Taiko Audio XDMS - Extreme Direct Music Server Software

[Zeotrope]

Well written!
I don’t think bit perfection has been solved if there is no error checking, and there isn’t.
Another good point is that digital is sent as analog along a cable. There is no such thing as sending a “1” or “0” down a wire, it’s sent as an analog waveform.

 

[kennyb123]

I don’t think bit perfection has been solved if there is no error checking, and there isn’t.

A previous DAC that I owned - I believe it was a Weiss Minerva - allowed one to test for bit perfection. Play a file they provided and if it the playback chain was bit perfect an LED would light. I could get it to light even when using a cheap Mac and iTunes to play those tracks.

Bit perfection has been solved. If it wasn't, the letters I'm typing wouldn't be posted this site as I typed them, and those reading them wouldn't see them as I intended them to be seen.

There is no such thing as sending a “1” or “0” down a wire, it’s sent as an analog waveform.

Exactly. Noise riding along impacts when the detection thresholds are crossed. I just posted this where I bloviate a bit more about this.

 

[Zeotrope]

A previous DAC that I owned - I believe it was a Weiss Minerva - allowed one to test for bit perfection. Play a file they provided and if it the playback chain was bit perfect an LED would light. I could get it to light even when using a cheap Mac and iTunes to play those tracks.

Bit perfection has been solved. If it wasn't, the letters I'm typing wouldn't be posted this site as I typed them, and those reading them wouldn't see them as I intended them to be seen.


Exactly. Noise riding along impacts when the detection thresholds are crossed. I just posted this where I bloviate a bit more about this.

If you read the previous post before yours: checksum code to validate for bit perfection is not used when streaming. Your Weiss DAC likely did that only temporarily, as a check, as you wrote; but this was not active all the time. I think the act of checking for bit perfection degrades the sound, which is why it’s not used.
Typing this is different: bit perfection is used normally in digital communication.

 

[kennyb123]

Your Weiss DAC likely did that only temporarily, as a check, as you wrote; but this was not active all the time. I think the act of checking for bit perfection degrades the sound, which is why it’s not used.

Like I said, what matters is that the bit arrives at exactly the right time. Tough to make a correction without harming the time the bit arrives.

You had asked why a streamer can make a difference. I don't think the answer can be found in a better streamer being able to achieve better bit perfection. I think it's found in those other areas that I mentioned. That's all I was trying to say. That a DAC manufacturer could confidently provide a "bit perfect test" suggest that there really isn't a high bar to achieve bit perfection.

Ironically, I almost never send bit perfect music to my DAC as I upscale everything. And yet the server still matters tremendously.

 

[Zeotrope]

Like I said, what matters is that the bit arrives at exactly the right time. Tough to make a correction without harming the time the bit arrives.

You had asked why a streamer can make a difference. I don't think the answer can be found in a better streamer being able to achieve better bit perfection. I think it's found in those other areas that I mentioned. That's all I was trying to say. That a DAC manufacturer could confidently provide a "bit perfect test" suggest that there really isn't a high bar to achieve bit perfection.

Ironically, I almost never send bit perfect music to my DAC as I upscale everything. And yet the server still matters tremendously.

I don’t think timing varies when streaming. I believe timing is an issue during conversion to analog.
Why would a streamer alter timing? You are reading 1s and 0s and sending them on to the DAC. What comes in is what goes out, unless processor loads change significantly.
Bit perfection - or the lack thereof - is what must be creating a big difference in sound quality, along with noise and jitter.
Just my 2c - I obviously am not sure, which is why I am asking.
I would like to ask those who reply to state if you are making an educated guess or if you know for sure. It will help as there’s a big difference!

 

[kennyb123]

I don’t think timing varies when streaming. I believe timing is an issue during conversion to analog.
Why would a streamer alter timing,

I didn’t say that the streamer alters timing. I said that noise can do that because it skew the detection of exactly when the thresholds representing one and zero are crossed. You are right that this is an issue during the conversion to analog. But it’s the server that delivers the signal to the DAC. The lower the noise, the higher the fidelity of the digital conversion. That’s the simple answer to give to that friend. There’s of course much more to it else there would be no advantage to what Taiko announced today. But it seems all their recent products treat noise as enemy number one.

 

[Zeotrope]

Good answer, thanks!
Also interesting is what happens during the conversion from A to D when the music is recorded in the first place. I have said it before: this is the biggest area of improvement in digital, now that the playback side has been dramatically improved. I spoke to a well regarded head of a music label and he agreed: what’s holding digital back (vs analog) is now on the recording side, not the playback.

 

[cmarin]

Khyle Levitt installed NSM yesterday. D-Day.

