Taiko Audio SGM Extreme : the Crème de la Crème

anyone know how tall the feet are?
Extreme Server footers are 18mm.
Olympus Server footers are removable and are 9mm thick. They fit inside an 8mm recess on the bottom tapped with 6mm thread.
 
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MEET AND GREET LUKAS FIKUS AND EMILE BOK - HEAR THE HORIZON 360/ TAIKO OLYMPUS & IO
It was Feb 2022 when the LampizatOr DAC was introduced to the world and I was proud to be the first recipient and was even prouder to help Lukas Fikus launch this magnificent product by having a weekend long open house at my home here in Southern California. There were about 45 attendees during that weekend and it was a huge success. Half the fun was meeting many WBF members

Well since that time the Horizon has been eclipsed with the just released Horizon 360 and I am once again happy to announce that those members , friends, relatives and audiophiles who wish to hear this most amazing DAC will be able to do such as once again I will be hosting a weekend long OPEN HOUSE for all interested

Please mark your calendars. Lukasz is confirmed to be attending from Poland and Fred (LampiNA) will be coming from New York for the event

This will be by RSVP only as I live in a guard gated community in Southern California and only those whose names are at the gate willl be admitted by the guard

Lukasz arrives the evening of Oct 31/2024 and we will get the system tweaked to his satisfaction on Friday and begin festivities Friday evening Nov 1/2024 for those who want an early audition. I suspect most people will prefer to attend on Saturday and/or Sunday November 2-3. For those who know me or attended the last event, you now that my room is modestly sized and I will need to stagger listening times to accommodate all attendees. Feel free to spend the day here as I will be providing light snacks and refreshments as I did the last time

Since the last open house my Server has changed and most know that previously I showed the Horizon with the Taiko Extreme. Well suffice it to say that I am a die hard LampizatOr and Taiko fan so the server side of my system this time will be the just released Taiko Audio Olympus and IO with the Taiko XDMI Digital cards using the newly released and updated KBL XDMI cable.

With that in mind there is continues to be strong hope that Emile and Christoph (tsaett) will be able to attend to also demo this most amazing battery powered server. I am also of the hope that if Emile is able to attend that he will be bringing an IO with the Taiko XDMI analogue card. I have the analogue card but for purposes of a faster A-B test a second IO would help maker for a speedier transition as my IO sits below the Olympus and it would take some time and manpower to switch out my digital XDMI card for the Analogue XDMI card. This will be of great interest for those considering the use of the analogue card in lieu of an outboard DAC

However the Taiko 360 will be on full display and spending sufficient time in use for all to hear. I think for semantics, I am leaning towards the Horizon 360 for all of Friday, Saturday morning and then switch to the analogue XDMI card (if Emile is present). Sunday I would likely run the same schedule if Emile is present

If Emile is unable to make this planned event most listening will be done with the new Horizon 360

To say a few words as to Emile being present......Taiko Audio is finally back to all staff being present and Emile is only going to attend if he feels comfortable that he and his staff are able to bring the Olympus and IO production rate up to a number that he feels comfortable leaving Oldenzaal for a few days. His priority is to get everyone's orders out in a timely fashion.

If Emile finds Nov 1-3 being still too soon for him to reach that comfort level I want all who read this to know that a second weekend open house event will be held with a date determined by Emile......so to all rest assured and feel comfortable to attend one or both events (should a second one become necessary). I have told Emile not to feel any pressure to make this event as his only goal is to get production ramped up sufficiently that he feels comfortable in attending. If not a second weekend open house will be in the works

So for all who want to attend please contact me by Private Message here at WBF. I will need full name as well as names of any one else attending with you for purposes of the gate passes as well as to plan for adequate refreshments and snacks

I reside in beautiful Southern California in south Orange County where the weather should be divine for the event. Fothose needing a hotel, there are several affordable and good ones within a 10 minute drive to my house.

Those who will be flying in, the quickest airport is John Wayne Airport (SNA) or Los Angeles (LAX) or San Diego (SAN)

Finally depending on interest I am planning to take Lukasz, Fred,, Emile and Christoph along with all interested for a great dinner by the ocean in either Laguna Beach or Dana Point

Please contact me here via PM for my address, hotel names and number of guests etc.

