Taiko Audio SGM Extreme : the Crème de la Crème

[Mike Lavigne]

Can you translate it in hours listening time?

Emile or my son could likely do a scan of some sort of all the files and actually answer that question.

but if you want a SWAG of an answer from me, here goes.

i know i have approx 10,700 files (i have 'many' hi-rez PCM and dsd + many 3-8 gig files of dxd 24/352 and quad dsd). let's say there are 10% duplicates, so that is 9630 files. and maybe another 2-3% are not full albums but pieces of albums, but then some files are 3 hours maybe even 5 hours long (it's how many downloads are sold).....so those factors balance each other out.

if albums average 60 minutes (my vinyl rips + analog sourced (15-20% of the files) are more like 40-45 minutes average, but digitally sourced albums average a bit more than an hour), then we have 577,800 minutes, or 9630 hours, or..............401 days, and 3 hours continuous.

and that's all at 100% of full direct local reads from the PCIe drives. looking forward to playing with that.

then there is streaming....which for all practical purposes is......

 

[wil]

Hard to say as it doesn’t exist yet but I do strongly doubt that.

Ok, thanks. Is that because the fibre taken direct to Extremes sfp module is better than the fibre signal from a switch and converting it back to ethernet?

The EtherRegen will have a "SFP Fiber Ethernet cage". So could fiber run straight form the EtherRegen to the Extreme thus skipping using a 2nd fmc? (This assumes a fiber conversion takes place in the E.regen, if I understand correctly?)

 

[spiritofmusic]

And all for a proposed price of $600-700, which is way cheaper than other audiophile switches on the mkt, a round $1k w Uptone LPS1.

 

[jturbo]

Ok, thanks. Is that because the fibre taken direct to Extremes sfp module is better than the fibre signal from a switch and converting it back to ethernet?

The EtherRegen will have a "SFP Fiber Ethernet cage". So could fiber run straight form the EtherRegen to the Extreme thus skipping using a 2nd fmc? (This assumes a fiber conversion takes place in the E.regen, if I understand correctly?)

Will

You would go from an sfp in the uptone directly to an sfp in the extreme.

 

[Taiko Audio]

Ok, thanks. Is that because the fibre taken direct to Extremes sfp module is better than the fibre signal from a switch and converting it back to ethernet?

The EtherRegen will have a "SFP Fiber Ethernet cage". So could fiber run straight form the EtherRegen to the Extreme thus skipping using a 2nd fmc? (This assumes a fiber conversion takes place in the E.regen, if I understand correctly?)

Yes, and it would not need a FMC at all then.

 

[Kingsrule]

Inflammatory posts have been removed

Both Spiritofmusic and Kingsrule were both out of line and their posts have been removed

Kingsrule, if you want to fight and provoke people I suggest you find another venue to do it because this seems to be a common complaint people have when they report your posts

If you find something objectionable kindly report the post and we will deal with it not to have you react in such a bully fashion. I do hope you get my message and find a better way to channel your emotions

 

[Kris]

It’s a custom Totaldac

Yes it is.
Vincent was so kind to build doubled Totaldac twelve for me so it is truly balanced .
We should call it Totaldac Twentyfour I think.
It is a way better than twelve that I had before .
everything is balanced in my system now.

 

[Kris]

Mandatory:
1) Extreme
2) DAC, most populair picks seem to be Aqua, MSB, Totaldac
3) Internet connection
4) Ipad
5) USB cable

Tweaks with verified performance in multiple systems:
-Intona USB 3.0 isolator (likely not of benefit with MSB Pro USB)
-Fiber in stead of copper network cable per the recipe shared earlier
-Daiza “anti vibration” platform

Thank you !
So it sounds all I need to get is extreme and diaza from you

What USB cable would you put on the top ?
You can give us your reference list of few cables with clear answer what would work best.

Why intona 3.0 ? I have Uptone iso regen. Is uptone iso regen close to intona 3.0 performance ?

 

[Kris]

Also what swich do you think would be optimal ?

1. for the home that feeds direct Extreme via FO cable ?
will 10gb FO be better than 1gb connection ?
Is the extreme FO pcie card capable to get 10 gb FO ?
Swich of choice here will be something like Cisco WS-C2960X-24PD-L

2. Will be addition of the future
Uptone Regen and than with FO to extreme be a better idea?
But here we might be limited to 1g only .

 

[Taiko Audio]

Thank you !
So it sounds all I need to get is extreme and diaza from you

What USB cable would you put on the top ?
You can give us your reference list of few cables with clear answer what would work best.

Why intona 3.0 ? I have Uptone iso regen. Is uptone iso regen close to intona 3.0 performance ?

