The power supply is way more important than the computer itself. And then it is the tuning of the software and firmware.
Taiko Audio SGM Extreme : the Crème de la Crème
- Thread starter CKKeung
- Start date
The power supply is way more important than the computer itself. And then it is the tuning of the software and firmware.
Hi Steve,
Yes, you are 100% correct.
The title of the thread "Taiko Audio SGM Extreme : the Crème de la Crème " has summed it all up!
Finally received my Extreme after few months of patience. I just want to acknowledge and express my gratitude for Emile taking his personal time after work and helped me set up the system. Now, I can't stop listening and the journey's just begun!
Steve (and others); I appreciate your thoughts. Steve, what was your server beforehand and what differences did you hear?
Steve williams
Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
Please, Ian
Read this thread as my findings and thoughts are in this thread as well as in my personal blog. Do yourself a favor and drive to Manhattan and listen to one at Rhapsody and make your own mind up.
When this thread was started by CKKeung there might have been 20 users in the poll at the top of the thread and now there are 90 but everything I have heard, Emile has sold several 100 Extreme's and he is backordered by at least 6 weeks
There are countless users who read this thread but never post however if you read the post it will become immediately obvious that everyone's impressions of their Extreme are unilaterally identical.
Ian I have followed your system over many years and have watched you have great and greater gear coming in and out of your system, most of which IMO has been due to room issues.You're a tough guy to please ,
I can tell you this for certain.......the Extreme is a permanent keeper in my system. The only way that I would ever sell it is if Emile found a way to make a Super Extreme or something even better. Tough to imagine that is possible but IME , anything is possible with Emile but for now all of us contented users are eagerly awaiting Emile's release of his TAS which at the present is as good or slightly better than Roon. TAS will allow Emile to escape from under the strict arm of Roon and design TAS so that it is ever evolving. Several months ago I had prebeta version of TAS which although "buggy" and deficient in some areas produced a sound that literally caught my attention.
AS to what I was using, to give you an example of how out of touch with Digital I was.....I was using a 15 year old Playback Designs MPS-5 with the Playback Designs Xlll box allowing me to play up to DSD 256. I would submit to you that the sound was decent and perhaps at a par with the so called $5K servers that you state are equivalent in sonic quality to you and are worthy of buying.
AsI said yesterday, the reason I used such an old system was that most of my listening was vinyl,,,,,,,,so I didn't care much about digital......until I got an Extreme. The SQ is so good that most of my listening now is with the Extreme as I wait for Emile to launch his TAS. When that arrives each Extreme will allow you to either use Roon or to use TAS and Emile's soon to be released remote from the App Store will allow us to do that.
Finally Emile's business Mission is to make the very best music server. In fact he seems to have stopped making his vibration control equipment so that he can devote all of his time to the development of such. This together with the fact that in order to develop TAS Emile went to great personal expense by spending large sums of money to hire a team to do such. I expect the final version of TAS to be something very special and my commitment is to follow the TAS path rater than Roon which with every new build seems to adversely affect the SQ
So do yourself a favor Ian and go hear an Extreme. It will forever change your notion about digital music. It did for me
Read this thread as my findings and thoughts are in this thread as well as in my personal blog. Do yourself a favor and drive to Manhattan and listen to one at Rhapsody and make your own mind up.
When this thread was started by CKKeung there might have been 20 users in the poll at the top of the thread and now there are 90 but everything I have heard, Emile has sold several 100 Extreme's and he is backordered by at least 6 weeks
There are countless users who read this thread but never post however if you read the post it will become immediately obvious that everyone's impressions of their Extreme are unilaterally identical.
Ian I have followed your system over many years and have watched you have great and greater gear coming in and out of your system, most of which IMO has been due to room issues.You're a tough guy to please ,
I can tell you this for certain.......the Extreme is a permanent keeper in my system. The only way that I would ever sell it is if Emile found a way to make a Super Extreme or something even better. Tough to imagine that is possible but IME , anything is possible with Emile but for now all of us contented users are eagerly awaiting Emile's release of his TAS which at the present is as good or slightly better than Roon. TAS will allow Emile to escape from under the strict arm of Roon and design TAS so that it is ever evolving. Several months ago I had prebeta version of TAS which although "buggy" and deficient in some areas produced a sound that literally caught my attention.
AS to what I was using, to give you an example of how out of touch with Digital I was.....I was using a 15 year old Playback Designs MPS-5 with the Playback Designs Xlll box allowing me to play up to DSD 256. I would submit to you that the sound was decent and perhaps at a par with the so called $5K servers that you state are equivalent in sonic quality to you and are worthy of buying.
AsI said yesterday, the reason I used such an old system was that most of my listening was vinyl,,,,,,,,so I didn't care much about digital......until I got an Extreme. The SQ is so good that most of my listening now is with the Extreme as I wait for Emile to launch his TAS. When that arrives each Extreme will allow you to either use Roon or to use TAS and Emile's soon to be released remote from the App Store will allow us to do that.
