Taiko Audio SGM Extreme : the Crème de la Crème

[Kris]

Guys, I have to tell you that for me, this thread is the best and most interesting thread here at WBF. I have learned a lot from all of you computer whizzes. However I have to say that the comment that the iPad one uses can and does affect the sound has me wondering where all of this is headed. Color me confused. I just don't get it and in my ignorance I just cannot buy into that suggestion. Have I done the experiments to corroborate your findings? No. Nor do I have any desire to do such. I just feel that this has taken this Taiko Audio thread beyond my comprehension or understanding and I have to say that for me there are bigger dragons to slay than trying to submit that there are sound changes with different iPad connections. My suggestion would be to sit down and listen to the music because you might find it to be spectacular regardless of the iPad you use. Just my $0.02 and YMMV and all the rest

Steve .
I tested it many times and yes it makes difference . Quite significant difference.
I dont blame you not trusting me As I dont trust myself so I test 50 / 60 times over a period of a month or two until I am sure I can trust myself.
Please trust Edward from Taiko Team.
It looks we both have simmilar conculsions here

 

[Steve williams]

Steve .
I tested it many times and yes it makes difference . Quite significant difference.
I dont blame you not trusting me As I dont trust myself so I test 50 / 60 times over a period of a month or two until I am sure I can trust myself.
Please trust Edward from Taiko Team.
It looks we both have simmilar conculsions here

But in the great scheme of things does it really matter. My bet is that if it did and with Emile’s desire to control the signal from the time it enters to the time it leaves the Extreme he would be all over this. Maybe he is but I just can’t see to what extent the change in SQ is meaningful.

 

[dminches]

Steve .
I tested it many times and yes it makes difference . Quite significant difference.
I dont blame you not trusting me As I dont trust myself so I test 50 / 60 times over a period of a month or two until I am sure I can trust myself.
Please trust Edward from Taiko Team.
It looks we both have simmilar conculsions here

Kris, I would assume the differences among tablets is driven by the amount of network activity it generates? If that is the case have you tried turning the tablet off, similar to unplugging the network cable going into the Extreme?

 

[Steve williams]

Steve .
I tested it many times and yes it makes difference . Quite significant difference.
I dont blame you not trusting me As I dont trust myself so I test 50 / 60 times over a period of a month or two until I am sure I can trust myself.
Please trust Edward from Taiko Team.
It looks we both have simmilar conculsions here

To be meaningful you would have to do the test blinded. Doing it yourself is not convincing for me

 

[wil]

I know blind testing is not very popular in Audiophileland, but this also sounds to me like something that,for myself anyway, I would have to blind test.

 

[MarkusBarkus]

If that is the case have you tried turning the tablet off, similar to unplugging the network cable going into the Extreme?

That is an excellent concept to test, @dminches.

 

[austinpop]

You guys are chasing down a rabbit hole that I have been down to subterranean depths. That way lies madness.

Trust folks like @nenon , @romaz and myself when we advise that the best network is "no network." The best use case is to load up a queue via the TAS batch player (or HQPlayer for DAVE users), hit play, and then...

Disconnect the network...

from the Extreme, either physically, or powering down the upstream switch/FMC.

 

[kswanson27]

You guys are chasing down a rabbit hole that I have been down to subterranean depths. That way lies madness.

Trust folks like @nenon , @romaz and myself when we advise that the best network is "no network." The best use case is to load up a queue via the TAS batch player (or HQPlayer for DAVE users), hit play, and then...

Disconnect the network...

from the Extreme, either physically, or powering down the upstream switch/FMC.

I'm going to try that this afternoon but it only works with locally stored files (no streaming), right?

 

[austinpop]

I'm going to try that this afternoon but it only works with locally stored files (no streaming), right?

Since I don’t use TAS with Batch player very often, I’ll defer to the Taiko team to advise how much caching of content is currently possible with streaming sources.

But the benefits accrue even with local content.

 

[wil]

I think I recall now someone saying only local files (not streamed) can played with the network disconnected. Is this correct?

 

[Taiko Audio]

I think I recall now someone saying only local files (not streamed) can played with the network disconnected. Is this correct?

The batch player should be able to "cache" up to 25 files and play them all with the network disconnected. But what you should really do if you want to go down this "rabbit hole" is to power off your network components rather then only pulling the network plug, you should probably even disconnect the power cords feeding them.

