Taiko Audio SGM Extreme : the Crème de la Crème

[oldmustang]

I know my question is like the classic one of the kids from the back of the car asking ’are we there yet?’ when you’ve hardly left the driveway on a long drive. But still, I have to ask!

Like the kids I’m excited to get there.

Ed could give you a more informed answer than I. I still think there are plenty of bugs to be squashed and functionality to be added before a transition of XDMS from alpha to beta. It's definitely not at the "it's time to shoot the engineers and get the product to market" stage of development.

It is to both Taiko's and we users' advantage not to rush XDMS to a general beta release -- the ground-swell of support requests that would ensue would overwhelm the Taiko staff and only frustrate new users, as well as completely shift this thread to "how do I do x, y, z?" and "XDMS doesn't work, what do I do?"' likely for days.

A comprehensive illustrated user guide still needs to be written, and at this time I suspect that is a moving target as some basic functionalities are still evolving.

Steve Z

 

[Steve Williams]

Ed could give you a more informed answer than I. I still think there are plenty of bugs to be squashed and functionality to be added before a transition of XDMS from alpha to beta. It's definitely not at the "it's time to shoot the engineers and get the product to market" stage of development.

It is to both Taiko's and we users' advantage not to rush XDMS to a general beta release -- the ground-swell of support requests that would ensue would overwhelm the Taiko staff and only frustrate new users, as well as completely shift this thread to "how do I do x, y, z?" and "XDMS doesn't work, what do I do?"' likely for days.

A comprehensive illustrated user guide still needs to be written, and at this time I suspect that is a moving target as some basic functionalities are still evolving.

Steve Z

I totally agree. The good news is that the platform does seem the evolving with each new build although today, Qobuz with the new build has proved a bit cantankerous as we are all anxious to finally get 24/192 via Qobuz

 

[cat6man]

I had an audio buddy over today to listen to my new monoblocks (Viva Aurora) and XDMS. I'll follow up with my SET amplifier questions in the SET section but one aspect of our listening was of interest to Taiko users. In the past, he has looked at a number of digital servers/streamers and found some benefits, however they seemed small to him compared to running JRiver on his mac. After listening to our by now standard test tracks, he asked to replace the Extreme with his mac, expecting that the gains would be small as they had been with his other tests of 'audiophile' digital servers. It only took one track for him to realize that the Extreme (with XDMS here) was in a totally different universe than any of the other servers he'd heard. After 3 or 4 tracks, he'd heard enough. Before he left, I twisted the knife a bit and told him we'd revisit things again after I received my Taiko switch

 

[Zeotrope]

I had an audio buddy over today to listen to my new monoblocks (Viva Aurora) and XDMS. I'll follow up with my SET amplifier questions in the SET section but one aspect of our listening was of interest to Taiko users. In the past, he has looked at a number of digital servers/streamers and found some benefits, however they seemed small to him compared to running JRiver on his mac. After listening to our by now standard test tracks, he asked to replace the Extreme with his mac, expecting that the gains would be small as they had been with his other tests of 'audiophile' digital servers. It only took one track for him to realize that the Extreme (with XDMS here) was in a totally different universe than any of the other servers he'd heard. After 3 or 4 tracks, he'd heard enough. Before he left, I twisted the knife a bit and told him we'd revisit things again after I received my Taiko switch

Sounds like he is now “ruined” in terms of listening to digital from a non-Taiko source!

 

[marty]

It is to both Taiko's and we users' advantage not to rush XDMS to a general beta release -- the ground-swell of support requests that would ensue would overwhelm the Taiko staff and only frustrate new users, as well as completely shift this thread to "how do I do x, y, z?" and "XDMS doesn't work, what do I do?"' likely for days.

You have captured my thinking precisely. I would be the President of the "what button do I push" club! Forget x,y, and z. I'd be on a,b,c for a quite a while to the great annoyance of the good folks at Taiko.
Roon sounds so good to me now and my style of music listening is so unimpeded with it, that I can wait. Yes, I'll look forward to beta when it arrives, as well as the Switch and board that are ordered. Exciting stuff! All in due time.

