Taiko Audio SGM Extreme : the Crème de la Crème

[aLLeARS]

Check to make sure your controller tablet/I-pad didn't switch itself to another wifi network. This has happened to me before and can cause confusion.

 

[John T]

What I did was so stupid to embarrassed to even share! I'm up and running!!! John PS Only saving Grace is Edward said not the first time, that's what happens when panic sets in!

 

[wil]

Just tried that still NO DEVICE found

I feel you’re pain, John T. These network snafus, when they happen to me, literally make my body break into a cold sweat. It has something to do with the amorphous and evil gremlin nature of these breakdowns.

 

[John T]

Okay, I'll share my blunder! Was rearranging and dusting, moved a few things. The front of the Horizon was not in sight. If I would have noticed the Tubes in the Horizon were not illuminated I would have realized the Horizon was NOT ON!!! What a bonehead!

 

[cmarin]

i promised a few more words about my upgraded system.
what changed?
1. new updated network card
2. d1-direct updated to d1-triunity DAC
3. d1-reclocker mk2 updated to d1-sublime version reclocker

misc:
digital path: extreme usb card==>sotm usb-aes/ebu reclocker==>totaldac reclcocker==>totaldac d1-triunity
taiko switch running on wall wart power supply
sotm also running on wall wart power supply
all music local files in WAV format
XDMS alpha software on the extreme

even before the latest upgrades, the taiko switch plus network card significantly lower the noise floor and presented an improvement and detailed yet delicately layered sound. absolutely a step in right direction, and the improvement in bass due to the switch was as amazing as it was unexpected. onward to the current changes.

talking to an audio buddy last night, i was asked "but how can you tell what made the improvement if you changed multiple things at the same time?" my answer was "i don't &$# care, this is MAGIC", this is the level of SQ (actually, a better description would be level of musical enjoyment) i have been looking to (re)-achieve. in fact, this is now even better than the SQ i accidentally stumbled upon years ago, but regrettably lost.

as i write this, i'm listening to Paul Simon's "Hearts and Bones" from the next room and the sound is glorious. while this is not a standard audio demo test setup, here is find musical engagement from the next room is a signature of my system hitting on all cylinders.

going back to monday: after installing the new kit, i had a digital signal at the reclocker but not at the DAC, but after plugging in the last aes/cable at BOTH ends, i had sound. much too much sound, blowing out my ears and causing me to lunge to the remote control mute button. this was due to the tri-unity having a balanced output of 7.5V while the d1-direct output was 0.6V.
Vincent Brient has obviously found a new output stage that he prefers to the d1-direct's R2R ladder direct output. after the volume was sensibly adjusted, i ran my standard startup sequence and, of course, i had left and right channels reversed (you would think that i would get this wrong 50% of the time but for some reason my failure rate is at least 80%). i quickly ran through a bunch of my test tracks and heard nothing but good things with less than critical listening.

monday evening, i had some time to listen on my stax headphones and to say the least i was happy, smiling ear to ear.
my playlist was set to Warren Zevon's collection I'll Sleep When I'm Dead. While not an audiophile classic, it was obvious from the first seconds that the detail was astounding, but not at all harsh or tipped up. On the first track, i heard subtle details like counterpoint guitar fills that were low in the mix. the piano on Desperadoes Under the Eaves had wonderful sustain/decay and infinitely deep silences. the ability to take the music down to the long reverb tails was astonishing. one thing i really value is the ability to follow, and be interested in, multiple instrumental lines which opens up the emotional interplay between the musicians.
mentally moving between instrumental lines was easy to do with no loss of awareness of the other parallel/intertwined lines.

wednesday: time for some time with my speakers. on Raising Sand, Krauss' vocals are pure and float between the speakers,
and the soundstage was both wide and deep, even when a heavy bass line or distorted guitar was backing here. again, the music going down to silence or almost silence, then a vocal or instrument re-enters and presents a you-are-there soundstage.

is it the new network card, the tri-unity, the updated reclocker? as an engineer it is of intellectual and academic interest but i'm too busy enjoying music to take things apart and try to isolate anything. i trust it is all of the above. Vincent has said that he prefers the one box tri-unity to the old 3 box d1-12mk3. i can only say that TotalDAC and Taiko are the two companies whose view of sound aligns with mine, clearly have a strong technical view of how to get there, and who i will continue to follow.

at this point, even if there were no further improvements, dayenu! (aka this is sufficient). if the sound can get much better than this, my head will explode (uh, i still have two wall warts to replace before we even get to the router and bps)

enjoy the music!

update: if you have an extreme, don't hesitate to get the switch/network card bundle.
if you have a totaldac, this upgrade is a no brainer.

