Taiko Audio SGM Extreme : the Crème de la Crème

[Taiko Audio]

At the risk of replying to a long-solved issue (I'm going through this entire thread to catch up), here are my 2 cents anyway, hoping my response can still help others. The CH Precision C1's streaming module works with UPnP/DLNA or Roon RAAT. While the Roon functionality should work with the Extreme, it won't yield the very best sound from it. This is no fault of the C1's streaming module (it's actually great) but because the Extreme's USB output section is so very well-implemented. In addition, the Extreme is found by many to sound better when using the Taiko-specific TAS software than when using Roon. The C1 does also allow AES/EBU and S/PDIF connections but as I understand it, the cards that are available for this are not up to the Taiko USB card's standard. Lastly, the C1 also has a proprietary implementation of I2S using a non-standard connector but I doubt that this input could interface with anything except CH components.

AFAIK all our CH customers have moved to using USB.

 

[Steve Williams]

The Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak...... Mark 14:38
I just ordered an Extreme

"May the force be with you" ................Star Wars Episode 4

 

[seeteeyou]

I'm not aware of any direct comparisons between the Extreme and the Wadax Reference server.

I guess that one of the Extreme owners will get that opportunity at some point, we'll see what Angel and Javier Guadalajara are able to accomplish

https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/wadax-reference-server.31859/page-3#post-768494

While waiting to listen to the Wadax Reference I can't stop thinking how great would would be getting a few 15" tapes recorded directly from its output in a Studer or Ampex top machine with some of my favorite digital recordings.

Granted their matching flagship DAC model is "only" good for 8FS, though the magic of PGGB seemed to work just fine even with an entry level DAC

https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/...ew-of-math-and-magic/page/41/#comment-1174900

So puzzling over two things now that I have an SRC DX feeding a Chord Mojo at 3xx/24

1) similar to the Denafrips Iris, a PGGB up-sampled file at 7xx sounds better than a 3xx/24 PGGB file even though both are feed to the Mojo at 3xx/24. Don't know how to explain this?
The 3xx file does sound better than without the SRC-DX, but 7xx/24 down sampled is still better

2) using the SRC-DX with Mojo improves timbre for native rate files so much so that it can be a trade off listening to some up-sampled less than perfect recordings,
helps bring the mid-range closer to what an Ares II provided. Again puzzled, thought the WTA filter for Chord affected all rates below 7xx regardless of input?

 

[Uwiik]

Is there a way to play Apple Music on Taiko? I just noticed that Apple Music can be set to stream at Hi-Res/Lossless format.

 

[EuroDriver]

Is there a way to play Apple Music on Taiko? I just noticed that Apple Music can be set to stream at Hi-Res/Lossless format.

For 3rd party software to access and download tracks from Apple Music, 3rd party applications would need to interact with Apple Music in accordance with the Apple Music API.

Apple has not and probably will not publish the API for Apple Music. So TAS, XDMS and most other Music Server software are unable to communicate with the Apple Music Servers.

It might be possible to install iTunes on the Extreme, but this is something we would not recommend or support

 

[cat6man]

First of all, happy new year everyone!

Today I asked my wife what she wanted to hear and she requested a Mendelssohn string symphony.
Since we don't have that on the local drive, I went to Qobuz, and that's where things got strange.

I searched on Felix Mendelssohn, clicked on albums, and saw about a dozen, but no string symphonies. I searched on Mendelssohn and got a different set of album responses, but again no string symphonies. Finally I searched Mendelssohn String Symphonies and got responses that included what we were looking for.

So my first question is, does this make sense or am I doing something wrong.

Second, is there a way for the new Taiko xdms to improve the user experience?

 

[oldmustang]

First of all, happy new year everyone!

Today I asked my wife what she wanted to hear and she requested a Mendelssohn string symphony.
Since we don't have that on the local drive, I went to Qobuz, and that's where things got strange.

I searched on Felix Mendelssohn, clicked on albums, and saw about a dozen, but no string symphonies. I searched on Mendelssohn and got a different set of album responses, but again no string symphonies. Finally I searched Mendelssohn String Symphonies and got responses that included what we were looking for.

So my first question is, does this make sense or am I doing something wrong.

Second, is there a way for the new Taiko xdms to improve the user experience?

