Taiko Audio SGM Extreme : the Crème de la Crème

[cat6man]

so the question of the day from me is "when will the routers start to ship?"

previous response was not until after the Munich show

 

[SwissTom]

More accurate as in specifically addressing AP “noise”? Yes. I actually have a pretty decent solution already with a low power AP which is powered from one the Router’s USB ports though a small isolation transformer + filter. Making progress!

I may be talking nonsense, but why not include the AP directly inside the router, with an external antenna?
A low power consuming circuit.
The whole system being powered by the BPS (or an LPS).

 

[Taiko Audio]

so the question of the day from me is "when will the routers start to ship?"

It will depend mainly on the chassis finishing company. Looking good for June.

 

[Taiko Audio]

A question to Emile re length of DAC from router to switch……. Previously you stated that DAC from switch to Extreme should be shortest useable length. Does the same rule apply for DAC from router to switch

It’s not the biggest part of the equation. Shorter is a bit tighter, longer is a bit fuller. I just pick what’s convenient to use.

 

[Taiko Audio]

Roon gets a LOT better sounding with the Switch/NIC. As it's been said before Roon with the Switch/NIC card can sound better than XDMS without the Switch/NIC.

And the same goes again for adding the Router + DC distributor.

 

[Taiko Audio]

I was wondering if in this particular case PoE could be a cleaner solution, soundwise and aesthetically?

Unfortunately no, most likely due to the buck boost converters those use. Perhaps if we specifically design a PoE injector or a 54V powersupply but I don’t think that’s the best way to go.

 

[Taiko Audio]

That'll be an interesting moment if that happens...

With DC distributor, router, switch and network card all in place, they’re actually competitive. A matter of taste which you prefer. With that said, quite a few SQ enhancing features just holding for available coding time on the agenda for XDMS. It’s rather interesting to see (hear) both evolve while taking a different path / approach, hardware solutions “improve” Roon to a larger degree then XDMS, sometimes Roon even moves ahead, but XDMS always manages to take the lead again when additional SQ enhancing are being implemented. So even though currently competitive here, I expect this to be temporary.

 

[Taiko Audio]

I may be talking nonsense, but why not include the AP directly inside the router, with an external antenna?
A low power consuming circuit.
The whole system being powered by the BPS (or an LPS).

If we can get good performance from that we most certainly will do that as a dedicated “audio” AP is absolutely better then routing your home hifi through the router.

 

[pleroma]

Any estimate for the mat silver finish?

 

[oldmustang]

This is a highly simplistic solution and likely isn't as flexible as what you require - it doesnt allow you to do "unpolluted" critical listening while the non-critical system is operating.

For some of us, simple is good. In my particular use case I never try to listen to the stereo when my wife wants to listen to tunes via one of the AV systems using Roon. Our mostly open-plan home just doesn't support doing that. So what I'd like is the ability for her to listen to music via Roon, streaming to a Roon endpoint and using the Extreme as Roon's core, *or*, with as few clicks and adjustments as possible, allow listening via XDMS and the Extreme in the main stereo system.

Steve Z

 

[Tuckia]

For some of us, simple is good. In my particular use case I never try to listen to the stereo when my wife wants to listen to tunes via one of the AV systems using Roon. Our mostly open-plan home just doesn't support doing that. So what I'd like is the ability for her to listen to music via Roon, streaming to a Roon endpoint and using the Extreme as Roon's core, *or*, with as few clicks and adjustments as possible, allow listening via XDMS and the Extreme in the main stereo system.

Steve Z

Does your wife leave the server a 20% tip?

My wife has an Aurender. No Roon conflict, lol. (Wonder how than happened? ) But we have the same open plan conflict so it really doesn’t matter I suppose.

Would two Extremes in the same household/LAN be a problem?

 

[oldmustang]

Does your wife leave the server a 20% tip?

I can only wish!

My wife has an Aurender. No Roon conflict, lol. (Wonder how than happened? ) But we have the same open plan conflict so it really doesn’t matter I suppose.

Would two Extremes in the same household/LAN be a problem?

Only to my pocketbook!