I had my totaldac d1-12 mk2 upgraded to the “sublime” version a few days before receiving the first draft of the taiko switch/card combo.

The system had been off for a few days and as with other’s experience, the new card wasn’t working. Discovered later after several days of trial and tribulations that the switch wasn’t working either, but after connecting my old switch to the old mobo card, and leaving the new switch connected to the new card anyway, I got the most wonderfully engaging sound I had ever heard before in my room.

I attributed it to the upgraded sublime DAC and some noise reduction effect of having the switch/card combo connected even if not functioning.

I wrote at the time my very favorable impressions in a post here

A few weeks later, I shipped the switch back to Taiko and removed the new card, but the sound was still the same musically engaging and live quality I had heard before, when I first installed the taiko switch/card combo.

So the effect was really due entirely to the upgrade of the totalDac to the “sublime” version.

Turn the page to this week when I got the taiko switch and the upgraded card back (by the way kudos to the Taiko team for diagnosing the issue and turning around the repaired pieces so quickly).

Wow! the improvement over what I was hearing before, and what I’m hearing now is another major forward leap.

I thought the change would be noticeable, but not to this extent! Another amazing increase in realism and musical engagement!

The totalDac sublime version produced a significant increase in musical realism/engagement, but adding the new taiko switch/card combo to the mix lowered the noise floor even more - allowing the system to take another major leap forward.

Congratulations and major kudos again to the Taiko team for their relentless pursuit of audio excellence and over the top customer service!

 

[RUIN*ish]

Will the new internal bps Extreme need/have any updated bits to take advantage of the lower noise floor?
Mn

 

[seatrope]

Okay, I'll share my blunder! Was rearranging and dusting, moved a few things. The front of the Horizon was not in sight. If I would have noticed the Tubes in the Horizon were not illuminated I would have realized the Horizon was NOT ON!!! What a bonehead!

Ha! interesting. So TAS/Roon was working but it did not find a device downstream. Missed that part, i thought there was no connection to Extreme whatsoever.

 

[Rhapsody]

I have this happen every once in a while and I have to re-boot my DAC.

 

[John T]

Ha! interesting. So TAS/Roon was working but it did not find a device downstream. Missed that part, i thought there was no connection to Extreme whatsoever.

I'm up between 5-6am everyday. Typically the same ritual everyday unless I have appointments. Music is on early and throughout the day. I do my outdoor chores, come in, and music continues. I'm so used to my routine I assumed I powered on the DAC, with the front obscured, it didn't even dawn on me I didn't power up the Horizon. Then quickly its too late I'm in panic mode and don't consider the obvious! Edward was so gracious...As he was in VNC, the obvious hit me! I had to tell him the good and bad news! He put me at ease and graciously explained this wasn't the first time this has happened....

 

[Kingsrule]

The copper network card and switch are transitory in the audio progression. For me, the copper card is a major uptick from the original.
Now I can't wait for XDMS to go to beta. (unfortunately there are no more alpha slots left so I can't get it.) But as Emile has said, Roon sounds really good now (and yes Steve, I realize XDMS blows Roon away!).
Next up for me is the MSB Digital Director. Hope to have it soon.

Also, as a former business owner, it's been kinda fun to watch Emile and his company go thru the growing pains of a new stage in Taikos growth. (Been there many times myself). Emile has dealt with this with top notch service and kudos to all of us Taiko customers to excersize patience as these new products come to market.

 

[2ndLiner]

Okay, I'll share my blunder! Was rearranging and dusting, moved a few things. The front of the Horizon was not in sight. If I would have noticed the Tubes in the Horizon were not illuminated I would have realized the Horizon was NOT ON!!! What a bonehead!

Hey John T, thanks for putting aside ego and sharing your short lived dilemma! It reminds me of that oft quoted axiom, “ He/She who has a highly sophisticated audio system will, from time to time, in the face of no sound emanating from speakers overlook the simple solution and go into exaggerated fight or flight reaction thereby increasing release of cortisol and many beads of sweat!”

 

[aLLeARS]

The new NIC arrived last evening. I just hooked it up an hour ago.
Holy cow!
Here it does as much if not more than the switch/DAC cable combo did.
Increased low level detail and improved transient response lead to a big increase in imaging. Front to back depth as well as imaging height and width greatly increased. As has overall dynamic range.
The new NIC provides a SERIOUS uptick in SQ here!
I can't wait to see what a few hundred hours of burn-in will do.
Great going Taiko!!!

 

[ctydwn]

Matte black switch and network card just ordered. So excited. Thank you all for the amazing feedback/input. I cannot wait. Rack space awaits for switch and router. And thank you Taiko of course. If I can get 20% of the uptick described on the last few dozen pages I will be ecstatic.

