Taiko Audio SGM Extreme : the Crème de la Crème
- Thread starter CKKeung
- Start date
I have no idea but I'll just throw out there this "factoid" from my own experience --
I found some years ago that the sound of Roon seemed to be improved by running HQPlayer in pass-through mode from Roon. No explanation but that's what I heard. Now this was back when HQP was still version 3.xx and my system was quite a bit different than it is now. But there you have it -- digital audio is a very funny thing and we're still learning lots about it.
Steve Z
Christiaan Punter
Well-Known Member
Indeed, Steve, this is also what I hear with Antipodes as well as the Aqua LinQ, compared to when it still also offered RAAT compatibility. Why? Dunno! Funny stuff and lots still to learn indeed...
Steve
It's DAC dependent, so generally but not universally true. It is now accepted that the USB input on totaldac is an older, noisy design.
Both Kris and I get better sound converting (carefully) to spdif or aes/ebu. Vincent had long said that his dac sounds better with aes/ebu than with USB. Even the superior USB design of the extreme has not changed that result.
p.s. @Steve
Have you tried the local WAV vs. FLAC comparison? I'd love to hear your thoughts with your lovely setup.
Exactly the same case here.
The same result was seen with HQP passthrough here, with HQP v3.x, battery powered NAA in microrendu. Then all the s/w (which wasn't supposed to matter) and hardware and power and cables started changing and the state of magic was lost
My DAC (dCS Vivaldi) doesn't offer ethernet input but when paired with dCS' Upsampler ethernet is available (as is USB). Several years ago when my Extreme was new I asked Emile about running ethernet from the Extreme into the Upsampler and as I recall he said it could be done but bridging the two ethernet ports on the Extreme would have a negative sonic impact, so I didn't pursue it. and stuck with USB from Extreme to Upsampler.
The one time I did try ethernet into the Upsampler it was from my modem/router and not the Extreme and definitely didn't sound as good as USB from the Extreme but that was very likely network effects and the cheap ISP-provided equipment.
Steve Z
The one time I did try ethernet into the Upsampler it was from my modem/router and not the Extreme and definitely didn't sound as good as USB from the Extreme but that was very likely network effects and the cheap ISP-provided equipment.
Steve Z
That's interesting. Originally I was running a TotalDac reclocker to convert to AES and for volume control. At first it wouldn't play nice with the Taiko USB card but Emile and Vincent had a fix so back to France with it. When I got it back everything was fine but I still had a problem understanding why anything coming out of the Extreme needed to be reclocked. Once I verified the Matrix could use the Taiko USB driver and I could control volume with the Trinnov I sold the reclocker and installed the Matrix. I was very surprised to hear an audible improvement.
steve williams
Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
Alpha Audio in the Netherlands compared different lossy codecs with FLAC and WAV.
Very interesting, imho you get the best thrill with WAV, please compare and enjoy:
alpha-audio.net
Matt
Very interesting, imho you get the best thrill with WAV, please compare and enjoy:
Audible differences Codecs - MP3 - AAC - Ogg - FLAC
But then the sound. Is there an audible difference between the codecs at the same bit rate? And is there an audible difference between bitrates?
alpha-audio.net
Matt
Alpha Audio in the Netherlands compared different lossy codecs with FLAC and WAV.
Very interesting, imho you get the best thrill with WAV, please compare and enjoy:
Audible differences Codecs - MP3 - AAC - Ogg - FLAC
But then the sound. Is there an audible difference between the codecs at the same bit rate? And is there an audible difference between bitrates?
Matt
My only problem with this test is that we are just listening to Foolbar action - how can we be sure other transcoders show similar effects? I remember that Merging uses their custom sample converter HEPTA.
I get your point.
We listened so far to conversions with dbpoweramp and foobar, maybe someone can add a conversion with HEPTA?
Matt
If you guys are going to continue to dig deep into this topic (which is interesting and important) maybe you should start a separate "Wav vs. flac" thread.
I did use a Mutec for conversion from the USB/Extreme to my TotalDac but have since removed from my system. After adding a second TotalDac reclocker I felt there was a noticeable overall improvement by using the USB output from the Extreme into the first reclocker and then using the AES/EBU output into the second reclocker. YMMV.
I agree that deep technical discussions of wav v. flac should go elsewhere.
I would like to see wav v. flac comparisons using the Extreme stay under this topic though, particularly if some
DACs or configurations are more or less impacted.
[step on to soapbox]
IMHO, solving local file flac performance is a major prerequisite to unlocking the best possible streaming experience,
since even the mighty extreme's hardware alone does not (as yet) solve that limitation.
Since the majority of folks here consider lossless streaming of the highest priority, it seems that fixing flac
is a (THE?) key, and since the degradation is heard even with local files, this is likely a separate issue from optimizing the "streaming" functionality and in the critical path to "best" SQ for streaming.
[/step off of soapbox]
Sorry to veer off but I need some input. My Extreme should be delivered Tuesday. I got VNC onto my ipad. I cannot get it to complete the installation onto my laptop. Windows 10. I'm done trying. TeamViewer is installed on the laptop. Will this suffice for when Taiko takes over on TeamViewer? Throw in my computer skills are marginal at best. Any input will be most appreciated. Feel free to PM or here. John
Hi John, that will suffice, you can reach out to support@taikoaudio.com at any time, also for assistance in installing teamviewer and/or vnc should you need or want help with that.
steve williams
Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
John
What Emile taught me recently and is a huge help . ........I honestly never knew it existed as I have never had any issues with my Extreme and I still don't . However I reached out to ask him how do I determine how much unused internal memory I had on my Extreme and how to use VNC and Emile replied with this link
https://taikoaudio.com/taiko-2020/w.../210203-Taiko-Audio-Extreme-Manual_v00_11.pdf
It's worth the read
@Steve Williams: I actually read it that's how I discovered VNC. For some reason it will not complete the installation on a Windows 10. It will though on ipad. No big deal it sounds like what I have installed will be fine. How cool is that you ask a question and Taiko Chimes in, very nice...
Just got the error in the Extreme:
" There was an issue loading your database" with Roon and can't load it, as I do not find any backup of the database. Any solution other than re-installing Roon?
" There was an issue loading your database" with Roon and can't load it, as I do not find any backup of the database. Any solution other than re-installing Roon?
steve williams
Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
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