Johnseye Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 Heya Nenon, did you ever get a chance to compare the NET Card XE with Solarflare 8522? On the power cable topic I'm strongly considering giving the Snake River Signature Series Hybrid Power Cable a go. Some solid feedback on it and I'm curious about its gold/silver/copper "recipe". Audio System Link to comment
Popular Post Johnseye Posted March 19, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted March 19, 2021 1 hour ago, seeteeyou said: World’s First 16-Phase Direct Power Design X570 AORUS XTREME https://www.aorus.com/First-16-Phase-Direct-Power-Design.php This is the motherboard I built my office PC with. JCAT USB XE to Hugo TT2 to Omega CAMs and a Rel sub. EtherRegen feeding it from the Ubiquiti router. Power supply has been unaddressed as it's a Seasonic Prime. I need a better power option that can drive the 16 core AMD 3950X beast. It sounds great as it is now but I know I can improve it. I was thinking about adding the Solarflare or JCAT Net XE but am on the fence. This is the closest thing I've seen to an audiophile consumer board. I highly recommend it if AMD is your thing. Exocer and NanoSword 2 Audio System Link to comment
Popular Post Johnseye Posted May 24, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted May 24, 2022 19 hours ago, Nenon said: I posted this two years ago. And I've had the early prototype for a few months before posting... WOW!!! Time goes so fast. Two years! I was asked today about some Apacer RAM recommendations, and I realized I have stopped playing with computer parts over two years ago. I've said that before, but as soon as I heard the ASUS Sage motherboard and dual Xeon CPUs used in the Taiko Extreme, I realized I was done chasing the best sounding computer hardware. The goal from there was to focus on the best power supply and software settings. This is how the ULPS idea and Taiko ATX combo came up. After many discussions with Emile and visiting him in Oldenzaal, I was fascinated with the level of advancement Taiko had in developing their digital source. I knew I would never be able to win that chase with DIY. I also realized that the Taiko Extreme was just a platform and learned about many things that were about to come. Taiko is actively working on 17 big projects, including a network card, router, switch, massive battery power supply for the Extreme, a real audiophile battery management system, new massive GaN DC to DC ATX, XDMS player, etc. I don't have the full list as they would not share, but I would not be surprised if a DAC is in the works as well. It makes perfect sense to control the entire digital chain end to end, including all the network, vibration, and power. Anyhow, as I've posted previously, I ordered a Taiko Extreme server. It arrived recently and I have been going through a burn-in process. The question of the decade is how does it compare to my DIY server? The first few days were quite underwhelming. I guess Taiko products suffer through some jetlag :). But it started to get better and better after that. I am planning to give it another week and put together my thoughts on how the two compare. No, my server is not better (as expected), but how much have I accomplished with DIY is very interesting to find out. I am as interested as you guys are, so stay tuned for that. Where do I go from here? Well, my DIY server was sold to a member here. My main involvement will be when I receive a Taiko DIY chassis. I will write a guide similar to how this thread started while building a DIY Extreme with some parts I have, and I will pass the rest on to the many talented DIY-ers here to push the boundaries again. With the 17 projects Taiko is working on and all the supply chain issues plus price increases, I guess we will need to have more patience on the chassis. For those that are impatient, the HDPlex solution I quoted in the beginning of this post still works but requires more DIY. Glad to hear you finally got your Extreme. As most everything in this hobby which you know well, there's an optimal break in time period. I suspect you got to about 90% or so of the Extreme. It's that 10% we chase knowing it can be better. What you built without a resourced company and have helped others build through this forum should be commended. Thanks for all your help. Exocer and Gavin1977 2 Audio System Link to comment
