Taiko Audio SGM Extreme : the Crème de la Crème

oldmustang

Well-Known Member
Dec 1, 2012
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Wise guides or wise guys? :eek:
 

alwayslearning

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Jan 13, 2011
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Rhapsody

VIP/Donor
Jan 16, 2013
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Brooklyn NY
Rhapsody.Audio
Is anyone using a Playback Designs MPD-8 DAC with an Extreme? If yes, please pm me....thx
 

alwayslearning

Well-Known Member
Jan 13, 2011
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Wow, those are drool worthy listening spaces, Emile. I love the view of the wooded area in the third photo. Looking forward to a visit during sunnier times.
 

Mike Lavigne

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 25, 2010
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just spent an hour or so working through some TAS-dac investigations with Emile. last night a few others with Wilson. i really appreciate the efforts being made by this team on our behalf. i can access all the performance, but it's not yet a seamless experience. i'm sure it will become more so.

i'm hearing digital at a whole new level of performance. both my files and Quboz.

right now i listening to a 24/176 and 24/192 (it contains tracks of both resolutions) file of Patricia Barber's Modern Cool. this is a long time reference for me. it's a fine recording. now it reminds me of 1/2" tape. like i can sink deep into it. prior it's only hinted that it might be like this.

this is so exciting.
 
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Kingsrule

VIP/Donor
Feb 3, 2011
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just spent an hour or so working through some TAS-dac investigations with Emile. last night a few others with Wilson. i really appreciate the efforts being made by this team on our behalf. i can access all the performance, but it's not yet a seamless experience. i'm sure it will become more so.

i'm hearing digital at a whole new level of performance. both my files and Quboz.

right now i listening to a 24/176 and 24/192 (it contains tracks of both resolutions) file of Patricia Barber's Modern Cool. this is a long time reference for me. it's a fine recording. now it reminds me of 1/2" tape. like i can sink deep into it. prior it's only hinted that it might be like this.

this is so exciting.
WOW!
 

oldmustang

Well-Known Member
Dec 1, 2012
1,057
3,124
1,445
I'm hearing digital at a whole new level of performance. both my files and Quboz.

right now i listening to a 24/176 and 24/192 (it contains tracks of both resolutions) file of Patricia Barber's Modern Cool. this is a long time reference for me. it's a fine recording. now it reminds me of 1/2" tape. like i can sink deep into it. prior it's only hinted that it might be like this.

this is so exciting.

I couldn't agree more with you, Mike. As I dive deeper into my favorite digital tracks I continue to be more and more impressed by the sound quality delivered by TAS.

I don't have a lot of experience with R2R other than playing high-resolution digital transfers from HDTT and a friend who collects master tapes, but I can say without hesitation that well-recorded, well-transferred digital files absolutely sound the best I've ever heard in my home. The Extreme itself significantly narrowed the gap between digital and vinyl in my system, and TAS has done more of the same -- giving me hours of deep relaxation and musical enjoyment without ever being tempted to reach for an LP.

If not at true parity -- and I haven't sat down to seriously compare my best digital files to my best vinyl yet -- I think I'm getting so close that my decision about what to play now comes down to provenance and recording-pressing/transfer quality and not analog vs digital. At least at my house.

An amazing achievement by Emile, Wilson and all the Taiko team.

Steve Z
 
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Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
I couldn't agree more with you, Mike. As I dive deeper into my favorite digital tracks I continue to be more and more impressed by the sound quality delivered by TAS.

I don't have a lot of experience with R2R other than playing high-resolution digital transfers from HDTT and a friend who collects master tapes, but I can say without hesitation that well-recorded, well-transferred digital files absolutely sound the best I've ever heard in my home. The Extreme itself significantly narrowed the gap between digital and vinyl in my system, and TAS has done more of the same -- giving me hours of deep relaxation and musical enjoyment without ever being tempted to reach for an LP.

If not at true parity -- and I haven't sat down to seriously compare my best digital files to my best vinyl yet -- I think I'm getting so close that my decision about what to play now comes down to provenance and recording-pressing-transfer quality and not analog vs digital. At least at my house.

An amazing achievement by Emile, Wilson and all the Taiko team.

Steve Z
But wait.... the best is yet to come
 

cat6man

Well-Known Member
Feb 6, 2013
890
995
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west of NYC, east of SF
i see a poll on output connection type above but need more resolution on the type of DAC.
is aes/ebu still the preferred digital output for feeding a TotalDAC?
 

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
Just to re iterate...if you’re an Extreme owner you should seriously consider becoming a beta tester because truly if you think things sound great now I can tell you that the SQ of the alpha version of TAS totally trumped what I previously heard from Roon. And this is just the beginning as it is an open platform dedicated to bringing us the best sounding music. I haven’t listened to Roon since Emile installed the alpha version of TAS. I hope this suggestion to Extreme owners doesn’t overload Ed and his team but with more beta users it could give a lot more data points to Emile and his team.
 

plasmod3

Well-Known Member
Aug 28, 2020
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Hi does TAS handle large libraries Steve? I have about 15k albums - will it be easyto find and discover or do you discover on another platform then play it on tas? Part of the journey is the discovery:)
 

Taiko Audio

Industry Expert
Feb 10, 2017
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The Netherlands
taikoaudio.com
i see a poll on output connection type above but need more resolution on the type of DAC.
is aes/ebu still the preferred digital output for feeding a TotalDAC?

I’d rate it at about 90% of USB, but it’s a softer presentation which some people may prefer over the higher res picture USB paints.
 

Taiko Audio

Industry Expert
Feb 10, 2017
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taikoaudio.com
Hi does TAS handle large libraries Steve? I have about 15k albums - will it be easyto find and discover or do you discover on another platform then play it on tas? Part of the journey is the discovery:)

@Mike Lavigne has a similar library size to yours, he did need to purchase a more recent Ipad if I recall correctly.
 

Mike Lavigne

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 25, 2010
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Hi does TAS handle large libraries Steve? I have about 15k albums - will it be easyto find and discover or do you discover on another platform then play it on tas? Part of the journey is the discovery:)

i have around 10,500 album files on my PCIe drives.

TAS certainly handles the volume fine, but at this stage in it's development it does not sort by format, or most listened to, or newest. you can choose album, or artist alphabetically. or do playlists or favorites.

Quboz in TAS is much closer to the same search feel than my files right now. i can get around there quite easily.

so right now things are not where i'm use to them being, and not being able to sort by format, and then by most played (which is my preferred sorting approach with Roon) does slow me down.

but it's brand new, and sounds fabulous and living through the maturation process is fine with me. i can revert to Roon if i need to find something and then switch back.

another week or two of using TAS i'm sure i will be able to navigate better. i've not really used it much yet because of some dac computability issues that are close to being resolved.
 
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Mike Lavigne

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 25, 2010
12,471
11,366
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@Mike Lavigne has a similar library size to yours, he did need to purchase a more recent Ipad if I recall correctly.

yes; my old (5-6 years old) i-pad could not handle certain modes of album viewing. likely Roon was more efficient and less demanding. but any newer i-pad with more RAM should be fine.
 

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