Taiko Audio SGM Extreme : the Crème de la Crème

Taiko Audio

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I've tried the Sablon, a Shunyata and a Blue Jeans (Belden) USB cables from the Extreme to the reclocker with no success.

The problem is clear, so is the solution, we should just verify the proposed solution first, but this is not rocket science, it should do the job.
 
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kswanson27

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The problem is clear, so is the solution, we should just verify the proposed solution first, but this is not rocket science, it should do the job.
Does it look like there is a trip to France in my reclockers future if the fix works?
 

Taiko Audio

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So you might be on a good way if you are thinking to get 8 or 24 of them.

That is a very expensive way of increasing network latency, especially if you want all of those devices to be of similar “quality”.


Does it look like there is a trip to France in my reclockers future if the fix works?

Yes.
 

kswanson27

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That is a very expensive way of increasing network latency, especially if you want all of those devices to be of similar “quality”.




Yes.
Looks like I'll be finding out how good the D&D analogue inputs sound for a while. Maybe the USB card will make up any difference.
 
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cat6man

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I've tried the Sablon, a Shunyata and a Blue Jeans (Belden) USB cables from the Extreme to the reclocker with no success.
Do you have the live-power supply or the original? Just wondering if anything else could be different.
 

kswanson27

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Do you have the live-power supply or the original? Just wondering if anything else could be different.
Just the stock power supply. It seems Emile and Vincent at Totaldac have identified the problem and feel there is a fix that just needs to be proved. Unfortunately, as you may have read earlier, the fix will have to be implemented in France which means I'll have to cluge something up to replace the Reclocker which is my volume control and converts USB to AES for my active speakers.
 

cat6man

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Just the stock power supply. It seems Emile and Vincent at Totaldac have identified the problem and feel there is a fix that just needs to be proved. Unfortunately, as you may have read earlier, the fix will have to be implemented in France which means I'll have to cluge something up to replace the Reclocker which is my volume control and converts USB to AES for my active speakers.

Perhaps the more advanced livewire power supply is the difference.

If I can make a suggestion (ymmv):

Order a live-wire supply, which Vincent should be able to get to you quickly. When it arrives, you send back the old ps. Best case, it solves your problem and sounds better, 2nd best it doesn't solve the power issue but it improves the performance of the reclocker.

In either case, both you and I send our reclockers on a summer vacation to northern France for the upgrade which has a redesigned fpga and less jitter.

Per email from Vincent today, the upgrade is not yet available nor costed out. The upgrade includes upgrading to the live-wire supply, so those who already have one will have a lower cost upgrade path.
 

kswanson27

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Perhaps the more advanced livewire power supply is the difference.

If I can make a suggestion (ymmv):

Order a live-wire supply, which Vincent should be able to get to you quickly. When it arrives, you send back the old ps. Best case, it solves your problem and sounds better, 2nd best it doesn't solve the power issue but it improves the performance of the reclocker.

In either case, both you and I send our reclockers on a summer vacation to northern France for the upgrade which has a redesigned fpga and less jitter.

Per email from Vincent today, the upgrade is not yet available nor costed out. The upgrade includes upgrading to the live-wire supply, so those who already have one will have a lower cost upgrade path.
Interesting idea but I understand the upgrade removes the volume control which I need. Did Vincent indicate the power supply is the problem with the USB card?
 

Kris

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You are the only one having it operational, atleast I don’t think @Kris has the stock reclocker input working but that is not entirely clear. I don’t think it has anything to do with the Sablon considering the other feedback, and I don’t see how it could have a meaningful impact on this “issue” to start with.
You are right Emile
My TotalDAC recloclocer usb port is not accepting Taiko card.
I was able to use JL Sounds board and to connect it to the reclocker via spidf
So I bypassed the Original Usb in TotalDAC .
 
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Taiko Audio

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@cat6man and @kswanson27 , we cannot fix the initial inrush current on the USB card, if I disable the protection for that it just triggers the next level of protection which disables the whole USB card in stead of only the port. If we want to support this type of current draw we’d have to increase the USB regulators current capability by a factor of atleast 2.5. That would dramatically increase noise levels and you lose a part of why it’s liked so much so far. The easiest solution is just convert the Reclocker to be selfpowered which Vincent is willing to do for those who want to use our USB card. Thank you very much Vincent! It’s a total mystery why yours does work @cat6man unless you have the D1-streamer option as if I understood correctly that would automatically include the USB port to be self powered.
 

kswanson27

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@cat6man and @kswanson27 , we cannot fix the initial inrush current on the USB card, if I disable the protection for that it just triggers the next level of protection which disables the whole USB card in stead of only the port. If we want to support this type of current draw we’d have to increase the USB regulators current capability by a factor of atleast 2.5. That would dramatically increase noise levels and you lose a part of why it’s liked so much so far. The easiest solution is just convert the Reclocker to be selfpowered which Vincent is willing to do for those who want to use our USB card. Thank you very much Vincent! It’s a total mystery why yours does work @cat6man unless you have the D1-streamer option as if I understood correctly that would automatically include the USB port to be self powered.
In order to do that I'm guessing I would need a power board (like his streamer board maybe) and a beefier outboard power supply? Seems to be getting expensive.
 

matthias

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@cat6man and @kswanson27 , we cannot fix the initial inrush current on the USB card, if I disable the protection for that it just triggers the next level of protection which disables the whole USB card in stead of only the port. If we want to support this type of current draw we’d have to increase the USB regulators current capability by a factor of atleast 2.5. That would dramatically increase noise levels and you lose a part of why it’s liked so much so far. The easiest solution is just convert the Reclocker to be selfpowered which Vincent is willing to do for those who want to use our USB card. Thank you very much Vincent! It’s a total mystery why yours does work @cat6man unless you have the D1-streamer option as if I understood correctly that would automatically include the USB port to be self powered.

