Taiko Audio SGM Extreme : the Crème de la Crème

[Steve williams]

So looking at mine, it seems that "default setting" is where mine is set. Is that the same for everyone

 

[tsaett]

I prefered 7.I found 3 to be sluggish and sleepy.

Interesting, seems like we both landed on the same number, but for different reasons!

Thanks for your answer!

 

[howiebrou]

So looking at mine, it seems that "default setting" is where mine is set. Is that the same for everyone

yes. Default isn't bad either.

 

[Steve williams]

Too early here to play with choices on mine but I gather everyone's is set at default??

 

[tsaett]

Too early here to play with choices on mine but I gather everyone's is set at default??

Yes, in case you didn't change it yourself, it should be set to default.

 

[Rhapsody]

I just flipped it to 7, it was originally on default and it seems more dimensional. I will try the other settings as well.

 

[tsaett]

I prefered 7.I found 3 to be sluggish and sleepy.

Howie, could you give 6 a run?

 

[audioquattr]

I have listened to 7 mostly the last week. Yes i agree Bob 7 is much more 3-dimensional than default.
Also 3 is 50% less 3-D in my system. 6 is also a good setting. I just tried several but still prefer 7.
Tone and decay and flow is bit more natural at my situ.

 

[howiebrou]

Howie, could you give 6 a run?

Will do tomorrow.

 

[rdok]

I don't have an Extreme but a custom PC and NUC for RoonServer/Bridge and a Devialet amp but I can confirm to hear the differences between the settings 1 - 10. Somewhere around 5 should be the sweet spot for me. That is when setting RoonBridge on the NUC, (running GentooPlayer) to RoonReady for the comminication with the Devialet.
However, if I set it to Squeezelite-R that still sounds significantly better: more spacious, more natural sounding instruments, tighter bass.
Slightly off-topic for not having an Extreme but maybe a valid data point anyway.

 

[tsaett]

I don't have an Extreme but a custom PC and NUC for RoonServer/Bridge and a Devialet amp but I can confirm to hear the differences between the settings 1 - 10. Somewhere around 5 should be the sweet spot for me. That is when setting RoonBridge on the NUC, (running GentooPlayer) to RoonReady for the comminication with the Devialet.
However, if I set it to Squeezelite-R that still sounds significantly better: more spacious, more natural sounding instruments, tighter bass.
Slightly off-topic for not having an Extreme but maybe a valid data point anyway.

Yes, thanks for that, a very important data point to be honest!

 

[rdok]

Yes, thanks for that, a very important data point to be honest!

Thank you Tsaett! Maybe relevant to mention that the Squeelelite-R setting in RoonBridge does not have the option to set this parameter.

 

[Steve williams]

Roon Clock Master Priority Settings

Hi all,

I am just coming from a lenghty listening session in the Taiko Audio reference room (what a great way to start your week) and would like to report some findings that I made – they are very convenient to try at home, since you can perform the changes right from your seat in a matter of seconds.

The Clock Master Priority settings in Roon are accessible via the following steps:

Volume icon bottom right --> Gears icon --> Device Setup --> Show Advanced

You will find a range from 1 (Highest) to 10 (Lowest), as well as Default.


A look in the Roon Knowledge Base explains what it does:

“Since MQA authorization by an MQA device requires MQA signaling information to complete the decoding and rendering processes, in certain cases grouped zone playback may interfere with MQA devices’ abilities to authenticate and decode the stream.

If you’d like your MQA device to be able to authenticate and decode an MQA stream while playing in a grouped zone, you should set its “Clock Master Priority” setting to the highest in the group.”

Interestingly, although we do not use Zone Grouping, the chosen settings seem to have a slight but consistent effect on the resulting sound. We have no explanation yet why this would affect non-MQA non-grouped playback, but you can easily try this at home and report if you hear a difference. We do not believe you can measure that effect with any tool known to us.


All findings solely within the context of our reference system, I want to start with the extremes that will show you the two polar sides between you can move:

1 – Shifts focus on the upper frequency spectrum (“top down”), harsh and shrill highs compared to all other settings, very taught timing and focus resulting in a mechanical feeling of the rendition, lower color intensity, little bloom and dimensionality, a sound I associate with badly made silver cables, not good match to our system.

10 – Shifts focus on the lower frequency spectrum (“bottom up”), sluggish, slow and loose sounding relative to all other settings, very bloomy, less control and focus, “sleepy” feeling resulting in quickly lost attention. Maybe similar to underdamped ported bass speakers in too small a room, also no good match.

You can probably already imagine, that somewhere between those extremes there might be a sweet spot depending on your tastes and of course your system. You can have basically all shades there are in between.

For me in our system the fun began between settings 3 and 8.

