Taiko Audio SGM Extreme : the Crème de la Crème

[austinpop]

If you have a bunch of ISO file from SACDs there are a variety of free-ware solutions to extract the stereo .dsf or .dff files from the ISO. Sonore's utility program is one of several out there:

Sonore - ISO2DSD - converts ISO files to DSD

I'd suggest outputting to .dsf files since that format supports metadata tags.

Steve Z

To update Steve's advice, the currently preferred method, over on the long-running SACD ripping thread on Audiophile Style, is to use SACDExtractGUI. This is what I use and it is rock solid.

See https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/...-yes-its-true/?do=findComment&comment=1182533

 

[Ackcheng]

I use Trax Audio SACD Extractor. Works well for me

 

[microstrip]

I use Trax Audio SACD Extractor. Works well for me

Is there a Windows version the Trax Audio SACD Extractor?

 

[EuroDriver]

Time for another shout out to the Taiko support team for yet another above and beyond performance that remains unique to Taiko. I have had family visiting for the past 2 weeks and we have been busy most every day with our grandkids . The forum has had some busy days as well as we figured a way to make hyperlinks visible in posts and we needed to send out this month's News Letter. Suffice it to say my system has not been on in that time until yesterday. I had the afternoon free and decided I wanted to listen to some new downloaded music as I recently received 12 TB's of new music. Everything powered up fine. I opened the TAS app and I got the message stated SGM controller unavailable. I went through what I knew to fix it including restarting the Extreme which double beeped on restart so UI felt all was well but still no luck. Last week during a severe heat wave in Southern California there was a brief power outage. I was clearly on the internet but could not connect to the Extreme.I remember this happened once before and there was an auto change to the IP address of my Extreme. This is usually easy to fix by opening TAS and clicking the arrow at the top right as this detects the IP address of the Extreme. The problem was that I was unable to get TAS app to open. It was already 3:00PM and I meekly texted Edward to see if he was awake. He replied immediately even though it was midnight. Edward Team Viewer into my Extreme and very quickly we discovered that indeed there was a new IP address assigned to my Extreme. Problem solved in a few minutes and I had a wonderful listening session. Customer service at Taiko remains a shining light and for Edward to reply at midnight his time and without hesitation take over and fix the problem deserves a huge shout out IMHO. Taiko Audio........"you rock" I was so happy that I forgot to ask Edward how XDMS was progressing. In retrospect that was perhaps a good thing

Fing App which scans your LAN works very well

Highly recommended

 

[ctydwn]

Downloaded the above app, but honestly didn’t learn anything about my network. but i know i am not using its info fully.

Mainly these last few weeks/months it is so clear the burden on Taiko from the constant questions and incessant nuanced queries (we all had them at some point I imagine). The expectations that Team Taiko will appear at all times of any day to fix any bug or hiccup. All the while the pressures and questions and light jabs, mount on expected xdms release, not to mention switch, network card, bps etc. What a pressure on Taiko to address all.

Competitors like Aurender and of course Wadax continue to gather their fans and espouse their wares.

But above all else I remain immensely and patiently confident in Emile and his selected team. This is a key moment in audio digital trajectory. I remain all in with Taiko. And I am absolutely in the camp of giving space and breathing room to achieve their vision which has been articulated many times. i think every extreme owner is on bated breath for xdms, but no doubt the bar taiko has set is extremely high. and it might take more time than we hoped. and managing hundreds of queries on top of that. beta TAS vs full XDMS sw rollout is no doubt a big deal.

i have no affiliation w anyone, but as a betting person, I remain superlatively confident in Emile and Taiko’s investment.

