@Reed, thanks for the initial report and talking about the Regen, as I have one too. My LANRover is on the way today, so it seems. What I’d be interested in hearing about in your setup is if the Kimber Silver USB (or other cord in that position) makes a difference. I do have a cheap Pangea laying around, but for quality USB between computer and DS I’ve been using a TotalDac1, which I envision putting in the second position.
Reed said Initial LANRover impressions.I received mine today, and have it connected. The system path is as follows:
MacBook Pro → Kimber silver USB → LANRover pair (with supplied Ethernet cable between them) → Curious Cable USB → DAC. The LANRover replaces my a Regen in the system path. I’m running HQPlayer up sampling all music to 352/24, with a Roon front end.
The device works seamlessly. It works the same as the Regen, making its self seemingly “invisible” to player software. I still see my dac as a device, the same as if it were connected directly to my computer.
As far as sound…I’m astonished at the improvement over the Regen. When I inserted the Regen a while back, I was very happy with the results. This, however, is magnitudes better than that difference. It’s NOT one of those “Did I hear a difference?..let me switch back again” deals. It’s effect is immediately noticed in my system. There is an effortlessness and clarity to the music that has simply never been there before. Inserting the Regen back in the path makes everything sound compressed and flat, something I would not have described it as before. The improvements are all across the board: better/tighter base, improve ambiance, better decay, etc. There is also more detail, but is not bright.
I will be trying it with different software players and through my network. I have a lot of listening ahead tonight and days to come, but wanted to post initial impressions.
Color me impressed.
Well, "As far as sound…I’m astonished at the improvement over the Regen. When I inserted the Regen a while back, I was very happy with the results. This, however, is magnitudes better than that difference. It’s NOT one of those “Did I hear a difference?..let me switch back again” deals. It’s effect is immediately noticed in my system. There is an effortlessness and clarity to the music that has simply never been there before. "
Gee, I’ll take that! Thanks! You’re the first and I am thrilled you got it so quickly and understand its merits.
Well done!
Paul McGowan saidReed said Initial LANRover impressions.I received mine today, and have it connected. The system path is as follows:
MacBook Pro → Kimber silver USB → LANRover pair (with supplied Ethernet cable between them) → Curious Cable USB → DAC. The LANRover replaces my a Regen in the system path. I’m running HQPlayer up sampling all music to 352/24, with a Roon front end.
The device works seamlessly. It works the same as the Regen, making its self seemingly “invisible” to player software. I still see my dac as a device, the same as if it were connected directly to my computer.
As far as sound…I’m astonished at the improvement over the Regen. When I inserted the Regen a while back, I was very happy with the results. This, however, is magnitudes better than that difference. It’s NOT one of those “Did I hear a difference?..let me switch back again” deals. It’s effect is immediately noticed in my system. There is an effortlessness and clarity to the music that has simply never been there before. Inserting the Regen back in the path makes everything sound compressed and flat, something I would not have described it as before. The improvements are all across the board: better/tighter base, improve ambiance, better decay, etc. There is also more detail, but is not bright.
I will be trying it with different software players and through my network. I have a lot of listening ahead tonight and days to come, but wanted to post initial impressions.
Color me impressed.
Well, "As far as sound…I’m astonished at the improvement over the Regen. When I inserted the Regen a while back, I was very happy with the results. This, however, is magnitudes better than that difference. It’s NOT one of those “Did I hear a difference?..let me switch back again” deals. It’s effect is immediately noticed in my system. There is an effortlessness and clarity to the music that has simply never been there before. "
Gee, I’ll take that! Thanks! You’re the first and I am thrilled you got it so quickly and understand its merits.
Well done!
highstream said @Reed, thanks for the initial report and talking about the Regen, as I have one too. My LANRover is on the way today, so it seems. What I'd be interested in hearing about in your setup is if the Kimber Silver USB (or other cord in that position) makes a difference. I do have a cheap Pangea laying around, but for quality USB between computer and DS I've been using a TotalDac1, which I envision putting in the second position.After seeing your post, I switched from the .5 meter Kimber to the 1 meter USB that came with the LANRover. The Kimber is better, however, the difference is greatly less, compared to the same switch with the Regen or directly to the DAC.
