Taiko Audio SGM Extreme : the Crème de la Crème
- Thread starter CKKeung
- Start date
The black is awesome.
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5D61EA38-72A0-4585-AAA5-2C773ABE6F97.png
I don't think you'd gain much except additional expense putting an EMI/RFI coating over 1-2 cm of copper.
Steve Z
That is woo commerce, we have to put it “in stock” as you cannot place orders when it’s “out of stock”.
The whole shop is being redesigned right now so you can get a representative indication of your order status, updates, time left to ship etc.
There are a few “clear” switches left in the batch shipping in the next 2 weeks, so if you order a clear switch now it would actually ship this month. The black finish does take a bit longer to apply but the 4-8 weeks is there in case the initial black batch sells out quick which would then require a second batch which we still need to start machining, the whole process, machining, applying the finish and assembly takes around 8 weeks so that should be the maximum wait time. Once it stops selling out before we manufacture them they would become an “in stock” item. As we have ordered a second, much larger, CNC machine which can machine 32 switches in one go (our current machine handles 4 at a time) that could become a reality pretty soon.
No magical pixie dust.
Your shipment is holding for the additional 2*5 meter DAC cables you ordered to arrive, which should be today.
My "armored" card was delivered this morning. Just installed it during lunch break. It took me less than 5 minutes to get it installed. Got the new ip, played some track.. The sound quality from a cold armored card.. oh my lord.. how is that even possible to improve on the sound quality Emile? This is unbelievable! Excellent job team Taiko! Its slow cooking at the moment. I cannot wait to get to hear once it has broken in...
i promised a few more words about my upgraded system.
what changed?
1. new updated network card
2. d1-direct updated to d1-triunity DAC
3. d1-reclocker mk2 updated to d1-sublime version reclocker
misc:
digital path: extreme usb card==>sotm usb-aes/ebu reclocker==>totaldac reclcocker==>totaldac d1-triunity
taiko switch running on wall wart power supply
sotm also running on wall wart power supply
all music local files in WAV format
XDMS alpha software on the extreme
even before the latest upgrades, the taiko switch plus network card significantly lower the noise floor and presented an improvement and detailed yet delicately layered sound. absolutely a step in right direction, and the improvement in bass due to the switch was as amazing as it was unexpected. onward to the current changes.
talking to an audio buddy last night, i was asked "but how can you tell what made the improvement if you changed multiple things at the same time?" my answer was "i don't &$# care, this is MAGIC", this is the level of SQ (actually, a better description would be level of musical enjoyment) i have been looking to (re)-achieve. in fact, this is now even better than the SQ i accidentally stumbled upon years ago, but regrettably lost.
as i write this, i'm listening to Paul Simon's "Hearts and Bones" from the next room and the sound is glorious. while this is not a standard audio demo test setup, here is find musical engagement from the next room is a signature of my system hitting on all cylinders.
going back to monday: after installing the new kit, i had a digital signal at the reclocker but not at the DAC, but after plugging in the last aes/cable at BOTH ends, i had sound. much too much sound, blowing out my ears and causing me to lunge to the remote control mute button. this was due to the tri-unity having a balanced output of 7.5V while the d1-direct output was 0.6V.
Vincent Brient has obviously found a new output stage that he prefers to the d1-direct's R2R ladder direct output. after the volume was sensibly adjusted, i ran my standard startup sequence and, of course, i had left and right channels reversed (you would think that i would get this wrong 50% of the time but for some reason my failure rate is at least 80%). i quickly ran through a bunch of my test tracks and heard nothing but good things with less than critical listening.
monday evening, i had some time to listen on my stax headphones and to say the least i was happy, smiling ear to ear.
my playlist was set to Warren Zevon's collection I'll Sleep When I'm Dead. While not an audiophile classic, it was obvious from the first seconds that the detail was astounding, but not at all harsh or tipped up. On the first track, i heard subtle details like counterpoint guitar fills that were low in the mix. the piano on Desperadoes Under the Eaves had wonderful sustain/decay and infinitely deep silences. the ability to take the music down to the long reverb tails was astonishing. one thing i really value is the ability to follow, and be interested in, multiple instrumental lines which opens up the emotional interplay between the musicians.
mentally moving between instrumental lines was easy to do with no loss of awareness of the other parallel/intertwined lines.
wednesday: time for some time with my speakers. on Raising Sand, Krauss' vocals are pure and float between the speakers,
and the soundstage was both wide and deep, even when a heavy bass line or distorted guitar was backing here. again, the music going down to silence or almost silence, then a vocal or instrument re-enters and presents a you-are-there soundstage.
is it the new network card, the tri-unity, the updated reclocker? as an engineer it is of intellectual and academic interest but i'm too busy enjoying music to take things apart and try to isolate anything. i trust it is all of the above. Vincent has said that he prefers the one box tri-unity to the old 3 box d1-12mk3. i can only say that TotalDAC and Taiko are the two companies whose view of sound aligns with mine, clearly have a strong technical view of how to get there, and who i will continue to follow.
at this point, even if there were no further improvements, dayenu! (aka this is sufficient). if the sound can get much better than this, my head will explode (uh, i still have two wall warts to replace before we even get to the router and bps)
enjoy the music!
update: if you have an extreme, don't hesitate to get the switch/network card bundle.
if you have a totaldac, this upgrade is a no brainer.
what changed?