Popular Post Johnseye Posted June 1, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted June 1, 2022 On 5/30/2022 at 7:26 AM, Nenon said: @Johnseye stopped by yesterday, and we did another comparison between the DIY server and the Extreme. I think he was impressed how well the DIY server stood up, but there was absolutely no doubt the Extreme was better. What we noticed was that with excellent recordings the difference between the two was bigger than with average recordings. The DIY server felt a bit muddier with the best recordings we tried. Subjectively, as we both heard it, the Extreme had lower noise floor which resulted in better and clear articulation of each instrument - not just more details retrieval but more vibrations, depth, and realism from each instrument. Just for fun, we connected my MacBook Pro to the DAC to see what a "bad" server will do in system. Bits are bits, right? Yeah, but the MacBook Pro "bits" next to the Extreme and the DIY server made everything super flat, dull, and liveless. It's fun to do this every now and then. Last time I've replaced a good music server with my laptop was at Taiko's big system last summer. We also listened to some vinyl, and that proved that at this level the quality of the recording is much more important than vinyl vs. digital, DIY vs. Extreme, etc. Well, relatively speaking... @Johnseye - feel free to add your perspective here. It's just me and you who were able to hear such comparison, and people have been wondering for a while how far we've gone with DIY. First of all, thank you @Nenon for hosting the listening session. Such a treat to not only be able to compare the Extreme with a close replica, but also be exposed to new music. I think what Nenon said and posted previously summed up what we heard. Listening to the same track from 2 different digital sources as well as analog gives you a well rounded aural understanding of the possibilities. Benchmarking what you hear against a very well cut analog source really helps to ground the ears and mind. Nenon's Kronos TT is no slouch in that category. We listened to several tracks and heard a good range of my favorite genre, jazz. The Extreme really does engage you in the presence of each instrument. There was clearly less noise or distortion allowing for a blacker background which helped to isolate and separate the instruments. The DIY build was very good and while I previously thought it would get to 90% of the Extreme it was probably about 80 - 85%. Nenon should be commended for getting his build as far as he did, One person accomplished 85% of what Emile and all his resources at his disposal sells for much more. For those of us who don't have $30k sitting around, the DIY version is well worth the time and investment. Superdad, beautiful music, littlej0e and 5 others 3 5 Audio System Link to comment
Johnseye Posted June 1, 2022 Share Posted June 1, 2022 2 hours ago, MarcelNL said: @Johnseyeare you sure you want to have an upgrade this expensive on that MoBo? More direct power phases matter IME, Assuming you didn't mean me. Audio System Link to comment
Johnseye Posted July 15, 2022 Share Posted July 15, 2022 Hi all, now that I have a Taiko case I'm starting a new DIY Taiko Sage build. Given Taiko is using custom RAM, what low speed, low refresh DIMMs are compatible with the Sage board? Audio System Link to comment
Johnseye Posted August 7, 2022 Share Posted August 7, 2022 Has anyone who purchased a Taiko case run into any issues putting it together? It appears my L bracket with the threaded holes for the backplate was machined with those holes on the wrong side. It would be surprising if only one has an issue like that. I'm hoping it's something I did wrong but I believe I have the front plate and two heatsink sides attached to the bottom correctly. Audio System Link to comment
Johnseye Posted August 10, 2022 Share Posted August 10, 2022 6 minutes ago, baconbrain said: Needless to say, I am wondering how Taiko can oversee something like this? I realize that all new products have teething problems but given that this is now the third issue with the chassis there seems to be a certain lack of quality control on the Taiko side. Certainly not ideal for a product at this price point. Would be curious to know if others encounter this issue or if I was just unlucky enough to get the bad apple of the bunch. I'm going through the same exercise as you. All the same components however I'd like to put my supply components inside the case. We already shared our similar experience with the L bracket. I'll let you know after this weekend how the mobo and atx converter fit. baconbrain 1 Audio System Link to comment
Johnseye Posted August 11, 2022 Share Posted August 11, 2022 2 hours ago, JayM said: First of all our apologies on behalf of the entire team here at Taiko Audio! Regarding the L-brackets, so far we've in total been contacted by 4 people who had issues fitting the L-brackets. By far, most brackets were produced correctly. However due to human error, some brackets had been placed in the wrong position in the CNC mill which caused the wrong holes to be threaded. In the next DIY batch we've changed the design so that this can't happen again they will only fit one way. The people who were affected by an incorrect L bracket will be provided with a correct one. One person offered to fix it himself and asked us not to ship a bracket. On the bottom-plate issue; As soon as Baconbrain contacted me by email (same issue as post above), I spoke with our design and production team what could have happened, because this is obviously substandard in terms of quality and the service we want to offer everyone. Here