Taiko Audio SGM Extreme : the Crème de la Crème

[wil]

Wil

i don’t get why you need to unplug to re establish the handshake. Turning the back switch off is not advised as it takes so much longer to resettle as the capacitors discharge

the last time I turned off the rear switch was to install the new USB board. I have never lost the handshake between TAS and the Extreme

I am NOT unplugging anything to re-establish a connection. I simply reboot when TAS needs it.

In this case I'm simply asking a narrow question applicable to when I must unplug to change to another outlet.

The question is: If the unplugged time is very short (say 2.5 seconds) is it expected that the performance restore time will be less than if unplugged for longer periods (like an hour)?

And more generally, this question is worth looking at particularly for people like me who live in common thunderstorm country. I know of some people who cut the power to their entire audio systems whenever storms are hitting to protect again a lightning strike. That kind of weather happens here a lot. If I followed that precaution, the Extreme would be performing sub par for probably 100-150 days out of the year. (given Emile's statement of a 3-5 day restore period after un-plugging). That being the case, I stay powered up and fingers crossed!

 

[Taiko Audio]

No the time doesn’t matter, the inrush current on the capacitors is the cause.

 

[rando]

No, will just be plugging in to a new receptacle. If focused, I think I can do it in 2.5 seconds!

I was concerned with this more than the answer on SQ. My personal feeling was you could relax a bit and everything would turn out just fine.

 

[sbo6]

Indeed, I'd say even 60-65% right now. HQplayer is a downgrade since the last OS update versus Roon standalone.

I'm not sure I follow. HQPlayer is a downgrade since which "OS update"?

 

[wil]

I was concerned with this more than the answer on SQ. My personal feeling was you could relax a bit and everything would turn out just fine.

I’m not stressed about it, just like to know these things about different components. For instance, I’m told my SoundApplication conditioner benefits from being powered down every month or so.

 

[ticktock]

I'm not sure I follow. HQPlayer is a downgrade since which "OS update"?

If I'm not mistaken, I believe Emile is referring to the OS update that accompanied the new USB drivers released around the beginning of this year. So the "downgrade" comment could be Taiko-specific. But I received my Extreme last year and in my own experience, Roon's sound quality has always been far better without HQP, much to my surprise.

 

[sbo6]

If I'm not mistaken, I believe Emile is referring to the OS update that accompanied the new USB drivers released around the beginning of this year. So the "downgrade" comment could be Taiko-specific. But I received my Extreme last year and in my own experience, Roon's sound quality has always been far better without HQP, much to my surprise.

Interesting opinion, I'd be curious to understand your HQP settings.

I just re - checked on my office system and compared ROON stand - alone, ROON front end driving HQP back end and HQP stand - alone and it still stands, HQP alone is the best with ROON front end driving HQP back end in 2nd place and ROON solo dead last. In my big rig the differences would be more apparent.

 

[matthias]

Interesting opinion, I'd be curious to understand your HQP settings.

I just re - checked on my office system and compared ROON stand - alone, ROON front end driving HQP back end and HQP stand - alone and it still stands, HQP alone is the best with ROON front end driving HQP back end in 2nd place and ROON solo dead last. In my big rig the differences would be more apparent.

Just curious, do you have in both systems an Extreme?

Matt

 

[Taiko Audio]

Just curious, do you have in both systems an Extreme?

Matt

I cannot imagine considering the results.

 

[Taiko Audio]

If I'm not mistaken, I believe Emile is referring to the OS update that accompanied the new USB drivers released around the beginning of this year. So the "downgrade" comment could be Taiko-specific. But I received my Extreme last year and in my own experience, Roon's sound quality has always been far better without HQP, much to my surprise.

Yes specific to the Taiko Extreme.

 

[sbo6]

Just curious, do you have in both systems an Extreme?

Matt

I do not. My original statement was agnostic of hardware which may yield different results.

 

[austinpop]

I do not. My original statement was agnostic of hardware which may yield different results.