1. new updated network card
2. d1-direct updated to d1-triunity DAC
3. d1-reclocker mk2 updated to d1-sublime version reclocker
misc:
digital path: extreme usb card==>sotm usb-aes/ebu reclocker==>totaldac reclcocker==>totaldac d1-triunity
taiko switch running on wall wart power supply
sotm also running on wall wart power supply
all music local files in WAV format
XDMS alpha software on the extreme
even before the latest upgrades, the taiko switch plus network card significantly lower the noise floor and presented an improvement and detailed yet delicately layered sound. absolutely a step in right direction, and the improvement in bass due to the switch was as amazing as it was unexpected. onward to the current changes.
talking to an audio buddy last night, i was asked "but how can you tell what made the improvement if you changed multiple things at the same time?" my answer was "i don't &$# care, this is MAGIC", this is the level of SQ (actually, a better description would be level of musical enjoyment) i have been looking to (re)-achieve. in fact, this is now even better than the SQ i accidentally stumbled upon years ago, but regrettably lost.
as i write this, i'm listening to Paul Simon's "Hearts and Bones" from the next room and the sound is glorious. while this is not a standard audio demo test setup, here is find musical engagement from the next room is a signature of my system hitting on all cylinders.
going back to monday: after installing the new kit, i had a digital signal at the reclocker but not at the DAC, but after plugging in the last aes/cable at BOTH ends, i had sound. much too much sound, blowing out my ears and causing me to lunge to the remote control mute button. this was due to the tri-unity having a balanced output of 7.5V while the d1-direct output was 0.6V.
Vincent Brient has obviously found a new output stage that he prefers to the d1-direct's R2R ladder direct output. after the volume was sensibly adjusted, i ran my standard startup sequence and, of course, i had left and right channels reversed (you would think that i would get this wrong 50% of the time but for some reason my failure rate is at least 80%). i quickly ran through a bunch of my test tracks and heard nothing but good things with less than critical listening.
monday evening, i had some time to listen on my stax headphones and to say the least i was happy, smiling ear to ear.
my playlist was set to Warren Zevon's collection I'll Sleep When I'm Dead. While not an audiophile classic, it was obvious from the first seconds that the detail was astounding, but not at all harsh or tipped up. On the first track, i heard subtle details like counterpoint guitar fills that were low in the mix. the piano on Desperadoes Under the Eaves had wonderful sustain/decay and infinitely deep silences. the ability to take the music down to the long reverb tails was astonishing. one thing i really value is the ability to follow, and be interested in, multiple instrumental lines which opens up the emotional interplay between the musicians.
mentally moving between instrumental lines was easy to do with no loss of awareness of the other parallel/intertwined lines.
wednesday: time for some time with my speakers. on Raising Sand, Krauss' vocals are pure and float between the speakers,
and the soundstage was both wide and deep, even when a heavy bass line or distorted guitar was backing here. again, the music going down to silence or almost silence, then a vocal or instrument re-enters and presents a you-are-there soundstage.
is it the new network card, the tri-unity, the updated reclocker? as an engineer it is of intellectual and academic interest but i'm too busy enjoying music to take things apart and try to isolate anything. i trust it is all of the above. Vincent has said that he prefers the one box tri-unity to the old 3 box d1-12mk3. i can only say that TotalDAC and Taiko are the two companies whose view of sound aligns with mine, clearly have a strong technical view of how to get there, and who i will continue to follow.
at this point, even if there were no further improvements, dayenu! (aka this is sufficient). if the sound can get much better than this, my head will explode (uh, i still have two wall warts to replace before we even get to the router and bps)
enjoy the music!
update: if you have an extreme, don't hesitate to get the switch/network card bundle.
if you have a totaldac, this upgrade is a no brainer.
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You're in good company. I was told they ran out of shipping cases, so I'm in the same boat. I feel your pain!
Try bypassing the new switch and card. Plug in direct to motherboard original Ethernet port then reboot.
Worth doing a full power off shutdown maybe. If it was my extreme I’d plug in a monitor but you might not have one, to see if there’s a boot up error.
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