Finally Emile's business Mission is to make the very best music server. In fact he seems to have stopped making his vibration control equipment so that he can devote all of his time to the development of such. This together with the fact that in order to develop TAS Emile went to great personal expense by spending large sums of money to hire a team to do such. I expect the final version of TAS to be something very special and my commitment is to follow the TAS path rater than Roon which with every new build seems to adversely affect the SQ
So do yourself a favor Ian and go hear an Extreme. It will forever change your notion about digital music. It did for me
Hey Steve, thank you again for taking the time to respond. I've been doing digital from files for over a decade now and as an audiophile I know there's always room for improvement. And yes, I have a challenging room and I'm very picky; a combination that has cost me a lot of money lol. I have, unfortunately, become a little bit of a cynic as there is a lot of snake oil in this business. That said, I have a lot of respect for the members of this forum and I know where there's smoke, there's usually fire so I believe the product must be very good.
Perhaps I'm just more taken aback by the cost. Many people here are in the position to simply buy the best, regardless of price and perhaps haven't even bothered with a less expensive solution. In some cases I have done that myself. What makes this tricky (for me) is that unlike other hardware this is something that someone can build themselves (with many different approaches) or purchase various solutions that range from a very inexpensive Roon Nucleus to more expensive Aurender units.
I've also read some comments here that the server matters more than the DAC which I also find myself having a hard time believing.
If the thread wasn't so damn long I might read it but it's a little daunting lol. I am in the market for a digital solution for a second system. There are two routes I can go; get something priced appropriately for that system or upgrade my own and let the new system get a 'hand me down'. Unfortunately I wouldn't learn much from hearing a server in an unfamiliar system, so traveling to NYC doesn't make much sense to me. It seems the type of thing that one has to take a leap of faith for and in my case, it's 10x the price of my DAC and I have to wonder how much better it actually would be than what I have.
Oh, and what is TAS? I keep thinking the magazine lol...
Thanks again for making the effort to enlighten me...
You can always sell something easily if you sell it at a very good price
Steve williams
Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
Hi Ian,
I WILL or ask Emile (I don't want to speak for him) if he will sell you an Extreme, if you feel more comfortable buying it direct, with a 30 day no question $$$ back guarantee.
I've done this several times and have never had one returned. If you do return it I always will have someone loving that they can get one quickly vs. waiting for six weeks for a new one.
Pardon my late reply, Bob and I very much appreciate the offer. I'm not in a position to take you up on it just now; I'm still trying to sort out details of some other audio acquisitions and only so much funds to go around.
Hi Ian, Totally understood and not trying to sell an Extreme, just wanted to make it easy for you if you were going down that road.
CONGRATS on the A5's!!! Will be really interested to hear your thoughts once you get them.
@MadFloyd, i have a separate thread on my experience with the extreme. i was in a similar position to you and had a great server prior. the extreme is a really interesting piece of gear and brought out alot of positive changes in my system with no negative ones. audio is usually about trade offs, but i feel like other than $ lost, i didn't trade anything off. every single facet of the sound reproduction was improved. if i had to describe the change in experience with one word, i would use: immersive. i bought one on a lark and since i'm digital only i figured it made sense to give it a shot, i'm happy with the results.
now as far as reccommendation. prior to the taiko i had a rockna wavedream net, a great server by all measures but the price difference between the two is worth the quality difference. for me, however, it's tough to reccommend the taiko solely because of cost. to me, it's great and well worth it, but it's like reccomending a magico m9 or mbl 101 extreme - they will likely be a great upgrade to most current speakers but due to the cost it's just not a sane thing to rec for most people. if your budget can comfortably absorb the cost of the extreme and you feel like the rest of your gear is where you want it, then i'd say an extreme is a must try. i would go so far as to say, that if i had to do it again, i'd probably upgrade to the extreme before changing amps or something.
your gear is excellent and i'm sure your system shines. when you're interested in a new upgrade and if you find yourself listening to digital quite often, i'd say give the extreme a try.
now as far as reccommendation. prior to the taiko i had a rockna wavedream net, a great server by all measures but the price difference between the two is worth the quality difference. for me, however, it's tough to reccommend the taiko solely because of cost. to me, it's great and well worth it, but it's like reccomending a magico m9 or mbl 101 extreme - they will likely be a great upgrade to most current speakers but due to the cost it's just not a sane thing to rec for most people. if your budget can comfortably absorb the cost of the extreme and you feel like the rest of your gear is where you want it, then i'd say an extreme is a must try. i would go so far as to say, that if i had to do it again, i'd probably upgrade to the extreme before changing amps or something.
your gear is excellent and i'm sure your system shines. when you're interested in a new upgrade and if you find yourself listening to digital quite often, i'd say give the extreme a try.
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@MadFloyd I agree with everyone else here - worth a try and the good thing it seems from Rhapsody above....you have a chance to actually try lol. Here in Australia basically you try....after you have bought and paid for it in full lol, ye i took the plunge and am happy for that decision made. Can't win a lottery without buying a ticket mate.
Thanks. In your case you probably already had your C1 boxes... I'm being told my inexpensive (but otherwise very good DAC) won't really show the virtues of the Extreme...
i really doubt that, the yggdrasil is a fantastic dac and many of us have found the extreme/server changes in general to have more impact than the dac itself. now, wether you listen to digital enough for that to matter is a whole different question.
unrelated to the above - I had a general question for the forum. is google drive and appropriate/acceptable way of getting tracks onto the extreme library. from the technical side, i see no issue. from the security side i'm a bit hesitant as i try to have my extreme access as few things on the internet as possible (just roon and briefly a nas). i can do the thumbdrive transfer but i'll have to probably order a new drive.