Well, I have sad news. I just send a note to Paul to let him know that the LANRover I received did not work in my system (dedicated pc - USB - LANRover pair - WW Platinum USB - Esoteric K-03X). Everything on the LANRover lit up, but no sound at all from the DAC. I’m not sure if I got a bad unit, or if it doesn’t work with Roon. I’m going to try one more time with JRiver and see what happens. If that fails, I’ll wait to hear from Paul. There is no reason this shouldn’t work and I’m happy to hear that we have some initial positive reviews. I really want this to work!!
Steve
Update: I did try using JRiver as the player with the same result. No sound, but strangely enough I could see the display correctly reflecting the format of the incoming signal, at one point changing from DSD 2.8 to 44.1.
The mystery continues…
scirica said Well, I have sad news. I just send a note to Paul to let him know that the LANRover I received did not work in my system (dedicated pc - USB - LANRover pair - WW Platinum USB - Esoteric K-03X). Everything on the LANRover lit up, but no sound at all from the DAC. I'm not sure if I got a bad unit, or if it doesn't work with Roon. I'm going to try one more time with JRiver and see what happens. If that fails, I'll wait to hear from Paul. There is no reason this shouldn't work and I'm happy to hear that we have some initial positive reviews. I really want this to work!!Steve
Update: I did try using JRiver as the player with the same result. No sound, but strangely enough I could see the display correctly reflecting the format of the incoming signal, at one point changing from DSD 2.8 to 44.1.
The mystery continues…
Steve - so sorry to hear this, I know you were looking forward to the LANRover. Did you give it a try with either your PS Audio DS or Bryston BDA-3? That might be a way to determine if there’s a problem with your LANRover or a compatibility issue with the Esoteric. Good luck and I’m sure with PS Audio’s excellent support you’ll get it figured out. Hang in there!
audio.bill saidThanks Bill. I know of at least one other person that had no problem with his LANRover between the same audio PC that I have and an Estoric DAC. And I agree that Paul and team will come to the rescue. I'm not worried!scirica said Well, I have sad news. I just send a note to Paul to let him know that the LANRover I received did not work in my system (dedicated pc - USB - LANRover pair - WW Platinum USB - Esoteric K-03X). Everything on the LANRover lit up, but no sound at all from the DAC. I'm not sure if I got a bad unit, or if it doesn't work with Roon. I'm going to try one more time with JRiver and see what happens. If that fails, I'll wait to hear from Paul. There is no reason this shouldn't work and I'm happy to hear that we have some initial positive reviews. I really want this to work!!Steve - so sorry to hear this, I know you were looking forward to the LANRover. Did you give it a try with either your PS Audio DS or Bryston BDA-3? That might be a way to determine if there's a problem with your LANRover or a compatibility issue with the Esoteric. Good luck and I'm sure with PS Audio's excellent support you'll get it figured out. Hang in there!Steve
Update: I did try using JRiver as the player with the same result. No sound, but strangely enough I could see the display correctly reflecting the format of the incoming signal, at one point changing from DSD 2.8 to 44.1.
The mystery continues…
I did not try this with the BDA-3 or the Directstream due to my current system configuration.
I asked Steve to make sure he flips the LANRover units over. On the bottom of each is a label signifying which of the two units is the receiver, and which is the transmitter. The transmitter must be connected to the computer. It’s an easy mistake to make - I’ve made it myself.
Second thing to do is keep everything on when making the switch. You have a working system, just disconnect the USB cable, insert the Rover and it should work. I have seen instances where on a Mac I had to reselect the right driver and reboot the DAC.
Also, look on the Rover’s lights to see it it thinks it is connected and working.
Paul McGowan said I asked Steve to make sure he flips the LANRover units over. On the bottom of each is a label signifying which of the two units is the receiver, and which is the transmitter. The transmitter must be connected to the computer. It's an easy mistake to make - I've made it myself.Second thing to do is keep everything on when making the switch. You have a working system, just disconnect the USB cable, insert the Rover and it should work. I have seen instances where on a Mac I had to reselect the right driver and reboot the DAC.
Also, look on the Rover’s lights to see it it thinks it is connected and working.
The sender unit is powered by the computer, and the receiver unit uses external power. The easiest way for me to keep it straight is to connect the unit with the external power supply to the DAC.
