Taiko Audio SGM Extreme : the Crème de la Crème

Taiko Audio · May 26, 2021

Red4765 said:
Hi! I just have a couple of questions to current Extreme owners. I am about to order an Extreme from a dealer. Is it true that the new USB sound card is the best output? Because from my own experience with other server/streamers, aes/ebu has always been my preferred choice. I have had positive results with aes/ebu and a few re-clocker such as Mutec, Grimm, and Denafrips in between source and dac. Since I am getting the Extreme, I just want to know how best to integrate it in to my system. What USB, ethernet, power cables people are using, or are most popular with the Extreme? Will I still benefit from using an external reclocker/DDC? My current dac is Brinkmann Nyquist II. I found using either Grimm or Denafrips Gaia as re-clocker via aes/ebu gave me 25-30% improvement in SQ. I am considering upgrading my dac as well. Any recommendations is welcome.

USB will perform best with the Brinkmann Nyquist II, it's also supported by our new USB driver which elevates performance even further.

AES/EBU can potentially perform better then the first generation USB interfaces which are now around 10 years old and not typically found in modern DACs.

Red4765 · May 26, 2021

oldmustang said:
PS: If you look at the top of each page you’ll see the results of the user poll showing the numbers and percentage of respondents in each catagory. USB is far and away the number 1 choice. Presumably a fair number of folks have compared USB to other outputs and decided like I did that USB sounded best.

Steve Z

Many thanks for your opinion.

Red4765 · May 26, 2021

Taiko Audio said:
USB will perform best with the Brinkmann Nyquist II, it's also supported by our new USB driver which elevates performance even further.

AES/EBU can potentially perform better then the first generation USB interfaces which are now around 10 years old and not typically found in modern DACs.

I am confirming my order with Living Sound. As the poll shows, USB is probably the best way to go I guess. But I still question the USB implementation on the Nyquist. I have gotten much better sound out of it using reclocker or DDC such as Grimm, Mutec, and Denafrips Gaia. Do you think I still need this type of medium to take the USB output from the Extreme and use aes/ebu into the Nyquist? Or do you think the Nyqiust will perform well enough. Does the Mutec MC3+, or Denafrips Gaia need special drivers? In case I want to compare them to direct connection Extreme-Nuquist USB?

Taiko Audio · May 26, 2021

Red4765 said:
I am confirming my order with Living Sound. As the poll shows, USB is probably the best way to go I guess. But I still question the USB implementation on the Nyquist. I have gotten much better sound out of it using reclocker or DDC such as Grimm, Mutec, and Denafrips Gaia. Do you think I still need this type of medium to take the USB output from the Extreme and use aes/ebu into the Nyquist? Or do you think the Nyqiust will perform well enough. Does the Mutec MC3+, or Denafrips Gaia need special drivers? In case I want to compare them to direct connection Extreme-Nuquist USB?

I am confident these will degrade the direct USB performance of the Extreme into the Nyquist. You'd need a driver for those which we can help you with.

MadFloyd · May 26, 2021

Taiko Audio said:
I am confident these will degrade the direct USB performance of the Extreme into the Nyquist. You'd need a driver for those which we can help you with.

Are you saying that going USB out of the Extreme into an intermediate device with output from there via AES/EBU to the DAC is not a good strategy?

Taiko Audio · May 26, 2021

MadFloyd said:
Are you saying that going USB out of the Extreme into an intermediate device with output from there via AES/EBU to the DAC is not a good strategy?

That is an ok strategy, what I'm saying is that it's highly unlikely to be an improvement over a direct USB connection assuming the DAC has a good USB interface, which the Brinkmann Nyquist II has. Even more so when using our new USB card.

EuroDriver · May 27, 2021

Every USB receiver is sensitive to the RF noise being passed to it during data transmission. With the Extreme, TAS software and the TaikoUSB card, this RF noise has been pushed down to new low levels

Scatterbrain99 · May 27, 2021

What'd be the recommended way to connect Extreme to a DAC that doesn't have a USB input? I'm thinking about Audio Note DAC specifically. Given the lack of USB input, is it always going to be a compromise (either using Extreme with SPDIF or Extreme USB with a USB-to-SPDIF converter) over using straight USB connection?

