DOES ANYONE REGRET BUYING A TAIKO EXTREME SERVER? ANYTHING BETTER?

[Mike Lavigne]

Sorry, this thing is just plain ugly. Don't they have any taste?

maybe they were thinking 'Gaudi' ?

OTOH would not want that cathedral in my listening room. but do appreciate it as art.

 

[ack]

Sorry, this thing is just plain ugly. Don't they have any taste?

Funny... a "Speed" dial, whatever the hell that is

 

[ack]

maybe they were thinking 'Gaudi' ?

OTOH would not want that cathedral in my listening room. but do appreciate it as art.

or maybe they were not thinking

 

[Al M.]

maybe they were thinking 'Gaudi' ?

OTOH would not want that cathedral in my listening room. but do appreciate it as art.

Gaudi? Gaudi is sublime art, this on the other hand is an atrocity. But I suppose you were joking .

 

[2ndLiner]

I give them an “A” for effort! I find it more unusual looking than ugly and if I had the dough and found it to be sonically superior to competitors I would simply add a room to accommodate...

 

[the sound of Tao]

Robert Koda looking for the secret ‘mecha anime transformer’ command... I think it’s behind the eject button...

 

[DoctorWhy]

I give them an “A” for effort! I find it more unusual looking than ugly and if I had the dough and found it to be sonically superior to competitors I would simply add a room to accommodate...

HA! You'd need a second house!!!

 

[DoctorWhy]

It looks like it weighs more than Robert Koda!

 

[Al M.]

View attachment 73863
Robert Koda looking for the secret ‘mecha anime transformer’ command... I think it’s behind the eject button...

View attachment 73862

Seeing it from the side the visual design of the DAC is even worse than I thought. Of course, you could also more positively view it as a literal "stand-out" design .

 

[christoph]

I think he is stunned by it's industrial design...... LOL

Isn't that rather steampunk "design"

 

[Elliot G.]

I personally don't think most audio gear is "beautiful".
I can't say that my CH m1.1/T1/X-1 stack is beautiful and the Wadax or MSB or dCS etc. is ugly. They are to me all boxes of electronics some better designed than others but the way I listen the gear is out of my eye sight and I care about the end result and if I can afford it We are told that form sometimes comes from function. Wadax certainly has its own look but in audio what doesn't?
If it was clearly better and I could spend the cash then I would buy it. Period
I have two friends one has the MSB and another the dCS with all the toys and both of their systems sound great. I have the CH however the logistics of hearing them all in one place at the same time are just not possible. I hope I get the chance to hear the Wadax in the near future here since I am extremely curious to hear what they have done.
I would love to see a survey of all the WBF members of what they consider good looking audio is. That could be fun !

 

[Kingsrule]

Isn't that rather steampunk "design"

Not sure what it's called but surrounded by all the beautiful Koda gear and the man himself, that pretty much defines it's design...

 

[Lagonda]

Sorry, this thing is just plain ugly. Don't they have any taste?

Looks like a box where a Klingon would store his shaving kit !

 

[the sound of Tao]

Robert Koda gear has a very refined aesthetic, it would be interesting to know what he is actually thinking as he is looking in that pic. The Wadax is classic post-modernist... which as a style often uses a series of shapes (too many) that don’t necessarily work together or harmonise completely... often busier than it needs to be... as opposed to modernism where mostly only what is needed is there and unnecessary complexity is not aimed for.

Post-modernism tended to use shapes for shapes sake as a way of filling the spaces or making a statement. Overly complex and layered and at times exaggerated forms with showy/expensive metal finishes and the use of over-scaled objects was also part of the movement.

Excess, expense and status could often be drivers in the style as well. Machine as toy was a classic post-modern move as well. Post modern is hard to do well and pull it off in a balanced way. People who aren’t strong at controlling form-making often find post modern complexity easier to apply. Yet to get rightness in flow form and fit with complexity is actually much harder to do (see Mother Nature who is the queen of complex flow, form and fit... chaos smoothed after much time) or Kandinsky perhaps.

If it (post-modernism) is happening now it is more likely to be coming from an engineer rather than an industrial designer... contemporary design is closer to modernism where functional process is a step to get though to final form, whereas back in the 80’s and 90’s post modern complexity was the dominant design move and tended towards form over function rather than the other way round.

 

[the sound of Tao]

Looks like a box where a Klingon would store his shaving kit !

Lol.

 

[Elliot G.]

