Taiko Audio SGM Extreme : the Crème de la Crème

[Kris]

Kris, a customer of mine with a Berkeley Ref dac uses usb into their Alpha usb converter and then aes into the dac. He believes this to be a better solution than an aes output card in his Extreme however this appears to be a theoretical view rather than an empirically observed one.

Emile and Esotar will doubtless have plenty of other examples for you however usb appears to be the default option, not least of all since it comes as stock without any extra charge but also because that is the main input format for most dacs.

Thank you !
This probably depands what devices are in the chain
Hope Esostar and Emile will clear it.
Probably the most of real life experience will come from our Korean friends who ordered this option

 

[Sablon Audio]

Well I can say that neither of the two Intona boxes (2.0 and 3.0) worked in this chain, so he will be listing them for sale along with two shorter Intona Ultimate usb cables and also a Goebel usb cable.

 

[matthias]

Emile and Esotar will doubtless have plenty of other examples for you however usb appears to be the default option, not least of all since it comes as stock without any extra charge but also because that is the main input format for most dacs.

+1
IMO, USB is the best default option.

More and more manufacturers get rid of off-the-shelf USB solutions and develop their own proprietary USB interfaces.

Two examples are Schiit and Denafrips:

In the past the best input for Schiit Yggdrasil was AES. Now after beta-testing the new Unison USB interface nearly all prefer USB.

And the new USB interface of the Terminator seems to be much better than the old one, even better than I2S.

Matt

 

[Taiko Audio]

Kris, assuming your Totaldac is at mk2 level, AES/EBU will give you a softer, more laid back, less detailed sound. However it’s really close on an absolute level, if your AES/EBU cable is siginificantly better then your USB cable, this may already tip the scales.

 

[Kris]

I love the way you call it Emile !
„Close on an absolute level” is the right level for all of us here I think

 

[Taiko Audio]

We just arrived back in the office after a roundtrip to Slovenia visiting Matej Isak of Mono & Stereo magazine. Matej was interested in reviewing the Extreme and we had a customer order there so me and my business partner Ton decided to take a few long overdue days off, do some sight seeing, and personally deliver both Extremes on site.

We had a great time. It's a beautiful country and Matej turned out to be a perfect host, a sparkling personality, a joy to converse with and very knowledgeable. We did learn a thing or two while there.

Matej's system is one, if not the, most revealing system I have heard thus far. It is totally free of colouration and the resolution is awe inspiring while at the same time musically completely satisfying. I was impressed with the low 0.4 RTC of the room having no detectable impact on liveliness. I tend to find these low RTC rooms to sound overdamped or even "dead" which just did not apply here at all. You will instantly hear the plusses and minuses of any system change, including moving a component footer a few mm to the left or right, I was fully aware of these effects but in this system it is more obvious then I'm accustomed to. A dream development system, and I guess that also makes it the perfect review tool.

Matej posted some initial impressions online:

It shows we had a good time on the photo on this link : SGM EXTREME!

While we had already started with our 16 hour lasting drive back to The Netherlands, Germany has a very annoying amount of Road reconstruction going on, Matej already posted a very early initial impression: TAIKO AUDIO SGM EXTREME

A few photos from the trip:

Evening view from our Hotel:



Ton enjoying the last sunrays of the day:



Early morning view:



View from Matej's home:



Matej's system with the Extreme in place:



Next week me and my other business partner Ted will visit the US and meet some of the WBF Big Guns.

 

[CKKeung]

We just arrived back in the office after a roundtrip to Slovenia visiting Matej Isak of Mono & Stereo magazine. Matej was interested in reviewing the Extreme and we had a customer order there so me and my business partner Ton decided to take a few long overdue days off, do some sight seeing, and personally deliver both Extremes on site.

We had a great time. It's a beautiful country and Matej turned out to be a perfect host, a sparkling personality, a joy to converse with and very knowledgeable. We did learn a thing or two while there.

Matej's system is one, if not the, most revealing system I have heard thus far. It is totally free of colouration and the resolution is awe inspiring while at the same time musically completely satisfying. I was impressed with the low 0.4 RTC of the room having no detectable impact on liveliness. I tend to find these low RTC rooms to sound overdamped or even "dead" which just did not apply here at all. You will instantly hear the plusses and minuses of any system change, including moving a component footer a few mm to the left or right, I was fully aware of these effects but in this system it is more obvious then I'm accustomed to. A dream development system, and I guess that also makes it the perfect review tool.

Matej posted some initial impressions online:

It shows we had a good time on the photo on this link : SGM EXTREME!