Lampie519 · May 27, 2021

Taiko Audio · May 27, 2021

Scatterbrain99 said:
What'd be the recommended way to connect Extreme to a DAC that doesn't have a USB input? I'm thinking about Audio Note DAC specifically. Given the lack of USB input, is it always going to be a compromise (either using Extreme with SPDIF or Extreme USB with a USB-to-SPDIF converter) over using straight USB connection?

The SRC-DX mentioned in the last few pages is actually a very good option. That is indeed a USB to SPDIF converter. Alternatively that is indeed exactly the application we offer the AES/EBU / SPDIF output options for.

Taiko Audio · May 27, 2021

Lampie519 said:
Mono & Stereo © 2021: hiFace Two review (monoandstereo.com)

We have not tried it yet but will order one.

Lampie519 · May 27, 2021

Taiko Audio said:
We have not tried it yet but will order one.

The only thing i don't like about it that it has no cable (the "dongle" is just too bulky for the lousy laptop USB connector).

Taiko Audio · May 27, 2021

Lampie519 said:
The only thing i don't like about it that it has no cable (the "dongle" is just too bulky for the lousy laptop USB connector).

Can you share a photo of the other side?

Lampie519 · May 27, 2021

There are 2 versions of it. The older version uses a BB DIT4192 that can output 2x mono (good for my dac but i will need two of these for stereo) and the second one (newer model) can not.
Musique Audiophile: M2Tech hiFace Two (english version) (musiq-audiophile.blogspot.com)
HIFIDIY??-USB-SPDIF M2TECH HIFACE??-?? - Powered by Discuz!

Taiko Audio · May 27, 2021

Lampie519 said:
There are 2 versions of it. The first version uses a DIT that can output 2x mono (for my dac) and the scond one (newer model) can not.
Musique Audiophile: M2Tech hiFace Two (english version) (musiq-audiophile.blogspot.com)
HIFIDIY??-USB-SPDIF M2TECH HIFACE??-?? - Powered by Discuz!

Ah that looks like a first gen XMOS, we can actually add support for that to our USB driver. Will get one to test for SQ.

Scatterbrain99 · May 27, 2021

Taiko Audio said:
The SRC-DX mentioned in the last few pages is actually a very good option. That is indeed a USB to SPDIF converter. Alternatively that is indeed exactly the application we offer the AES/EBU / SPDIF output options for.

Thank you Emile! One more question, between the following two options which would come closest to the straight USB connection between Extreme and Audio Note DAC:
i) Extreme USB -> SRC-DX -> DAC
ii) Extreme AES/EBU -> DAC

I'm guessing both setup above wouldn't be able to take advantage of the Taiko USB driver, correct? If so, it's going to be a compromise to straight USB connection from Extreme. I wonder how close the gap is though.

Taiko Audio · May 27, 2021

Scatterbrain99 said:
Thank you Emile! One more question, between the following two options which would come closest to the straight USB connection between Extreme and Audio Note DAC:
i) Extreme USB -> SRC-DX -> DAC
ii) Extreme AES/EBU -> DAC

I'm guessing both setup above wouldn't be able to take advantage of the Taiko USB driver, correct? If so, it's going to be a compromise to straight USB connection from Extreme. I wonder how close the gap is though.

My estimation is 1) will come out on top when used in conjunction with our new USB card, but I will run that comparison in the next few weeks, we have just received a SRC-DX. We are working on the SRC-DX driver which is highly configurable and we may get similar performance from it as our own USB driver with some finetuning, or we can modify our driver to work well with it.

EuroDriver · May 31, 2021

TAS future capability plans

To give a bit of an update on the TAS development road map.

TAS will have besides Qobuz and Tidal streaming services also Amazon Music and Deezer.

Also there will be some functionality to listen to some selected internet radio stations.

There are also moves in the works for some new audiophile content services which will have their debut at the end of the year or early next year

Lots of work ahead, but exciting content additions

EuroDriver · May 31, 2021

Further DAC's added to the Taiko USB Driver

- dCS Rossini
- Resolution Cantata 3.0
- Solution 760

microstrip · Jun 4, 2021

Taiko Audio said:
My estimation is 1) will come out on top when used in conjunction with our new USB card, but I will run that comparison in the next few weeks, we have just received a SRC-DX. We are working on the SRC-DX driver which is highly configurable and we may get similar performance from it as our own USB driver with some finetuning, or we can modify our driver to work well with it.

Do you still supply the Taiko Audio AES/EBU card?

Taiko Audio SGM Extreme : the Crème de la Crème

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