Taiko Audio SGM Extreme : the Crème de la Crème

jbrrp1

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Aug 3, 2020
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Man, I'm using a Roon Nucleus just now as I eagerly await the arrival of my Extreme in ~2 weeks. I had been running an Antipodes DX II, but it got overwhelmed by the new, larger build of Roon and just stopped funcitoning with Roon (Antipodes used a "minimalist" processing approach then in an effort to address noise). The Nucleus was a clear drop off in sonic quality to the 5 year old Antipodes machine. The Nucleus is nice and snappy for navigation, but it is thinner, more threadbare in harmonic presentation. Cannot wait for my Extreme, but I might have to protect myself from whiplash!:eek::)
 

christoph

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Dec 11, 2015
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Man, I'm using a Roon Nucleus just now as I eagerly await the arrival of my Extreme in ~2 weeks. I had been running an Antipodes DX II, but it got overwhelmed by the new, larger build of Roon and just stopped funcitoning with Roon (Antipodes used a "minimalist" processing approach then in an effort to address noise). The Nucleus was a clear drop off in sonic quality to the 5 year old Antipodes machine. The Nucleus is nice and snappy for navigation, but it is thinner, more threadbare in harmonic presentation. Cannot wait for my Extreme, but I might have to protect myself from whiplash!:eek::)

Have you tried the Nucleus as roon core and the Antipodes as roon endpoint?
That might have been a nice uptick soundwise from the Nucleus alone...
 

jbrrp1

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Aug 3, 2020
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I would have liked to, but the recent Roon update has rendered the unit unresponsive on all things Roon, it seems. Now, there might be a solution to that, were I motivated to dig hard enough, but with the Extreme on its way, and with how busy I have been on other matters, I haven't felt enough motivation. If I had to deal with this for two more months, rather than two more weeks, I'd do the dive.
 
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plasmod3

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Aug 28, 2020
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use a good lps with the roon not the wallwart that came with it - add in ether regen as well - you have a winner:)
 

Skanda

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May 2, 2020
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i had a close friend stop by last night. he's heard my system in pretty much every iteration. his own system is simple - ls50w's and audeze i4's but it works great for his room and needs and he appreciates great audio, he's got more than enough money to buy a bigger rig and all that but is waiting till he's more settled down so he uses my rig as a reference for what gear he should possibly check out when he's ready. well, this was his first time hearing my rig with the extreme and he walked away conviced he needed one haha.

a couple words he used to describe it: immersive, expansive, "pulling me into the music". he mentioned that before my system was stunning and he enjoyed listening to it and using it as a reference but it was hard to relax into the music. with the extreme he felt that was no longer the case. i was glad to know that i'm not being insane about the difference i'm hearing lol. it was a short 20-30 minute listen so the differences were pretty apparent to him right away.

on a broader level, over on the symphonic line thread there is another whatsbest user who has an extreme and a symphonic line kraft. interestingly we noted that there is a great synergy between these two pieces. i'm sure that's there with other amps too but just another interesting observation i've come accross as i'm still trying to wrap my head around all the changes this server has brought to my system.
 

Kris

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Mar 4, 2019
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i had a close friend stop by last night. he's heard my system in pretty much every iteration. his own system is simple - ls50w's and audeze i4's but it works great for his room and needs and he appreciates great audio, he's got more than enough money to buy a bigger rig and all that but is waiting till he's more settled down so he uses my rig as a reference for what gear he should possibly check out when he's ready. well, this was his first time hearing my rig with the extreme and he walked away conviced he needed one haha.

a couple words he used to describe it: immersive, expansive, "pulling me into the music". he mentioned that before my system was stunning and he enjoyed listening to it and using it as a reference but it was hard to relax into the music. with the extreme he felt that was no longer the case. i was glad to know that i'm not being insane about the difference i'm hearing lol. it was a short 20-30 minute listen so the differences were pretty apparent to him right away.

on a broader level, over on the symphonic line thread there is another whatsbest user who has an extreme and a symphonic line kraft. interestingly we noted that there is a great synergy between these two pieces. i'm sure that's there with other amps too but just another interesting observation i've come accross as i'm still trying to wrap my head around all the changes this server has brought to my system.

