Taiko Audio SGM Extreme : the Crème de la Crème

[steve williams]

To maintain a functioning VNC connection to the Extreme to see what you are doing. The new network card will have a different IP address.

Steve Z

Emile told me that this is the easiest way. Insert the new card using ethernet to the Extreme. Then run the code and once done switch to the split cable as there is a different IP address now and by doing what he said you won't have to search for the new IP address if you sequence the install in the manner he recommended

 

[MusicFellow]

I personally would not attempt removing dust inside the Extreme with a Swiffer -- though remote there is a chance of snagging something with the Swiffer, plus you could inadvertently end up leaving fibers from the Swiffer inside.

The method I use (learned doing preventive maintenance on electrical and electronic equipment in the Navy) is to use a small portable vacuum cleaner with soft, non-conductive nozzle and a soft camel-hair brush with any conductive metallic parts taped over. A woman's make-up brush works well.

The techique is to *not* touch the vacuum nozzle to any of the boards or components inside the Extreme or any other electronic device you might be cleaning. Hold the nozzle near the soft brush and use to the brush to loosen and remove the dust from the equipment. This will avoid potential damage to the equipment. For bonus points you can follow up any inaccessible nooks and crannies with a spritz from a can of compressed air with the vacuum nozzle again nearby to suck up any additional dust stirred up by the compressed air.

Gently does it!

Good luck.

Steve Z

Love it!! Many thanks! Now I only need to snatch that make-up brush…

 

[Taiko Audio]

Good point! I do use Roon in my office, running on a Mac Pro. I have Zero interest in ever using Roon with the Extreme; so to not affect the sound quality Roon should be quit from running anywhere on the network, correct?

Roon is actually quite ok now with the networkcard/switch combo, imho, not like XDMS, but quite decent nonetheless.

 

[theaudiogeek]

Just received mine from DHL.. oh my.. that thing is heavy. I was not expecting that much weight based on its size. I will be getting to it after my work.. Its going to be a very long night for sure....

 

[cat6man]

after installing the switch/network card, has anyone have a chance to compare WAV versus FLAC on local files?

 

[nonesup]

Love it!! Many thanks! Now I only need to snatch that make-up brush…

snatch the brush from your wife? You are a suicide!

 

[dminches]

To maintain a functioning VNC connection to the Extreme to see what you are doing. The new network card will have a different IP address.

Steve Z

Agreed. It is easier that way but you still have to eventually scan for the new IP address and edit the VPN viewer properties. I ended up with both cables in for a short while to diagnose things.

 

[oldmustang]

@jelt2359 and @nenon did a great job describing the improvements in musically relevant sound quality with the new Taiko switch and network interface card (NIC). I'm not sure that I can improve on what they wrote, but I'll try to add my own impressions.

Additional words and phases that come to my mind are a sense of increased energy in the room, naturalness and ease, weight and tonal/timbral saturation and texture. Everything seems much more present and visceral -- little details I wasn't fully aware of before are clearer in a very natural, coherent way. No hint of edginess, or rather if any edginess exists it does so as part of the source track and not as system noise. Voices sound so real and present in my room that I've spent several hours just queuing up any and all vocal tracks I could think of just to enjoy having singers present in my room singing directly to me.

Overall, while I had a hard time imagining how an improvement in sound quality was going to manifest itself with the new switch and NIC, what I'm hearing far exceeds any expectations I might have had.

Just one example of many that sound far better than they did even two days ago:



"Trouble's What You're In" by Fink

Kudos once again to Emile and the Taiko team!

Steve Z

 

[dminches]

It goes without saying but the folks at Taiko Audio provide unequaled support and assistance. I just finished up with Emile and Ed to help me diagnose an issue. It is past 11PM local time for them. This is seriously above and beyond.

Switch and card are up and running. I will report back in a day or 2. My brain needs time to acclimate and process changes.

On a side note, the switch is a beast. I think only a black hole is more dense.

 

[cat6man]

It goes without saying but the folks at Taiko Audio provide unequaled support and assistance. I just finished up with Emile and Ed to help me diagnose an issue. It is past 11PM local time for them. This is seriously above and beyond.

Switch and card are up and running. I will report back in a day or 2. My brain needs time to acclimate and process changes.

On a side note, the switch is a beast. I think only a black hole is more dense.

dave
what kind of issue did you run into?

 

[Koegz]

Thank you for the quick installation of the “script”.

 

[microstrip]

The idea behind leaving the powercord plugged in is to keep the chassis grounded as protection for static discharge.

You risk becoming liable for hazards if something happens - word of mouth once told me that europeans accept this practice, americans not. Anyway if we keep the chassis grounded for static we should wear a grounding strap.

 

[Zeotrope]

Help! Can’t play any tracks. It was working fine yesterday, not sure what happened. Does the DAC need to be on for XDMS to play tracks? I have the DAC off for now, as I need to move some equipment around; tracks are not playing. I restarted the Extreme but it didn’t help… now rescanning the DB.
i see the spinning icon as if it’s about to play then it moves to the next track, and then the next, every few seconds.

EDIT: the DAC must be on, or the Extreme behaves this way, at least with XDMS.

 

[theaudiogeek]

Up and running. I am speechless with the sound quality. You can hear every instrument very clearly.. I am extremely happy with this switch/network card. @Taiko Audio - Noticed some "...permission denied.." error in red/orange when I ran the networkcard script as "Run in powershell". The message stayed for a second or two and disappeared. Extreme got rebooted and all is good. Not sure if that error is normal or not?

 

[ctydwn]

I am just drooling reading all these reports. Thank you all for sharing.
I have never felt such audio envy and can't wait to get back on the train! (awaiting the black version).
Love that Fink song, btw.
Sounds like a walk-off home run as many/all expected. Congrats again to the entire Taiko team.

 

[jelt2359]

Up and running. I am speechless with the sound quality. You can hear every instrument very clearly.. I am extremely happy with this switch/network card. @Taiko Audio - Noticed some "...permission denied.." error in red/orange when I ran the networkcard script as "Run in powershell". The message stayed for a second or two and disappeared. Extreme got rebooted and all is good. Not sure if that error is normal or not?

same. error. but then the script got deleted after i rebooted...

 

[Taiko Audio]

You risk becoming liable for hazards if something happens - word of mouth once told me that europeans accept this practice, americans not. Anyway if we keep the chassis grounded for static we should wear a grounding strap.

With the powerswitch in the off position there are no powered parts, even with the powerswitch in the on position there aren’t any dangerous parts you can touch btw, you can only damage things then.

 

[Taiko Audio]

Help! Can’t play any tracks. It was working fine yesterday, not sure what happened. Does the DAC need to be on for XDMS to play tracks? I have the DAC off for now, as I need to move some equipment around; tracks are not playing. I restarted the Extreme but it didn’t help… now rescanning the DB.
i see the spinning icon as if it’s about to play then it moves to the next track, and then the next, every few seconds.

EDIT: the DAC must be on, or the Extreme behaves this way, at least with XDMS.

The DAC must be on for both Roon as XDMS.

 

[Taiko Audio]

Up and running. I am speechless with the sound quality. You can hear every instrument very clearly.. I am extremely happy with this switch/network card. @Taiko Audio - Noticed some "...permission denied.." error in red/orange when I ran the networkcard script as "Run in powershell". The message stayed for a second or two and disappeared. Extreme got rebooted and all is good. Not sure if that error is normal or not?

Yes the “error” is normal, it’s a message about permissions.

 

[theaudiogeek]

Yes the “error” is normal, it’s a message about permissions.

Thank you Emile for the conformation and thanks to the entire Taiko team for pushing the boundaries in sound quality!