While at first I was enamoured with 3 as being very incisive, quick, “alive”, toe-tapping and open without the harshness of 1, the more I listened I tended to choose higher and higher numbers, effectively landing at 7 for a more sonorous, more dimensional sound, more suited to the solid state gear that we have. In another system that needs a little life injected, I might as well have chosen 4.

The beauty is that it is a very nice tool to slightly bring your sound closer to what you like – for free!

The last option that I did not mention would be “Default”, which I believe is either 1, 2 or 3.

If you want to try that at home, I suggest you start with the extremes like I did and then slowly find your sweet spot. I would be happy if you would share your favorite settings (and of course please also share should you not hear a difference, this would also be valuable data points).


Very curious for your feedback, have fun testing!


Christoph

question.....

when I get into "advanced settings" my volume control says Fixed Volume . Where or how do I change that to 7

 

[Jpowell]

question.....

when I get into "advanced settings" my volume control says Fixed Volume . Where or how do I change that to 7

Steve, click the little gears icons upper right from your pop-up that says "fixed volume." The gears lead you the setup screens that Cristoph references.

 

[Steve williams]

I missed the "scroll down"and found it easily. Oh those senior moments. Take me out back and shoot me

I'm listening now

 

[Steve williams]

I have been listening to one of my demo disks that I use for low and deep bass as well as decay and ambience. I have zoned in on only volume levels 6,7 nd 8

Of those 3 levels it was VERY, VERY close for me at 6 and 7 HOWEVER what sounded natural and more appealing to my ears has been volume level 7. I am going to keep it here tonight.

As another data point I am an all tube system

 

[austinpop]

Roon Clock Master Priority Settings
...
For me in our system the fun began between settings 3 and 8.
Christoph

Hi Christoph,

Interesting findings. I'm also not on an Extreme, but on a custom i7-8700K server, and my preferred player is Stylus on Euphony OS. But your findings were intriguing enough for me to go back to vanilla Roon (i.e. Core with Roon Audio outputs) and try this out.

Indeed, this setting does make a subtle difference, but I haven't yet settled on a favorite.

I have also, in the past, played with the Buffer Size setting and found it has a bigger impact than the Master Clock Priority. I find the max legal setting of 500ms sounds best. There are apparently ways to increase this further with hacks "under the covers." In effect, this is similar to changing the -a buffer setting in Squeezelite, and I suspect there are similar parameters in JPlay.

Of course keep in mind, we are talking about buffer size in the ALSA driver on Linux in my setup, not on ASIO on Windows, which is what Extreme users must be using.

 

[ctydwn]

Hi Christof, Thank you for posing such an interesting experiment!

I was skeptical at first that I would hear any differences, but as you and others have said, each increment is noticeable. Incremental for sure (a percentage or two), but a helpful tonal modification I imagine for most. I have thoroughly enjoyed 'default' but experimented as you suggested. '10' to me sounded lifeless. For my system and my ears I much prefer '1' between the two. Spending considerable time now listening to 1, 3, 4, 5 and 7, I have settled on 3.

For me it maintains the speed, clarity and slam that I just find hypnotic, but also tames a bit the highs. I think these differences definitely became more pronounced at higher volumes (mid 80 db-Cs avg and above). Obviously, personal preference as well as I guess I am running, on the spectrum, a resolution leaning combo of non-tube SS, cabling and speakers already (all to my liking). I do need to double back and compare 3 to 'default', but I will be listening the rest of the evening at 3. Again, thanks for providing such a fun time without even having to change a cable.
Take care everyone

 

[Abyss Man]

Hi guys,
Am not a Extreme owner yet but I do follow all the postings here very closely. I tried the settings on my setup which uses the Zenith Mk2 and the soTm trifecta with dual soTm switch. As much as I would have liked to hear some difference with the settings, I couldn’t really hear much difference. I’m back on default now. It was fun though to try it out and thank you.

By the way I’m a headphone user. Abyss is my choice of poison

 

[tsaett]

Hi Christoph,

Interesting findings. I'm also not on an Extreme, but on a custom i7-8700K server, and my preferred player is Stylus on Euphony OS. But your findings were intriguing enough for me to go back to vanilla Roon (i.e. Core with Roon Audio outputs) and try this out.

Indeed, this setting does make a subtle difference, but I haven't yet settled on a favorite.

I have also, in the past, played with the Buffer Size setting and found it has a bigger impact than the Master Clock Priority. I find the max legal setting of 500ms sounds best. There are apparently ways to increase this further with hacks "under the covers." In effect, this is similar to changing the -a buffer setting in Squeezelite, and I suspect there are similar parameters in JPlay.

Of course keep in mind, we are talking about buffer size in the ALSA driver on Linux in my setup, not on ASIO on Windows, which is what Extreme users must be using.

Thanks for participating!