Call to TAIKO AUDIO Emile et Al: Network Setup and Optimization

[musicfirst1]

Kudos to Emile, Edward and Christian on the Remarkable EXTREME server!!.
In my 50+ years as a music lover and 40+ years as an audiophile, I have never seen a product generate so much interest! With billions served and a pinned thread you guys are McDonald's only rival!.

Seriously though, I have followed the Main Taiko Thread here for a long time now, and was hoping that Emile might be able to take the time to distill and summarize his findings on the big thread here on this new one I started on providing optimal network setups for streaming for the EXTREME and servers in general.

Perhaps even broken down into budget, best value, and Cost No Object setups?

Thanks

Kerry

 

[Steve Williams]

Kudos to Emile, Eewarf and Christian on the Remarkable EXTREME server!!.
In my 50+ years as a music lover and 40+ years as an audiophile, I have never seen a product generate so much interest! With billions served you guys are McDonald's only rival!.

Seriously though, I have followed the Main Taiko Thread here for a long time now, and was hoping that Emile might be able to take the time to distill and summarize his findings on the big thread here on this new one I started providing optimal network setups for streaming for the EXTREME and servers in general.

Perhaps even broken down into budget, best value, and Cost No Object setups?

Thanks

Kerry

For my preference I like one thread that is a repository for all the information. I agree with your sentiment but having parallel threads to me at least makes no sense. Just my thoughts Others may disagree

 

[musicfirst1]

Too much ore to mine

For my preference I like one thread that is a repository for all the information. I agree with your sentiment but having parallel threads to me at least makes no sense. Just my thoughts Others may disagree

While I understand your sentiment Steve, with over 10,000 posts on the original EXTREME thread, there is simply far far too much ore to mine for mere mortals there.

 

[Steve Williams]

Too much ore to mine

While I understand your sentiment Steve, with over 10,000 posts on the original EXTREME thread, there is simply far far too much ore to mine for mere mortals there.

I completely understand. It’s just my knee jerk. Perhaps summarizing by a member of Taiko could be done in the long Extreme thread otherwise your idea is fine. It’s a lot to summarize

 

[Blackmorec]

I suspect that the really valuable information….the ‘Gold’ in the mine so to speak ie. the information that you’re really after is going to mainly constitute Taiko proprietary IP.

I have spent the past 3 years following the Taiko thread and optimizing my own (non-Taiko) network and I see an ever increasing divergence between the two. Taiko is all about feeding its Extreme with an average network stream then using the Extreme’s power (CPUs and Power Supply) SW music player and ‘extreme’ server optimization to extract the music from the data stream + noise floor. Most if not all other servers IME perform better when they are fed a highly optimized network stream….highly optimized being ultra low-noise, low impedance power, super accurate clocking, obsessive vibration control and super neutral, super well-screened cabling…with audio-only network traffic reduced to the minimum.
Again in my experience, getting the absolute best from a network involves spending at least the same or more than the price of an Extreme, so while the Extreme is very expensive, it does IMO represent excellent value if ultimate SQ is the goal. Based on my own network experience and what I‘ve read about the Extreme I believe that a new SoTA will be achieved when the Extreme is connected to a Taiko developed router, switch and associated power supplies. When the knowledge gained in developing the Extreme and its SW is applied to the balance of the network I suspect the improvements will be jaw-dropping…the already amazing SQ not withstanding. My guess is that the SQ will tend to defy description using hi-fi terminology in the same way live music is rather difficult to describe using such terms.

In terms of optimizing sound quality over a non-Taiko network, I have found that when the network is designed to constantly clean and refine the data stream ie. When every stage of the network is an improvement over the previous stage in terms of power supplies (noise, impedance), timing (jitter), vibration control, cable losses, cable screening, EMI production/isolation and network traffic isolation you achieve a compounding of improvements that can achieve an outstandingly pure, transparent, full bodied and dynamic music rendition whose main characteristic is to sound more and more like live music

 

[nonesup]

Well, not all of us agree that it is preferable to go directly from the Router to the Extreme instead of going through a high quality switch, nor that a generic cat6 cable sounds better than a good shielded cable, at least with the current ethernet input of the Extreme. With the next new ethernet card, who knows.

 

[matthias]

Seriously though, I have followed the Main Taiko Thread here for a long time now, and was hoping that Emile might be able to take the time to distill and summarize his findings on the big thread here on this new one I started on providing optimal network setups for streaming for the EXTREME and servers in general.

I followed the Main Taiko Thread from the beginning and IMHO Emile did always a great job to summarize his findings on the big thread. With the help of the Search function it never has been difficult to find what I was looking for.
At the end of this year there might be only one advice left for network optimization with the Extreme:
Connect Taiko router, Taiko switch and Taiko network card in the Extreme and you are done.......
So IMHO it does not make sense to start this new thread.

Matt