is a quick recap what happened: We did physically test a DIY chassis here at the factory, with the same motherboard and our own ATX. It all fitted together brilliantly, however one of the the motherboards we used came with a shield back plate on which foam was attached (normally we don't have that). Because of the extra thickness of the foam the backplate of the DIY chassis would come under a little stress and bend ever so slightly. With a shield back plate (no foam) everything fitted perfectly. To make sure that all motherboards - including the ones with a foam covered shield back plate - would fit. Our design team moved all threads for the bolts on which the components - such as the different kind of motherboards - are connected 2mm to the front. This is where our mistake was made; our design team thought SolidWorks was moving all threads for all the bolts 2mm to the front but the ones for the ATX were apparently not selected properly. Originally there was 1mm between the sides of the ATX and the motherboard, and because only the motherboard has been moved 2mm, there is exactly 1mm overlap. Today, as soon as we figured out what went wrong - especially since we test fitted everything here in the factory months ago - we started working on a solution. We already started production of a copper adaptor plate to be fitted between the ATX and bottom plate of the chassis. We will continue to work on these adapter plates tomorrow, and are hopefully able to ship these to everyone who ordered a DIY chassis - in the first batch - tomorrow afternoon. At the very latest these will be shipped out on Monday! We once more sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused by the situation as described above. Thank you Jelle! With the first round of chassis perfection would be very difficult to achieve. You've been very helpful in many ways. Thanks. At some point I'm guessing you're going to want to establish a US based distributor to reduce your shipping costs, considering how much you have to pay for every shipment through DHL. :) Best, John Audio System Link to comment
Johnseye Posted August 15, 2022 Share Posted August 15, 2022 1 hour ago, drjimwillie said: @JayM Will you please post a picture of the L bracket, either correct or incorrect, so I can compare it to mine? I will not be building the Taiko DIY Case for a few months and I would like to be able to identify if my L bracket has been fabricated correctly. Thank you Here's a picture of how the bracket should NOT look. Let me know if you want specifics. Audio System Link to comment
Johnseye Posted August 17, 2022 Share Posted August 17, 2022 11 minutes ago, drjimwillie said: It took me a little bit of digging, but I went through things and found the two packages that say front L bracket and back L bracket. I should have looked at Johnseye’s post closer to reference that he was talking about the back bracket. First I opened the front bracket and I did not see threads. Because it does not have any. I opened the back bracket and with some examination with magnifying glass I could see the threads and then I realized that the threaded hole is smaller. I might be missing something, but can’t I just flip the bracket over and the threaded holes would be on the correct side? Nope because the position of the holes relative to the ends are different. drjimwillie 1 Audio System Link to comment
Johnseye Posted August 18, 2022 Share Posted August 18, 2022 Can anyone who's been using the Sage WS C621E board share what they've found to be important or beneficial BIOS settings? Please PM me direct if you'd prefer not to share the info publicly. Tatomek7 1 Audio System Link to comment
Johnseye Posted August 18, 2022 Share Posted August 18, 2022 14 minutes ago, baconbrain said: Quick question for those of you with a Taiko DIY Chassis. Does one not use the Asus supplied CPU carrier clip when installing the Xeon CPU for the Sage MB together with the Taiko CPU Cooling Block? Thx! I installed the cpu cooling blocks directly on top of the procs. No carrier clip. Messaging you with some pics shortly. baconbrain 1 Audio System Link to comment
Johnseye Posted August 18, 2022 Share Posted August 18, 2022 21 minutes ago, ASRMichael said: I’m looking forward to the guys who are building diy Taiko Dual CPU. How it compares to single cpu. But using all other existing parts in your server! One very positive finding is that I can upsample with HQPlayer to PCM 1.5M with temps maxing at 50 but typically lower. I have not installed the power supply parts into the chassis yet. My previous build had 2 sCLK-EX boards providing the clocks for server mobo, endpoint mobo and tX-USB all master clocked by the Mutec. This is a big change for me without any modifications to clocks. The sound is different. Not as smooth at this point, but the equipment is new and OS not dialed in at all. ASRMichael 1 Audio System Link to comment
Johnseye Posted August 23, 2022 Share Posted August 23, 2022 5 minutes ago, baconbrain said: @Nenon Any idea as to when we can expect this: I can help. I'll pm you later. baconbrain 1 Audio System Link to comment