On a personal note, I do not advocate doing any of this. Your music listening experience should be about sitting down after a long day at work, play some tracks, relax and enjoy what you are hearing. Obsessing over network components or your remote affecting sound quality might impact your musical enjoyment all on its own. It is most definitely not what we are trying to achieve with the Extreme. My personal recommendation therefor is to leave all of this alone and spend your time marvelling over the brilliance, the beauty and the magic which can be found in so many musical performances. We at Taiko Audio will meanwhile guarantee you can have considerable advances in these performances every few months if so desired by continuously developing the experience as a whole to scratch that upgrade itch.

 

[wil]

The batch player should be able to "cache" up to 25 files and play them all with the network disconnected. But what you should really do if you want to go down this "rabbit hole" is to power off your network components rather then only pulling the network plug, you should probably even disconnect the power cords feeding them.

On a personal note, I do not advocate doing any of this. Your music listening experience should be about sitting down after a long day at work, play some tracks, relax and enjoy what you are hearing. Obsessing over network components or your remote affecting sound quality might impact your musical enjoyment all on its own. It is most definitely not what we are trying to achieve with the Extreme. My personal recommendation therefor is to leave all of this alone and spend your time marvelling over the brilliance, the beauty and the magic which can be found in so many musical performances. We at Taiko Audio will meanwhile guarantee you can have considerable advances in these performances every few months if so desired by continuously developing the experience as a whole to scratch that upgrade itch.

Emile, could you briefly outline the process of playing network-disconnected streamed files in Batch Play? Is it as straight-forward as:

Play> Batch Play>wait for files to cache> pull plug> listen to entire album?

I ask because the one time I tried the above, TAS stopped playing after the first track.

For me, the above process would not interfere with music enjoyment at all (Sort of like putting a stylus on a an lp.) assuming it comes with a significant sq benefit.

When I think of the effort and expense some have gone to with multiple switches, clocks, and power supplies for switches and clocks, this seems like a no-brainer in comparison.

 

[Steve williams]

The batch player should be able to "cache" up to 25 files and play them all with the network disconnected. But what you should really do if you want to go down this "rabbit hole" is to power off your network components rather then only pulling the network plug, you should probably even disconnect the power cords feeding them.

On a personal note, I do not advocate doing any of this. Your music listening experience should be about sitting down after a long day at work, play some tracks, relax and enjoy what you are hearing. Obsessing over network components or your remote affecting sound quality might impact your musical enjoyment all on its own. It is most definitely not what we are trying to achieve with the Extreme. My personal recommendation therefor is to leave all of this alone and spend your time marvelling over the brilliance, the beauty and the magic which can be found in so many musical performances. We at Taiko Audio will meanwhile guarantee you can have considerable advances in these performances every few months if so desired by continuously developing the experience as a whole to scratch that upgrade itch.

Kudos to you Emile for your opinion which for me is the reason I bought an Extreme. All of this about iPads and things that might sound better to me have risen to such a level of tinkering that it seems many of us are forgetting that this is the Extreme which I have said since the day I got mine that less is more. This should be about playing our system to enjoy the music not playing our music to hear our system and IMO reading some of the things that others are doing amounts to the latter. I’m in it for the music and the Extreme does just that. The upcoming Taiko USB board will be the icing on the cake

 

[Taiko Audio]

We are making good progress on the USB cards, the XO's casings are machined, mounted and cast. Working on the wiring assemblies this week, we are close to being able to ship now.

 

[Kingsrule]

This network minutia is all starting to sound like the tone arm guys arguing about which material is best for cartridge screws...

 

[Skanda]

We are making good progress on the USB cards, the XO's casings are machined, mounted and cast. Working on the wiring assemblies this week, we are close to being able to ship now.

View attachment 76191

View attachment 76192

awesome! still need to get TAS installed - any idea what the pricing on these will be?

 

[dminches]

Do we have to place an order for the USB card?

 

[Taiko Audio]

We will follow up with order details shortly.

 

[austinpop]

For me, the above process would not interfere with music enjoyment at all (Sort of like putting a stylus on a an lp.) assuming it comes with a significant sq benefit.

When I think of the effort and expense some have gone to with multiple switches, clocks, and power supplies for switches and clocks, this seems like a no-brainer in comparison.

We are in agreement.

I was trying to be helpful, and offering a simple alternative to baroque network topologies. And if anyone has experience with baroque network topologies, it's me!

But I have no wish to argue with people.

 

[cat6man]

You guys are chasing down a rabbit hole that I have been down to subterranean depths. That way lies madness.

correction:

you and we are already at the bottom of a rabbit hole talking to those who are choosing to build a survival bomb shelter (optimized for optimum sound) further underground

we all went down the rabbit hole long ago.