Uptone Audio Lieferprobleme

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Horse Tea
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Uptone Audio Lieferprobleme

Beitrag von Horse Tea »

Hallo zusammen,

uptone audio berichtet über massive Probleme bei der Zulieferung von Bauteilen, die zur Einstellung der Produkte EtherRegen und LPS 2.1 geführt haben bzw. führen könnten.

https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topi ... nt=1162830


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Yes, global chip shortages have been making production and development VERY challenging! In fact, since Intel/Altera will not have any FGPAs available for the next 2 years, we have been forced to discontinue the UltraCap LPS-1.2 and are beginning to migrate to a different brand FGPA platform (with a whole new development environment s/w to learn) for our new products.

Not only has the lack of parts slowed new product development, it has become a major hinderance to continued production of EtherREGEN!

Clock buffers, high-speed digital isolators, clock synthesizers, the intermediate Ethernet transceiver/format converter we use on both sides of the moat, and the main Ethernet switch chip--all in exceedingly short supply. All year I have been ordering parts ahead to stockpile for future EtherREGEN production runs--to the tune of nearly $80K in advance parts. Has gone mostly well until this past month when several chip manufacturers pushed the promised shipment dates (for parts I advance ordered months ago) out to the middle of 2022. And the main switch chip? Who knows if we will ever see any again!

Right now we have about 50 EtherREGENs left in stock--and those will likely all sell out by early-November. Assuming our June 500 piece order of the aforementioned T.I. transceiver chips actually ship mid-December as promised, then we'll have enough parts to run 225 boards--so those could complete units for shipment end-of-January. But unless we all of a sudden start to see many of the above bottlenecked parts start to flow (especially the main switch chip--which I doubt), that run of 225 may be the final production of EtherREGEN in its current design. We are starting now in new direction, one that could free us from being beholden to a single supplier's production of an application-specific part. But as you all know, development and testing of new designs takes many months...

The above is quite distressing for us. While we continue to produce the JS-2 at a rate of about 200 units/year, the forced discontinuation of both the ISO REGEN and the UltraCap LPS-1.2 have narrowed our offerings quite a lot. We are coming up on the 3,000 unit mark for EtherREGEN (since first shipments in November 2019). Simple math makes obvious that the EtherREGEN has been the most important and successful product UpTone has ever offered.

Of course we would love nothing more than to bring out all the new products John and I have designed (both on paper and in various stages of development, prototype, even one that went to secret beta). But gone are the days where John can work out and test all the elements, we produce a few rounds of development and pre-production boards, and then submit the bill-of-materials for production by our board house. No, the entire design process has been flipped over--as we spend hours researching and discussing viability and availability of desired parts, both presently and for the future.

So there you have it. Thanks for all your support and enthusiasm,

--Alex C.
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Viele Grüße
Horst-Dieter
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Horse Tea
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Beiträge: 1723
Registriert: 19.03.2016, 20:22
Wohnort: Unterfranken

Update

Beitrag von Horse Tea »

"Unfortunately, global shortages of critical specialized chips are delaying additional EtherREGEN production until January, 2022. We have all parts in house now—except for one chip that is due to ship to us late-December. So at present we expect that if you place your EtherREGEN order now it will ship to you by January 31st. Thank you for your patience in awaiting this unique component."

https://uptoneaudio.com/products/etherregen

Viele Grüße
Horst-Dieter
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Horse Tea
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Beiträge: 1723
Registriert: 19.03.2016, 20:22
Wohnort: Unterfranken

Update

Beitrag von Horse Tea »

Last call für den EtherRegen bis vielleicht 2023

https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topi ... nt-1181593

(Info von heute)

Viele Grüße
Horst-Dieter
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