 

[CKKeung]

They were foundation racks, but the company is no longer in business.

http://www.foundationaudio.ca/

https://radaraudioshop.com/collections/foundation-rack

In Hong Kong the Foundation Audio products are still available via the local official dealer Radar Audio.

 

[Rhapsody]

http://www.foundationaudio.ca/

https://radaraudioshop.com/collections/foundation-rack

In Hong Kong the Foundation Audio products are still available via the local official dealer Radar Audio.

They were foundation racks, but the owner said this model is no longer made. http://www.foundationaudio.ca is in Canada.

From their site.

In 1996, Cliff Stone sold Foundation Audio to Focus Audio, a high end speaker manufacturer based in Markham, Ontario, Canada. Focus adhered to the authority of "the Foundation" of its products and designs whereas Cliff Stone remains as an exclusive consultant of future projects. Immediately after the acquisition, Cliff Stone modified the Classic and Designer speaker stands. The new stands outperformed the old Classic. They are given the names the Classic II and Designer II. Since then, the new stands have been manufactured in Canada.

 

[seeteeyou]

Is there a way to play Apple Music on Taiko? I just noticed that Apple Music can be set to stream at Hi-Res/Lossless format.

It finally happened, though we would have to wait until the LTSC version of Windows 11 is ready to go and then hopefully another OS upgrade will be available at some point

https://www.macrumors.com/2023/01/11/apple-music-tv-previews-microsoft-store/

All three of the new Apple apps require Windows 11 version 22621.0 or higher.

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/31869263

I'm shocked. The Music app supports lossless up to 24/192.

 

[takacs75]

I can’t log in to Qobuz on XDMS since yesterday. Does anyone have the same issue?

 

[Taiko Audio]

I can’t log in to Qobuz on XDMS since yesterday. Does anyone have the same issue?

You will likely get a more useful response on either the Discord channel or by contacting support@taikoaudio.com.

 

[takacs75]

You will likely get a more useful response on either the Discord channel or by contacting support@taikoaudio.com.

Done

 

[Steve Williams]

yes Qobuz is down since yesterday. It shows us a logged off even though we are logged in. Apparently they have been working on it since yesterday.

 

[MarkusBarkus]

...back up.

 

[Steve Williams]

me too

 

[Steve Williams]

I was worried for a moment as I found Qobuz would queue 24/192 but I couldn't get them to play. Not enough coffee and too early as I was sitting in my kitchen and forgot my DAC was not on. I was quickly carried through this senior moment by Ed who went through the diagnostics and said my DAC wasn't on. A quick run upstairs and a flick of the switch and 24/192 is definitely now active. Thank you Edward for clearing the haze in front of my eyes

The platform is looking very good. Huge Kudos for this.

 

[Sun King]

Ed could give you a more informed answer than I. I still think there are plenty of bugs to be squashed and functionality to be added before a transition of XDMS from alpha to beta. It's definitely not at the "it's time to shoot the engineers and get the product to market" stage of development.

It is to both Taiko's and we users' advantage not to rush XDMS to a general beta release -- the ground-swell of support requests that would ensue would overwhelm the Taiko staff and only frustrate new users, as well as completely shift this thread to "how do I do x, y, z?" and "XDMS doesn't work, what do I do?"' likely for days.

A comprehensive illustrated user guide still needs to be written, and at this time I suspect that is a moving target as some basic functionalities are still evolving.

Steve Z

Steve, I appreciate your thoughtful comments on this. I agree that a rushed release would be problematic for both users and Taiko (which could impact other projects, which none of us want).

From your observations on ’plenty of bugs still to squashed’ and ‘some basic functionalities still evolving’ it seems it will some time before a beta release, which is what I was curious about.

 

[cmarin]

I'd been traveling lately and hadn't had a chance to have an extended listen until this week. My XDMS version is still from 11/18/22 and while there have been a number of control app updates, they are not supposed to provide sonic upgrades.

