Taiko Audio SGM Extreme : the Crème de la Crème

[wil]

Agree,
to draw a conclusion I would have to spend for the network about the same amount as for Extreme to get this SQ.

I must say after reading Emile's contribution about de-tweaking and now Kris' post I am confused now, maybe someone can help me out?

Maybe the Taiko USB card (which Kris does not have yet) has such a great impact on SQ that network tweakings are no longer important?

Matt

No doubt that Emile and company's goal is to make network tweaking superfluous. I guess it remains to seen how close they are. But if Bob's experience of no sq penalty after removing two M-12 switches with their power supplies and cables, is any indication, the no- tweaked network future may be bright!

 

[Taiko Audio]

No doubt that Emile and company's goal is to make network tweaking superfluous. I guess it remains to seen how close they are. But if Bob's experience of no sq penalty after removing two M-12 switches with their power supplies and cables, is any indication, the no- tweaked network future may be bright!

I would not say that is the “goal”, however uncovering its mode of action sure is.

 

[cat6man]

I would not say that is the “goal”, however uncovering its mode of action sure is.

absolutely.............and the mode of action, and its severity/impact, may (will?) vary as the extreme is further improved.

now, perhaps

[new USB card + new usb driver]^optimized

will achieve sufficient (complete?) immunity to the upstream.............we just don't know yet

the ideal & simple solution is still just "read in the data, isolate and buffer completely from upstream, read out cleanly to DAC"

for what sounds like a very simple engineering task, the level of implementation detail and the complexity of the interactions that need to be countered is really mindblowing

 

[EuroDriver]

for what sounds like a very simple engineering task, the level of implementation detail and the complexity of the interactions that need to be countered is really mindblowing

Cat6man

you hit the nail on the head !

 

[dminches]

LMS question. I have notification in TAS that there is a plug-in update available and there is also an update to LMS itself to go from 8.0.0 to 8.1.1.

Does the Taiko team recommend updating these or to not bother?

 

[MarkusBarkus]

You need to do a rescan.
You can do a full rescan but I use the rescan for new and changed.

Folks, I did complete the rescan, per above, and I find the same issue with playing Qobuz stuff. Search works, songs load in queue, even show in "playing" screen, but no sound, no progress bar--although it seems to try--small piece of blue progress, but then...nada.

Also: what does (HTOA) mean? Under albums, some albums display tracks, some just (HTOA). Seen this before? Thank you...

 

[oldmustang]

Folks, I did complete the rescan, per above, and I find the same issue with playing Qobuz stuff. Search works, songs load in queue, even show in "playing" screen, but no sound, no progress bar--although it seems to try--small piece of blue progress, but then...nada.

Also: what does (HTOA) mean? Under albums, some albums display tracks, some just (HTOA). Seen this before? Thank you...

I had this happen once but thankfully hasn't repeated. What seemed to work for me was restarting the xD (direct) player in the TAS app.

Good luck!

Steve Z

 

[kswanson27]

Folks, I did complete the rescan, per above, and I find the same issue with playing Qobuz stuff. Search works, songs load in queue, even show in "playing" screen, but no sound, no progress bar--although it seems to try--small piece of blue progress, but then...nada.

Also: what does (HTOA) mean? Under albums, some albums display tracks, some just (HTOA). Seen this before? Thank you...

Might be time for a reboot--the Extreme and your iPad or whatever you're using.

 

[MarkusBarkus]

What seemed to work for me was restarting the xD (direct) player in the TAS app.

Yatzy! I owe you a beer Steve Z. Cheers...

 

[Kris]

@Kris

With such a sophisticated network does it sound any better when the network is disconnected from the Extreme?
Thanks

Matt

It is still some benefit when you disconnect network,
it simply totally stops the packets flow.

 

[Kris]

Agree,
to draw a conclusion according to Kris I would have to spend for the network about the same amount as for Extreme.

Possibly the Taiko USB card (which Kris does not have yet) has such a great impact on SQ that network tweakings are no longer important.

Matt

My wish is you are right so I can sell it all.
but unfortunate USB card will be unable to clear all benefits from network low noise I have .
Those are simply separate ends of the best server on the planet that is worth the best we can offer.

I cant wait for the USB card as I am absolutely sure this will bring a lot of great things.
Emile and Taiko Team know much more than all of us together.

 

[cat6man]

It is still some benefit when you disconnect network,
it simply totally stops the packets flow.

kris

does disconnecting the network still benefit your system when playing from internal storage?

 

[Esotar]

My wish is you are right so I can sell it all.
but unfortunate USB card will be unable to clear all benefits from network low noise I have .
Those are simply separate ends of the best server on the planet that is worth the best we can offer.

I cant wait for the USB card as I am absolutely sure this will bring a lot of great things.
Emile and Taiko Team know much more than all of us together.

Taiko USB card will be made by legendary hardware engineer Emile,

but by Edward's advices this card must be perfect I think.

 

[EuroDriver]

Visit to Oldenzaal, Taiko USB auditioned

I have been in the High End game for more than 6 years and have worked 3 times on demo cabins and rooms in Munich together with Emile. I have been constantly and regularly been surprised by sound quality uplifts pulled out of the hat by Emile.

