Higher End DACs

bo reminds me of a certain cable promoter :-)   electro-smog ... there is a new term to laugh over at the water cooler.

@mikelavigne   Would you still recommend the SGM if one is only streaming? Put another way, no local file playback. I remember you making the same point as the reviewer, far earlier regarding local file playback being superior to streaming. 

I ask, because I don't have a reference point. For example, despite the local file playback superiority, streaming via the Taiko SGM Extreme may surpass other options?

I'm looking for a Roon Server (only). Therefore, the question. Thank You!

@david_ten

yes, absolutely; the SGM Extreme is the perfect streaming server. but it’s also the perfect server for local internal PCIe files, and the perfect server for using an outboard NAS. and i’ve used it all three ways.

over the last 9 months with the Extreme 2 significant things have happened. (1) my ratio of files to streaming listening has gone from 75%/25% to 20%/80%. and (2) my file purchasing has gone from 5-10 a month to zero.....or maybe 1 every couple months. streaming simply delivers on so many levels it checks all my boxes. this direction had not been happening previously with me.....i had been pursuing buying files vigorously. and what i had was not chopped liver, the 2015 SGM server, one of the top choices besides the Extreme.

i don’t want to hold myself up as any expert on DIY computer audio or techie computer stuff. so i all i can do to make my technical case is to encourage anyone to read the reviews and Romaz posts referenced earlier in the thread for those points to be made. what they say is that digital audio is about extreme computing headroom, separating processing needs appropriately, and dealing with EMI/RFI and cooling needs to keep things operating in the proper design envelope. it why the damn thing weighs 90 pounds.

i’ve found that the same bump in performance listening to my files was found at least as much in my streaming. all digital processing makes the same multi-pronged demands of the CPU. the uncompromising design of the Extreme delivers.

what i can speak about with authority is the astonishing sonic performance when i switch from local files to streaming, then to my vinyl or tape and back to digital......the digital holds up completely.

i still like my files; and have favorites i’ll always return to, but the excitement of streaming daily is a huge deal, and the Extreme makes it so inviting.

Streaming something like Tidal or Qobuz over the internet is one of the least CPU intense things you can do. Take the server away with the need for intense data base management and you could knock about 70 pounds off that 90 pound thing. It's  the same with roon if you have very few files for roon to manage you can run it on low end computer the database is what eats up memory and processor. 

i’m not in a position to debate the technical side of this. but my understanding is that when it comes to digital audio, local files, NAS sourced files, or streaming files, all have the same needs from a CPU. and our performance expectations should be the same too.

sure; you won’t find streaming 352-24 or 4xdsd files; but that is a small part of file listening anyway. my streaming includes plenty of high rez.