So I don't know whether my recent system hardware upgrades (replacing a damaged Taiko USB card, grounding equipment, and/or system setup) are starting to settle in, or there's hidden sonic gems in the control app updates, but damn...the level of transparency and emotional engagement took another significant leap forward since two weeks ago. I can now play at concert level volumes without any stress or fatigue - just more sonic texture. The artists' intent even more clear.

I am just so impressed with the continual improvements in the playback quality and the resulting level of enjoyment.

SO QUESTION: The Taiko team has made a number of hardware and (it seems now even more) software design choices that have resulted in significant improvements in playback quality. Curious about how the choices between options are decided? Are they made strictly from subjective (individual or group) listening sessions? With the same or various systems/rooms? Or are some objective measurements also included in the decision?

 

[ctydwn]

I'd been traveling lately and hadn't had a chance to have an extended listen until this week. My XDMS version is still from 11/18/22 and while there have been a number of control app updates, they are not supposed to provide sonic upgrades.

So I don't know whether my recent system hardware upgrades (replacing a damaged Taiko USB card, grounding equipment, and/or system setup) are starting to settle in, or there's hidden sonic gems in the control app updates, but damn...the level of transparency and emotional engagement took another significant leap forward since two weeks ago. I can now play at concert level volumes without any stress or fatigue - just more sonic texture. The artists' intent even more clear.

I am just so impressed with the continual improvements in the playback quality and the resulting level of enjoyment.

SO QUESTION: The Taiko team has made a number of hardware and (it seems now even more) software design choices that have resulted in significant improvements in playback quality. Curious about how the choices between options are decided? Are they made strictly from subjective (individual or group) listening sessions? With the same or various systems/rooms? Or are some objective measurements also included in the decision?

Great to hear the improvements. One additional question that I think (apologies if not) can be inferred from above post… has Taiko tested and heard incremental SQ benefits through each or some of the incremental control app upgrades since mid-November? Or are the SQ improvements primarily/solely come from the ‘back-end’ updates? (i too remain on 11/18 back end).

Fwiw xdms control app imho opinion is working so cleanly and effectively, I am encouraging my Taiko - xdms beta waiting - friends to jump on board. try it for the fantastic user interface but really for the phenomenal SQ.

 

[jelt2359]

I'd been traveling lately and hadn't had a chance to have an extended listen until this week. My XDMS version is still from 11/18/22 and while there have been a number of control app updates, they are not supposed to provide sonic upgrades.

So I don't know whether my recent system hardware upgrades (replacing a damaged Taiko USB card, grounding equipment, and/or system setup) are starting to settle in, or there's hidden sonic gems in the control app updates, but damn...the level of transparency and emotional engagement took another significant leap forward since two weeks ago. I can now play at concert level volumes without any stress or fatigue - just more sonic texture. The artists' intent even more clear.

I am just so impressed with the continual improvements in the playback quality and the resulting level of enjoyment.

SO QUESTION: The Taiko team has made a number of hardware and (it seems now even more) software design choices that have resulted in significant improvements in playback quality. Curious about how the choices between options are decided? Are they made strictly from subjective (individual or group) listening sessions? With the same or various systems/rooms? Or are some objective measurements also included in the decision?

Interesting question, keen to hear the answer too.

But my bet is that early on they found some factors that really affect sq- eg more processing, parallel processing, longer processing, reading from ram vs reading from hard disk, etc.

They then went about optimising for these factors with proper measurement of each release, with listening tests at longer milestones to confirm their ongoing hypotheses.

I don’t think it makes sense to listen again and again and again- development would take forever!

 

[Christiaan Punter]

Steve, I appreciate your thoughtful comments on this. I agree that a rushed release would be problematic for both users and Taiko (which could impact other projects, which none of us want).

From your observations on ’plenty of bugs still to squashed’ and ‘some basic functionalities still evolving’ it seems it will some time before a beta release, which is what I was curious about.

Hi Sun King, the thing is, we just don't know. Some fixes are easily and quickly done, and others pose real problems and throw up road blocks that require deep digging and creative thinking. We do not want to make promises that we cannot keep. So, for now, all we can say is that we're still working on it on a daily basis and that we are progressing as quickly as we can.