Taiko Audio SGM Extreme : the Crème de la Crème

[Zeotrope]

I love waking up and finding there is always one pearl of a post made by Emile and this is it. For the world of me I can't understand why people feel they are smarter than Emile with their DIY fixes which other than dminches has proved temporary at best. To me it is a distraction but I can still play music and know how to reconnect when I lose server connection. It's all good guys. The solution is still somewhere in Emile's grey matter

It's not about "being smarter than Emile"... it's about (i) trying to help and (ii) certain personality types that want to understand how things work & roll up their sleeves to try to engineer a solution.

An earlier post by Emile seemed (at least to me) to indicate that holes in the bracket would solve the issue. I guess I misunderstood as it doesn't solve the issue. But it was still fun to do and it does lower the internal temp which is never a bad thing. Look at the HD cards for reference - they are fully perforated.

It's all good - do what you enjoy.
For me, the sound of the new network card is too difficult to live without and if I can try to help out and collaborate on a solution and it's easy to do, sign me up!

 

[Steve Williams]

It's not about "being smarter than Emile"... it's about (i) trying to help and (ii) certain personality types that want to understand how things work & roll up their sleeves to try to engineer a solution.

An earlier post by Emile seemed (at least to me) to indicate that holes in the bracket would solve the issue. I guess I misunderstood as it doesn't solve the issue. But it was still fun to do and it does lower the internal temp which is never a bad thing. Look at the HD cards for reference - they are fully perforated.

It's all good - do what you enjoy.
For me, the sound of the new network card is too difficult to live without and if I can try to help out and collaborate on a solution and it's easy to do, sign me up!

are you not able to reconnect after losing server connection,. It's very easy and only a temporary need to reconnect. As for the bracket. I did read that it was felt initially to be the culprit but I also remember after receiving the bracket and having the same problem, Emile did say that the cause is the card and not the bracket. I listen every day. My Extreme is on the top shelf where it will always stay. I have full confidence that the work Taiko is putting in as well as the money to pay all of the engineers involved that they will find a solution. I also think Emile's idea to ship only the switch to new customers and withhold the network card until a solution is found is the right thing to do. For me I have no problem paying music and reconnecting when I lose connection

 

[Zeotrope]

For sure, I'm 100% sure of that as well.

I lose connection within a few minutes unless the cover is off so it's not an option to reconnect. And every restart requires some time to stabilize the power supply again... I always prefer topless running so it's all good!

 

[cat6man]

For sure, I'm 100% sure of that as well.

I lose connection within a few minutes unless the cover is off so it's not an option to reconnect. And every restart requires some time to stabilize the power supply again... I always prefer topless running so it's all good!

A simple non-restart workaround:

Pull Ethernet cable from the switch and plug into mobo nic. With this new IP address, set up queue and music, hit play, move Ethernet cable back to switch.

 

[Zeotrope]

A simple non-restart workaround:

Pull Ethernet cable from the switch and plug into mobo nic. With this new IP address, set up queue and music, hit play, move Ethernet cable back to switch.

Thanks, nice workaround. But my Switch is not easily accessible unfortunately.
Mobo = motherboard I guess?

 

[Steve Williams]

A simple non-restart workaround:

Pull Ethernet cable from the switch and plug into mobo nic. With this new IP address, set up queue and music, hit play, move Ethernet cable back to switch.

I do that when there has been a change in IP address but lately I find that my IP address is not changing when I lose connection so for me after checking FING and seeing no change I merely double tap front button and then wait 15 seconds and tap the front button again to turn on. Then I go to XDMS settings and click "fetch" and "connect and I always reconnect. I find it interesting that users' mileage may vary as some are getting only a few minutes and some are getting a few hours or more. I always keep the top of my Extreme closed. Im quite content to wait for the solution

 

[dminches]

It is really unusual for an IP address to change on a straight reboot when there have been no other changes to the network or computer. It happens but it is rare. When you reboot to reset the card, XDMS should already have the correct IP address of the network card. Of course, if the card is pulled out or other changes have occurred you will have a new IP address. The IP address of my 2 mobo nics have not changed since the day I got the extreme.

 

[Taiko Audio]

Update:

We’re now at a 67C temperature in the heat chamber before protection is triggered while maintaining full functionality (fiber support). We should be able to squeeze it for a bit more but I cannot imagine a scenario where we reach 67C temperatures inside the Extreme.

The switches have shipped, e-mails with T&T info should go out in a few hours.

 

[Kingsrule]

An unbelievable outcome from the network card situation:

My card has worked w/o bracket and lid on for 10 days. Yesterday I fitted the new bracket, lid on, shutdown after 35 minutes. As an aside, my network card sounded better with the bracket on. So not wanting to take the lid off or remove the bracket while waiting for the solution, I tried this:



Now network card works fine with bracket mounted and screwed down and lid on.

BUT, here is the great part: my Extreme HAS NEVER sounded better. Better than what adding the switch does, better than adding the network card. Clearer, more dynamic, micro detail I have never heard before, imaging, layering...I was up until 2am this morning listening! Stunned would be the best way to describe what I'm hearing. All I did was put the cooling fan in place, (pulling air up BTW), powered by an outboard USB charger.
So what's going on? The whole Extreme is running cooler. I can only surmise that the entire Extreme running cooler is the benefit.
I would have never tried this until the over heating card came into play.
Right now this appears to be a game changer for the Extreme....