All:
Paul and team are working very closely with me (via email) trying to figure this out. It could be my system, but as I’ve stated I know of another person with a near-identical setup and it was indeed “plug and play”. One of the great things about working with PS Audio is you have a direct line to Paul and his entire team. You simply can’t say that about 90% of the companies we deal with in this hobby.
Can I live without the LANRover? Certainly. But the stubborn side of me wants to get this working because I believe it makes perfect sense from an audio engineering point of view.
Steve
scirica said All:Paul and team are working very closely with me (via email) trying to figure this out. It could be my system, but as I’ve stated I know of another person with a near-identical setup and it was indeed “plug and play”. One of the great things about working with PS Audio is you have a direct line to Paul and his entire team. You simply can’t say that about 90% of the companies we deal with in this hobby.
Can I live without the LANRover? Certainly. But the stubborn side of me wants to get this working because I believe it makes perfect sense from an audio engineering point of view.
Steve
Agreed. And I made sure this was the case as I could see it as an easy mistake. However, the instructions were perfectly clear and I had it hooked up correctly.
ozzymilton said Mine should arrive tomorrow.I can compare it to my chain of Intona, Recovery, and 2 Mutec-3+USB’s in tandem. The Regens were sold long ago.
Source is from a Bryston BDP-2 and will be using the Curious usb’s into the Direct Stream Dac.
First I’ll try it alone, then in tandem with the others.
It would be great if the LANRover could replace the others.
Well I received the units today, everything works fine thank you. The sound quality is pretty good but the soundstage seems to be more inside the speakers than what I have been used to. Need more time to let it play though.
More to follow.
Paul, What can of burnin time should we expect?
scirica said Well, I have sad news. I just send a note to Paul to let him know that the LANRover I received did not work in my system (dedicated pc - USB - LANRover pair - WW Platinum USB - Esoteric K-03X). Everything on the LANRover lit up, but no sound at all from the DAC. I'm not sure if I got a bad unit, or if it doesn't work with Roon. I'm going to try one more time with JRiver and see what happens. If that fails, I'll wait to hear from Paul. There is no reason this shouldn't work and I'm happy to hear that we have some initial positive reviews. I really want this to work!!Steve
Update: I did try using JRiver as the player with the same result. No sound, but strangely enough I could see the display correctly reflecting the format of the incoming signal, at one point changing from DSD 2.8 to 44.1.
The mystery continues…
I just got mine. PC with JRiver and no sound at first. I tried turning the dac off and on. It was funny the dac appeared to have locked on to the signal, but PC was only recognizing internal speakers. I rebooted the PC and it then recognized the dac, and with that done I had sound.
Later I did unplug the usb into PC, and reinserted Jitterbug, when I plugged it back in it played right away. Have you tried rebooting the computer?
After reading the first review, I now wish I had a better 2nd usb cable, I’m using the supplied from the PC to 1st box. AQ Carbon to dac. I think I may have to order a Silver .5m Pangea.
More to come after I have spent some time with LANRover in the system. I know with the Jitterbug I just put it in and aftef a couple of weeks, then removed it. It took less than a minute to know what it was doing was beneficial. So I need to get some hours in on the LANRover.
Paul, someone else asked too, is there some burn in time for it be at its best?
I haven’t found burn in to be important. Mine stunned me immediately. I might have been too gobsmacked to pay attention to the fact it was getting better over time, I just don’t know. I can’t live without mine in the system and now that I am used to it I can tell when it’s gone just walking in the room.
Well, I received my LANRover today. I got word from FedEx that it was coming so I camped out of the front porch waiting for the guy. My system was warmed up and ready. The FedEx truck parked across the street, and it is busy, while the driver played Frogger trying to get to me. He made it without incident, fortunately for both of us.
I have everything ready, I have my drinks and snacks and I am prepared for a lengthy swap back and forth program. What a let down! I played my favorite test piece, put in the LANRover and… It was immediately obvious that I would be wasting my time by switching things back and forth. I did do a switch or two for sanity reasons but as I said, it was basically a waste of time. The LANRover is just plain “more” in every way but one. In that case is is “less”. Better imaging, more 3-dimensional, increased clarity, greater dynamics (it just plain sounds louder) and smoother. The less condition is less CRAP. A bunch of non-musically related stuff goes away. This isn’t a softening of the presentation it is just less grunge. Although I probably paid for the grunge, I am not sad to see it go. Less is more in this case.
