Battle of the giants! Taiko vs Antipodes etc

[grandsoir]

So I’m helping out building a system for someone and its come down to chose a source.

No CD’s or LP’s.

From what I have gathered, the first choice is the most popular one. I understand that its important to chose a brand that have been on the market for a while and that feels stable.

I would love to get some feedback from those who have the chance to compare or owned one or the other, changed and why?!
—

Taiko Server Extreme

Antipodes Audio Oladra Music Server

Pachanko Constellation Masterpiece

Pink Faun 2.16 ultra
—

The client will mainlt play wav/flac/dsd/sacd (iso) files locally primarly.

The choice of DAC is leaning towards Playback Design Mpd-8.

Thanks

 

[DasguteOhr]

So I’m helping out building a system for someone and its come down to chose a source.

No CD’s or LP’s.

From what I have gathered, the first choice is the most popular one. I understand that its important to chose a brand that have been on the market for a while and that feels stable.

I would love to get some feedback from those who have the chance to compare or owned one or the other, changed and why?!
—

Taiko Server Extreme

Antipodes Audio Oladra Music Server

Pachanko Constellation Masterpiece

Pink Faun 2.16 ultra
—

The client will mainlt play wav/flac/dsd/sacd (iso) files locally primarly.

The choice of DAC is leaning towards Playback Design Mpd-8.

Thanks

Why not ReQuest audio the beast or the raptor a msb dac is already in there, you have many more options, in addition, rip function cd/sacd dvd bluray.
maybe an option of your list.

 

[Zeotrope]

In my view, no one beats Taiko, they make the world’s best streamer. That said, the DAC and rest of the system have to be up to the challenge.

I have no experience with the intended DAC; but the Andreas Koch digital board is similar to what’s in my Nagra HD DAC X.

What about the rest of the system?

 

[shakti]

Antipodes announced the next level of Oladra in Munich,
(all former Oladra can get an update),
so difficult to get a first hand experience of the new Oladra.

I am a happy ROON user and I do not like to change to any other software,
so my personal decision for Oladra was als done under the light of being a good Roon server.

I have only a few DSD files, most if my 14TB library is native WAV 16bit/44,1khz files from CD's

As I love some of the old DAC chips and do prefer AES/EBU over USB, I have chosen Oladra,
as the Oladra already provides a very good and reclocked AES /EBU output.

My Music Server is not in the back yard, so the Design of the chassis was important to me as well.


Looking to todays Price Point of the Oladra and some of the competitors, I feel , that the new Innuos Statement Music Server has a fair price and a much better performance, than the old Innuos Statement versions.

 

[Manxman]

I have never heard the Antipodes or the Pachanko, but I have auditioned both the Taiko and the Pink Faun in my system – connected directly to BeoLab 90 speakers.

The Pink Faun is impressive on "audiophile" music (solo piano, acoustic stuff, etc.), with superb imaging and soundstaging, but is less accomplished on rock (or anything poorly recorded or with a congested soundstage).

The Taiko can't equal the Pink Faun on "audiophile" music but is more consistent, delivering a sonic upgrade (not necessarily huge, but it's definitely there) on anything you play through it.

The Lucas Domansky LDMS, which should also be on your shortlist, is halfway between the two in terms of sonics, and considerably cheaper. This is the one I bought.

NB: The Pink Faun was auditioned using Stylus, the Taiko using TAS (now supplanted by XDMS) and the LDMS its own software. If you prefer to use Roon, which makes a huge sonic difference (and not, to my ears, for the better), all bets are off.

 

[Zeotrope]

XDMS is a MAJOR upgrade for the Taiko. There's zero chance the Pink Faun will be close to the latest version of the Extreme with XDMS. Taiko's new network switch, router, and upcoming battery supply will take it even further away from the competition. Only the Wadax is probably a close contender.
ROON is not even close to XDMS in terms of SQ.

 

[TDX]

I chose Pachanko masterpiece because I personally believe power supply is the most important thing in Hifi. Pachanko uses custom made pure silver transformer which is the only server in the market using it. The result is very satisfying to me. The background is so dark that I feel the notes just popping to me. Also to add that it’s very stable, I’ve never had any issue with it.

 

[Verdier]

Also to add that it’s very stable, I’ve never had any issue with it.

How long have you had the Pachanko?

 

[Klonk]

Why not ReQuest audio the beast or the raptor a msb dac is already in there, you have many more options, in addition, rip function cd/sacd dvd bluray.
maybe an option of your list.

Can you stream Qobuz and others with the ReQuest products? Can you run Ron on it?

 

[DasguteOhr]

Can you stream Qobuz and others with the ReQuest products? Can you run Ron on it?

https://help.roonlabs.com/portal/en/kb/articles/linux-install

roon runs linux . I don't have a request audio server. i only heard the beast from a friend i thought it was extremely good with ripped files. streaming works.with femto galaxy clock, msb select dac parts installed really good unfortunately very expensive around new 45k€..used 20k€

 

[TDX]

How long have you had the Pachanko?

About 8 months

 

[grandsoir]

In my view, no one beats Taiko, they make the world’s best streamer. That said, the DAC and rest of the system have to be up to the challenge.

I have no experience with the intended DAC; but the Andreas Koch digital board is similar to what’s in my Nagra HD DAC X.

What about the rest of the system?

