I'm really hoping LAIV knocks it out of the park with their new Streamer coming Q1 2025. Opportunity to realized benefits of i2s as well.
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While I realize the following streamer is completely out of reach for vast majority of us, there is info in here that can serve as a general primer for the reasons/need and implementation of various optimizations for the entire streaming chain. https://audiophilestyle.com/ca/reviews/reality-quest-review-of-the-taiko-audio-olympus-music-server-part-1-of-2-r1305/ |
@sns Gee that was a superb review/article over at AS on that Taiko, thanks for sharing. I was already a convert to much of his three principles, but boy it was filled with interesting observations on an array of factors relevant to good sound in a highly sorted system. I should visit AS more, I mean when you have folk like John Swenson contributing in the comments. A few points that particularly resonated with me, areas to potentially explore on a more modest budget: - DAC (Direct attached cables) network cables are lower power draw than either Ethernet or optical SFPs, and he seemed to note a correlation between low power draw and sound quality - the level of processing required to playback more demanding high bit rate music was inversely proportional to the sound quality (at least over that new XDMI interface) - high capacity, high current delivery Lithium iron phosphate batteries can sound good but are sensitive to any electronics /cabling in the chain (I’ve observed this first hand in my system with one I use to power a router and modem) - even with super pure battery power, the system was still sensitive to AC quality, power conditioning and potentially grounding helps (again first hand: ground quality is so important, I can highly recommend a low impedance path to ground, or better yet, paths plural) Sorry all, getting a little OT once more - but hey, all just areas of interest in endeavoring to optimize my Harmony-based system |
Just as an aside, at one point was running Auralic Vega dac and some other streaming devices off battery PS, lower noise floor, lost dynamics.
I have custom build streamer assembled by some of the leading members of that forum, I added JCAT Optimo ATX LPS. This was their top end diy design prior to the Taiko Extreme clones. Unfortunately, I2S output at the level of Gaia not possible, real estate issue. The XDMI interface in new Taiko looks to be a game changer. |
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