Taiko Audio SGM Extreme : the Crème de la Crème

[Taiko Audio]

Allright! Calling it a day. Resuming tomorrow 8:00 AM CEST (Amsterdam time).

 

[M27HF]

Allright! Calling it a day. Resuming tomorrow 8:00 AM CEST (Amsterdam time).

much appreciated !

 

[Taiko Audio]

Updated DAC list:


-Analog Domain DAC1 - USB2 - Roon 32-bit

-Anthem STR - USB3 - Roon 24-bit

-APL DSD-MR - USB4 - Roon 32-bit

-APL DSD-SR - USB4 - Roon 32-bit

-Aries Cerat Helene - USB4 - Roon 32-bit

-Aries Cerat Kassandra - USB4 - Roon 32-bit

-Aqua Formula xHD V2.0 - USB4 - Roon 32-bit

-Aqua La Scala - USB3 - Roon 24-bit

-Ayre QX-5 with USB2 upgrade - USB4 - Roon 32-bit

-B&O Beolab 50 - USB1 or USB3 - Roon 32-bit

-Boulder 2120

-Bricasti MDxx - USB4 - Roon 32-bit

-Brinkmann Nyquist - USB3 - Roon 24-bit

-CH Precision - USB3 - Roon 24-bit

-DCS Bartok - USB3 - Roon 24-bit

-DCS Rossini - USB3 - Roon 24-bit

-DCS Rossini Player - USB3 - Roon 24-bit

-DCS Vivaldi - USB3 - Roon 24-bit

-DCS Vivaldi Up-sampler - USB3 - Roon 24-bit

-DCS Vivaldi One - USB3 - Roon 24-bit

-Denafrips Gaia

-Denafrips Terminator Plus

-Devialet Expert Pro

-EMM Labs DA2 - USB3 - Roon 24-bit

-EMM Labs DAC2V2 - USB3 - Roon 24-bit

-EMM Labs DAC2X - USB3 - Roon 24-bit

-Esoteric Grandioso D1X (PCM only)

-Esoteric K-01X (PCM only)

-Esoteric K-01XD (PCM only)

-Esoteric K-03 (PCM only)

-Exogal Comet - USB3 - Roon 24-bit

-Goldmund Mimesis 20H Nextgen - USB3 - Roon 24-bit

-Gustard X26 Pro - USB4 - Roon 32-bit

-Holo Audio May - USBx - Roon 24-bit

-Ideon Absolute

-iFi Pro iDSD

-Lampizator - USB4 - Roon 32-bit

-LH Davinci MKII - USB4 - Roon 32-bit

-LH Virtuoso - USB4 - Roon 32-bit

-Luxman D10X - USB1 or USB3 - Roon 24-bit

-Matrix Audio X-SPDIF 2 - USB1 or USB3 - Roon 24 bit

-Meitner MA-3 - USB3 - Roon 24-bit

-Meitner XDS1 V3 - USB3 - Roon 24-bit

-MSB Pro USB - USB3 - Roon 24-bit

-MSB V / Quad - USB3 - Roon 24-bit

-Mutec MC-3+ - USB3 - Roon 24-bit

-Nagra HD-X - USB2 - Roon 32-bit

-Nagra Tube Dac - USB2 - Roon 32-bit

-Pilium Elektra - USB3 - Roon 24-bit

-Resolution Audio Cantata 3.0

-Sennheiser HE-1 - USB2 - Roon 32-bit

-Singxer SU-6 - USB3 - Roon 24-bit

-SoTM dx-usbHD - USB1 or USB3 - Roon 24-bit

-Soulution 330 - USB3 - Roon 24-bit

-Soulution 760 - USB3 - Roon 24-bit

-T+A MP 2500R - USB4 - Roon 32-bit

-T+A SD(V)3100 - USB4 - Roon 32-bit

-Thrax Maximinus - USB4 - Roon 32-bit

-Topping NX4DSD - USB4 - Roon 32-bit

-Totaldac - USB1 - Roon 24-bit

-Trinity 1st gen model - USB1 or USB3 - Roon 24-bit

-Trinity Reference

-Vinnie Rossi L2 - USB4 - Roon 32-bit

-Vitus - USB4 - Roon 32-bit

-Wadax Reference - USB3 - Roon 24-bit

-Weiss DAC-501

-Ypsilon 1000 - USB4 - Roon 32-bit

 

[tsaett]

Today started with good news when Emile's confirmation of a completed update reached me.
Like everybody else I was very eager to experience the update myself, after all those glowing pre-reviews - and I was not let down!

