Taiko Audio SGM Extreme : the Crème de la Crème

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
The one thing that I have experienced is the dac differences become less in my systems once I started using the Extreme. It's almost hard for me to pinpoint the differences regarding which dac I connect to the Extreme. Each dac/system produces excellent sound and none of the systems with different dacs jump to another level just by changing the dacs.

Bob

That is the most eye opening thing I've read today and I follow this thread with interest. It is testimonial to Emile and how good of a product he builds
 
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Esotar

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Mar 27, 2016
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Hi Emile,

Have you tested the new terminator with the Extreme or SGM? I noticed it is compatible with some mad sampling rates such as DSD 1024 - wondered whether you “went there” if only to see if it were possible.

Best.

For my Terminator customers, I sent Terminator, Hard Point Trinia, LH 20G DE Silver Signature USB.

So Terminator and SGM Extreme's combination will be increased highly~!!!

And now instead of Trinity DAC, I'm hearing Terminator with SGM Extreme.

SGM Extreme is used by Roon + JPLAY Femto.

In this case, New Terminator's PCM1536 & DSD 1024 supports are impossible.

Only PCM 768 & DSD 512.

If you want to use New Terminator's PCM1536 & DSD 1024,

when you order SGM Extreme, request to install HQPlayer instead of JPLAY Femto.

But I don't recommend it.

I'm making movies about Terminator, Formula xHD, Trinity with SGM Extreme.

I hear only Pop, Rock, and Metal musics, so choosing reference music is very hard.

I don't know Classics at all.

If you request one Pop music, I'll post three movies within 24 hours.
 
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Esotar

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Mar 27, 2016
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www.digituslabs.kr
I just receive Brimar Graphene [Power] Fuses.

One is for Ayre KX-R Twenty, and two fuses are for Korea made Super Speed & Response Monoblocks.

Brimar Graphene is the top of the fuses in the world I think.

First I thought [Power] fuse is much better than [Source] fuse, but this is not true.

When I installed Source fuse in my sub music server, super fantastic~!!!

Because SGM Extreme mechanism and parts quality is ultimate level,

improvement degree is not as high as power fuses.

SGM Extreme is invincible perfection.

Brimar Graphene Source / Power Fuses are masterpiece~!! P1000575.JPG
 

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
I just receive Brimar Graphene [Power] Fuses.

One is for Ayre KX-R Twenty, and two fuses are for Korea made Super Speed & Response Monoblocks.

Brimar Graphene is the top of the fuses in the world I think.

First I thought [Power] fuse is much better than [Source] fuse, but this is not true.

When I installed Source fuse in my sub music server, super fantastic~!!!

Because SGM Extreme mechanism and parts quality is ultimate level,

improvement degree is not as high as power fuses.

SGM Extreme is invincible perfection.

Brimar Graphene Source / Power Fuses are masterpiece~!! View attachment 55409
Esotar

I am having a mental roadblock to rolling fuses for many reasons

Can you explain to me in real words what you meant by "super fantastic"as I honestly have no clue what you mean:confused:

Further if there are any electrical engineers reading this can you please explain to me that a stock fuse which is non directional suddenly becomes directional as it becomes pricey and glitzy. I don't get it. Why is a fuse directional??

Do I understand correctly that you heard little if any improvement when this fuse was used in the Extreme because of the quality of the build

When I installed Source fuse in my sub music server, super fantastic~!!!

Because SGM Extreme mechanism and parts quality is ultimate level,

improvement degree is not as high as power fuses.

SGM Extreme is invincible perfection.
 

Esotar

VIP/Donor
Mar 27, 2016
411
362
340
South Korea
www.digituslabs.kr
Esotar

I am having a mental roadblock to rolling fuses for many reasons

Can you explain to me in real words what you meant by "super fantastic"as I honestly have no clue what you mean:confused:

Further if there are any electrical engineers reading this can you please explain to me that a stock fuse which is non directional suddenly becomes directional as it becomes pricey and glitzy. I don't get it. Why is a fuse directional??