The Uptone iso regen, does not improve the USB output of the Extreme. The Intona has been the only one so far and I was very surprised it did.

I am very impressed by the Intona Ultimate USB cables, they measure and preselect the cable they use, then measure and grade after assembly, the process is explained here:
https://pro.intona.eu/en/stories/cable

So Premium, Reference and Ultimate are the same cables, just less impedance variation moving up the line (with remarkable improvements in fidelity).

I can’t take credit for the “discovery”, these where brought to my attention by our dealer in Hong Kong.

 

[spiritofmusic]

WOW.. and talk about a typo
Bring it on anytime...........

You got me bang to rights, guv'nor.
God damn it.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Does the Intona Isolator work just as well w other USB cbls?

 

[Taiko Audio]

will 10gb FO be better than 1gb connection ?

Is the extreme FO pcie card capable to get 10 gb FO ?

That is a good question, it is in theory, I have a ran a few tests and it’s promising but I’m not satisfied with it yet. It will take time to get a bulletproof operational and good sounding configuration.

10Gb fiber cards do typically not scale down to 1Gb. You’d need a dedicated 10Gb card.

What to watch out for with big brands like HP and Cisco is they sometimes vendorlock SFP modules. So verify before you buy.

 

[Taiko Audio]

Does the Intona Isolator work just as well w other USB cbls?

I don’t know. It is possible the Intona ultimate tight impedance control is what allows these to improve upon the Extreme in the first place.

 

[Rhapsody]

I must say I don't expect it at all. All current improvements we have are based on individual experimentation in a very small community and kept secret and not freely debated. They are not general findings, they only apply to a very reduced number of systems.

None of these areas is new. Vibration control in digital has been going on for many years. The same for electrical noise control. The key problem for research and systematization with the high-end is its diversity. What is good in some cases is bad in other ones.

IMHO it is now clear that in the high-end we have the good and the bad noise, but we do not know exactly which is which and why. But surely yes, we are living great days concerning stereo sound quality!

I respect you opion and understand that "noise" and vibration control have been around pretty much forever.

Although personally over the last year espeically with respect to digital so many things have become crystal clear to me regarding reducing noise in cables, servers, dacs and the same with vibration control both passive and active.

I have been able to reduce the noise and vibrations in my systems all because of available knowledge from those like Emile and others that actually over the last year the noise/vibration has come to the top of the table vs. under the table and mysterious as it was to me for the last several years.

Time will tell, but I think the experimentation in the digital world for both noise and vibration control is at an all time high and thus will continue. I hope so anyway.

 

[Taiko Audio]

Emile or my son could likely do a scan of some sort of all the files and actually answer that question.

10.735 albums, 4542 Redbook, 3529 high res PCM, 2694 DSD


17.2TB disk space

 

[nuway]

Intona built their high end USB cables to 2.0 standard. Don't see any high end USB 3.0 cable needed to connect the Extreme to the Intona isolator 3.0 other than the Mercury3.0 from Ifi: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076ML8B2G/ref=ox_sc_act_title_5?smid=A2H1DLE1VLYNIR&psc=1

 

[Rhapsody]

Intona built their high end USB cables to 2.0 standard. Don't see any high end USB 3.0 cable needed to connect the Extreme to the Intona isolator 3.0 other than the Mercury3.0 from Ifi: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076ML8B2G/ref=ox_sc_act_title_5?smid=A2H1DLE1VLYNIR&psc=1

That was confusing to me as well but it has to do with the exact impedance which I believe is 90 ohms. This allows the optimum usb out port to work optimally.

 

[Kingsrule]

That is a good question, it is in theory, I have a ran a few tests and it’s promising but I’m not satisfied with it yet. It will take time to get a bulletproof operational and good sounding configuration.

10Gb fiber cards do typically not scale down to 1Gb. You’d need a dedicated 10Gb card.

What to watch out for with big brands like HP and Cisco is they sometimes vendorlock SFP modules. So verify before you buy.

Interesting Emile
My 10Gb switch scales to 1Gb depending on SFP module thus I thought all 10Gb fiber stuff would scale down....Does the Extreme 10Gb card scale down?

 

[microstrip]

(...) So Premium, Reference and Ultimate are the same cables, just less impedance variation moving up the line (with remarkable improvements in fidelity).

Probably something else than just the impedance. IMHO accuracy of impedance to .1 ohm is meaningless unless the impedance of the sender and receiver are also accurate to such degree, something I doubt in most electronics. Even small variations in the manufacturing of the PCB's can change the impedance more than that.

If these cables sound different I expect that aspects such as bandwidth, attenuation and microphony will differ.

BTW, anyone with some instrumentation knowledge can manufacture a cable with such impedance accuracy just by trial and error.