Taiko Audio SGM Extreme : the Crème de la Crème

[Steve Williams]

To enlarge an album jacket......

In Qobuz, Tidal or MYLibrary albums you tap on the selected album to selected you get a mini album display. Then you tap the diagonal arrow expand icon on the top right corner of the cover art to get the MIDI display with notes from Qobuz or Tidal Tap expand again and you get the MAXI album display

 

[Steve Williams]

To change the order of the queue........

Tap and hold the double headed arrow on the right of each track and you can drag the track up or down and the queue order is changed.....much the same as Roon.

Once the Beta version is released we will be able to save the queue as a playlist

 

[dminches]

At the top right are two buttons

Discovery

Concert

Concert mode has much shorter gaps than Discovery\but functionality such as shifting order of tracks in the queue is not allowed

Are you saying that there is no gapless mode?

 

[Steve Williams]

So How Does XDMS Sound???

I have been a proponent of TAS since the very first Alpha version as I have always felt the SQ to be superior to Roon. With XDMS I can tell early adopters of TAS that they will be gobsmacked as to how good the SQ is. Before I discuss my findings, I did speak to Emile yesterday and he told me that as good as XDMS is now, he has discovered a few more pearls that he claims will make it even better but until then I can say unequivocally that the SQ of XDMS is the best digital sound I have ever heard in my system. The sense of presence and ambience was always a you are there moment . The feeling of being up close and personal with the performers was staggering. The dynamics, immediacy, decay timbre and tone ws as perfect as anything I have heard to date

The bass on XDMS is immediate, tight and explosive and the midrange was exquisite and to die for. I have many demo tracks that I have used habitually over the years to future different aspects of the music and each time I played one it was the best I have ever heard . For instance my go to track for deep bass to separate the men from the boys is Depeche Mode, Welcome To My World. The first minute of that song will be all you need to know how tight or how loose and floppy your bass is. This was the best I have ever heard it. Or for the male voice, I always tend to use that of Leonard Cohen in his later years as it is difficult for a system to capture that gravel toned voice. Playing "You Want It Darker". I felt Leonard was in the room with me

For Female voice I continue to use Annette Askvik singing Liberty. The tone of her voice with XDMS brought goose bumps and the instruments interlude was simply superb. The timbre of the woodwinds was as good as Ive ever heard

For years I have used Duende by Black Light Syndrome for hard rock. The final 1-2 minutes of the piece will also separate the men from the boys especially the bass guitar which was as tight as I've heard at the very lowest of registers

In summary I would say to everyone that the wait was well worth it even though there are several more weeks of coding before all of the page buttons become operational. The SQ also is promised by Emile and Ed to become even better in the next few months with the release of the switch and the new ethernet card along with whatever discoveries Emile has made along the way. As Ed said to me, this project became far more complex and challenging than was expected but at the end of the day I am betting on the Taiko team to bring everything to fruition

My biggest kudos, compliments and accolades are pouring out to the Taiko team. Oh and did I say that Roon should truly become a thing of the past for Extreme users. Plus Idagio was a welcome surprise to which I subscribed

To those Too users who have opted not to use TAS until it or XDMS became a finished product you might feel the same now BUT I would merely suggest you listen to it before you decide that you still want to use Roon.

XDMS brings life to the music that makes the hair on your arms stand up while your feet are stomping on the floor. It is that good

In closing I love watching this company Taiko go from a 2 man operation in a garage to the enormity of what it is now and what it has aspirations to become. It couldn't have happened to a greater bunch of music lovers who state that "they have the privilege of building software for the most passionate audiophiles in the world"

 

[Steve Williams]

interesting how my messages have lit up with disappointment by some members stating that they are seeing nothing different than what they did months ago. As I stated this alpha version was put together by Ed and Christiaan to give me an understanding of the sonic improvement over TAS and Roon. As Ed told me that didn't realize how labor intensive it was just to write code for each of the app pages. Further I also explained how Covid and some coding which impaired SQ caused the team to throw out 6 weeks of work. I would suggest before everyone gets their knickers in a wad they should have a listen to XDMS. The beta version is to be coded next to hopefully appease many of you. For me , I know that this is an open platform being developed by Taiko and that Rome wasn't built in a day.

