtle, beautiful music, such as Washington Phillips's What Are They Doing in Heaven Today? (44.1kHz file from Little Axe Records), sounded more heavenly, and it was easier to tell János Starker's cello from Yo-Yo Ma's—I'm talking improvements that made listening to music more enjoyable and more meaningful.

It's important to note that the Regen didn't change the sonic character of whatever DAC was in use; rather, they enhanced its qualities.

I also ran these comparisons with a LampizatOr Lite 7 tubed DSD DAC replacing the Auralic Vega, as well as in my desktop system: an Audeze Deckard DAC–headphone amp driving ADAM A3X speakers and Audeze LCD-X headphones. All of the changes I heard with the ReGen through the Vega I also heard through the LampizatOr; while the AudioQuest JitterBug and Schiit Wyrd offered some improvement, the Regen consistently bettered both in terms of overall improvement. But on my desktop, the improvements gained with all three devices were less noticeable, especially in terms of spatial performance: My desktop setup is very much a nearfield listening experience, in which images and reproduced spaces are smaller and more intimate. The same held true for listening through headphones, as images were not reproduced in free space. With this in mind, if I were to pick for this system one such device, it would be a single JitterBug: The additional improvements offered by the more expensive ReGen didn't strike me as worth the extra cost.

Summing Up

If you want to try only one of these USB devices, I recommend UpTone's USB Regen as the performance choice, and AudioQuest's JitterBug as the budget choice. If your big rig is very resolving and subtle improvements grab your attention, I recommend the Regen-JitterBug combo for a more bewitching experience.