The change was apparent after the first few seconds of listening - easily the scale of a big component upgrade (but for free )
I played a wide variation of music during the day and I can only second what others said before me. I do however want to emphasize the areas where in my system the most improvement took place, namely hugely improved harmonic richness, decay and colour (as Bobofei pointed out, vocals and piano are on a completely different level now!) as well as a much more powerful delivery of the whole frequency spectrum, i.e. each note has more urgency.
This brings a deep effect of drama to the presentation, each track seems to gain more meaning. For me this update is about a more cohesive musical experience, not about better bass, mids, or pick your favorite hifi term. Thank you Emile, Team Taiko and audioquattr for releasing this update and bringing us even closer to the music.

P.S.: message from my girlfriend to team Taiko: please no more updates on Valentines day in the future

 

[marty]

Excuse me while I wipe the drool off my face.

I'm a night owl but I haven't pulled an all-nighter in quite a while. But before I went to bed at 3 am I wrote Emile to get in the queue for the upgrade. He responded in 2 minutes and upgraded my OS. At 4 am, I started cursing Emile. Thanks to him, I ended up greeting the sun......the OS was a wow sonic improvement truly worthy of staying up and listening all night. I'm reminded of the long time ARC slogan "High definition". That's exactly what the new OS offers- a higher definition rendition of everything I played. And to think the improvement isn't due to a re-write of the Roon program itself, but in a reduction of noise that accompanies the way its delivered and processed to allow a more perfect rendering of the music by the program itself (if I understand things correctly).

Very impressive, whatever the hell Emile has done! It really is the equivalent of changing a component. But the best part is- it's free! I can't think of a single system improvement in my entire audio life that is comparable.

You make a request at 3 am and you have this major epiphany 5 minutes later? WTF!!

I can only repeat what everyone already knows. There is "platinum" customer service and then there is another level called Emile. I just read the thread and noticed that at the same time he was upgrading my unit, he was posting detailed set-up instructions on this thread for others. C'mon man, the secret is out. Emile is simply not human. You think Brady is the GOAT? Get in line, Tom.

 

[SwissTom]

Considering all the comments above, the new USB card, the system and Roon improvements, I'm really looking forward to adding the Extreme to my setup!

I'm lucky all those improvements occurred before I received mine.

I don't know when I'll receive it, in a month or more, but better later with all those improvements.

 

[dbeau]

I'm lucky all those improvements occurred before I received mine.

I don't know when I'll receive it, in a month or more, but better later with all those improvements.

Exactly why I haven't pulled the trigger yet and won't until it is 'finished/out of Beta' as I am technically unable to comprehend, much less do, the update maneuvers required by these owners. It will be a settled and even better component eventually and maintenance free for guys like myself.

 

[ctydwn]

Congrats Emile and Taiko for the heroic effort! Cleared out the whole queue! Thanks everyone for their thoughtful impressions and descriptions. Sounds magical. Can’t wait to get back home and hear for myself. I just love that this all happened on Valentine’s day. There is some great irony in there.

 

[tsaett]

Exactly why I haven't pulled the trigger yet and won't until it is 'finished/out of Beta' as I am technically unable to comprehend, much less do, the update maneuvers required by these owners. It will be a settled and even better component eventually and maintenance free for guys like myself.

In my humble opinion, after 3 years of production and almost 500 pages on this thread, you can hardly call this server as being in beta phase.
In my book, having a component that is constantly being refined and tweaked by some of the best ears in the industry is a fantastic benefit. Getting this from the comfort of your couch without having to send the unit across the world is even better. Getting it for free is only the icing on the cake. I think the magnitude of this upgrade could have easily justified a MK2 moniker, I'd rather have it the Taiko way.

I can tell you that the procedure is as straight forward as one can think, if you don't sign up for the beta program you will need zero IT or technical knowledge.

 

[dbeau]

In my humble opinion, after 3 years of production and almost 500 pages on this thread, you can hardly call this server as being in beta phase.
In my book, having a component that is constantly being refined and tweaked by some of the best ears in the industry is a fantastic benefit. Getting this from the comfort of your couch without having to send the unit across the world is even better. Getting it for free is only the icing on the cake. I think the magnitude of this upgrade could have easily justified a MK2 moniker, I'd rather have it the Taiko way.

I can tell you that the procedure is as straight forward as one can think, if you don't sign up for the beta program you will need zero IT or technical knowledge.

No argument about that and I agree with your view. I just don't see a finished product yet and am excited about the continued improvements and developments accomplished almost daily = amazing BUT in my case, it's better to be patient to wait for the 'rush' to settle. Thanks

 

[nonesup]

Exactly why I haven't pulled the trigger yet and won't until it is 'finished/out of Beta' as I am technically unable to comprehend, much less do, the update maneuvers required by these owners. It will be a settled and even better component eventually and maintenance free for guys like myself.