Do I understand correctly that you heard little if any improvement when this fuse was used in the Extreme because of the quality of the build


Steve, I'm sorry.

I explained specific products by using too strong words.

I think my replies make WBF members confuse.

I'm making the movies.

I'll make bundle vs Brimar fuses comparison test movies for WBF members.

But making movies is difficult. Give me time~!
 

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
Steve, I'm sorry.

I explained specific products by using too strong words.

I think my replies make WBF members confuse.

I'm making the movies.

I'll make bundle vs Brimar fuses comparison test movies for WBF members.

But making movies is difficult. Give me time~!


I'm not doubting what you heard. I just don't understand it hence my question
 

Esotar

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Mar 27, 2016
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www.digituslabs.kr
I'm not doubting what you heard. I just don't understand it hence my question

I'm informing Korean footers.

Footers make sound better, but there are many audiophiles who don't believe this fact.

I think fuse makes more obvious result.

I'll make fuse comparison movies.
 

Taiko Audio

Industry Expert
Feb 10, 2017
4,306
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taikoaudio.com
I'm not doubting what you heard. I just don't understand it hence my question

Hi Steve,

There is quite a bit more to AC power then meets the eye. We have voltage and current distortion creating harmonic distortion on power grids. AC power voltage is a sinusoidal waveform which would ideally be a single 60Hz (US) shape. But it is far from ideal, the waveform gets distorted by for example current draw and when it passes through components harmonics are created. 2nd order harmonic would be 2*60Hz =120Hz, 3rd order 180Hz, but it does not stop there, you can easily find up to 50th order harmonics on a powerline, so 3000Hz, and it can go up much much higher then that. All these harmonics are not very useable for our power supplies, but do still "carry power (voltage and current)" and travel our grids. A fuse is basically a resistor, it is quite sensitive to all these harmonics and these will heat it up. It could actually blow just from harmonic distortion while current draw at 60Hz would be well below its rating. Being a resistor it will add its own harmonic distortion. All this distortion is going to be audible. You can create a power supply less sensitive to this, this usually starts at the transformer selection and/or AC line filtering. A fuse would sit in front of all of this though. You could view it as a vibration source, better damped fuses may generate less harmonics, or they may be more resilient to harmonic distortion. And/or these fuses may have a harmonic distortion pattern more favourable to ones hearing and taste.
 

Audiophile Bill

Well-Known Member
Mar 23, 2015
4,293
4,093
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For my Terminator customers, I sent Terminator, Hard Point Trinia, LH 20G DE Silver Signature USB.

So Terminator and SGM Extreme's combination will be increased highly~!!!

And now instead of Trinity DAC, I'm hearing Terminator with SGM Extreme.

SGM Extreme is used by Roon + JPLAY Femto.

In this case, New Terminator's PCM1536 & DSD 1024 supports are impossible.

Only PCM 768 & DSD 512.

If you want to use New Terminator's PCM1536 & DSD 1024,

when you order SGM Extreme, request to install HQPlayer instead of JPLAY Femto.

But I don't recommend it.

I'm making movies about Terminator, Formula xHD, Trinity with SGM Extreme.

I hear only Pop, Rock, and Metal musics, so choosing reference music is very hard.

I don't know Classics at all.

If you request one Pop music, I'll post three movies within 24 hours.

Nick Drake, Pink Moon - any track. Thank you!
 

wil

Well-Known Member
Jul 22, 2015
1,526
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SGM Extreme is invincible perfection.

[/QUOTE]

Emile, while we are all excited and thrilled at the invincible levels of perfection you have attained with the Extreme, I hope you will continue to forge ever onward to even greater levels of Extreme invincibility (even though that might not make much semantic or logical sense)!
 