As Ed told me yesterday "we have built the house and furnished 2/3 of the rooms". I say lets be patient but if the ap is offered to you I would jump at the chance. The platform will evolve. Its where the SQ is now which for me is all important

 

[EuroDriver]

Are you saying that there is no gapless mode?

Concert Mode is currenly less than one second, and we will make it carefully shorter and shorter without impacting sound quality.

Our top priority is to furnish all the rooms and then we will turn our attention to making the gap smaller and smaller. That's a promise

 

[2ndLiner]

As possibly the least "fussy" Taiko Extreme owner when it comes to functionality I am excited at the prospect of installing XDMS in the Alpha version, "unfurnished rooms" and all. Improvements in SQ are what rocks my listening world!

 

[EuroDriver]

interesting how my messages have lit up with disappointment by some members stating that they are seeing nothing different than what they did months ago. As I stated this alpha version was put together by Ed and Christiaan to give me an understanding of the sonic improvement over TAS and Roon. As Ed told me that didn't realize how labor intensive it was just to write code for each of the app pages. Further I also explained how Covid and some coding which impaired SQ caused the team to throw out 6 weeks of work. I would suggest before everyone gets their knickers in a wad they should have a listen to XDMS. The beta version is to be coded next to hopefully appease many of you. For me , I know that this is an open platform being developed by Taiko and that Rome wasn't built in a day.

As Ed told me yesterday "we have built the house and furnished 2/3 of the rooms". I say lets be patient but if the ap is offered to you I would jump at the chance. The platform will evolve. Its where the SQ is now which for me is all important

If we take the anaolgy of devolping a new car model, what we showed a few months back were the clay models.

What Steve has in his hands now is an actual working app, receiving fingers taps and reacting and delivering music at a new sonic level

 

[ctydwn]

Sign me up as well. Crossing my fingers this is possible.
No furniture necessary. Will sleep and listen on floor.
Congrats to the whole team for the sweat and no doubt tears to getting the house built and exceeding the SQ of TAS!

Cannot wait to hear it!!

 

[EuroDriver]

By the way, we did another install of XDMS today, and it took less than 10 minutes

so much faster than TAS install

 

[adyc]

Any update on network card, switch or BMS?

 

[oldmustang]

By the way, we did another install of DMS today, and it took less than 10 minutes

so much faster than TAS install

I can attest to that, as I've had a functioning version of XDMS on my Extreme and XDMS control app on my iPad for a couple of days. Much quicker install than TAS/LMS and I know one of the functionalities Emile, Ed, Wilson and the rest of the team are working toward is an Update button that will automate the installation of new versions, bug fixes and system OS tuning updates. When that comes to fruition it will lift a large support burden off the shoulders of the Taiko staff so they can continue to pursue other advances, both software and hardware.

Steve W. gave a wonderful review of what XDMS player looks like now, so I won't repeat that here. And his comments on sound quality are right on the mark. He wasn't exaggerating -- the improvement in SQ over Roon and TAS are both significant and immediately obvious. From the first track we played after Ed performed the installation, even at lower than normal listening levels (my wife was upstairs watching a movie so I had to keep the volume down) the sense of vibrancy, energy, and most importantly, emotional involvement were and continue to be profound.

One of the most striking attributes of XDMS that I am hearing at any listening level is the sense of clarity and transparency. This, coupled with a palpable shiver of musical energy in the room combine to give well-recorded tracks an almost "lit from within" kiss of realism. This transparency is not purchased at the cost of tilted up frequency response or lack of body -- there is plenty of texture, tonal saturation and weight. Bass lines are wonderfully deep and articulate with plenty of power when the music calls for it.

Perhaps because Taiko have found new ways to minimize the impact of digital noise, a wealth of musically relevant low-level detail and ambience is brought to familiar tracks. Familiar voices sound more realistic and in-the-room than I've ever heard and phenomenon such as reverberation tails and light cymbal taps fade out longer into a natural silence rather than being truncated by an artificially dead digital-zero signal level.