You really only have to install VNC on a computer or tablet, everything else is done by Taiko staff, it's very easy.

 

[marty]

You really only have to install VNC on a computer or tablet, everything else is done by Taiko staff, it's very easy.

If somebody would be kind enough to post how you set your Apple security for TeamViewer as Emile requested on post #9388, that would be appreciated

 

[cat6man]

update status:

first of all, thank you Emile. I woke up this morning to find my software and drivers updated and a link to what remained to be done on my part. fantastic support, as always.

now, i have a totalDAC system, with a reclocker unit feeding a d1-direct.
the listening setup today was stax-009 driven by a T2 (by George), input directly from DAC (no preamp).
i started with the usb3 driver and the improvement was apparent from the first 30 seconds.

as a novice to roon (but only temporarily until xmds is available), i created a playlist of my favorite local test tracks (once i was able to find them with that *&! interface and search functionality). the presentation was relaxed, the soundstage was wide, the decays were long and i was able to follow multiple instrumental lines simultaneously, one of my key indicators that energy, presence, detail and overall musicality are all in place. the new OS tweaks and driver are a real, instantly noticeable improvement, not at all subtle or hard to recognize.

then i remembered that the recommendation for TotalDAC was usb1 or usb3, so back to the vnc and a change to usb1.
holy moly............this is the hands down winner. by comparison, usb3 had a little more width but significantly less height and depth, and the instrumental attack was blunted a bit, with less feel of the fingers on guitar strings, less breath on voices and a little more flattened presentation. with usb1, the sound was definitely more 3 dimension.

will usb2 split the difference and be preferable? i don't know and i don't want to stop listening to music right now.
i'll get to it someday.

in terms of buffer size, the smaller buffers (even with TAS before) have had more attack/presence and larger buffers have had more soundstage but smoothed the music a bit. the same trend is seen here but now the sweet spot has moved down to 1024 (for the totaldac).

thanks again Taiko folks (and you should consider taking a weekend off some time in the future)

 

[wil]

No argument about that and I agree with your view. I just don't see a finished product yet and am excited about the continued improvements and developments accomplished almost daily = amazing BUT in my case, it's better to be patient to wait for the 'rush' to settle. Thanks

In the world of Digital Audio there is no such thing as a finished product. To the Taiko owner's immense fortune, we have a developer who is particularly focused on continued improvements.

Don't let the concept of periodic upgrades intimidate you. Take it from this tech neanderthal.

 

[simorag]

Great job Emile and team, and very entertaining and compelling feedback guys , Feel like the purple chap below while my unit is being put together. Keep it coming nonetheless!

 

[Kingsrule]

If somebody would be kind enough to post how you set your Apple security for TeamViewer as Emile requested on post #9388, that would be appreciated

No need
Just VNC into your Extreme and launch TeamViewer from your Extreme desktop. Then send the codes to Emile

 

[oldmustang]

No need
Just VNC into your Extreme and launch TeamViewer from your Extreme desktop. Then send the codes to Emile

Exactly. I use Apple products (MacBookPro, iMac, iPad, iPhone) for everything and the Extreme is my only non-Apple computer. I didn't have to do anything at all to security settings (or anything else) to install VNC on my laptop and iPad and successfully use it. All you need is the IP address of the Extreme on your local network.

Steve Z

 

[Levitator]

I’m thoroughly enjoying the recent update as I’m sure everyone is!

@Taiko Audio is there a way you can easily check which USB driver is being utilised?

 

[cmarin]

one observation, one question:

at step 2 on an android phone, the 'audio' tab is at the top (not the left) and is not visible until you swipe left

after step 7, when the bits/sample is set for roon, my screen selections differ from what Emile shows.
specifically, both the 'use max buffer size' and 'use power of 2 buffer sizes' are set to Yes, while Emile's screen shows them set to No.

haven't listened yet...........it's fun time now.

TotalDAC users: i've set my initial buffers setting to usb3............please report here if you prefer usb1 or usb3

Will do cat6man. I’ll get a chance to try both later this week and will report back. Thanks

 

[Steve williams]

It's always interesting albeit nail biting awaiting the next Taiko upgrade. Last week Emile was kind enough to load what he called about 75% of the final OS onto my Extreme to use during my Horizon demo this past weekend. It was instant to know that this was an amazing upgrade and no matter how biased I was before to TAS, Roon was not only better than TAS, it destroyed TAS. I also stated that for any change or upgrade in my system over the past gazillion years, this had the biggest uptick.

The addition of the full OS was even more revealing but for me Roon continues to rule. and I will continue to use Roon until XDMS and then it will be the time to switch

Like everyone said it is like listening to a live event. Reducing Network noise however Emile and his team achieve this is truly remarkable