Taiko Audio SGM Extreme : the Crème de la Crème

[ACHiPo]

There are 456 pages here raving about the Extreme. Most seem to be the beneficial aspects for streaming. I don’t stream. What benefits would I expect from the Extreme as a music server compared to my Aurender S10?

 

[dminches]

There are 456 pages here raving about the Extreme. Most seem to be the beneficial aspects for streaming. I don’t stream. What benefits would I expect from the Extreme as a music server compared to my Aurender S10?

It is not just about streaming. The Extreme does the best job (by a mile) of any server I have heard of turning any digital file into music. I was never emotionally engaged with digital music until I listened to the Extreme. It is that simple.

 

[Bobvin]

Super Duper Extreme review by Dr. Matt Clott via EnjoyTheMusic.com!

https://www.enjoythemusic.com/super..._SGM_Extreme_Hi_Res_Music_Streamer_Review.htm

Oh yeah! And note his reference system… non other than Pilium Alexander and mighty Achilles! (Bias alert, I also have that pre and power amp.) He was using Alexia v2 — I’d love to hear Pilium and Wilson together.

 

[ACHiPo]

It is not just about streaming. The Extreme does the best job (by a mile) of any server I have heard of turning any digital file into music. I was never emotionally engaged with digital music until I listened to the Extreme. It is that simple.

Thanks. Of course hoisting it into my rack will be a challenge. I do hear nothing but superlatives about its performance.

 

[Steve Williams]

Thanks. Of course hoisting it into my rack will be a challenge. I do hear nothing but superlatives about its performance.

The superlatives are even going to get better shortly when Taiko releases the long awaited XDMS

 

[Muni]

There are 456 pages here raving about the Extreme. Most seem to be the beneficial aspects for streaming. I don’t stream. What benefits would I expect from the Extreme as a music server compared to my Aurender S10?

I don't stream as well and it does it EXTREMELY well....

 

[Zeotrope]

There are 456 pages here raving about the Extreme. Most seem to be the beneficial aspects for streaming. I don’t stream. What benefits would I expect from the Extreme as a music server compared to my Aurender S10?

I don’t stream either. From the reviews I have read, the Extreme produces even better audio quality as a server.

 

[Christiaan Punter]

I don’t stream either. From the reviews I have read, the Extreme produces even better audio quality as a server.

Indeed, locally-stored music is still considered to sound best but streaming sources are not far behind, and as a result of Taiko's ongoing efforts in optimizing the server, these differences are set to become ever smaller.

 

[Kingsrule]

The superlatives are even going to get better shortly when Taiko releases the long awaited XDMS

Actually they are going to get better with the new, revised OS that's coming shortly, before XDMS.....

 

[Taiko Audio]

Actually they are going to get better with the new, revised OS that's coming shortly, before XDMS.....

We have managed to integrate another part of TAS/XDMS into the USB driver along a few other optimizations. Waiting for validation / package integrity checks now. Altogether this sounds quite different here. We'll leave it up to you all to judge the magnitude of improvement.

 

[Kingsrule]

So is there a new OS coming or is it now something different?

 

[nonesup]

We have managed to integrate another part of TAS/XDMS into the USB driver along a few other optimizations. Waiting for validation / package integrity checks now. Altogether this sounds quite different here. We'll leave it up to you all to judge the magnitude of improvement.

Have you modified the USB drivers and do you have to reinstall the new drivers?

 

[Christiaan Punter]

So is there a new OS coming or is it now something different?

First, there is a planned update in progress with tweaks, improvements, and updates to the OS that make Roon sound even better than the current OS with TAS and even XDMS, the latter which is now being partially overhauled to implement this natively into its code. This is for a future release.

Second, work is being done on implementing the aforementioned tweaks to work with TAS, so it will be ahead again. This is for existing TAS installations.

The latest announcement by Emile regarding the integrating part of TAS/XDMS into the USB driver is still part of the ongoing research as part of the above.

 

[Christiaan Punter]

Have you modified the USB drivers and do you have to reinstall the new drivers?

Hi Francisco, When this update is released, it can be applied via a remote TeamViewer session and all the required changes can be addressed during this session. Please don't worry about the specifics involved

 

[Rhapsody]

Emile/Christiann/Ed and company. All of this is VERY EXCITING. In all of my years I've never owned any product that had as much and as many free upgrades that improved the quality and performance of the product. It's really a great thing!

Thank you for your hard work being the best sales and support organization that I have personally experienced!!!

 

[Nils]

Wohooo!

Finally - Extreme in place (makes my MSB S202 look small) - enjoying the awesome sound quality!

TAS rocks!

Can't wait for the Extreme to settle and also the Daiza platform - then the journey continues...

 

[simorag]

Emile/Christiann/Ed and company. All of this is VERY EXCITING. In all of my years I've never owned any product that had as much and as many free upgrades that improved the quality and performance of the product. It's really a great thing!

Thank you for your hard work being the best sales and support organization that I have personally experienced!!!

Providing free software updates and a viable hardware upgrade path is a very intelligent business strategy from Taiko. Not only it produces customer retention and loyalty, but it also attracts new customers.

Other players in the digital audio arena (Innuos, PS Audio, dCS, MSB, Aqua among them) do the same to some extent, working on software player / proprietary OS upgrades, firmware ugrades, and hardware modularity.

The feeling that with the Taiko Extreme you get an evolving platform with lots of R&D behind it that keep the product on the leading edge, and which you can benefit from in the long-ish term with an incremental investment or free of charge is extremely powerful.

I, for one, would have not purchased such an expensive music server, already on the (fastest moving audio technology) market since about 3 years, if I had not the confidence in some kind of future-proofness .

 

[nonesup]

Hi.
This has probably been covered before but I can't find it. What is the difference between Serial Play and Batch Play and do you find that either is superior in SQ.

 

[EuroDriver]

Hi.
This has probably been covered before but I can't find it. What is the difference between Serial Play and Batch Play and do you find that either is superior in SQ.

Serial Play goes through the Queue List Play squence,
- get track from stored library or down load from streaming service,
- process track,
- play track
There is a 500 track limit for the Queue

Batch Play gets and down loads upto max 25 tracks in the Queue and then goes through the sequnce
- process track
- play track

So the gap with Catch play is a bit shorter when you have streamed tracks in the Queue

 

[nonesup]

Have you found any difference in SQ between both methods?