 

[dminches]

Update:

We’re now at a 67C temperature in the heat chamber before protection is triggered while maintaining full functionality (fiber support). We should be able to squeeze it for a bit more but I cannot imagine a scenario where we reach 67C temperatures inside the Extreme.

The switches have shipped, e-mails with T&T info should go out in a few hours.

What is T&T?

 

[Steve Williams]

What is T&T?

Track and Trace

 

[cat6man]

It is really unusual for an IP address to change on a straight reboot when there have been no other changes to the network or computer. It happens but it is rare. When you reboot to reset the card, XDMS should already have the correct IP address of the network card. Of course, if the card is pulled out or other changes have occurred you will have a new IP address. The IP address of my 2 mobo nics have not changed since the day I got the extreme.

I was referring to the different IP assigned to different nic, not due to a restart

 

[gereric]

An unbelievable outcome from the network card situation:

My card has worked w/o bracket and lid on for 10 days. Yesterday I fitted the new bracket, lid on, shutdown after 35 minutes. As an aside, my network card sounded better with the bracket on. So not wanting to take the lid off or remove the bracket while waiting for the solution, I tried this:

View attachment 106523

Now network card works fine with bracket mounted and screwed down and lid on.

BUT, here is the great part: my Extreme HAS NEVER sounded better. Better than what adding the switch does, better than adding the network card. Clearer, more dynamic, micro detail I have never heard before, imaging, layering...I was up until 2am this morning listening! Stunned would be the best way to describe what I'm hearing. All I did was put the cooling fan in place, (pulling air up BTW), powered by an outboard USB charger.
So what's going on? The whole Extreme is running cooler. I can only surmise that the entire Extreme running cooler is the benefit.
I would have never tried this until the over heating card came into play.
Right now this appears to be a game changer for the Extreme....

What are specifics on your fan, if someone wanted that exact fan? It looks like it’s got footers that wouldn’t rattle during operation.

 

[Kingsrule]

AC Infinity...Amazon..Yes rubber footers. Its very quiet

 

[dminches]

I was referring to the different IP assigned to different nic, not due to a restart

I was responding to Steve’s comment, not yours.

 

[oldmustang]

An unbelievable outcome from the network card situation:

My card has worked w/o bracket and lid on for 10 days. Yesterday I fitted the new bracket, lid on, shutdown after 35 minutes. As an aside, my network card sounded better with the bracket on. So not wanting to take the lid off or remove the bracket while waiting for the solution, I tried this:

View attachment 106523

Now network card works fine with bracket mounted and screwed down and lid on.

BUT, here is the great part: my Extreme HAS NEVER sounded better. Better than what adding the switch does, better than adding the network card. Clearer, more dynamic, micro detail I have never heard before, imaging, layering...I was up until 2am this morning listening! Stunned would be the best way to describe what I'm hearing. All I did was put the cooling fan in place, (pulling air up BTW), powered by an outboard USB charger.
So what's going on? The whole Extreme is running cooler. I can only surmise that the entire Extreme running cooler is the benefit.
I would have never tried this until the over heating card came into play.
Right now this appears to be a game changer for the Extreme....

Interesting result, @Kingsrule. Is your fan even the slightest bit audible at your normal listening distance?

The reason I ask is that one explanation might be the auditory phenomenon known as "neural auditory contrast enhancement" which can make as much as a 25dB increase in the apparent audibility of small signals.

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2024794118

A very low, steady-state non-correlated signal, such as white noise (in this case, postulating the "fan hiss" as the steady-state non-correlated signal) has been shown to elicit this effect when present along with the desired signal content. Test subjects have expressed this phenomenon in terms very similar to the ones you used. The desired signal seems to "pop out" in terms of perceptual ability.

There is much we are still learning about human hearing and the ear/brain interface.

Steve Z

 

[Kingsrule]

My Extreme is in the basement...I listen upstairs LOL

 

[gereric]

An unbelievable outcome from the network card situation:

My card has worked w/o bracket and lid on for 10 days. Yesterday I fitted the new bracket, lid on, shutdown after 35 minutes. As an aside, my network card sounded better with the bracket on. So not wanting to take the lid off or remove the bracket while waiting for the solution, I tried this:

View attachment 106523

Now network card works fine with bracket mounted and screwed down and lid on.

BUT, here is the great part: my Extreme HAS NEVER sounded better. Better than what adding the switch does, better than adding the network card. Clearer, more dynamic, micro detail I have never heard before, imaging, layering...I was up until 2am this morning listening! Stunned would be the best way to describe what I'm hearing. All I did was put the cooling fan in place, (pulling air up BTW), powered by an outboard USB charger.
So what's going on? The whole Extreme is running cooler. I can only surmise that the entire Extreme running cooler is the benefit.
I would have never tried this until the over heating card came into play.
Right now this appears to be a game changer for the Extreme....

What are specifics on your fan, if someone wanted that exact fan? It looks like it’s got footers that wouldn’t rattle during operation

AC Infinity...Amazon..Yes rubber footers. Its very quiet

if you have access to the specific one, 80mm or 120mm, I would appreciate it.

 

[Kingsrule]

Sorry the 120mm

Don't forget the usb charger I wouldn't plug it into the Extreme.

 

[oldmustang]

My Extreme is in the basement...I listen upstairs LOL

Well, so much for that hypothesis. Whatever the reason, congratulations on the enhancement. Please let us know if it holds up over time.

Steve Z