I am using what is probably a rather unpopular system type for most Audiophiles but tough Tuna! My system is a highly modified JBL Everest 67000 which is now a fully active 4 way system. (Technically a 3 1/2 way). I use Parasound JC1 amplifiers on each of the 4 woofers, a pair of Quicksilver Mono 120’s for the HF compression driver section and a small discreet amplifier for the UHF compression driver. The crossover/preamp/processor is a DEQX HDP4. This is a digital crossover and linear phase processor which also happens to do double duty as a preamp as it provides a host of inputs and a simple analog volume control. I am feeding its USB input with the LANRover. I was previously using a Jitterbug and my comparisons were the LANRover vs. the USB with Jitterbug. I also have a Basis Audio Debut turntable with the PS Phono control center. I am excited to try the LANRover on the USB output of the PS for my recording purposes. I would imagine it will help significantly even though I get wonderful transcriptions already.
All of my stuff is in the same place so, at this time, there is no advantage to run a long CAT5 or use my network. My Mac Mini sits along with everything else and can use my TV when necessary for a screen. Generally I control it remotely from my iMac and use the JRiver remote app on my iPad to control things when I am listening. Since I can’t handle computers, I need to go Mac cause I’m an idiot otherwise.
So that is about it. Digital is Digital and this shouldn’t matter, just like all of the other stuff that shouldn’t matter. Well it does matter and it matters a lot. I have mine now and you can’t have it. You will just have to go out and get one yourself, and I suggest that you should order one and that you will enjoy it.
Welcome, gtimbers!
Well, unfortunately it is proving finicky/buggy setting it up with Roon. I have had a similar device (the two chassis look very similar) for a month or two now.
I got the Rover set up as a Roon zone and working for a while, then spent an hour trying to get it to work again. Roon keeps losing sight of the Rover. At some points I would re-set it up in Roon directly on the computer, get it playing back, and Roon Remote does not see the zone. And yes, I rebooted the iPad.
Put the other device back in, Roon sees and remembers it, and it works right away.
WHEN the Rover worked (briefly), it sounded very similar to my current setup, which has the (nearly) identical components. SO THAT IS TO SAY, as I’ve been saying for a while, if you haven’t heard galvanically isolated USB, YOU HAVEN’T HEARD what USB is capable of. It sounds fantastic.
Unfortunately, the Rover is proving far more difficult to set up (and retain) as a Roon zone. I may give it another shot after dinner, but more likely tomorrow.
Paul McGowan said I haven't found burn in to be important. Mine stunned me immediately. I might have been too gobsmacked to pay attention to the fact it was getting better over time, I just don't know. I can't live without mine in the system and now that I am used to it I can tell when it's gone just walking in the room.Same here. Immediate difference.
Is the LANRover Receiver set up as a RoonBridge?
I thought you had to setup your DAC as your Roon Endpoint/RoonSpeaker (RAAT), e.g. BII and that the LANRover was completely invisible to Roon…(?)
Received mine today and hookup was plug 'n play. Started running it PC>USB>Sender>Router/LAN>Receiver>DAC. The PC immediately saw my DAC. However, using JRiver MC 21 as the player, FLAC and MP3 are playing at about 2/3 speed and have a strange skipping/fragmented sound. Kind of like a record skipping, but digital/internet sounding. Then I tried DSD 64 and 128 and both played perfectly. Great sound! Tried DSD 256 to see what would happen (knowing the LANRover doesn’t handle it), and JRiver opened a dialog box saying DAC doesn’t support that sample rate. Okay, as expected.
But the FLAC and MP3 playback sound is a mystery to me. JRiver output device is foo_dsd_asio. I tried the DAC ASIO driver, but same issue. I know it works directly via USB because I’ve used it before.
So then thought about trying without the Router/LAN, and hooked up directly USB from PC to DAC. Still have the same issue - DSD is perfect, FLAC stutters.
Anyone have any ideas? Config in JRiver or a problem with my LANRover?