Love this community btw

 

[Taiko Audio]

Thank you for your kind words @ctydwn

It's a different world since Covid hit and the subsequent collapse of the "Just in Time" supply chain. Today hunting for components has become a full time job all by itself. It's a small miracle we've been able to continue sourcing parts, building and shipping out Extremes in the quantities we have without changing parts or specifications. For new developments we have been less lucky, on one hand because of the necessary quantities, we would have many unhappy customers if we launch an upgrade which can only be supplied to a part of our customer base, on the other hand because parts which can be widely available today can have 6-12 month lead times next week. We have made very considerable investments in developing upgrades, but they're all holding for parts availability. Silly enough the next wave of projects under development now could even become available before the already completed projects as we selected and bought the parts before even starting development. This may make these products costlier as we may end up discarding parts due to unsuitability. For example we currently have a different microcontroller managing the BPS remote control interface as the one we selected before had a detrimental effect on sound quality while it should not have an effect at all!

Sound quality in fact is one of the main delays of XDMS right now as some code sneaked in worsening sound quality from solidly above to significantly below TAS level. The offending code has been identified meanwhile however it means that a significant amount of coding needs to be redone.

It's not an easy world to live in right now needing to maintain a certain level of sound quality standards while facing supply chain challenges, increased workloads and personnel shortages.

However we are not discouraged in any way and are making daily progress, impatient, of course as we are really looking forward to have you all hear the fruits of our hard labour, but I can only answer ASAP to when new developments release.

 

[Christiaan Punter]

Next dumb question: both my Aurender and Extreme have USB-A sockets. All my cables are A/B. If I get an A/A cable will I be able to “see” the Aurender drive from VNC on Taiko and transfer files?

Alas, that will not work. Apple used to have software that enabled Target Drive which made a computer appear as an external drive to another computer, but AFAIK, Aurender does not offer this kind of functionality. The only way that I know will work is to connect it to the same network as your computer and the Extreme, and transfer files over the network. Then, you may want to use a third-party copy program like SyncBack to avoid those Windows-induced issues where the copy process is halted due to long filenames or unknown characters etc.

You can attach USB drives to the Aurender to copy files from that drive to the Aurender, but AFAIK, there is no way to copy files in the other direction. See also this Aurender help page: https://aurender.com/app-transferring/

 

[SwissTom]

We have made very considerable investments in developing upgrades, but they're all holding for parts availability.

Let's hope Taiko Audio will have enough liquid assets and firm orders to get through these difficult times.

The outstanding quality of service, but most notably the innovative approach to digital audio in the broadest sense, deserves to last and be supported.

 

[Taiko Audio]

Let's hope Taiko Audio will have enough liquid assets and firm orders to get through these difficult times.

The outstanding quality of service, but most notably the innovative approach to digital audio in the broadest sense (local and streaming), deserves to last and be sustained.

Thank you, no liquidity issues nor lacking new orders

 

[Christiaan Punter]

...my understanding is this "delay" option will be included in XDMS at some point. In my case (and others) with MSB Ref dac, I actually miss a small amount of each song while the dac is trying to lock onto the output signal. Irking me for six or seven months now.

This functionality is indeed on the wishlist for implementation in XDMS, but likely not for the first release. BTW, now and then, I also hear this behavior. It's nothing to do with the Extreme, nor with Roon per se. It is the combination of Roon + DAC and its USB interface/receiver chip/signal processing. In my case, the CH C1 apparently takes a little longer than average to lock onto a changed sample rate, and alas, Roon's Resync Delay does not address this. I need to do more testing with TAS to see if this is strictly a Roon problem or if it is universal with this particular DAC.

 

[Christiaan Punter]

Thanks. I'm trying to work around a logistics issue. I'd hoped I could connect the Extreme to my mesh with Ethernet cable and then connect the Aurender to the Extreme using the second Ethernet socket on the Extreme. This doesn't seem to work to allow me to see the Aurender on my network so I can't use Windows Explorer to xfer files. I've transferred all of the non-SACD files from my back up drive, many of which are duplicates of files on the Aurender, but the Aurender does have probably close to 1GB of unique files that I don't have on my back up HDD due to space constraints. I was hoping to use USB on the Extreme to "see" the Aurender drives and just xfer the files that way.