Yes, emphatically. Do not compare your experience with Roon vs. HQP vs. other players on other platforms with how they perform on the Extreme. Under the covers, there are are both OS and player optimizations that upend the default performance. It's best to confine discussion on this thread to your experiences on the Extreme.

 

[cat6man]

Yes, emphatically. Do not compare your experience with Roon vs. HQP vs. other players on other platforms with how they perform on the Extreme. Under the covers, there are are both OS and player optimizations that upend the default performance. It's best to confine discussion on this thread to your experiences on the Extreme.

And even on the extreme, any comparisons with the latest roon or hqp software will be invalidated shortly when xmds is released.

 

[jbrrp1]

And even on the extreme, any comparisons with the latest roon or hqp software will be invalidated shortly when xmds is released.

That's right. I heard it's arriving sometime in May..... (Just getting impatient!)

 

[sbo6]

Yes, emphatically. Do not compare your experience with Roon vs. HQP vs. other players on other platforms with how they perform on the Extreme. Under the covers, there are are both OS and player optimizations that upend the default performance. It's best to confine discussion on this thread to your experiences on the Extreme.

As someone who has spent significant time on Audiophilestyle.com you know that other platforms almost all have significant OS and player optimizations, so comparisons and data points I believe are interesting, emphatically.

Also, please don't dictate - not everyone on this thread owns an Extreme, just like others don't own point of topic gear on most threads, however that shouldn't preclude them from joining the conversation and contributing.

 

[austinpop]

As someone who has spent significant time on Audiophilestyle.com you know that other platforms almost all have significant OS and player optimizations, so comparisons and data points I believe are interesting, emphatically.

Also, please don't dictate - not everyone on this thread owns an Extreme, just like others don't own point of topic gear on most threads, however that shouldn't preclude them from joining the conversation and contributing.

Apologies if my tone came across as dictatorial, that was certainly not my intention.

As you know, I have done my share of experimentation on other platforms like Audiolinux and Euphony before buying an Extreme, so I’m no stranger to software player optimization.

That said, I can only reiterate that the relative SQ of software players in the Extreme may not track to your experience on other platforms. Do you disagree?

For example, starting with Emile’s big OS and driver update in February, Roon stand-alone SQ took a quantum leap, where it matched (perhaps even exceeded for a while), TAS SQ, and certainly exceeded the SQ of HQP/NAA (why NAA is a long story in itself) used as a pass through player.

Unfortunately, Roon SQ is a roller coaster. Subsequent updates caused the SQ to dip again, while with TAS, SQ remained reliably excellent. So relative SQ of Roon to other players depends on which build you’re on.

On other platforms, the relative SQ of Roon vs, HQP vs. <fill in the blank> will be (in fact, is) different. This is not surprising, and not unexpected.

 

[EuroDriver]

That's right. I heard it's arriving sometime in May..... (Just getting impatient!)

We are on weekly XDMS software builds ending each Friday.

Lastnights and today's testing of the latest build, makes me expect that we will hand install a few Extremes with XDMS in about 4 weeks from now.

As always there are surprises along the way, but we always figure out a good solution

 

[sbo6]

That said, I can only reiterate that the relative SQ of software players in the Extreme may not track to your experience on other platforms. Do you disagree?

I already answered this in an earlier post (below). Since I don't own an Extreme I can make no judgement on it's sonics including its affect on apps and OS.

"My original statement was agnostic of hardware which may yield different results."

 

[wil]

We are on weekly XDMS software builds ending each Friday.

Lastnights and today's testing of the latest build, makes me expect that we will hand install a few Extremes with XDMS in about 4 weeks from now.

As always there are surprises along the way, but we always figure out a good solution

While we're on the subject of future Taiko upgrades, I thought I would ask if there's an update on the Switch?

 

[Taiko Audio]

While we're on the subject of future Taiko upgrades, I thought I would ask if there's an update on the Switch?

Waiting on some parts, same as the network card, If I‘m not mistaken we‘ve been waiting for those for 8 months now which is about 2 months overdue as the quoted delivery time was 6 months.