Taiko Audio SGM Extreme : the Crème de la Crème

[LeBlanc]

Having owned one now for the past month I have to agree with Mike and micro as hyperbole about this server can run rampant as it seems we are all gobsmacked by what we hear

I do agree with Mike that native format does always sounds best as so many times I find a redbook piece of music sounds better than the same music upsampled to something else

Kudos Emile. You have made many people happy with this piece of equipmente made

How is the interaction between the Extreme and the Center Stage feet if I may ask?

 

[nonesup]

Oh my God, I expected someone to say "it's not that good."

 

[shaned]

Can anyone with an Extreme and Evo say how they differ given the fact the Extreme is roughly 10,000 euros/pounds/dollars more ?

 

[nonesup]

Having owned one now for the past month I have to agree with Mike and micro as hyperbole about this server can run rampant as it seems we are all gobsmacked by what we hear

I do agree with Mike that native format does always sounds best as so many times I find a redbook piece of music sounds better than the same music upsampled to something else

Kudos Emile. You have made many people happy with this piece of equipmente made

That is another of the things I like about Extreme. I have Aries Cerat DAC, and Stavros says that their DACs want native formatting.

 

[steve williams]

How is the interaction between the Extreme and the Center Stage feet if I may ask?

Of course any answer I give will be filled with bias. Because of the weight of the extreme I used a set of 1.5’s. I remember way back when this thread started Emile posted that as far as any tweaks required he said a good set of footers will suffice. I played the extreme for many days before putting the feet under as I wanted to confirm there would be a sonic benefit. The mistake I did was to put the feet in on a Monday morning, the day before Emile was coming to visit. My first listen on Monday revealed an out of the box improvement but I knew the next few days would be miserable. On Tuesday evening Emile had his first listen and to my ears it was embarrassing. The top end was rolled off and the bass was tubby. Emile tried to suggest moving the feet to the right would be better. I knew it wouldn’t based on my experience. I was right. The next morning however when we listened there was a sudden quietness to Emile as he was taking everything in. Things sounded so much better. Clearly the feet were settling. Over the next 3-5 days the feet settled totally. My sound stage now is truly immersive and deep. The sound to my ears using a 12 year old DAC was mesmerizing., so much so that I have listened to the Extreme for all but several hours when I played vinyl

The Extreme is an amazing piece of equipment but using the 1.5’s under the Extreme was an unexpected but much welcomed improvement. The sound from top to bottom is vastlly improved. Perhaps Emile might comment as to the changes he heard from one day to the next

I was tempted to use 1.0’s now to determine the difference heard but honestly there is no way I am removing the 1.5’s from under my Extreme

 

[Kingsrule]

we need a name or link to that connector. you sir, are a tease.

in the past my experience was that the proper length of USB cable was superior to even a plug like that. but my mind is open. and i expect it's cheap so i will have to try it. i have a clamp that would allow me to hang my Pro USB 'box' if it was better.

The connector on the top is a generic usb a/b adapter and the one u see in my photo above between my USB Pro and the Extreme
The connector on the bottom just arrived. I'll comment once I have it installed

 

[Mike Lavigne]

The connector on the top is a generic usb a/b adapter and the one u see in my photo above between my USB Pro and the Extreme.

The connector on the bottom just arrived. I'll comment once I have it installed

perfect and thank you. will look forward to the feedback on the 'Uptone'.

 

[CKKeung]

Of course any answer I give will be filled with bias. Because of the weight of the extreme I used a set of 1.5’s. I remember way back when this thread started Emile posted that as far as any tweaks required he said a good set of footers will suffice. I played the extreme for many days before putting the feet under as I wanted to confirm there would be a sonic benefit. The mistake I did was to put the feet in on a Monday morning, the day before Emile was coming to visit. My first listen on Monday revealed an out of the box improvement but I knew the next few days would be miserable. On Tuesday evening Emile had his first listen and to my ears it was embarrassing. The top end was rolled off and the bass was tubby. Emile tried to suggest moving the feet to the right would be better. I knew it wouldn’t based on my experience. I was right. The next morning however when we listened there was a sudden quietness to Emile as he was taking everything in. Things sounded so much better. Clearly the feet were settling. Over the next 3-5 days the feet settled totally. My sound stage now is truly immersive and deep. The sound to my ears using a 12 year old DAC was mesmerizing., so much so that I have listened to the Extreme for all but several hours when I played vinyl
The Extreme is an amazing piece of equipment but using the 1.5’s under the Extreme was an unexpected but much welcomed improvement. The sound from top to bottom is vastlly improved. Perhaps Emile might comment as to the changes he heard from one day to the next
I was tempted to use 1.0’s now to determine the difference heard but honestly there is no way I am removing the 1.5’s from under my Extreme

Hello Steve,

Emile told my the same story.
He said the 2nd day morning he was awed by the improvement of the CS2 1.5!
I think the Extreme deserves a 1.5 but it's good if you can experiment and tell us how close is the 1.0 to it.
Many thanks in advance!