While we had already started with our 16 hour lasting drive back to The Netherlands, Germany has a very annoying amount of Road reconstruction going on, Matej already posted a very early initial impression: TAIKO AUDIO SGM EXTREME

A few photos from the trip:

Evening view from our Hotel:

View attachment 57742

Ton enjoying the last sunrays of the day:

View attachment 57744

Early morning view:

View attachment 57743

View from Matej's home:

View attachment 57745

Matej's system with the Extreme in place:

View attachment 57746

Next week me and my other business partner Ted will visit the US and meet some of the WBF Big Guns.

Wow!
That's a pair of big Bayz Audio speakers!

 

[Taiko Audio]

Wow!
That's a pair of big Bayz Audio speakers!

Very impressive, just jumped to my top 2 list of consideration for replacing my speakers.

 

[CKKeung]

Very impressive, just jumped to my top 2 list of consideration for replacing my speakers.

The HK Bayz dealer will get a pair this week or the next.
I must go for a listen!

 

[Blackmorec]

Matej's system is one, if not the, most revealing system I have heard thus far. It is totally free of colouration and the resolution is awe inspiring while at the same time musically completely satisfying. I was impressed with the low 0.4 RTC of the room having no detectable impact on liveliness. I tend to find these low RTC rooms to sound overdamped or even "dead" which just did not apply here at all. You will instantly hear the plusses and minuses of any system change, including moving a component footer a few mm to the left or right, I was fully aware of these effects but in this system it is more obvious then I'm accustomed to. A dream development system, and I guess that also makes it the perfect review tool.

The main reason the room sounds like it does is that a lot of that low RT comes from diffusion on the front wall, which leaves the room sounding reflective, bright (in a good way) and fast, without being overly toppy. That’s because sound waves can only travel to the listener and reflect once off the back wall before being diffused.

 

[Taiko Audio]

The HK Bayz dealer will get a pair this week or the next.
I must go for a listen!

You might be very impressed. Ofcourse the room is well executed, and there seemed to be a very good synergy with the MSB select, so hard to say what the contribution of the speakers is to the whole, but the image integrity was very good, and this seemingly being a 2 way, I could not detect any obvious integration issues. The midwoofers seemed fully capable of matching the speed, detail and clarity of the “ribbon”.

 

[CKKeung]

You might be very impressed. Ofcourse the room is well executed, and there seemed to be a very good synergy with the MSB select, so hard to say what the contribution of the speakers is to the whole, but the image integrity was very good, and this seemingly being a 2 way, I could not detect any obvious integration issues. The midwoofers seemed fully capable of matching the speed, detail and clarity of the “ribbon”.

Bayz's cylindrical tweeters and woofer/enclosure are intriguing!

Yes, many audio components from East European countries got out-of-the-box ideas and designs!

Another example is the Lessloss brand.
I bought several of its new C-Marc Firewall64 powerline filters and found that they are excellent!
I may share with WBF brothers in a short review later.

Emile : pls get one and try it on your Extreme/system.

 

[adyc]

You might be very impressed. Ofcourse the room is well executed, and there seemed to be a very good synergy with the MSB select, so hard to say what the contribution of the speakers is to the whole, but the image integrity was very good, and this seemingly being a 2 way, I could not detect any obvious integration issues. The midwoofers seemed fully capable of matching the speed, detail and clarity of the “ribbon”.

I am also intrigued by the design. I am wondering whether the bass is deep with two way design. I always have a soft spot for omni speaker.

 

[matthias]

Very impressive, just jumped to my top 2 list of consideration for replacing my speakers.

Emile,
did you listen to Courante or Counterpoint?
Thanks

Matt

 

[CKKeung]

The pair in the photo of #1246 seems to be the bigger Counterpoint.

 

[matthias]

The pair in the photo of #1246 seems to be the bigger Counterpoint.

Agree and there is an upcoming review on MaS.

Matt

 

[Taiko Audio]

I am also intrigued by the design. I am wondering whether the bass is deep with two way design. I always have a soft spot for omni speaker.

From an ultimate speaker POV that would be my concern as well, and peak sound pressure. It could be really hard to match a sub to this system. But then again it is unconventional and this may be no issue at all. My other pick is the Audionec EVO 3 or 4.

 

[Taiko Audio]

Agree and there is an upcoming review on MaS.

Matt

Yes has to be.

 

[Taiko Audio]

It’s the Counterpoint: https://www.monoandstereo.com/2019/09/bayz-audio-counterpoint-speakers-review.html?m=1

 

[matthias]

From an ultimate speaker POV that would be my concern as well, and peak sound pressure. It could be really hard to match a sub to this system. But then again it is unconventional and this may be no issue at all. My other pick is the Audionec EVO 3 or 4.

BTW, did you listen to the TOTL speakers from WOLFVONLANGA?

Matt