Johnseye Posted August 24, 2022 Share Posted August 24, 2022 For clarity's sake before anyone gets too excited, the info I have is how to obtain and activate IoT LTSC only, which can be found with some diligent searching in Reddit, not the Taiko modified version. For those who have PM'd me I'll respond with that info. Audio System Link to comment
Johnseye Posted August 30, 2022 Share Posted August 30, 2022 The RAM I'm using is: Apacer D51.22242S.001 DDR4 REG DIMM 2400-17 1024x8 8GB SA-B Indus. VLP HF 12 sticks. Not cheap but believe it to be very good. lwr 1 Audio System Link to comment
Johnseye Posted October 20, 2022 Share Posted October 20, 2022 Has anyone tried JSSG 360 shielding on their ATX and EPC cables? Audio System Link to comment
Popular Post Johnseye Posted December 6, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted December 6, 2022 I was delayed on my build due to a personal injury but made it to the next phase. The other day I installed Panzerolz wood to the Taiko DIY case, then moved the PSU components into the case. This was @Nenon's unregulated supply that he graciously sold me after a little begging on my part. All supply components, including cables were his. We went in on some Panzerholz and I have a little left if anyone lives in the Chicago area and is interested. It would need to be cut which will involve access to a table saw and some time. The wood isn't terribly difficult to cut using a new blade. I did break 2 drill bits and 2 screws inside the wood when preparing to install the components. Everything is screwed down tightly and doing this into the wood as opposed to the case itself made things fairly easy. Does the Panzerholz have any impact on SQ, I don't know. Too much time passed between listening to the supply in its previous case to it installed on the Panzerholz. I hope that it does. The Taiko board between the transformer and the caps is free floating. I could screw it into the case but didn't see a need. Cables are from Ghent. Neotech UPOCC in JSSG 360. RAM is from Taiko. Some Apacer stock they had laying around. Optane and Asus m2 to PCI adapter with Intel m2 cards are all the same models as Taiko uses. I've added 3M RF shielding to certain parts of the case. There are some small improvements I can make and will over time. I need to clean things up a bit as these pics were taken just after installing everything. This build replaces the SOtM modified motherboard I had been using for several years with much enjoyment. That server still sounds fantastic. I used Nenon's PSU to power it for a while and it pushed it to a level I never expected, which is why I asked to buy his supply, knowing he had recently acquired the Extreme. Right now I'm battling an issue upsampling to PCM 1536. When using Euphony or Audiolinux with a JCAT USB XE it comes out distorted. PCM 768 is fine but doesn't sound as good as 1536 direct from the board's USB or to an HQP NAA. As a result, I'm leaning toward the continued use of an NAA as my preferred best sound. The NUC NAA is tapped to a SOtM sCLK along with the SOtM switch and tX-USBUltra. The tX-USBUltra helps in all counts. I can provide more detailed listening experiences of the different scenarios another time. baconbrain, Nenon, Exocer and 2 others 5 Audio System Link to comment
Johnseye Posted December 6, 2022 Share Posted December 6, 2022 47 minutes ago, di-fi said: Nice! If you have enough Panzerholz left, about the size of your case, you could build an isolation platform for the server à la Taiko Daiza, also with 3 extra tiny Panzerholz feet. Users rave about them. If you want to go all the way you could make 3 copper disks to go between the feet and the platform and CNC a spiral shape in the bottom ;-). https://taikoaudio.com/taiko-2020/product/daiza-isolation-platform/ Yes, I do have enough left and made one, but without the routed spiral....yet. Currently the server is sitting on it. Next I'm going to try it under my turntable. Audio System Link to comment
Johnseye Posted December 6, 2022 Share Posted December 6, 2022 33 minutes ago, di-fi said: Great idea. I am working on three platforms myself. I like how Taiko put copper discs and foam inserts to further optimize isolation (beside the beautiful spirals of course). Also the little Panzerholz feet with foam inserts are well thought and essential according to Emile. He put 3 under the server and 3 under each platform, I will try make those too. And I wish I could but no routing though! I wonder how Iso-pucks under it would influence the sound. Audio System Link to comment