 

[John T]

Hey John T, thank for putting aside ego and sharing your short lived dilemma! It reminds me of that oft quoted axiom, “ He/She who has a highly sophisticated audio system will, from time to time, in the face of no sound emanating from speakers overlook the simple solution and go into exaggerated fight or flight reaction thereby increasing release of cortisol and many beads of sweat!”

Exactamundo! So well phrased! Or out of phase! Hot shot audiophile forgets device needs power...I did discover it before Edward had to ask is the Horizon on? If I didn't I would have felt even more mortified!

 

[nonesup]

Exactamundo! So well phrased! Or out of phase! Hot shot audiophile forgets device needs power...I did discover it before Edward had to ask is the Horizon on? If I didn't I would have felt even more mortified!

Well, you're not the only one, here's another one and it's happened to me twice.

 

[nonesup]

I had my totaldac d1-12 mk2 upgraded to the “sublime” version a few days before receiving the first draft of the taiko switch/card combo.

The system had been off for a few days and as with other’s experience, the new card wasn’t working. Discovered later after several days of trial and tribulations that the switch wasn’t working either, but after connecting my old switch to the old mobo card, and leaving the new switch connected to the new card anyway, I got the most wonderfully engaging sound I had ever heard before in my room.

I attributed it to the upgraded sublime DAC and some noise reduction effect of having the switch/card combo connected even if not functioning.

I wrote at the time my very favorable impressions in a post here

A few weeks later, I shipped the switch back to Taiko and removed the new card, but the sound was still the same musically engaging and live quality I had heard before, when I first installed the taiko switch/card combo.

So the effect was really due entirely to the upgrade of the totalDac to the “sublime” version.

Turn the page to this week when I got the taiko switch and the upgraded card back (by the way kudos to the Taiko team for diagnosing the issue and turning around the repaired pieces so quickly).

Wow! the improvement over what I was hearing before, and what I’m hearing now is another major forward leap.

I thought the change would be noticeable, but not to this extent! Another amazing increase in realism and musical engagement!

The totalDac sublime version produced a significant increase in musical realism/engagement, but adding the new taiko switch/card combo to the mix lowered the noise floor even more - allowing the system to take another major leap forward.

Congratulations and major kudos again to the Taiko team for their relentless pursuit of audio excellence and over the top customer service!

I thought I was the only one who had a Switch that didn't work. As it is such an extraordinarily dense piece, I would not be surprised if it is the result of the handling of the transport agencies, although it does not show external damage, some internal component may have suffered damage with the blows they receive.
Once the problem was determined, I sent it to Holland to change the PCB and when it came back I connected it via Ethernet to the old port on the motherboard. Nice improvement but I wouldn't say impressive. However four days ago I decided (since the new card is coming) to remove the cover of the Extreme to cool and connect to the card that was blocked via the DAC cable. Wow! Now yes, I have had an absolutely wonderful sound for four days, it is not a quantitative improvement, it is a level jump in sound. Marvelous.

 

[adyc]

anyone here is not owner of Extreme has got the switch?

 

[aLLeARS]

After almost 24 hours of having the NIC powered and running, I’m noticing more of what it’s doing.

The bass. It’s as if there is an additional octave below what was there before adding the NIC. Not more bass where the speakers must be moved further from the wall or the subs need to be retuned. But better bass that is cleaner, more articulate and that extends what sounds like an octave lower than before. Adding to more realism.

The other big change that I notice is the size of the image coming out of the speakers. It is more than twice as large as it was before.

When speakers, room, acoustics, equipment, cabling and power all come together the sound no longer emanates just from the two speakers. I get a sphere of sound that the speakers sit inside of. It used to be that that sphere extended to about six feet in front of my listening position.

With the combo of the new switch, DAC cable and NIC the front to back depth, height and width of the sphere has doubled or tripled in size. My listening chair, although not moved now resides within the sphere and I am surrounded by and immersed in sound. Like going from sitting in the tenth row to putting a chair on the front of the actual stage.

Absolutely spectacular.

@Taiko. Whatever you are doing, DON’T STOP!!!

 

[Zeotrope]

I’m not nearly as eloquent as everyone else who has posted about the changes the new Network card and Switch have made.
Five days after installation, here’s what I wrote:

WOW! It sounds incredible! What [is happening]?!

 

[John T]

I have to tip my cap/or raise my glass to Edward / @EuroDriver. This man has the patience of a saint. With my limited digital navigational skills (I never had the need for facetime) it creates challenges, I try to live a simple uncomplicated existence. He helped me with something on my ipad. Slowly and methodically he walked me through it. I was getting frustrated and calmly he indicated "don't worry we'll get there" and we did. What a lovely demeanor...Thank You Edward...