If the problem is in the LMS search algorithm or what it is sending to the streaming service, then there is definitely room for improvement.

If however the problem is the API or inconsistent or inaccurate tagging of tracks and albums by the streaming service, then not so much.

Roon users are very familiar with Roon's very inconsistent and incomplete search results, even when searching on content resident in storage on their own device or LAN. It's gotten better over various releases but it still isn't 100% yet.

I'm with you -- a really good search function will be extremely nice to have in XDMS.

Happy New Year to all!

Steve Z

 

[Stereophonic]

Third album shown on Tidal by Roon.

 

[heebrog]

When searching Qobuz, I often use the Qobuz app on my laptop/iPad and add it to favourites then refresh TAS/Roon where it magically appears.

 

[EuroDriver]

First of all, happy new year everyone!

Today I asked my wife what she wanted to hear and she requested a Mendelssohn string symphony.
Since we don't have that on the local drive, I went to Qobuz, and that's where things got strange.

I searched on Felix Mendelssohn, clicked on albums, and saw about a dozen, but no string symphonies. I searched on Mendelssohn and got a different set of album responses, but again no string symphonies. Finally I searched Mendelssohn String Symphonies and got responses that included what we were looking for.

So my first question is, does this make sense or am I doing something wrong.

Second, is there a way for the new Taiko xdms to improve the user experience?

A Happy New Year to Extremenauts everywhere.

Looking down the road there are great things coming in 2022.

On the hardware side, I will let Emile lift the curtain just a bit as he sees fit

On the software side we have made some significant milestones and onboarded additional talent

- During extensive testing on Wednesday both in Oldenzaal and in one of the best sounding systems in the Netherlands, XDMS showed a clean pair of heels to TAS. For me the the most significant uplift was harmonic color

- On the UI/UX for XDMS we have onboarded a European UI/UX team who have a CV of beautiful work in both Automotive, Smartphones and Tablets. Wilson is really stoked up quote, "Not only is XDMS going to be the Best Sounding, but the most visually appealing".

Rome does not get built in a day, but over the coming months and years there is a clear evolutionary path. We were able to get this team to onboard in no small part because of you, the Extreme Owners group and your level of enthusiasm for the Extreme.

With search, we are only limited by our imagination

However, the first thing is to get XDMS out the door

 

[Blackmorec]

A Happy New Year to Extremenauts everywhere.

Looking down the road there are great things coming in 2022.

On the hardware side, I will let Emile lift the curtain just a bit as he sees fit

On the software side we have made some significant milestones and onboarded additional talent

- During extensive testing on Wednesday both in Oldenzaal and in one of the best sounding systems in the Netherlands, XDMS showed a clean pair of heels to TAS. For me the the most significant uplift was harmonic color

- On the UI/UX for XDMS we have onboarded a European UI/UX team who have a CV of beautiful work in both Automotive, Smartphones and Tablets. Wilson is really stoked up quote, "Not only is XDMS going to be the Best Sounding, but the most visually appealing".

Rome does not get built in a day, but over the coming months and years there is a clear evolutionary path. We were able to get this team to onboard in no small part because of you, the Extreme Owners group and your level of enthusiasm for the Extreme.

With search, we are only limited by our imagination

However, the first thing is to get XDMS out the door

Hi Eurodriver,
Are there any plans to work on a good process for CD ripping that takes into account both sound and meta-data quality? I have compared files ripped on a standard PC drive using dBpoweramp to files ripped on a vibration isolated Teac drive powered by an ultra-low noise LPS and alternate SW and the latter were significantly better, to the point I actually scrapped all my PC rips where I had the actual CD available to re-rip.
Has anyone ever evaluated different ripping techniques using an Extreme for replay? I would be curious if similar differences were apparent.

 

[EuroDriver]

Hi Eurodriver,
Are there any plans to work on a good process for CD ripping that takes into account both sound and meta-data quality? I have compared files ripped on a standard PC drive using dBpoweramp to files ripped on a vibration isolated Teac drive powered by an ultra-low noise LPS and alternate SW and the latter were significantly better, to the point I actually scrapped all my PC rips where I had the actual CD available to re-rip.
Has anyone ever evaluated different ripping techniques using an Extreme for replay? I would be curious if similar differences are apparent.