All of this adds up to a very emotionally involving experience, very gratifying and very, very addictive. Over the last couple of days it would be no exaggeration to say I've been living on a couple hours sleep in-between listening sessions. I can't wait to put on my favorite music and revel in the emotional connection.

It is worth bearing in mind that as it exists now, the User Interface is still very much a work in progress with much code-writing to be done to bring functionality to all the buttons. But the potential is definitely there for XDMS not only to surpass TAS and Roon from a sound quality standpoint -- which it has already emphatically done -- but to also far outstrip TAS/LMS and rival Roon in terms of look, function and feel. That is something Ed and team are addressing seemingly 24/7 as they complete the various modules and bug reports are addressed via TestFlight.

Given what I've seen and heard XDMS will prove itself well worth the wait when they finally have the UI smoothed out enough for a general release.

To give a sense of the magnitude of improved sound quality I'm hearing, I'd liken it to a major and expensive component-level upgrade. For the amount of emotional involvement it engenders in my music, it's beyond putting a price tag on. And yet amazingly enough it is going to be free to Taiko Extreme owners.

Hats off to Emile, Ed, Wilson and all the Taiko team!

Steve Z

 

[2ndLiner]

@Steve Williams and @oldmustang
Reading your detailed descriptions of the substantial advance in SQ of XDMS is music to my eyes! Thanks for the effort!

 

[Steve Williams]

interesting how my messages have lit up with disappointment by some members stating that they are seeing nothing different than what they did months ago. As I stated this alpha version was put together by Ed and Christiaan to give me an understanding of the sonic improvement over TAS and Roon. As Ed told me that didn't realize how labor intensive it was just to write code for each of the app pages. Further I also explained how Covid and some coding which impaired SQ caused the team to throw out 6 weeks of work. I would suggest before everyone gets their knickers in a wad they should have a listen to XDMS. The beta version is to be coded next to hopefully appease many of you. For me , I know that this is an open platform being developed by Taiko and that Rome wasn't built in a day.

As Ed told me yesterday "we have built the house and furnished 2/3 of the rooms". I say lets be patient but if the ap is offered to you I would jump at the chance. The platform will evolve. Its where the SQ is now which for me is all important

I have one last remark to make that I omitted in the above post.
I’ve gotten messages from many who are disappointed whether because of too long or still not enough. As I mentioned the amount and depth of coding for this project is enormous I can quickly think of 9 perhaps there are more that are involved in this project in 4 different countries. None of this comes free. I would bet this project has cost Taiko a lot of money to make happen for we his users. So once again I would ask for patience and understanding from everyone who is waiting and to remember that Taiko is a company of audiophiles making the very best for we audiophiles. so when XDMS is made available to everyone it would be good to remember that in spite of its enormous cost to Taiko , we his users get it for free. That’s something of a rarity in the industry these days

 

[jaxdr]

By the way, we did another install of XDMS today, and it took less than 10 minutes

so much faster than TAS install

Congrats to you, Wilson and his team and of course Emile! But there was little doubt that XDMS would be a success with respect to sound quality. Has there been a decision on how to release XDMS to your remaining users? Will there be a calendar for us to sign in to similar to what we completed previously or perhaps an update notification in Test Flight? Whatever is decided...sign me up. Thank you for all the hard work that has gone into the LDMS software development. I can not understand the level of work that is required but I am sure it is significant.
I just wanted to say "Thanks".

 

[dminches]

Is the alpha version available for all those who want to try it?

 

[EuroDriver]

Is the alpha version available for all those who want to try it?

If an Extreme Owner has TAS installed previously and is happy to dive in to the weeds, then they can shoot me a message

 

[nenon]

If an Extreme Owner has TAS installed previously and is happy to dive in to the weeds, then they can shoot me a message

Ed - you will get a lot of messages . Mine is already waiting in your inbox. Please let us know if there is a better way to contact you than the email in your signature.

 

[EuroDriver]

Ed - you will get a lot of messages . Mine is already waiting in your inbox. Please let us know if there is a better way to contact you than the email in your signature.

Any way is fine, but please understand the number of installs that we do a week will be limited

Nobody wants to delay the build out of the Beta because of Alpha support

 

[Cyrus]

Nobody wants to delay the build out of the Beta because of Alpha support

+1