Taiko Audio SGM Extreme : the Crème de la Crème

[Taiko Audio]

Thank you.
It sounds the new battery you use is extreme low noise.
How many rails you plan to use in BPS ?
Will there a be a separate rail for pci ex cards ?
I am asking as every of thise devices will generate its own noise that might be passed to others .

Yes you are spot on there, what we’ve been experimenting with and the main reason we designed a “mini” BPS, is that while a BPS provides good “isolation”, it cannot prevent noise from travelling a shared ground plane. Hence we are indeed now in a multi mini BPS scenario, which is superior to a single large BPS.

 

[jelt2359]

I’ve struggled a long time the past two years with my purchase of the Robert Koda k10 preamp. With my 300b monos, they were too much of a good thing in terms of colouring the sound, but technically I could tell they were a cut above everything else I had. So I tried changing cables and footers to much more neutral components and it has certainly improved things a lot, although with the Robert Koda I’ve still preferred the benchmark ahb2 monos (yet another neutral choice) over my 300b’s to tone down the seasoning.

With the DCD in the house, I quickly found that alt1 on switch and default on router was too much alt1- too neutral and sterile on my favourite Robert Koda/ Benchmark combination. So I’d gone to default on switch and alt1 on router. Last night however on a whim I plugged in my 300b monos expecting it to be still too musical but it was the best I’d ever heard it (tuning wise) although not quite perfect yet and so out of curiosity I tried one last step, switching to alt1 switch/ default router to see what that might be like.

Turns out, this is the answer for me. This combination counters the overly musical nature of my 300b monos/ Robert Koda combination so effectively, without losing any technical performance, that I’m stunned. I’ve been looking for this answer for two years, and I think I’ve found it. It sounds perfect to my ears.

This DCD, with its tuning combinations, is really proving to be a real panacea in my system, with my multiple preamps and power amps. I don’t even want to begin to think about moving to a BPS and losing that signature adjustment flexibility any time soon!

 

[Taiko Audio]

I’ve struggled a long time the past two years with my purchase of the Robert Koda k10 preamp. With my 300b monos, they were too much of a good thing in terms of colouring the sound, but technically I could tell they were a cut above everything else I had. So I tried changing cables and footers to much more neutral components and it has certainly improved things a lot, although with the Robert Koda I’ve still preferred the benchmark ahb2 monos (yet another neutral choice) over my 300b’s to tone down the seasoning.

With the DCD in the house, I quickly found that alt1 on switch and default on router was too much alt1- too neutral and sterile on my favourite Robert Koda/ Benchmark combination. So I’d gone to default on switch and alt1 on router. Last night however on a whim I plugged in my 300b monos expecting it to be still too musical but it was the best I’d ever heard it (tuning wise) and so out of curiosity I tried one last step, switching to alt1 switch/ default router to see what that might be like.

Turns out, this is the answer for me. This combination counters the overly musical nature of my 300b monos/ Robert Koda combination so effectively, without losing any technical performance, that I’m stunned. I’ve been looking for this answer for two years, and I think I’ve found it. It sounds perfect to my ears.

This DCD, with its tuning combinations, is really proving to be a real panacea in my system, with my multiple preamps and power amps. I don’t even want to begin to think about moving to a BPS and losing that signature adjustment flexibility any time soon!

This would indeed be a very good reason to shy away from replacing your LPS+DCD for a BPS. Consider a BPS as a cleaner version of the “default” filter.

I’m personally very fond of the DCD, as great as the switch and router are, this much simpler device provides a very valuable way to tune your sound by adjusting the balance of noise in your system.

 

[jelt2359]

This would indeed be a very good reason to shy away from replacing your LPS+DCD for a BPS. Consider a BPS as a cleaner version of the “default” filter.

I’m personally very fond of the DCD, as great as the switch and router are, this much simpler device provides a very valuable way to tune your sound by adjusting the balance of noise in your system.

From a technical perspective would it be fair to say Alt2 filters the most and Alt1 the least?

Or do they start filtering at different frequencies (Alt1 higher cut off and Alt2 lower?)

 

[QuantumWave]

Who will get the first post on the millenium page? (Trying out my luck here )

 

[Taiko Audio]

From a technical perspective would it be fair to say Alt2 filters the most and Alt1 the least?

Or do they start filtering at different frequencies (Alt1 higher cut off and Alt2 lower?)

Well alt1 is a bit more effective high up while alt2 is less effective there but starts a bit lower.

 

[Taiko Audio]

Who will get the first post on the millenium page? (Trying out my luck here )

There’s no quantum algorithm that will predict exactly when this moment will occur?

 

[jelt2359]

Well alt1 is a bit more effective high up while alt2 is less effective there but starts a bit lower.

Would be interesting and helpful to get a chart to see at what freq the filtering starts and how much relative filtering there is- although I understand if this is not available.

Also is it really the case that the BPS as an input sounds exactly the same with default, alt1, alt2 and unfiltered as the outputs? That is really interesting- as I imagine filtering these specific frequencies is not the only thing the DCD does (there's also sound signatures...)

 

[QuantumWave]

There’s no quantum algorithm that will predict exactly when this moment will occur?

The quantum algorithm may predict “in all likelihood sooner than later” , which as most quantum things go not untrue but not really clear how it may be helpful

 

[Taiko Audio]

Would be interesting and helpful to get a chart to see at what freq the filtering starts and how much relative filtering there is- although I understand if this is not available.

Also is it really the case that the BPS as an input sounds exactly the same with default, alt1, alt2 and unfiltered as the outputs? That is really interesting- as I imagine filtering these specific frequencies is not the only thing the DCD does (there's also sound signatures...)