The rest of the system

1 x pair of custombuilt speakers exclusive and only available here in Sweden
2 x Bryston 28 monobloc 28b3 – Bryston
1 x Marantz Cinema 40 (For hometheater) Pre-amp
1 x Taiko / Pink Faun / Pachanko musicserver. Files will be played locally primarly FLAC/WAV/DSD.
1 x Playback Design MDP-8 DAC (90% sure) Can be used as a pre-amp / Lampizator is interesting as well, but I cant hear it here in Sweden.

 

[abeidrov]

I would add Aurender N30 to the mix based on a number of comparisons (including my own to old Antipodes models) done so far with Taiko. My impression is that there have not been a definite winner, and at least Aurender plays in the same field as Taiko. And not having Roon whether it’s XDMS or Conductor is actually an advantage in my view, as your sound quality is not dependent on future Roon releases.

 

[Zeotrope]

First of all, I don’t think any of these comparisons have been done with the latest Taiko software (XDMS) and hardware (Network Switch and Router [the latter is shipping in a few weeks]). These components take what was already the class-leader way further forward. So to really compare and listen for yourself, if you’re not convinced, you need to hear the Extreme with the latest components.

To get the most out of these digital servers, you need custom software. Roon won’t cut it. To be clear, you can use Roon with the Extreme, and it sounds great; but when you hear XDMS, it’s not even close to Roon.

The power supply is definitely critical. I haven’t seen any other device with the same sophistication and quality of components that Taiko uses, the Pachanko Masterpiece included. However, the Pachanko is about half the price of the Extreme, so one shouldn’t expect it to be the equal of the Extreme.

 

[TDX]

First of all, I don’t think any of these comparisons have been done with the latest Taiko software (XDMS) and hardware (Network Switch and Router [the latter is shipping in a few weeks]). These components take what was already the class-leader way further forward. So to really compare and listen for yourself, if you’re not convinced, you need to hear the Extreme with the latest components.

To get the most out of these digital servers, you need custom software. Roon won’t cut it. To be clear, you can use Roon with the Extreme, and it sounds great; but when you hear XDMS, it’s not even close to Roon.

The power supply is definitely critical. I haven’t seen any other device with the same sophistication and quality of components that Taiko uses, the Pachanko Masterpiece included. However, the Pachanko is about half the price of the Extreme, so one shouldn’t expect it to be the equal of the Extreme.

The last sentence makes me laugh. Because it’s cheaper so it’s worse . Can’t judge but it’s funny.

 

[Verdier]

Taiko seems to be really good. (I've listened to it too, but still found analog better, but that's another topic. It sounded good in any case - but I had no digital comparison)

But when I look at the Taiko thread here with about 18,500 posts then I ask myself: is this the right device? I mean a device that I update no more than 1 time a year (whether hardware or software) and for which I do not have to ask again and again to get the best out of it. Can the Extreme Server do that? If so, where does 18,500 posts come from (and no, I can't and won't look at that many posts)?

 

[DrPo]

Some thoughts:

Personally, I could not come to grips with the cost of the top offerings (I have contacted TAIKO and PinkFaun and of course Antipodes having been a long term user).

What I like about Pachanko are:
- that there is a range of products which allow to match with someone's financial capabilities. Being located in a smaller country it was also important that I was able to do home demos of two Pachanko models against my former Antipodes EX+P2 reclocker solution. The entry model did not offer significant advantages, the 2nd one (Reference), especially when paired with a Diretta bridge did the trick for me and I went this way.

- The personalised support by Chan at Pachanko has proven to be a unique experience (truth be told, I hear similar excellent feedback about Emile @TAIKO)

- Finally, it was (for me) important to choose a solution which is optimized for USB as my DAC is a DSD native DAC (like the OP's) and several of the top solutions out there seem to prefer re-clocking to AES/EBU (in fact this was the case with my Antipodes as well)

Wishing the OP best of success in her/his endeavour !

 

[Zeotrope]

The last sentence makes me laugh. Because it’s cheaper so it’s worse . Can’t judge but it’s funny.

No, it doesn’t have to mean it’s worse if it’s less expensive. But it should make owners feel better because it’s less expensive. I was trying to be nice .

Any prospective owner just has to read the companies’ websites and read the owner experiences on this forum, and it’s clear who makes the best digital streamer.

Taiko is so far ahead it’s honestly not even close. But it’s not cheap!

 

[Zeotrope]

Taiko seems to be really good. (I've listened to it too, but still found analog better, but that's another topic. It sounded good in any case - but I had no digital comparison)

But when I look at the Taiko thread here with about 18,500 posts then I ask myself: is this the right device? I mean a device that I update no more than 1 time a year (whether hardware or software) and for which I do not have to ask again and again to get the best out of it. Can the Extreme Server do that? If so, where does 18,500 posts come from (and no, I can't and won't look at that many posts)?

You don’t have to read the posts. The Taiko team is sharing their journey and listening to customers publicly.
It’s a platform that is continuously improving. I’d rather have 18k+ posts from a company that is always pushing the boundary with genius level of tech vision, vs the opposite: a company that rests on its laurels and doesn’t update regularly.
All the software is free as well. And honestly the difference XDMS makes over Roon is incredible.

And I agree that analog is more realistic and sounds better overall; but that’s another topic! And you have to spend more for an analog system to beat a Taiko with a great DAC.

 

[Manxman]

There's zero chance the Pink Faun will be close to the latest version of the Extreme with XDMS.

What were your impressions of the 2.16 Ultra when you heard it? Would you agree with my assessment that it delivers a more "technical", precise sound than the Taiko, which is generally richer and "warmer", or did you perceive it differently?