I also have freinds stopping by just to get 15 min listening in my room.
Not sure why , but they tend to stay many hours in that room
Hard to explain at midnight that we need to lower the volume a little.
 

Skanda

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May 2, 2020
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I also have freinds stopping by just to get 15 min listening in my room.
Not sure why , but they tend to stay many hours in that room
Hard to explain at midnight that we need to lower the volume a little.

Ha, I hear you. We had other plans so unfortunately couldn't spend longer with the music. However, he played a track that sounded amazing: Feist - Caught in a Long Wind. We were marveling at the dynamic range of her voice and the tone. It's not normally what we'd listen to but it was a nice change of pace.
 
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Kris

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Mar 4, 2019
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I am sure Bob has much more difficult situation than you and I hoping to kick off his customers from Rhapsody in NYC when they can't go home 5 hours after closing the shop

Extreme is very good doing that.
 

jbrrp1

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Aug 3, 2020
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I wish I and my friends felt comfortable entering each others' houses during Covid times, but we just don't. I miss the shared listening sessions!
 

jbrrp1

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Aug 3, 2020
318
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use a good lps with the roon not the wallwart that came with it - add in ether regen as well - you have a winner:)

I do use an etherRegen for my stream, and it has a good LPS on it. The Nucleus has an odd voltage for which I don't have an LPS, and I wasn't willing to buy one just for an ~8 week run, so.... Maybe that would elevate it and I would regret my Extreme order! :p
 

Rhapsody

VIP/Donor
Jan 16, 2013
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Rhapsody.Audio
I am sure Bob has much more difficult situation than you and I hoping to kick off his customers from Rhapsody in NYC when they can't go home 5 hours after closing the shop

Extreme is very good doing that.
That's funny Kris, three weeks ago I had a MD from Ohio schedule an appointment to hear two sets of speakers on a Saturday at 1pm. The day of the visit he emailed and asked if he could bring two local MD's with him. SURE, I said. He wanted to hear some vinyl and cd's.

They showed up at 1pm. We played one album and then I said let me play something for you. I pulled out the iPad and played 3 or 4 tracks with Roon/Qobuz/Extreme and handed them the iPad. They finally left at 6pm. They just switched back and forth with the iPad listing mostly to old rock (favorite songs from their past). A pleasant afternoon.
 
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td19

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Sep 29, 2017
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I would have liked to, but the recent Roon update has rendered the unit unresponsive on all things Roon, it seems. Now, there might be a solution to that, were I motivated to dig hard enough, but with the Extreme on its way, and with how busy I have been on other matters, I haven't felt enough motivation. If I had to deal with this for two more months, rather than two more weeks, I'd do the dive.
The DX2 can certainly function as a Roon Ready endpoint. Just uninstall the Roon Server app.
 

Taiko Audio

Industry Expert
Feb 10, 2017
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Hello everybody, time for a long overdue update.

We have quite a few projects going which has had it's impact on my available online time.

First of all we are moving to a new facility in phases starting on the 1st of November through to the 15th. This is a much needed move as we're running out of space in our current facility, we have around 300m2 here which is completely inadequate, even the hallways are stacked to the ceiling on both sides. We could extend it to 550m2 with some remodelling but that would just have been a Band-Aid and a waste of time and money. This July we pulled the trigger on an amazing deal we could get on a 1800m2 building with room to spare. It allows us to have multiple dedicated listening rooms to expand on our current dealership/distribution activities and provides the much needed assembly, storage and CNC machining space.

This will be our new home after the next 2-3 weeks:

Front view:
IMG_6732.jpg

Street view:
IMG_6734.jpg
 

spiritofmusic

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Jun 13, 2013
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I'm assuming it's not just the small shed on the left Lol.
 
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Taiko Audio

Industry Expert
Feb 10, 2017
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taikoaudio.com
Although this building has a lot of internal space, it was all occupied by a cooking studio, bar, restaurant, meeting room and offices, lots of "small" inefficient rooms (which is the main reason we got a good deal on it).

Here are some photos on how it looked inside in July:

IMG_4791.jpg

IMG_4794.jpg

IMG_4801.jpg

IMG_4822.jpg

IMG_4806.jpg

IMG_4810.jpg
 

CKKeung

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Jun 17, 2011
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