The good news is that the processing algorithms used in TAS and XDMS are able to very significantly reduce rip quality differences and streaming file playback quality. This was a breakthrough we achieved in the latter part of 2020

Strange things can happen in software, an early pioneer in this field has been the author of Bughead Emperor. The things that are coded into TAS and XDMS are grounded in the ways PC's electrically function.

Extreme Owners can confidently rip on a decent PC or MAC using dBPoweramp or EAC and then get consistently great sonic results when playing back on the Extreme using TAS or XDMS

 

[Blackmorec]

The good news is that the processing algorithms used in TAS and XDMS are able to very significantly reduce rip quality differences and streaming file playback quality. This was a breakthrough we achieved in the latter part of 2020

Great! I had wondered if the immunity to network noise would extend to rip quality, While im not an Extreme user at this stage, I‘m delighted to see what we thought were baked-in boundaries and limits are actually surmountable with improved processing. This is an excellent trend

 

[QuantumWave]

A happy new year to Ed, Emille and Wilson, and the rest of the Taiko team. I just wanted to thank you for the hard work and enthousiasm, and support that you provided throughout. Looking forward to the upcoming breakthroughs! On a personal note I remain interested in unveiling the underlying fundamentals at play, as I keep scratching my head Luckily you don’t need the understand injection to drive a Ferrari

 

[EuroDriver]

A happy new year to Ed, Emille and Wilson, and the rest of the Taiko team. I just wanted to thank you for the hard work and enthousiasm, and support that you provided throughout. Looking forward to the upcoming breakthroughs! On a personal note I remain interested in unveiling the underlying fundamentals at play, as I keep scratching my head Luckily you don’t need the understand injection to drive a Ferrari

Thank you for your insights in 2021, for sure you will have more insights for us in 2022

 

[K3RMIT]

Excuse if I’m ignorant on this question
but does taiko make a net work sw
or combo router n switch ?

 

[EuroDriver]

Excuse if I’m ignorant on this question
but does taiko make a net work sw
or combo router n switch ?

A Network noise mitigation solution is in engineering, but the chip shortage makes it hard to project availability dates

 

[Bobvin]

A Happy New Year to Extremenauts everywhere.

Looking down the road there are great things coming in 2022.

On the hardware side, I will let Emile lift the curtain just a bit as he sees fit

On the software side we have made some significant milestones and onboarded additional talent

- During extensive testing on Wednesday both in Oldenzaal and in one of the best sounding systems in the Netherlands, XDMS showed a clean pair of heels to TAS. For me the the most significant uplift was harmonic color

- On the UI/UX for XDMS we have onboarded a European UI/UX team who have a CV of beautiful work in both Automotive, Smartphones and Tablets. Wilson is really stoked up quote, "Not only is XDMS going to be the Best Sounding, but the most visually appealing".

Rome does not get built in a day, but over the coming months and years there is a clear evolutionary path. We were able to get this team to onboard in no small part because of you, the Extreme Owners group and your level of enthusiasm for the Extreme.

With search, we are only limited by our imagination

However, the first thing is to get XDMS out the door

If I may… it would be great to be able to perform a search just on history. And select songs in history and move to a playlist. And in a historical search, being able to restrict to “last 3 (6, 12) months” etc. I worked in software development at Microsoft many years back, and for the startup that made the chip Apple used in the original iPods, so I know adding a feature might sound trivial, but there is a lot to it.

I don’t even have a dog in this hunt yet, my extreme isn’t due for several more weeks. Still, being able to make use of the list in history is lacking in Roon, so a wish list item for me. Not sure how others feel — I recognize not all requests end up in the code.

 

[K3RMIT]

Ok ty it just makes perfect sense to have one. i think the router should
be a stand alone to go into there sw or a combo inside but still to maintain a separation of sorts

 

[microstrip]

Hi Eurodriver,
Are there any plans to work on a good process for CD ripping that takes into account both sound and meta-data quality? I have compared files ripped on a standard PC drive using dBpoweramp to files ripped on a vibration isolated Teac drive powered by an ultra-low noise LPS and alternate SW and the latter were significantly better, to the point I actually scrapped all my PC rips where I had the actual CD available to re-rip.
Has anyone ever evaluated different ripping techniques using an Extreme for replay? I would be curious if similar differences were apparent.

Did you compare the flac files obtained by the different processes using the windows filecompare in binary mode?