Yesterday I spent the best part of 6 hours with the Extreme with the new Taiko USB card in its 3rd evolution. It’s the culmination of more than 2 years of intensive engineering, and testing, testing testing

So what does it do to the sound, I don’t have sufficient depth or breadth of vocabulary to describe, but I will give you my takeaways. We did some A/B tests between the mobo USB and the USB card, the difference was . . . .

The first jaw dropping impression is the sound stage, expansive in scale, but with a naturalness in its texture and detail. Its like switching from an impressionist painting and then being there in the venue. It’s a natural realism that frankly I have never experienced in recorded playback. I have often been at an instore concert a performer is singing and playing with minimal amplification, with a live and present intimacy that I have never heard in any playback system.

Well the Extreme with the Taiko USB card breaks into that live experience. Wynton Marsalis Hot House Flowers, is one of my go to test tracks. I used to hear the drum set, now I see it. The amount of additional information that my hearing brain can discern about the placement and individual percussion instruments is simply wow.

As my elation came down to normality, my second big takeaway became apparent. One of my musical favorites is Julia Fischer with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields playing Bach. I had the pleasure to hear her play these pieces in concert about 7 years ago. Well the additional musical information that the USB card delivers transported me from being a spectator to a participant of the musical conversation between Julia and her fellow musicians. All kinds of instrumental motifs which had escaped by attention for so many years were now a easy to follow, hard to miss joyful dialog between the musicians. Captivating and Enchanting, my musical enjoyment soared


During our session, we were also online with Wilson, testing, testing, testing. Watching Emile and Wilson work together is like being in the spectator gallery at Mission Control. The sensitivity to the system to software code tweaking rises to a new level with the USB card.

There are enough USB cards for all Beta Testers, so don’t worry about being at the back of the queue

 

[nenon]

Visit to Oldenzaal

I have been in the High End game for more than 6 years and have worked 3 times on demo cabins and rooms in Munich together with Emile. I have been constantly and regularly been surprised by sound quality uplifts pulled out of the hat by Emile.

Yesterday I spent the best part of 6 hours with the Extreme with the new Taiko USB card in its 3rd evolution. It’s the culmination of more than 2 years of intensive engineering, and testing, testing testing

So what does it do to the sound, I don’t have sufficient depth or breadth of vocabulary to describe, but I will give you my takeaways. We did some A/B tests between the mobo USB and the USB card, the difference was . . . .

The first jaw dropping impression is the sound stage, expansive in scale, but with a naturalness in its texture and detail. Its like switching from an impressionist painting and then being there in the venue. It’s a natural realism that frankly I have never experienced in recorded playback. I have often been at an instore concert a performer is singing and playing with minimal amplification, with a live and present intimacy that I have never heard in any playback system.

Well the Extreme with the Taiko USB card breaks into that live experience. Wynton Marsalis Hot House Flowers, is one of my go to test tracks. I used to hear the drum set, now I see it. The amount of additional information that my hearing brain can discern about the placement and individual percussion instruments is simply wow.

As my elation came down to normality, my second big takeaway became apparent. One of my musical favorites is Julia Fischer with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields playing Bach. I had the pleasure to hear her play these pieces in concert about 7 years ago. Well the additional musical information that the USB card delivers transported me from being a spectator to a participant of the musical conversation between Julia and her fellow musicians. All kinds of instrumental motifs which had escaped by attention for so many years were now a easy to follow, hard to miss joyful dialog between the musicians. Captivating and Enchanting, my musical enjoyment soared


During our session, we were also online with Wilson, testing, testing, testing. Watching Emile and Wilson work together is like being in the spectator gallery at Mission Control. The sensitivity to the system to software code tweaking rises to a new level with the USB card.

There are enough USB cards for all Beta Testers, so don’t worry about being at the back of the queue

Another great milestone for Taiko. Excellent achievement. Congratulations!

 

[dminches]

Have people upgraded their version of LMS to 8.1.1? There is also a plug-in that can be upgraded. Does Taiko recommend keeping all of LMS current?

 

[Steve Williams]

Have people upgraded their version of LMS to 8.1.1? There is also a plug-in that can be upgraded. Does Taiko recommend keeping all of LMS current?

I did the two updates. It’s fine

 

[EuroDriver]

Have people upgraded their version of LMS to 8.1.1? There is also a plug-in that can be upgraded. Does Taiko recommend keeping all of LMS current?

We have not had a chance to test LMS 8.2

the good news is with LMS there is no problem to roll back to a previous version

 

[MarkusBarkus]

@EuroDriver Hello Ed, hope all good on your end. Nice post on the USB board. Thank you.

Re: LMS, for me the calculus includes when you guys think your homegrown option might arrive.

No expectation of a hard-date here, but if it's 6months-plus, I might take an update. Any info, appreciated. Cheers, Mark

 

[dminches]

We have not had a chance to test LMS 8.2

the good news is with LMS there is no problem to roll back to a previous version

To upgrade to 8.1.1 do I need to log into mysqueezbox.com? If so, did you guys set up our credentials?

It looks like I have to first download the package and then install it in windows via the viewer. Is this correct? (Feel free to move this to PM).