Taiko Audio SGM Extreme : the Crème de la Crème

onlychild

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Sep 18, 2019
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Has anyone grounded the chassis of the Extreme to a Shunyata Everest/Denali? I know it’s not recommended to do by Taiko; but since I have a Denali 6000v2 sitting right beside the Extreme for other components, and have now connected the Extreme to it, should I also ground the chassis to the Shunyata’s “GP-NR” ground system?
Has anyone done so and what were the sonic improvements?
And how did you connect it, as the Extreme does not have an obvious ground terminal.
Thanks!
Extreme has one of the best ground terminals, a solid block of copper. Mine is grounded to a Tripoint and I can’t listen without it
0E1D6D95-CBB8-4345-86C4-15F20E56FC04.jpeg
 

oldmustang

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Dec 1, 2012
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Has anyone grounded the chassis of the Extreme to a Shunyata Everest/Denali? I know it’s not recommended to do by Taiko; but since I have a Denali 6000v2 sitting right beside the Extreme for other components, and have now connected the Extreme to it, should I also ground the chassis to the Shunyata’s “GP-NR” ground system?
Has anyone done so and what were the sonic improvements?
And how did you connect it, as the Extreme does not have an obvious ground terminal.
Thanks!
I've bolded and italicized two phrases from your question above. I think that actually answers your question by itself though of course it is always appropriate to ask questions..

I say this with respect, but I look at the flip side of Taiko's incredible customer service as it being my responsibility to follow their recommendations and not trying experiments they don't provide for or recommend.

Now, will grounding the chassis blow things up? Hardly. The worst that might happen is a ground loop and some additional noise, as long as the equipment you are grounding it to -- be it third party or your home electrical system -- are properly installed and functioning.

Steve Z
 
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oldmustang

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Dec 1, 2012
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Extreme has one of the best ground terminals, a solid block of copper. Mine is grounded to a Tripoint and I can’t listen without it
View attachment 95905
I notice you also employ an air gap between the Extreme's IEC power inlet and your Sablon power cord. I would imagine it is very, very quiet that way. . .

Steve Z
 
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Nils

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Dec 16, 2021
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Has anyone grounded the chassis of the Extreme to a Shunyata Everest/Denali? I know it’s not recommended to do by Taiko; but since I have a Denali 6000v2 sitting right beside the Extreme for other components, and have now connected the Extreme to it, should I also ground the chassis to the Shunyata’s “GP-NR” ground system?
Has anyone done so and what were the sonic improvements?
And how did you connect it, as the Extreme does not have an obvious ground terminal.
Thanks!
I have my DAC's, my PowerAmp's and my Extreme's chassis grounded to my Everest's chassis-ground - in my system it lowers the noise floor and enhances the SQ. Quality of the grounding cable impacts your results.

All three of my devices (Extreme included) have very good grounding lugs - I use grounding cables with spades in both ends to interconnect.

Waiting for Shunyata to present their new signal-ground solution Altaira (including new grounding cables) as next step.
 

cat6man

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Feb 6, 2013
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This is probably more something for Emile to answer but here are my 2 cents. I don't have a USB hub at hand to try but even if it would work, sonic degradation aside, you'd still only be able to connect to one DAC at a time.

update: a powered Satechi usb hub seems to work fine, an unpowered usb hub did not
 
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jelt2359

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Nov 17, 2020
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Has anyone grounded the chassis of the Extreme to a Shunyata Everest/Denali? I know it’s not recommended to do by Taiko; but since I have a Denali 6000v2 sitting right beside the Extreme for other components, and have now connected the Extreme to it, should I also ground the chassis to the Shunyata’s “GP-NR” ground system?
Has anyone done so and what were the sonic improvements?
And how did you connect it, as the Extreme does not have an obvious ground terminal.
Thanks!
Careful with grounding. I had my telos active ground attached to my extreme and eventually realised it was causing my Taiko usb card to occasionally go into protection mode.
 
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John T

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Feb 15, 2022
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My Extreme has been up and running since Tuesday. What a joy! For now just a cheap Netgear Switch, Cat6 UTP (not expensive). If I were to stay with this config. I would call Pete at Triode Wire Labs and get his Cat6. I will re insert the M12 with LPS, and compare later. Too soon to make an accurate evaluation. The M12 in front of the NS1 was very good. So we shall see! I'm having some fun here!! Thanks again to Christiaan for his help and teaching me a few things...John
 
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ACHiPo

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Feb 22, 2015
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My Extreme has been up and running since Tuesday. What a joy! For now just a cheap Netgear Switch, Cat6 UTP (not expensive). If I were to stay with this config. I would call Pete at Triode Wire Labs and get his Cat6. I will re insert the M12 with LPS, and compare later. Too soon to make an accurate evaluation. The M12 in front of the NS1 was very good. So we shall see! I'm having some fun here!! Thanks again to Christiaan for his help and teaching me a few things...John
Congrats! Mine is in the local depot set for delivery tomorrow.
 