Emile,
just for my understanding:
What is the reason to use the first generation XMOS and not the second generation which does not seem to have this issue?
Thanks

Matt
 

cat6man

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It’s a total mystery why yours does work @cat6man unless you have the D1-streamer option as if I understood correctly that would automatically include the USB port to be self powered.

while i have never used it, my re-clocker is in fact equipped with the streaming capability (i.e. the modified and shielded cubox based streamer)............so, mystery solved.

fun fact: after i purchased the re-clocker (which i found used locally, a rare spot of luck), i remember discussing with Vincent the differences between mine and the latest version of the re-clocker. i actually asked him if it was possible or desirable to disconnect the 5V to the streaming circuitry since i was not using it--and now it appears to be the key to my success with the TAS usb card!

so i will be sending mine to Vincent later this year when the FPGA upgrade is available.
when that happens, i will use the TAS usb directly into the d1-direct.
has anyone checked if TAS usb ==> d1-dac will have this problem?
this is not a showstopper for me as i can always use the aes/ebu from extreme to DAC while waiting for my re-clocker to be upgraded.
 
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Taiko Audio

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In order to do that I'm guessing I would need a power board (like his streamer board maybe) and a beefier outboard power supply? Seems to be getting expensive.
No beefier outboard power supply required afaik. It probably just adds an internal 5V regulator to power the USB side of the interface. The actually USB side power usage is very benign, it uses less then for example the MSB Pro USB module which is probably the highest current consuming device we'll run into as it has to power an additional SFP (fiber) module next to the USB interface circuitry/controller. The Totaldac "problem" is restricted to just the first 55 milliseconds of connecting it. This would actually not be a problem for most USB interfaces, but we designed ours to have the lowest possible noise while meeting the USB specification requirements. We do have 10-20% headroom over spec, but that is not enough to compensate for this particular situation where the demand is 250% higher in magnitude for 7 times longer then allowed in the specification. It is just something we did not account for in the design process, and had we accounted for it, it would have become a higher noise design.
 

Taiko Audio

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Emile,
just for my understanding:
What is the reason to use the first generation XMOS and not the second generation which does not seem to have this issue?
Thanks

Matt

It has nothing to do with the generation of XMOS, it probably has to do with how Vincent designed his USB interface to be less vulnerable to USB preceding device power quality and/or fluctuations. This is a good thing for sound with a variety of sources, but as it now turns out a problem for something like our card which exactly meets USB specifications. The good news is it can be remedied with just the inconvenience of it having to ship to France. If this is something you'd not be willing to do, you can of course return the USB card for a full refund!
 

Taiko Audio

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No beefier outboard power supply required afaik.
The upgrade for the reclocker itself includes an upgrade of the powersupply:

Yes it is for the Totaldac d1-digital reclockers owners, so also for the d1-twelve-mk2 owners and d1-streamer owners.

Among upgrades are:
-in the FPGA, with a lower jitter implementation. The volume control and the optional DSD to pcm conversion had to be removed to allow this new reclocker implementation
-an optimisation in the clock system
-in a custom RF shield to reject even more the jitter from the source
-the live-power to reject even more the noise from the mains network

More information in the relevant thread here:

Thank you very much Cmarin, happy to hear that considering all SOTA amplifiers you have or have had!

The spec page of the new d1-digital-mk2 reclocker is online.
The option which will be tested for Taiko server is called "power supply board to transform the standard USB input to a self-powered USB input."

http://www.totaldac.com/D1-digital-eng.htm

View attachment 76950

View attachment 76949

For the new d1-streamer-mk2 as well:
http://www.totaldac.com/D1-streamer-eng.htm
 

Taiko Audio

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Update of the DACs supported by our USB driver:


Currently supported:

-APL DSD-MR

-Aries Cerat

-Aqua Formula xHD V2.0

-Berkeley Alpha USB interface

-Bricasti MDxx

-Brinkmann Nyquist

-CH Precision

-DCS Vivaldi

-DCS Vivaldi Up-sampler

-DCS Vivaldi One

-Denafrips Terminator Plus

-EMM Labs DAC 2

-Esoteric Grandioso D1X

-Esoteric K-01X

-Holo Audio May

-Ideon Absolute

-Lampizator (with jlsounds interface)

-LH Davinci MKII

-MSB Pro USB

-MSB V / Quad

-Nagra HD-X

-Pilium Elektra

-T+A SD3100HV,PA1100E,HA200,R1000E,MP1000E,MP2000R,MP2500R,MP3000HV,MP3100HV,PDP3000HV,DAC200

-Thrax Maximinus

-Totaldac

-Trinity 1st gen model

-Trinity Reference

-Vitus

-Ypsilon 1000


Pending:

Weiss DAC-501


To have your DAC added contact us at contact@taikoaudio.com or run the Thesycon USB Descriptor Dumper utility downloadable here: https://thesycon.de/eng/usb_descriptordumper.shtml and e-mail us the output (use the save as file option).
 

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