 

[shaned]

The

Of course any answer I give will be filled with bias. Because of the weight of the extreme I used a set of 1.5’s. I remember way back when this thread started Emile posted that as far as any tweaks required he said a good set of footers will suffice. I played the extreme for many days before putting the feet under as I wanted to confirm there would be a sonic benefit. The mistake I did was to put the feet in on a Monday morning, the day before Emile was coming to visit. My first listen on Monday revealed an out of the box improvement but I knew the next few days would be miserable. On Tuesday evening Emile had his first listen and to my ears it was embarrassing. The top end was rolled off and the bass was tubby. Emile tried to suggest moving the feet to the right would be better. I knew it wouldn’t based on my experience. I was right. The next morning however when we listened there was a sudden quietness to Emile as he was taking everything in. Things sounded so much better. Clearly the feet were settling. Over the next 3-5 days the feet settled totally. My sound stage now is truly immersive and deep. The sound to my ears using a 12 year old DAC was mesmerizing., so much so that I have listened to the Extreme for all but several hours when I played vinyl

The Extreme is an amazing piece of equipment but using the 1.5’s under the Extreme was an unexpected but much welcomed improvement. The sound from top to bottom is vastlly improved. Perhaps Emile might comment as to the changes he heard from one day to the next

I was tempted to use 1.0’s now to determine the difference heard but honestly there is no way I am removing the 1.5’s from under my Extreme

Steve do you use the 1.5’s feet under the rest of your equipment ? Ie Amp, Dac, even say a Turntable ?

 

[steve williams]

The


Steve do you use the 1.5’s feet under the rest of your equipment ? Ie Amp, Dac, even say a Turntable ?

I use 16 1.5’ s under my amp and its power supplies. my entire front end pieces other than the Extreme are sitting on 1.0’s ( total of 56

i have a new DAC coming and I have yet to decide which size I’ll use there

 

[EuroDriver]

Can anyone with an Extreme and Evo say how they differ given the fact the Extreme is roughly 10,000 euros/pounds/dollars more ?

The forte of the Evo is running HQ Player to convert PCM to DSD. The forte of the Extreme is ultra low noise bit perfect and mild PCM to PCM upsampling

Which DAC, electronics and speakers do you have, and we can suggest which model could be interesting for you

 

[Taiko Audio]

Perhaps Emile might comment as to the changes he heard from one day to the next

It was a night and day difference.

 

[Taiko Audio]

The connector on the top is a generic usb a/b adapter and the one u see in my photo above between my USB Pro and the Extreme
The connector on the bottom just arrived. I'll comment once I have it installed

Very interesting. I did try this before myself with various USB filters. The uptone should not give you anything extra as the Vbus power it can cut is what powers the MSB Pro module. Then again, heatshrink in stead of ABS housing will already likely be audible.

 

[Kris]

Uptone connector is a great alternative to the USB cables upto 500 - 700 usd range.
it is better in every way.
only with USB cables above 700 is worst.

Emile is right.
I did isolate the uptone connector with ABS, copper shield, magnetic shield
and it changes the sound very significant.
so adding additinal shielding is great idea here.

 

[shaned]

The forte of the Evo is running HQ Player to convert PCM to DSD. The forte of the Extreme is ultra low noise bit perfect and mild PCM to PCM upsampling

Which DAC, electronics and speakers do you have, and we can suggest which model could be interesting for you

I have a Tidal Preos Dac/Preamp, a Vitus RS 101 Amp and the soon to be released Vimberg Amea Standmounts, all cabling at the minute are Tellurium Q Silver Diamonds but that could change next year. All gear will be going onto an Entreq Athena Rack as well. The Preos only has a Spdif input but i can buy a usb/Spdif converter if needs be. The power cords at the minute are also Vitus power cords with a Furutech plugs but I am also thinking of upgrading to either Alpha or Sigma power cords from Shunyata Research. Tbh the price of the Extreme is too much at the minute but If your saying the Extreme works best with non upsampling DACs which the Preos is then it might be a case of saving up to get the Extreme.

 

[microstrip]

I have now been listening to the Kondo KSL DAC v2 - it accepts 96/24 streams - connected to the Extreme through an Berkeley Design Alpha USB/SPDIF converter.

Playing Qobuz hirez files sounds really enjoyable. The Extreme helps with a solid, expansive soundstage and impressive bass that complements the LP tonality of the Kondo. The same freedom of artifacts that I have been noticing with the Vivaldi follows the Extreme.

Curiously I was finding that some Qobuz 44.1 kHz files apparently sounded more nuanced than my CD's, but I have now found why - they are 44.1/24 versus 44.1/16 of the CD.

 

[shaned]

I have now been listening to the Kondo KSL DAC v2 - it accepts 96/24 streams - connected to the Extreme through an Berkeley Design Alpha USB/SPDIF converter.

Playing Qobuz hirez files sounds really enjoyable. The Extreme helps with a solid, expansive soundstage and impressive bass that complements the LP tonality of the Kondo. The same freedom of artifacts that I have been noticing with the Vivaldi follows the Extreme.

Curiously I was finding that some Qobuz 44.1 kHz files apparently sounded more nuanced than my CD's, but I have now found why - they are 44.1/24 versus 44.1/16 of the CD.

Is the Kondo an upsampling Dac ? If not does it sound better than the DCS ?

 

[microstrip]

Is the Kondo an upsampling Dac ? If not does it sound better than the DCS ?

I have little technical details on it - just https://www.blackforestaudio.de/cms/front_content.php?idcat=45 . And I prefer the Vivaldi, but it is just an opinion, not a ranking!

 

[shaned]

For those who use the CenterStage Footers do you have them sitting under the feet of your gear or directly under the gear. I have Stillpoints at the minute but after reading some of the comments here I might not buy the Ultra 2’s or 6’s but go for the CenterStages instead

 

[steve williams]

For those who use the CenterStage Footers do you have them sitting under the feet of your gear or directly under the gear. I have Stillpoints at the minute but after reading some of the comments here I might not buy the Ultra 2’s or 6’s but go for the CenterStages instead

You never put Center Stage under the feet of your gear. NEVER


They are always placed under the component near the stock feet such that the soick feet are elevated