Zeotrope

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Feb 11, 2021
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Careful with grounding. I had my telos active ground attached to my extreme and eventually realised it was causing my Taiko usb card to occasionally go into protection mode.
Thanks. I think “active” ground is the culprit here. As far as I know, Shunyata’s system is passive - can anyone confirm?
 

Zeotrope

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Feb 11, 2021
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Congrats! Mine is in the local depot set for delivery tomorrow.
Fingers crossed it arrives tomorrow! I was waiting nearly a month for another high value shipment (new crossovers) from the Netherlands. Shipping is a mess right now, and the couriers cannot handle the volume and staff shortages.
 
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sbo6

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CKKeung

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Jun 17, 2011
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Waiting for Shunyata to present their new signal-ground solution Altaira (including new grounding cables) as next step.

https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/shunyata-grounding-system.34436/

 

seatrope

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Mar 9, 2017
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@Taiko Audio Hi Emile!

Can I get your current opinion on whether it's sonically worthwhile to set up an audio-only VLAN? I'm designing VLANs for my home network right now, mainly for security purposes to partition the IOT stuff away from the rest of the network.

From reading this thread, I seem to remember Taiko's official recommendation has gone back and forth. Not sure if the upcoming router and network card will change this.

Also for me it's worth thinking about how to integrate the Taiko router into my enterprise switch/pfSense firewall system with 10/40 Gbe speeds. I have a dual WAN setup in pfSense (cable and fiber) with 2.5Gbe/10Gbe WAN inputs, and plan to do all the routing between VLANs on my L3 ICX6610 switch. Wifi is with 2x Ruckus R720 and 1x Ruckus R510 enterprise APs which support tagged VLANs.

Perhaps it might make the best sense to have the Taiko router on its separate LAN essentially. Remote iOS control then becomes the issue....

Thanks!
Yeang
 

Taiko Audio

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Feb 10, 2017
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Have had mixed results with tagged VLANs, in fact mostly negative, but a “dedicated” network for audio can have merits. A separate router + wi-fi with the Extreme and your ipad or other remote control device connected to it can be, but not always is, beneficial. This bypasses the “need” for VLANs.
 

seatrope

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Mar 9, 2017
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Thanks Emile. Will probably plan on a separate completely isolated network with Extreme and a separate audio control wifi endpoint/SSID. Will still have to converge at the pfSense router for WAN access, though.
 
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Cyrus

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Jun 15, 2018
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but a “dedicated” network for audio can have merits. A separate router + wi-fi with the Extreme and your ipad or other remote control device connected to it can be, but not always is, beneficial.

Emile, what are the scenarios where a dedicated (separate) network is generally beneficial? What are the reasons for this? Is it mainly / essentially try and decide? Thanks.
 

cat6man

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Feb 6, 2013
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@Taiko Audio Hi Emile!

Can I get your current opinion on whether it's sonically worthwhile to set up an audio-only VLAN? I'm designing VLANs for my home network right now, mainly for security purposes to partition the IOT stuff away from the rest of the network.

I'm planning on exactly the same vlan changeover to isolate iot stuff.

My IT guru, who I've worked with for over 30 years since my early corporate days, will handle the design. I usually do all this stuff myself, but this time I acknowledge my limitations, particularly due to the security implications. A key part we have agreed upon will be replacing my Orbi access points with ubiquiti access points. Together with my ubiquiti 6P home router (which replaced FiOS' garbage switch), an all ubiquiti system is a faster and cleaner approach compared to the work required to integrate across platforms.

I've given him a network diagram of all the components and am waiting to see how he proposes partitioning things.
 
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Skanda

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May 2, 2020
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i've been away from the forums for a bit. wanted to check in to see if TAS has any plans to support youtube music. i know i know its not the highest quality but there are great mixes on youtube that are not available elsewhere so it would be a nice option
 

dminches

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Oct 22, 2011
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i've been away from the forums for a bit. wanted to check in to see if TAS has any plans to support youtube music. i know i know its not the highest quality but there are great mixes on youtube that are not available elsewhere so it would be a nice option

TAS development is over. The question is if XDMS will support it.
 

seatrope

Well-Known Member
Mar 9, 2017
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Have had mixed results with tagged VLANs, in fact mostly negative, but a “dedicated” network for audio can have merits. A separate router + wi-fi with the Extreme and your ipad or other remote control device connected to it can be, but not always is, beneficial. This bypasses the “need” for VLANs.
@Taiko Audio Emile - it's interesting that you mentioned tagged VLANs in particular.
Have you had different (less negative) experience with UN-tagged VLANs (based on port assignments only)?

I can see why tagged VLANs would degrade sonic quality as the switch is adding a 4 byte tag to each Ethernet frame per 802.1Q, i.e. altering the data, but with UNtagged VLANs the frames are unchanged.

The question is whether reducing broadcast/multicast traffic with an Audio-only VLAN or isolated network (same in regards to this) would be beneficial.
Might also depend on the switch/router in use.. my subjective results may not apply universally.

Thanks!
 
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