Jump to content
IGNORED

Taiko Extreme - my experience


Recommended Posts

13 hours ago, Exocer said:

I see you have the Phasure Mach III server as well. Will you be comparing the two? Also, are there any DIY builds in-house for comparison's sake?

 

It wasn't really the intention, but I think it's inevitable that I'd be comparing the Extreme with what I already have.

 

No, I don't have any DIY builds here worth writing home about. I stopped trying as soon as I received my first Phasure Mach II (which I still have), let alone the Mach III. Having both the Phasure and Taiko here, it's clear that I couldn't get anywhere near the performance of guys who actually know what they're doing. (What is it about The Netherlands and music server know-how?)

 

Mani.

Main: SOtM sMS-200 -> Okto dac8PRO -> 6x Neurochrome 286 mono amps -> Tune Audio Anima horns + 2x Rotel RB-1590 amps -> 4 subs

Home Office: SOtM sMS-200 -> MOTU UltraLite-mk5 -> 6x Neurochrome 286 mono amps -> Impulse H2 speakers

Vinyl: Technics SP10 / London (Decca) Reference -> Trafomatic Luna -> RME ADI-2 Pro

Link to comment
18 hours ago, Exocer said:

Did you go with the 14/28?

 

Yes, my Phasure has a 5120 14/28 CPU.

 

More on the Extreme to follow...

 

Mani.

Main: SOtM sMS-200 -> Okto dac8PRO -> 6x Neurochrome 286 mono amps -> Tune Audio Anima horns + 2x Rotel RB-1590 amps -> 4 subs

Home Office: SOtM sMS-200 -> MOTU UltraLite-mk5 -> 6x Neurochrome 286 mono amps -> Impulse H2 speakers

Vinyl: Technics SP10 / London (Decca) Reference -> Trafomatic Luna -> RME ADI-2 Pro

Link to comment

Oh, and a massive thanks to Emile too who spent quite a while with me getting things set up as well as possible with my quirky DAC.

 

Mani.

Main: SOtM sMS-200 -> Okto dac8PRO -> 6x Neurochrome 286 mono amps -> Tune Audio Anima horns + 2x Rotel RB-1590 amps -> 4 subs

Home Office: SOtM sMS-200 -> MOTU UltraLite-mk5 -> 6x Neurochrome 286 mono amps -> Impulse H2 speakers

Vinyl: Technics SP10 / London (Decca) Reference -> Trafomatic Luna -> RME ADI-2 Pro

Link to comment
4 minutes ago, matthias said:

I am wondering if it would be possible to run XXHE on the Extreme. Did you discuss this with Emile?

 

Hi Matt, I suspect it'd be strongly discouraged because XXHE imposes its own rather 'strong will' on the OS. In its 'Unattended' mode, it grabs the music files, stores them in RAM, shuts down as much of the OS as possible (including the screen), and starts playback purely from memory. Furthermore, most XXHE users run the whole OS in RAM, with no SSDs or HDDs at all connected to the mobo.

 

And in any event, the Extreme sounds mighty fine without the need of XXHE!

 

Mani.

Main: SOtM sMS-200 -> Okto dac8PRO -> 6x Neurochrome 286 mono amps -> Tune Audio Anima horns + 2x Rotel RB-1590 amps -> 4 subs

Home Office: SOtM sMS-200 -> MOTU UltraLite-mk5 -> 6x Neurochrome 286 mono amps -> Impulse H2 speakers

Vinyl: Technics SP10 / London (Decca) Reference -> Trafomatic Luna -> RME ADI-2 Pro

Link to comment
5 minutes ago, austinpop said:

The Extreme is quite something, isn't it Mani! I've had mine now for almost 2 months, and it still has the ability to astonish me.

 

Hi Rajiv, yes it is.

 

5 minutes ago, austinpop said:

I'm surprised by your inability to run sinc-M, as this is my go-to filter of choice, and runs with no issue for me. I assume you're referring to it in the context of PCM-to-PCM upsampling (Filter 1x and Nx), and not for DSD-to-PCM conversion (PCM conversion setting in DSD Source settings).

 

Yes, PCM-to-PCM.

 

Perhaps I should have qualified things a bit. The Phasure DAC is a quirky beast. No upsampling/digital filter. No delta-sigma modulator. But capable of accepting 768k, so perfect for HQPlayer, and of course, XXHighEnd.

 

Best performance is achieved using Kernel Streaming - that's what all the XXHE users use. WASAPI works too, but ASIO is a no go. So using HQPlayer NAA is out. This no doubt limited what I could get to work with HQPlayer. Closed-form-M worked fine, but sinc-M wouldn't. (Interestingly, the Mach III is perfectly happy running sinc-M with WASAPI.)

 

5 minutes ago, austinpop said:

As regards the effect of network and USB, please see my impressions here.

 

Yes, I've already come across this. I don't think anyone has looked into these things in more detail than you have. Thanks for all your effort.

 

Personally, I just don't have the will (or energy) to play around with stuff too much nowadays. Fortunately, I managed to get the Extreme to sound very good after just a little effort. But perhaps I never really heard it in its full glory? Oh well...

 

Mani.

Main: SOtM sMS-200 -> Okto dac8PRO -> 6x Neurochrome 286 mono amps -> Tune Audio Anima horns + 2x Rotel RB-1590 amps -> 4 subs

Home Office: SOtM sMS-200 -> MOTU UltraLite-mk5 -> 6x Neurochrome 286 mono amps -> Impulse H2 speakers

Vinyl: Technics SP10 / London (Decca) Reference -> Trafomatic Luna -> RME ADI-2 Pro

Link to comment

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now



×
×
  • Create New...