Johnseye Posted December 7, 2022 Share Posted December 7, 2022 15 hours ago, Jeremy Anderson said: Apologies if you already shared this and I just didn't read back far enough, but where on earth did you find Panzerholz in the States? (I feel as though I've spent enough hours searching the web that my eyes were starting to bleed...) Nice to see you were able to cram the Nenon supply into the Taiko DIY. I held off on purchasing the Taiko case because Nenon had serious doubts that his supply would fit. I can see it is a very tight squeeze, so his concerns were well-founded. 😅 Here's the info on where we got it from. It is a lot of wood, which is why Nenon and I split it. They cut the wood in two pieces before shipping. Even then I have excess. Shipping was cheaper with UPS. DELIGNIT® Panzerholz® is compressed to high density (87 lbs / ft3) and made from European beech hardwood veneers throughout, reliably bonded using a water & boil proof phenolic resin glue. It is commonly used for tooling and bullet security applications. This material has been found to have desirable characteristics for acoustic applications. At our warehouse in Quebec/Canada we stock DELIGNIT® Panzerholz® B15 in size 2130 x 1000 x 20mm (approx. 84” x 39” x ¾”) and in size 2130 x 1000 x 25mm (approx. 84” x 39” x 1”). 20mm (approx ¾”) thickness: USD 460.00 / panel 25mm (approx. 1”) thickness: USD 575.00 / panel 2130 x 1000 x 20mm, 24 ply, panel weight 132 lbs 2130 x 1000 x 25mm, 29 ply, panel weight 165 lbs Additional costs per shipment: + USD 80.00 for pallet packaging (required for shipping whole panels) + USD 50.00 for U.S. customs clearance (for shipping whole panels) + shipping costs from our warehouse to you Shipping to residential addresses in the U.S. is tricky. To ship a whole panel to a residential address, the carrier charges extra fees of US$150 on top of the freight costs. Sometimes our residential customers will pick up at the local carrier’s terminal to avoid these residential delivery fees. Alternatively we could cut the panel in half (our cutting charge for 1 cut is US$30) and ship 2 packages using UPS. If you are interested to proceed with one of the above panel sizes, we could investigate the shipping possibilities and costs for you. Jeremy Anderson 1 Audio System Link to comment
Johnseye Posted December 7, 2022 Share Posted December 7, 2022 2 hours ago, di-fi said: Way to go, you guys ordered a pallet of this heavy material? That’s where I got my 25mm sheet as well, but it’s only 1 hour drive from here. Shipping gets expensive due to the exceptionally high weight. They are great to deal with and it was nice to go check out the place and meet. Note that their stock is 20 and 25 mm. Daiza is 40mm thickness. But you can double sheets like the Taiko Daiza platform that is sometimes used one on top of each other. https://www.bkbindustrial.com/delignit-panzerholz We bought a full sheet, not a pallet. Still the shipping was expensive. It's extremely heavy as you know. The thickness was perfect as I have just enough clearence to close the top of the server with the Mundorf caps installed on top of the Panzerholz. Exocer 1 Audio System Link to comment
Johnseye Posted December 8, 2022 Share Posted December 8, 2022 1 hour ago, SK8 said: Very nice. I thought the component needs the panzerholz most would be the Taiko transformer. I understand there is limited space in the cage there. Would it be possible to add a piece of thinner panzerholz say 12 or 15mm to mount the transformer on it? Yes, that is my plan. There is very limited space inside the cage. I will need to cut or route out the Panzerholz, similar to what Taiko has done with the Extreme. Not an easy task. I likely won't get to it until Jan or Feb. Audio System Link to comment
Johnseye Posted December 8, 2022 Share Posted December 8, 2022 47 minutes ago, di-fi said: First of all you seem to struggle with space inside the case and there also needs to be air circulating to avoid too high temperatures. Further I would think a small piece of PH simply will not have the capacity to absorb much acoustic energy, if that is what you try to accomplish (but it looks great though). If you look for isolation from acoustic vibration, very likely it would have an audible effect if you: 1) make sure all inside the case is well attached but never overtight to avoid damage to electronic boards 2) install a large and thick piece PH (platform) under the case making sure there are three or four hard contact points, between the server case and the platform and also between platform and rack/floor. If you are looking to protect from Electromagnetic interference (EMI) better options are relatively thick copper or aluminum walls and mounting plates (flatbar) that will also take up less space. Just a thought. You're correct in that the panzerholz will be very thin between the case and transformer. I don't know how much it will help but hope for something. Air circulation is a concern. I may drill more holes in the side and top of the case to allow for heat dissipation. It does not get too hot inside its cage now. While copper might be ideal or at least it looks nicer, I know this works. I've used it in my last server build and for other components. I've heard the improvement. There are varying thicknesses. AB5100SHF 3M Electronic Specialty | Mouser Audio System Link to comment
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