Probably looking for his shoes

 

[wil]

I personally don't think most audio gear is "beautiful".
I can't say that my CH m1.1/T1/X-1 stack is beautiful and the Wadax or MSB or dCS etc. is ugly. They are to me all boxes of electronics some better designed than others but the way I listen the gear is out of my eye sight and I care about the end result and if I can afford it We are told that form sometimes comes from function. Wadax certainly has its own look but in audio what doesn't?
If it was clearly better and I could spend the cash then I would buy it. Period
I have two friends one has the MSB and another the dCS with all the toys and both of their systems sound great. I have the CH however the logistics of hearing them all in one place at the same time are just not possible. I hope I get the chance to hear the Wadax in the near future here since I am extremely curious to hear what they have done.
I would love to see a survey of all the WBF members of what they consider good looking audio is. That could be fun !

The way I would distinguish the aesthetics of CH box and the Wadax:

The CH is just a simple utilitarian box meant to efficiently house all the electronics. I don't believe it's beautiful by any means, but it get's the job done without drawing too much attention to itself.

The Wadax, by contrast, looks like a great deal of effort went into making it look like something very much more than a box. On that count, they emphatically succeeded, however in doing so produced (imo) a grand eyesore.

It may be a great piece of electronics and if you don't like the way it looks, just build a little closet for it. Problem solved!

But I do appreciate it when a designer manages to produce an elegant blend of electronic function and visual-tactile aesthetics. The above mentioned Audio Note Kondo designs are a great example of this, imo.

 

[marty]

The way I would distinguish the aesthetics of CH box and the Wadax:

The CH is just a simple utilitarian box meant to efficiently house all the electronics. I don't believe it's beautiful by any means, but it get's the job done without drawing too much attention to itself.

The Wadax, by contrast, looks like a great deal of effort went into making it look like something very much more than a box. On that count, they emphatically succeeded, however in doing so produced (imo) a grand eyesore.

It may be a great piece of electronics and if you don't like the way it looks, just build a little closet for it. Problem solved!

But I do appreciate it when a designer manages to produce an elegant blend of electronic function and visual-tactile aesthetics. The above mentioned Audio Note Kondo designs are a great example of this, imo.

Nobody has mentioned the most essential Wadax accessory. Audiophile grade.

 

[marmota]

I personally don't think most audio gear is "beautiful".
I can't say that my CH m1.1/T1/X-1 stack is beautiful and the Wadax or MSB or dCS etc. is ugly. They are to me all boxes of electronics some better designed than others but the way I listen the gear is out of my eye sight and I care about the end result and if I can afford it We are told that form sometimes comes from function. Wadax certainly has its own look but in audio what doesn't?
If it was clearly better and I could spend the cash then I would buy it. Period
I have two friends one has the MSB and another the dCS with all the toys and both of their systems sound great. I have the CH however the logistics of hearing them all in one place at the same time are just not possible. I hope I get the chance to hear the Wadax in the near future here since I am extremely curious to hear what they have done.
I would love to see a survey of all the WBF members of what they consider good looking audio is. That could be fun !

I really like the appeareance of CH Precision gear, in my opinion, the chassis design is functional, simple and solid, yet with subtle unique details that give the "boxes" a definite identity, such as the very light blue-silver anodizing. Amazingly, they manage to do it in a consistent, repeatable fashion. I have not seen anyone complaining about their multiple stack CH Precision being of slightly different colors, which is amazing considering that is not just silver or black, but a very specific silver with shades of light blue (and anodized, not a paint job).
I think that, apart from the physical design, there's a poetic beauty about the fact of delivering such a bespoke result with that level of consistency.

Other gear whose physical design I really like are Robert Koda preamps and phono and the Arai Laboratory MT-1 step up transformer. Again, simple and clean lines, yet with a clear identity.

 

[howiebrou]

The way I would distinguish the aesthetics of CH box and the Wadax:

The CH is just a simple utilitarian box meant to efficiently house all the electronics. I don't believe it's beautiful by any means, but it get's the job done without drawing too much attention to itself.

The Wadax, by contrast, looks like a great deal of effort went into making it look like something very much more than a box. On that count, they emphatically succeeded, however in doing so produced (imo) a grand eyesore.

It may be a great piece of electronics and if you don't like the way it looks, just build a little closet for it. Problem solved!

But I do appreciate it when a designer manages to produce an elegant blend of electronic function and visual-tactile aesthetics. The above mentioned Audio Note Kondo designs are a great example of this, imo.

The Wadax Atlantis series is much more conventional looking.