I would suggest using a temporary network switch to connect the Aurender, Extreme, and your computer to the same network? That will make for the simplest solution.

 

[Christiaan Punter]

Use VNC viewer and get the Extreme to drag the files in to internal memory that way. You will find it far faster than trying to do it through your network. The Extreme is a beast and extremely quick.

I have had my Extreme for 24 days now and it is sounding great. If anybody is perusing this thread contemplating whether to buy an Extreme or not, the first point I would make - as a new user myself - is don’t be put off by some of the very lengthy and complex reviews and feedback that you may come across. This is my fourth music server and I have not found it any harder to set up and get running than any that preceded it.

Other than the general plaudits that are prevalent on here about sound quality, some other points that may be of interest:

i) As mentioned already, the Extreme is quick - very quick. It will plough through data transfers far faster than using a computer and doing it that way through the network. In addition, if you use Roon, you will be delighted to see it operate at near instantaneous speed.

ii) Check your volume! Because of the sound quality and lack of digital ‘noise’, you may find yourself listening at much higher volume than you realise. A side benefit of this is that enjoyable sound quality can be achieved at lower volume than you may be used to using. I am finding very satisfactory sound at 10-15 dB lower than I have traditionally had to use and everything is still there in the music.

iii) Streaming - I use Qobuz - is now so good that it is perfectly acceptable for proper listening, not just exploration.

iv) The combined effect of these previous 3 points make music exploration using Roon a real delight and I have discovered more new albums in the last month than perhaps in the last year or two. The speed of response, sound quality and ability to listen at lower volumes together with the complete absence of digital fatigue makes trying new music a real pleasure.

There are two slight complications compared to previous music servers. The first is the need to use VNC viewer to control Extreme but, in practice, it is very easy and not really much different than using your network and a webpage in actual use. The second slight complication is around the USB options in Roon which does take a bit of thought to get your head around. The unit starts up in Roon with a WASAPI driver for your DAC as well as a Taikio ASIO driver which you can edit in Roon, select your DAC and it will configure itself and you can then fine tune in the usual way. This ASIO driver sounds better. Then, finally, there are 4 USB profiles which are DAC dependent and you can run them from the Extreme desktop using VNC viewer. I suspect that these are routines that somehow tweak the Taiko ASIO driver to best match with your DAC and you should definitely do this because it does significantly improve the sound. I’ve just discovered this - I’ve no idea how it works, but it is definitely not something you should leave out.

Just in case this was not known: The Extreme page on the Taiko website has a Downloads Section all the way at the bottom. There, you will find the Product Manual, Taiko USB Driver, USB Profile Guide, Ideal Roon Settings, and any potential future new guides.

 

[Christiaan Punter]

Downloaded the above app, but honestly didn’t learn anything about my network. but i know i am not using its info fully.

Mainly these last few weeks/months it is so clear the burden on Taiko from the constant questions and incessant nuanced queries. The expectations that Team Taiko will appear at all times of any day to fix any bug or hiccup. All the while the pressures and questions and light jabs, mount on expected xdms release, not to mention switch, network card, bps etc. What a pressure on Taiko to address all.

Competitors like Aurender and of course Wadax continue to gather their fans and espouse their wares.

But above all else I remain immensely and patiently confident in Emile and his selected team. This is a key moment in audio digital trajectory. I remain all in with Taiko. And I am absolutely in the camp of giving space and breathing room to achieve their vision which has been articulated many times. i think every extreme owner is on bated breath for xdms, but no doubt the bar taiko has set is extremely high. and it might take more time than we hoped. and managing hundreds of queries on top of that. beta TAS vs full XDMS sw rollout is no doubt a big deal.

i have no affiliation w anyone, but as a betting person, I remain superlatively confident in Emile and Taiko’s investment.

Love this community btw

Fing is useful for easily and automatically finding the devices that are connected to your network, among which the Extreme. It will reveal the IP address which will often be the first step toward connecting with it if other methods don't work.