Taiko Audio

Industry Expert
Feb 10, 2017
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taikoaudio.com
Emile, while we are all excited and thrilled at the invincible levels of perfection you have attained with the Extreme, I hope you will continue to forge ever onward to even greater levels of Extreme invincibility (even though that might not make much semantic or logical sense)!

We’ll leave no stone unturned!
 
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Legolas

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Dec 27, 2015
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There are also gems in the network to leverage streaming as well, and quite cheap solutions.
Examples:
1. SOtM switch with clock.
2. Paul Pang double OCXO clock switch.
3. External LPS for the router as it enters the house.
4. Other isolation upgrades.

I am getting all of the above in for testing shortly.
 
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Kris

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Mar 4, 2019
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Dea Emile

Any info on testing the QNAP 308 swich with Extreme ?

As far as I remember the Nighhawk router was not the best in your opinion .
There is also modified Nighthawk swich by one of Asian Audio company with OXO clock.

Also jcat is selling Telegartner M12 swich for more than 4000 E .
Did you or anyone tried this crazy swich ?
 

Taiko Audio

Industry Expert
Feb 10, 2017
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taikoaudio.com
Any info on testing the QNAP 308 swich with Extreme ?
I have it on preorder.

As far as I remember the Nighhawk router was not the best in your opinion .
It was quite horrible.

Also jcat is selling Telegartner M12 swich for more than 4000 E .
Did you or anyone tried this crazy swich ?
M12 is quite good actually. I’ve heard it though not the jcat, also only compared to rj45 utp.
 
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Kris

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Mar 4, 2019
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This is interesting that M12 is so good. But this price .....crazy.
Hope the QNAP will be close to its performance,
Or upcomming EtherRegen ?

Where is Cisco 2960c ? Better, worst ?

I wish some could pull together all the tests that were done with Extreme and different swiches.
DAc selection is less important with Extereme as far as NYC Rapsody tested , but network swich and cables will still be very Important.
 

justubes

Well-Known Member
Aug 10, 2015
211
102
273
What i have encountered is that anything done prior to the dac is more impactful, however a good dac will start to reveal much more subtle but important differences to anything made prior to it.

I have been reconfiguring my network over the last few months with 2 Sotm switches to replace a medley of FMC and switches.

What is so baffling just the past days was that changes with my also fibre isolated wifi setup is showing differences between powercords and power supplies used.

I could not imagine that anything my wifi network shows important differences.

I have my main router with wifi disabled feeding 2 lan feeds, one for streaming and other solely for wifi seperated via FMCs and multiple switches.

Even placing my old reclocked switches after the isolated wifi access point made a nice difference.

FWIW, i have a Netgear Nighthawk switch before the wifi AP and that was better than a Cisco switch.

A separate power line with full linear supply feed the wifi network.

I have added some spare costly capacitor
1uf teflon caps and pure copper caps to these supplies and they showed another nice improvement and these are not even in the audio chain.

Just last night i realised that one cap being a Jupiter 1uf pure copper cap which for $150 was connected to a linear brick supply and not even powering any equiment in the wifi chain, darn this made a nice subtle but important difference to the overall presentation to the music.

I can only imagine the duelund film capacitors used in the SGM extreme and how it plays an part to the overall sonic presentation.

All this was done with careful and time consuming testing. Simply placing also spare high priced power cords feeding the wifi
Lineae PSU did not result in an overall improvement. More details and tighter bass resulted which impacted the overall musicality and flow to the sound!

It is totally crazy how my parallel fibre isolated wifi setup impacts the sound.

I can only gather that networking setup is so sensitive and impacts the streaming performance so far up the line.

On the topic of the Nighthawk router, i have used a few routers and the sonic performance totally changes for good and terrible between brands when i stream tidal which either makes or breaks the entire music performance, sigh.... There are just too many brands and models of networking equipment to test.
 
