Sound Galleries SGM 2015

asiufy · Nov 22, 2016

Steve,

AFAIK, only one version, at $16000.
The software inside can be configured in a number of ways, to properly match the DAC it's attached to.

Steve Williams · Nov 22, 2016

Thanks Alex

Steve Williams · Nov 22, 2016

in what way is it configured to match the DAC it's attached to

Mike Lavigne · Nov 22, 2016

Steve Williams said:
Are there different versions of the SGM? What is the MSRP of the unit

Steve, I'm no expert.

my understanding is that it's MSRP for the base unit is $16k. it comes with a 1 terabyte SSD and you can go up to a 4 terabyte SSD for a higher price.

here is a link.....

http://soundgalleries.com/product/sgm-2015/

Steve Williams · Nov 22, 2016

Thanks Mike

I was interested after seeing Alex comments re the Aurender W20 which has been on my short list but the SGM sounds better

Mike Lavigne · Nov 22, 2016

Steve Williams said:
in what way is it configured to match the DAC it's attached to

it needs drivers appropriate to the dac. every server needs that. and there are settings for ideal input resolution based on the dac. optimal is dsd512; since the magic is much focused on MQ Player optimization which up-samples everything to the highest dsd resolution. in my case I'm using dsd256. beyond that there are settings that are more system and taste related in terms of tonal balance and such. in my case those are all on the full tilt boggie hi resolution settings.

microstrip · Nov 22, 2016

Mike Lavigne said:
it needs drivers appropriate to the dac. every server needs that. and there are settings for ideal input resolution based on the dac. optimal is dsd512. in my case I'm using dsd256. beyond that there are settings that are more system and taste related in terms of tonal balance and such. in my case those are all on the full tilt boggie hi resolution settings.

Mike,
The SDD disk in the SGM2015 is used to store the music files or just the server software? As far as I remember your storage device is a NAS, did you need to transfer your files to the server?

Mike Lavigne · Nov 22, 2016

Steve Williams said:
Thanks Mike

I was interested after seeing Alex comments re the Aurender W20 which has been on my short list but the SGM sounds better

the Aurender approach is 'bit-perfect'; making sure the server outputs exactly the correct bits with the best possible low noise and smallest jitter.

the SMG optimizes bits using HQ Player......they are up-sampled and come out different. SMG can also do 'bit-perfect'. but the Aurender does not have HQ Player.

Steve Williams · Nov 22, 2016

Understood

Mike you're starting to sound like a former member here re HQ Player

Mike Lavigne · Nov 22, 2016

microstrip said:
Mike,
The SDD disk in the SGM2015 is used to store the music files or just the server software? As far as I remember your storage device is a NAS, did you need to transfer your files to the server?

both ways are choices. the unit I have right now has a 4 terabyte SSD with Ed's music on it. I'm not listening to that; I'm only listening to my connected NAS with about 15 terabytes of music.

up till now Ed had only seen systems with 25k tracks on it; he was amused mine had 125k tracks....so it took 5 hours to index.

Mike Lavigne · Nov 22, 2016

Steve Williams said:
Understood

Mike you're starting to sound like a former member here re HQ Player

at this point I've made no conclusions......other than that the SMG sounds very, very, good. what is causing what is not certain at this time. Ed is allowing me to spend more time so that is what I'm doing.

Steve Williams · Nov 22, 2016

Mike or Alex

Does it only run on Windows based computer or can you use a MAC

asiufy · Nov 22, 2016

Steve Williams said:
in what way is it configured to match the DAC it's attached to

Some DACs "like" upsampling, and some others don't. The server is fully configurable to allow for as much upsampling as you (and your DAC) like, from nothing all the way to DXD/DSD512!

As Mike said, there are also a myriad of filter options, which alter the tonal balance slightly, allowing further fine tuning.

It also has a full Roon server inside, so you don't need that configured elsewhere. All you need is a NAS configured with file sharing. Point the SGM's Roon install to your NAS, and that's all!

As for the Aurender, I haven't compared it against the W20, but we did compare against our humble N100H ($2600) unit, and the SGM was in a whole different (superior!) league.

Mike Lavigne · Nov 22, 2016

Steve Williams said:
Mike or Alex

Does it only run on Windows based computer or can you use a MAC

my understanding is that the SMG uses a stripped down version of Windows 10; not sure it cares what type of NAS/laptop stores the music files. now I'm getting out of my depth.

microstrip · Nov 22, 2016

Mike Lavigne said:
both ways are choices. the unit I have right now has a 4 terabyte SSD with Ed's music on it. I'm not listening to that; I'm only listening to my connected NAS with about 15 terabytes of music.

up till now Ed had only seen systems with 25k tracks on it; he was amused mine had 125k tracks....so it took 5 hours to index.

Thanks - but what is considered the best sounding way of using it?

asiufy · Nov 22, 2016

Hahaha yeah we didn't even bother connecting the SGM to our NAS (200k tracks and counting!), as it would take all the available time we had

AFAIK, there shouldn't be a difference whether playing from a NAS or from internal storage. And of course, Tidal (through Roon) sounds pretty good as well!

Mike Lavigne · Nov 22, 2016

microstrip said:
Thanks - but what is considered the best sounding way of using it?

that depends on how optimized your NAS is. the internal SSD is optimal, but the NAS can be equal when optimized.....according to my understanding with Ed.

EuroDriver · Nov 22, 2016

microstrip said:
Thanks - but what is considered the best sounding way of using it?

Hi microstrip,

The best sounding way to configure the SGM's software is very dependent on the DAC's format and sampling frequency sweet spot, and the playback system's sonic character.

We just this last week had some working experience with the Vivaldi 2.0 and found it's sweet spot. The sonic results were pretty stunning once we figured out what it was.

The final sonic result is so system adjustment dependent, The only way to find out if the SGM is right for a skeptical audiophile, is a home demo.

MadFloyd · Nov 22, 2016

EuroDriver said:
Hi microstrip,

The best sounding way to configure the SGM's software is very dependent on the DAC's format and sampling frequency sweet spot, and the playback system's sonic character.

We just this last week had some working experience with the Vivaldi 2.0 and found it's sweet spot. The sonic results were pretty stunning once we figured out what it was.

The final sonic result is so system adjustment dependent, The only way to find out if the SGM is right for a skeptical audiophile, is a home demo.

What was the sweet spot for the Vivaldi?

EuroDriver · Nov 22, 2016

Mike Lavigne said:
that depends on how optimized your NAS is. the internal SSD is optimal, but the NAS can be equal when optimized.....according to my understanding with Ed.

Listening to Mike's vinyl playback, the transparency of his system takes first place in my record book. With Mike's system the listener hears everything that's going on the digital side and analog side. The NAS and the network infrastructure are all important and leave their sonic signature on a transparent system. We have installations in Europe where the sonics of Tidal streaming are on par with NAS and internal SSD.

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