 

[MarkusBarkus]

This functionality is indeed on the wishlist for implementation in XDMS, but likely not for the first release. BTW, now and then, I also hear this behavior. It's nothing to do with the Extreme, nor with Roon per se. It is the combination of Roon + DAC and its USB interface/receiver chip/signal processing. In my case, the CH C1 apparently takes a little longer than average to lock onto a changed sample rate, and alas, Roon's Resync Delay does not address this. I need to do more testing with TAS to see if this is strictly a Roon problem or if it is universal with this particular DAC.

Hi Christiaan. I have never used Roon. This is an issue between TAS and the MSB dac. Edward is aware of my, let's call it irritation with the hand-off between the two devices. In my case, it's the Reference dac, but I seem to recall it reported in fora for other models.

I will confess to being disappointed that this isn't on the roadmap for the initial XDMS release, as it has been an issue for some time.

As a reviewer and audio honcho, you are likely aware that the Extreme and MSB Ref dac amounts to about $100K worth of audio equipment that has a fundamental communication issue, ergo my irritation. If there is something I can do on my end, I'm all ears. Caveat: Roon is not part of the solution set for me.

 

[Christiaan Punter]

Hi Marcus, I've experienced this issue where the first few frames were being chopped off tracks upon sample rate changes not only with Roon and the C1 but also with other servers and DACs in the past. I don't recall the specifics but I believe it was not Roon at that time. "Resync Delay", as Roon calls it, does not fix the issue, at least not in my case with the CH C1. At this point, I can only assume that if we implemented similar functionality in XDMS that it would also not fix it. Maybe Emile could chime in to confirm but I'm afraid that it is a hardware matter that cannot be solved in external software. I've accepted this issue for my personal part but remain on the lookout and if I or anyone else in the Taiko team comes across a solution, this will certainly get implemented.

 

[MarkusBarkus]

...thanks Christiaan. I recall a "delay" setting in the Aurender Conductor app that served this purpose, IIRC.

 

[Christiaan Punter]

Hi

...thanks Christiaan. I recall a "delay" setting in the Aurender Conductor app that served this purpose, IIRC.

Hi Marcus, indeed, the Conductor app offers a Playback Delay setting. This is similar to Roon's Resync Delay function.

 

[ACHiPo]

I would suggest using a temporary network switch to connect the Aurender, Extreme, and your computer to the same network? That will make for the simplest solution.

Christiaan,
Thanks. I don't have one, but suppose I can order one. I ordered a USB A to A cable yesterday I will have tomorrow. If that doesn't work I'll pursue the switch idea.
Evan

 

[ACHiPo]

Just in case this was not known: The Extreme page on the Taiko website has a Downloads Section all the way at the bottom. There, you will find the Product Manual, Taiko USB Driver, USB Profile Guide, Ideal Roon Settings, and any potential future new guides.

And it's not just the product manual that's useful. Ask me how I know.

 

[ACHiPo]

Alas, that will not work. Apple used to have software that enabled Target Drive which made a computer appear as an external drive to another computer, but AFAIK, Aurender does not offer this kind of functionality. The only way that I know will work is to connect it to the same network as your computer and the Extreme, and transfer files over the network. Then, you may want to use a third-party copy program like SyncBack to avoid those Windows-induced issues where the copy process is halted due to long filenames or unknown characters etc.

You can attach USB drives to the Aurender to copy files from that drive to the Aurender, but AFAIK, there is no way to copy files in the other direction. See also this Aurender help page: https://aurender.com/app-transferring/

Just reading this. D'oh! Off to find a switch.

Just to clarify, I was planning to use the Aurender as an external drive to the Extreme, use VNC to find Aurender's HDD, and move files from the Aurender to the Extreme.

All this may be moot at this point. After loading ~4TB onto the Extreme I realize my biggest issue is converting the SACD ISO so Roon will see and play them. I have 395 SACD albums that were ripped to ISO files that I need to convert. Once I do this I will have >98%% of the content I used on my Aurender.