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justubes

Well-Known Member
Aug 10, 2015
211
102
273
Just to update that i have ordered and tested out the Startech 10G 80km SM fibre modules recommended earlier in this thread.

The 1st impression are that there is a very natural fuller, organic sound, a touch on the mellow side which is just devoid of any glare compared to my cheapie FS.com SM module.

It is brighter and thinner sounding or i sound say Hifi sounding which is a touch unatural sounding to me.

I just could resist and applied some Acoustic revive carbon/diamond contact enhancer to the copper contacts and that brought up a clearer yet brighter sound more alike the FS.com module and to me was not the correct sonic direction.

With my arsenal of different contact enhancers, which all by the way have a different sonic character, i then applied the Andante Largo TMD polish, another Japanese contact enhancer which doesn't sound so bright and clear to balance things up.

Thanks to Emile, the Startech is a little step up overall i feel, but now i am unable to get back the sound of the earthy Startech module before applying the contact enhancers, but what i get is more snap that that little bit more bite which is obvious for bassy tracks.

So to say, there is nothing with fixed results with networking equipment, cards etc etc. and between different models and brands, but of course some can sound just plain terrible .

I guess Emile aiming for Extremimus for the Extreme server, he actively tests and recommend what suits the sonic direction he wants to achieve with the Extreme and will know best.

Do note that the gold contacts on the fibre module is double sided.
 
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Samsoum

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Sep 9, 2018
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Hi guys,
I m warmtching this thread with lot of interest, assuming confidently that extreme is the best streamer now, thus introducing a question bothering me too much these days.I m in a search of a top streamer to my kassandra ref2 dac .
I ve tested so far ( by order of preference):
Dcs nb, n10,sotm 200 neo+sp500,auralic g2,my macbook pro.
Roon is a must.
Lately i discovered that my cheap denon transport connected via coax to my dac outperformed all of the above except dcs nb.
Yesterday my friend loaned me his cdt2 jay s transport ( he s selling it) and tried it on my system.
What i can say? I didnt sleep hole night!
It is by far margin better than all of the above.
So the question, is an evo sgm or extreme can better a top cd transport?
I m bothered cause i m more into convenience of the streamer, but my top priority is sound quality.
The jay s is ages better than everything i heard so far!!
Please enlighten me and sorry to still the thread!
Regards
 
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vassils

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Jul 17, 2019
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Hi guys,
I m warmtching this thread with lot of interest, assuming confidently that extreme is the best streamer now, thus introducing a question bothering me too much these days.I m in a search of a top streamer to my kassandra ref2 dac .
I ve tested so far ( by order of preference):
Dcs nb, n10,sotm 200 neo+sp500,auralic g2,my macbook pro.
Roon is a must.
Lately i discovered that my cheap denon transport connected via coax to my dac outperformed all of the above except dcs nb.
Yesterday my friend loaned me his cdt2 jay s transport ( he s selling it) and tried it on my system.
What i can say? I didnt sleep hole night!
It is by far margin better than all of the above.
So the question, is an evo sgm or extreme can better a top cd transport?
I m bothered cause i m more into convenience of the streamer, but my top priority is sound quality.
The jay s is ages better than everything i heard so far!!
Please enlighten me and sorry to still the thread!
Regards

None of the digital audio stuff you have tested comes even close to what a server like the Extreme could do. The answer to your question is: "Yes, the Extreme can absolutely better top CD transports". It's not easy to beat a top CD transport, especially with the DAC you are using, which would sound effortlessly good with SPDIF right off the bat.
 
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Samsoum

Well-Known Member
Sep 9, 2018
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90
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None of the digital audio stuff you have tested comes even close to what a server like the Extreme could do. The answer to your question is: "Yes, the Extreme can absolutely better top CD transports". It's not easy to beat a top CD transport, especially with the DAC you are using, which would sound effortlessly good with SPDIF right off the bat.
Thks for the reply, it confort me.
Listening now to jay s, i can t think how this can be bettered
 

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