Steve Z

 

[SwissTom]

If we can get good performance from that we most certainly will do that as a dedicated “audio” AP is absolutely better then routing your home hifi through the router.

This would involve changing the router's PCB and even modifying the enclosure to allow a connector for the antenna to be added.

Would you consider a new version of the router?

 

[Taiko Audio]

Any estimate for the mat silver finish?

No, we don’t have a satisfactory sample yet.

 

[Taiko Audio]

I can only wish!

Only to my pocketbook!

Steve Z

I’d install Roon on some other (cheap) device for home duties and “isolate” the audio Roon core behind the Router. Actually I’d probably use Tidal and airplay or sonos or something like that, I like Tidal’s “Radio” features.

 

[Taiko Audio]

This would involve changing the router's PCB and even modifying the enclosure to allow a connector for the antenna to be added.

Would you consider a new version of the router?

No, the Router has 2 m.2 PCIe slots on board. Adding a cutout for an antenna is a piece of cake as long as we have it ready before we ship, which I’m pretty sure of we will.

 

[Kris]

No, the Router has 2 m.2 PCIe slots on board. Adding a cutout for an antenna is a piece of cake as long as we have it ready before we ship, which I’m pretty sure of we will.

But that needs to be confimed to be superior in SQ to the separate AP I believe.
If not you will setup the AP .
The good thing with Tplink 660 hd is that it can be setup without the console or special controler as
it has its own softwere availabe for log in .
For Ubiquity I found an issue to set it as a stand alone device to be just added without controller.

 

[Christiaan Punter]

This is a highly simplistic solution and likely isn't as flexible as what you require - it doesnt allow you to do "unpolluted" critical listening while the non-critical system is operating. But I thought I would offer it on the off-chance it's helpful.

One potential option is to use a BluOS device that you can switch on and off. For my house i bought an older model for $200. You can connect it to your home via hardwired or wireless speakers. The device will attach wirelessly to your network and will show up as a Roon endpoint. When you do critical listening on your reference system turn the BluOS device off and disable the endpoint (Roon zone) in Roon. That should remove all deleterious impact of having it on the network. When you or your wife would like to listen around your home, turn the BluOS device on and enable the endpoint in Roon. Your non-critical system will have access to your entire library, your streaming services, and will be controlled via the same Roon interface as your reference system.

While I sincerely hope this pans out, this could prove problematic. Roon/RAAT has a history of using broadcast and multicast for discovery, and also moving ports and methods with evolving releases, so getting this right may be tricky, While multicast traffic is theoretically routable between subnets, broadcasts are not, so this may end up being messy. I sure hope to be proven wrong.

I'm sure I am institutionalized by my day-to-day audio work so please excuse me if what I will propose sounds extravagant but to me it makes a lot of sense to have more than 1 server in the house with synced libraries (or just catering to Tidal/Qobuz), in cases where multiple Roon zones need to be catered to. An extra server (even a simple one) is handy as an extra library backup and for experiments and it can live on the dirty side of the network while serving to other Roon endpoints. I do a lot of listening on active Genelec speakers while working on the PC in the other room and I use a secondary server for this. For these use cases (non-critical listening), this secondary server could be just about anything and can be very cost-effective. The downside of this approach is that you can only have a single Roon core activated at any time so if you also use Roon on the Extreme, you and the family will have to log out and back in from time to time. Of course, when only using XDMS on the Extreme (as I do), this is not an issue.

 

[Christiaan Punter]

The updated Taiko Audio Extreme Router FAQ Document can be found below

The latest versions are also always available on the Taiko website: https://taikoaudio.com/taiko-2020/taiko-audio-downloads

 

[Taiko Audio]

But that needs to be confimed to be superior in SQ to the separate AP I believe.
If not you will setup the AP .
The good thing with Tplink 660 hd is that it can be setup without the console or special controler as
it has its own softwere availabe for log in .
For Ubiquity I found an issue to set it as a stand alone device to be just added without controller.

I have discarded the Tplink 660 hd, too much “interference”. The Microtik mAP lite is my currently preferred AP. It runs at 5V with about a 500mA current draw and mainly only affects high frequencies negatively where the Tplink affects almost the entire frequency range. But also exploring different paths.