Taiko Audio SGM Extreme : the Crème de la Crème

[spiritofmusic]

Emile will be choosing the best recordings next Lol.
Seriously, is Emile considering a Taiko dac?

 

[Rhapsody]

Emile will be choosing the best recordings next Lol.
Seriously, is Emile considering a Taiko dac?

Yes, and it will include a tuner and speakers as well. All-in-one Extreme. Made of panzerholz for sure.

 

[matthias]

Taiko dac?

Why not?

Matt

 

[howiebrou]

Taiko Interiors with Panzerholz Walls

 

[microstrip]

(...) Seriously, is Emile considering a Taiko dac?

IMHO it would be a terrible mistake, severely hurting the sales of the Extreme.

 

[the sound of Tao]

Taiko Interiors with Panzerholz Walls
View attachment 66833

Nice inside... and from the outside...

 

[wil]

I dont know if this applies to all Roon core machines but mine downloads the song instantly from Qobuz when I hit play. I can see the activity at my routers SFP port being high for a couple of seconds when I hit play then it goes down. So effectively I can disconnect my network and it will finish the song anyway.

Is there a way to get Roon to download an entire album of tracks or is it only possible for just one track at a time? Unless the tracks are long like in some classical multiple part tracks, I wouldn't want to be connecting and re- connecting the network every 5 minutes or so.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

IMHO it would be a terrible mistake, severely hurting the sales of the Extreme.

agree. it would radically change the market dynamics. it would be circle the wagons time.

 

[matthias]

Is there a way to get Roon to download an entire album of tracks or is it only possible for just one track at a time? Unless the tracks are long like in some classical multiple part tracks, I wouldn't want to be connecting and re- connecting the network every 5 minutes or so.

Fortunately I never had a Roon subscription but with Audirvana there is a setting:
"Max. memory allocated for tracks pre-load"
Certainly something similar with Roon.

Matt

 

[wil]

Fortunately I never had a Roon subscription but with Audirvana there is a setting:
"Max. memory allocated for tracks pre-load"
Certainly something similar with Roon.

Matt

So to clarify, with Audirvana, it sounds like you can download multiple tracks at one time? But from Octaviars' description, Roon quickly downloads one track at a time and only starts the download at the commencement of the track playing.

 

[dminches]

Euphony / Stylus will load your entire queue into RAM and it plays from there. I am not sure this necessarily results in a sonic increase since I find streaming from Qobuz to sound better at times. (None of this is with an Extreme, obviously).

 

[matthias]

So to clarify, with Audirvana, it sounds like you can download multiple tracks at one time? But from Octaviars' description, Roon quickly downloads one track at a time and only starts the download at the commencement of the track playing.

Yes, it depends on how much memory you reserve for tracks pre load. I my case I have 1 GB allocated. This is good for several tracks. During playback my network (wifi) is turned off.

Edit: I am referring to streaming from Qobuz only, I have no local files.

Matt

 

[Johnny Moondog]

... an ARRIS SURFboard SB8200 DOCSIS 3.1 Cable Modem and replaced the cheap SMPS with a LPS .

Hi Steve. Can you tell me what LPS you are using? I tried an iFi iPower, just because I had one around, but even though the specs and barrel plug matched, the modem would not power on. Would be happy to purchase the LPS you are using, knowing that it works.

-Gerry

 

[matthias]

I also purchased an ARRIS SURFboard SB8200 DOCSIS 3.1 Cable Modem and replaced the cheap SMPS with a LPS . Also I replaced the SMPS on the Orbi Satellite in my sound room with a second LPS. Those changes helped my sound quality immensely. As Emile stated when I built my sound room I did not factor in bring coax cable into the sound room. My only option short of bringing cable from downstairs to my sound room through the walls and ceiling was to stream wirelessly which I have done from day1 and have been totally immersed in the sound.

Steve,
this is exactly my desired WiFi configuration. Unfortunately the Arris SB8200 seems not to work in Germany.
May I ask which LPSs you use?
Thanks

Matt

 

[Steve williams]

Emile recommended several to me which are used by members here but they were twice the amount of the simple SBooster of which I purchased 2

one for my cable modem and the other for the Orbi satellite in my sound room

sbooster.com

 

[Steve williams]

Steve,
this is exactly my desired WiFi configuration. Unfortunately the Arris SB8200 seems not to work in Germany.
May I ask which LPSs you use?
Thanks

Matt

Hi Matt

I merely did a google search of approved cable modems by my cable company and I wanted a current DOCSIS 3.1

There is a great thread here on cable modems which provide an enormous amount of information.

https://whatsbestforum.com/threads/cable-modems.30094/

 

[Taiko Audio]

@heebrog , think it was around 20 once upon a time.
@matthias , not yet, but am going to!
@spiritofmusic , I’m just not intrigued by digital to analogue conversion technology, so no.

 

[austinpop]

I dont know if this applies to all Roon core machines but mine downloads the song instantly from Qobuz when I hit play. I can see the activity at my routers SFP port being high for a couple of seconds when I hit play then it goes down. So effectively I can disconnect my network and it will finish the song anyway.

I did not realize this, so I just did a quick test, and you are right. However, the behavior varies, so let's tease it apart. First, let's clarify we're talking about the case of a standalone Core directly attached to a DAC — i.e. there is no intervening RAAT communication to an endpoint.

So Roon build 571's network behavior is different based on source:

• When does preload start: when you hit play
• Qobuz/streaming sources:
  • download current track at network speed
  • appears to preload enough of next track to maintain gapless, but full track download appears to only happen when the track becomes current. This is different from Stylus (below).
• Local network files from a NAS or SMB share:
  • no preload!!
  • Appears to be doing normal file reads, which results in some read-ahead, but not a full download.
• Local files on SSD
  • did not test, but not relevant to network traffic.

In contrast, let's look at Euphony/Stylus.

Euphony / Stylus will load your entire queue into RAM and it plays from there. I am not sure this necessarily results in a sonic increase since I find streaming from Qobuz to sound better at times. (None of this is with an Extreme, obviously).

As one of the instigators that drove Željko to deliver this feature, sorry to hear that! For me, the effect of RAM caching the entire queue has always been dramatic. However, the behavior here is also different based on source:

• When does preload start:
  • Either when you hit play, OR
  • Click on "Buffer Queue to RAM." This allows you to wait for network activity to quiesce before you hit play.
• Tracks from Qobuz/streaming sources:
  • download current and next track at network speed
  • when next track becomes current, download the following track at network speed, and so on
  • In other words, at most 2 tracks (current and next) are buffered
• Local network files from a NAS or SMB share:
  • download all tracks at network speed, up to limit of RAM buffer (tunable option).
• Local files on SSD
  • did not test, but not relevant to network traffic.

 

[dminches]

I did not realize this, so I just did a quick test, and you are right. However, the behavior varies, so let's tease it apart. First, let's clarify we're talking about the case of a standalone Core directly attached to a DAC — i.e. there is no intervening RAAT communication to an endpoint.

So Roon build 571's network behavior is different based on source:

How did you figure this out? Were you monitoring something?

 

[wil]

This is what Roon says about their "Maximum Buffer Size" selection. They don't explain why...." it's probably best to leave it off."

Use Max Hardware Buffer Size (CoreAudio Exclusive Mode + ASIO only)
This setting causes Roon to use the largest buffer size supported by your device. This setting is a problem-solver, and can reduce dropouts, clicks, and pops with some hardware devices.
If you're not having problems, it's probably best to leave it off.