Although we could generate that I’m inclined to not completely “spill our beans” online

With (our) BPS there’s zero advantage to these filters, in fact they would slightly reduce performance, unfiltered would come out on top for everybody.

 

[jelt2359]

Thanks again! I'm loving this flexibility, surprised that I would enjoy it so much, it was a "+1" to the purchase of the router almost

 

[joet]

This is an interesting phenomenon we have discussed before in this thread. It’s also something which is hard to quantify as it’s unmeasurable by conventional means, meaning perhaps we just don’t know what to measure, in high-end audio this is often referred to as a quantum effect, probably because nobody, or at the very least, very few, really fully understands quantum mechanics. You can count me as one who doesn’t understands the mechanics involved, but I’m also not sure this actually has anything to with that either. Bottom line, we don’t really understand what this is, but we know it happens, and we know how to deal with it / address it.

This is not something which has anything to do with the switch itself, other then it having a very large highly conductive mass with its ~15 kilograms of pure copper.

The Extreme itself having a significant conductive mass, including solid copper heatsinks, has a good affinity for this phenomenon as well.

There are large numbers and types of grounding tweaks working on this effect and we used to manufacture one of those in our early years, called the “Setchi”.

What it is, or rather how it’s best described, is some kind of charge buildup, over time it can start affecting sound quality. What it is exactly we don’t know. We do know it accumulates in large conductive masses. There are grounding tweaks creating a high affinity for this, if you use silver for example, it’s more conductive then copper, and this “charge” “likes” to move there. Then there are mechanics to dissipate this charge, batteries for example. Connecting a battery negative pole to a highly conductive mass appears to be able to dissipate this energy. There are a large number of manufacturers using all types of techniques to address this. Electrostatic, electromagnetic, piezoelectric, electronic circuitry and/or “quantum technology” seemingly addressing this.

Powercycling components with large conductive masses once in a while is good practice, but if you have one of those “mysterious” grounding systems this can upset equilibrium aswell.

The good news is that batteries seem to be able to have the highest affinity for this “charge”, can drain it from your system and convert it(?) to useable power or something, and we’re about to introduce those into our products!

I had this phenomenon before using the Taiko switch, and, for that matter, more severely when I used an Antipodes CX + EX prior to the Extreme. Antipodes paid no attention to me. It shows the difference between Emile's processes and his competition. I potentially blamed it on perhape a Roon memory leak, with the reboot trashing stray objects. But apparently it happens without Roon.

There’s no quantum algorithm that will predict exactly when this moment will occur?

We only know either where and when it occurs, not both.

 

[Kris]

This would indeed be a very good reason to shy away from replacing your LPS+DCD for a BPS. Consider a BPS as a cleaner version of the “default” filter.

I’m personally very fond of the DCD, as great as the switch and router are, this much simpler device provides a very valuable way to tune your sound by adjusting the balance of noise in your system.

Just a technical question with DCD Filters.
Are you filtering + ?
or both+ and ground wire exiting from DCD ?

 

[Kris]

Yes you are spot on there, what we’ve been experimenting with and the main reason we designed a “mini” BPS, is that while a BPS provides good “isolation”, it cannot prevent noise from travelling a shared ground plane. Hence we are indeed now in a multi mini BPS scenario, which is superior to a single large BPS.

This is an Ultimate solution !
Is each of the mini BPS having just one common ground ?
How many mini BPS can fit inside Extreme ?
What would be the maximum number of mini BPSes that could be connected to extreme and its periferals?

 

[Kris]

Although we could generate that I’m inclined to not completely “spill our beans” online

With (our) BPS there’s zero advantage to these filters, in fact they would slightly reduce performance, unfiltered would come out on top for everybody.

This is important to keep in mind.
And that you were so kind to accept DCD returns if someone goes for BPS.
Or to use DCD elswere ( modem , home router)

I love the concept od multiple mini BPS as you could start with just one and buy more later
if the money are a point of concern.

 

[dminches]

@Taiko Audio , it would be very helpful for the XDMS alpha testers if you could provide us with instructions on port forwarding to the new router. @EuroDriver is frequently remoting into our laptops and Extremes during this testing phase.

Thanks.

 

[Taiko Audio]

I had this phenomenon before using the Taiko switch, and, for that matter, more severely when I used an Antipodes CX + EX prior to the Extreme. Antipodes paid no attention to me. It shows the difference between Emile's processes and his competition. I potentially blamed it on perhape a Roon memory leak, with the reboot trashing stray objects. But apparently it happens without Roon.

We only know either where and when it occurs, not both.

Roon memory leaks issues occur from time to time over different builds. Without actually knowing my guess is they do fix them, but they sometimes reappear in later builds, I don’t know if it’s the same issue reappearing or caused by something else. So that’s actually also a “thing” which can impact SQ and fixed with a reboot once in a while.

 

[Taiko Audio]

Just a technical question with DCD Filters.
Are you filtering + ?
or both+ and ground wire exiting from DCD ?

Both.

 

[Taiko Audio]

This is an Ultimate solution !
Is each of the mini BPS having just one common ground ?
How many mini BPS can fit inside Extreme ?
What would be the maximum number of mini BPSes that could be connected to extreme and its periferals?

We will disclose details soon.

 

[Taiko Audio]

@Taiko Audio , it would be very helpful for the XDMS alpha testers if you could provide us with instructions on port forwarding to the new router. @EuroDriver is frequently remoting into our laptops and Extremes during this testing phase.

Thanks.

I’ve placed it on the to-do list!