I had a chance for an extended listening session close to 36 hours ater installation.

With the amps fully warmed up, I was listening with my eyes closed to Mozart’s Requiem from the Amadeus soundtrack - a wonderful piece I’ve heard hundreds of times though not my favorite recording, and it immediately struck me:

I could for the first time while listening to this piece, see in my mind’s eye the fully fleshed out faces of the performers - not eviscerated voices or fuzzy images - but solid visualized images accompanied by an effortless emotional engagement and a physically visceral experience.

Bravo Taiko team!! Thank you for an amazing listening experience!

 

[QuantumWave]

A quick question for XDMS-NSM: is the remote exclusively Tablet (iOs/Android), or is NSM also currently (or in future) compatible via MacOs ?

 

[Taiko Audio]

A quick question for XDMS-NSM: is the remote exclusively Tablet (iOs/Android), or is NSM also currently (or in future) compatible via MacOs ?

Next to IOS/Android apps there are both Windows and MacOS desktop apps available.

 

[Famester]

Just received my new XDM music system for an early Christmas.
This is absolutely magnificent!
XDM is a gamechanger.
The guys at Taiko are geniuses.
Couldn't be happier.

 

[seatrope]

Khyle Levitt installed NSM yesterday. D-Day.

I had a chance for an extended listening session close to 36 hours ater installation.

With the amps fully warmed up, I was listening with my eyes closed to Mozart’s Requiem from the Amadeus soundtrack - a wonderful piece I’ve heard hundreds of times though not my favorite recording, and it immediately struck me:

I could for the first time while listening to this piece, see in my mind’s eye the fully fleshed out faces of the performers - not eviscerated voices or fuzzy images - but solid visualized images accompanied by an effortless emotional engagement and a physically visceral experience.

Bravo Taiko team!! Thank you for an amazing listening experience!

Next frontier, visualization of the moles on the faces of the performers!

Just kidding. That sounds amazing.

 

[cat6man]

NSM is hypnotic. i got up for breakfast, made an espresso, put on my headphones (my wife
is still working from home) and it's lunchtime, time to get out of my PJs.

 

[Steve Williams]

NSM is hypnotic. i got up for breakfast, made an espresso, put on my headphones (my wife
is still working from home) and it's lunchtime, time to get out of my PJs.

But it is embarrassing that my wife has to wash all my soiled underwear . It is truly impossible to say "one more song"and get up from my listening chair

 

[Tesuka]

NSM is divine

 

[oldmustang]

Oh, I totally agree. I heard the effects of NSM tonight for the first time and my reaction was the same as the first time I played music with my new Extreme almost four years ago. A few seconds of silence, and I burst out laughing, saying out loud, "You've got to be sh*&^^g me!"

I'm still wrapping my poor brain around how to describe the NSM sound or experience and I'm not quite sure yet how to do it justice. This is big -- like major expensive component upgrade big. Only I've upgraded an expensive component before and not gotten nearly this level of musical enjoyment as a result.

Tomorrow maybe I'll be able to paint a word picture of NSM's qualities. But I'm sure of the quantity -- its big.

Steve Z

 

[John T]

NSM is in the House. Still early, but first impression is Sweet Midrange, natural tonality. Male/Female vocalists are in the room. My soundstage sounds wider, more immersive. I'm not lacking in any Bass delivery so that doesn't jump out as others have shared. Chris Botti's trumpet is mesmerizing. WTF! This is some cool shit...I should have mentioned a kind Thank You to Khyle! He had me up in a jiffy! I now hear what others I think have shared in regards to the Bass. It has more distinction, the stick hitting the skin, a crispness, more precise...

 

[Steve Williams]

NSM is in the House. Still early, but first impression is Sweet Midrange, natural tonality. Male/Female vocalists are in the room. My soundstage sounds wider, more immersive. I'm not lacking in any Bass delivery so that doesn't jump out as others have shared. Chris Botti's trumpet is mesmerizing. WTF! This is some cool shit...I should have mentioned a kind Thank You to Khyle! He had me up in a jiffy! I now hear what others I think have shared in regards to the Bass. It has more distinction, the stick hitting the skin, a crispness, more precise...

welcome to the club John. It'll take you a few listening sessions and a few clean pairs of underwear to wrap your head around how huge an upgrade NSM is

 

[John T]

I'm really enjoying it Steve. I don't know if it was you or @nenon who commented about the commonly used term "veil being lifted" but that's what it sounds like...

 

[Steve Williams]

I'm really enjoying it Steve. I don't know if it was you or @nenon about the commonly used term "veil being lifted" but that's what it sounds like...

It might have been both of us but I mentioned it in my initial post for NSM.....less veiled and less grainy with NSM than with Roon