This promises to be a great weekend. Lukasz is booked to leave on Sunday evening out of LAX on a 900 PM flight so Sunday listening will have to be done by 400 PM at the latest for me to get him to Los Angeles. Listening each day will start at 1000and go to 600 PM Saturday and to 400 PPM on Sunday

Friday evening will be open for those who wish to come for an early listen

So mark your calendars and I look forward to once again meeting WBF members from last visit and to make new acquaintances for those attending for the first time

I will be posting this same announcement throughout pertinent locations on WBF so all interested can attend

Steve Williams, aka oneobgyn
There's ALWAYS another Steve Williams BUT there's only "oneobgyn"
My System
 
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Is there an AES/EBU output option for Taiko servers? It would be nice for folks that don't fancy USB, especially if it's not their DAC's best sounding input.
 
I have the AES/EBU output option for my Taiko Extreme. I prefer it by far to the USB outputs (both original and card). I don't know about the Taiko Olympus, though I'm not very interested in this model. I heard it at München in May, and was not impressed in either of the rooms where I heard it. My upgrade path will therefore no longer be Taiko. I'm considering moving to the Pink Faun 2.16 Ultra, as soon as they release an AES/EBU Ultra Bridge (by year end, I hope) with an Ultra OCXO Clock. I don't know about the Olympus, but I understand that the Extreme does not have a sophisticated clock, choosing instead to rely on the underlying Windows clock. This reliance on Windows is another reason I'm moving away from Taiko. I much prefer Pink Faun's Linux.
 
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I have the AES/EBU output option for my Taiko Extreme. I prefer it by far to the USB outputs (both original and card). I don't know about the Taiko Olympus, though I'm not very interested in this model.


The Taiko Olympus XDMI is definitely worth considering, especially if you're looking for a system with the AES/EBU interface.

As discussed in this forum, the Olympus is built on a brand-new architecture featuring a battery-powered design and the innovative XDMI interface.

The XDMI interface consists of a modular structure with two key components: the motherboard and the daughterboard. The motherboard supports various daughterboards, offering flexibility as illustrated in the diagram below.

1726635419464.png

For more detailed information, please visit:

Taiko Olympus & Olympus IO Introduction FAQ

Cheers,

Thomas
 
I have the AES/EBU output option for my Taiko Extreme. I prefer it by far to the USB outputs (both original and card). I don't know about the Taiko Olympus, though I'm not very interested in this model. I heard it at München in May, and was not impressed in either of the rooms where I heard it. My upgrade path will therefore no longer be Taiko. I'm considering moving to the Pink Faun 2.16 Ultra, as soon as they release an AES/EBU Ultra Bridge (by year end, I hope) with an Ultra OCXO Clock. I don't know about the Olympus, but I understand that the Extreme does not have a sophisticated clock, choosing instead to rely on the underlying Windows clock. This reliance on Windows is another reason I'm moving away from Taiko. I much prefer Pink Faun's Linux.

i have to say i'm embarrassed that i didn't know (or remember?) that aes/ebu was an option for the extreme. i have been using the new usb card output to a battery powered sotm usb==>aes/ebu reclocker with the superclock option, aes/ebu output to my totaldac setup. with the sotm reclocker and a totaldac sublime reclocker ahead of the totaldac tri-unity dac, i get multiple levels of reclocking and isolation.

anyone else have experience with the extreme and aes/ebu out?

@taiko--what can you tell me about the aes/ebu option? since the usb card was said to be the noisiest subsystem in the extreme, would the aes/ebu option be better for my setup? maybe a new upgraded output card and other good things are in the works, but emile cannot yet talk about them.
 
i have to say i'm embarrassed that i didn't know (or remember?) that aes/ebu was an option for the extreme. i have been using the new usb card output to a battery powered sotm usb==>aes/ebu reclocker with the superclock option, aes/ebu output to my totaldac setup. with the sotm reclocker and a totaldac sublime reclocker ahead of the totaldac tri-unity dac, i get multiple levels of reclocking and isolation.

anyone else have experience with the extreme and aes/ebu out?

@taiko--what can you tell me about the aes/ebu option? since the usb card was said to be the noisiest subsystem in the extreme, would the aes/ebu option be better for my setup? maybe a new upgraded output card and other good things are in the works, but emile cannot yet talk about them.

Aren’t you getting an I/O? That would give you a choice of outputs including AES/EBU.
 
i have to say i'm embarrassed that i didn't know (or remember?) that aes/ebu was an option for the extreme. i have been using the new usb card output to a battery powered sotm usb==>aes/ebu reclocker with the superclock option, aes/ebu output to my totaldac setup. with the sotm reclocker and a totaldac sublime reclocker ahead of the totaldac tri-unity dac, i get multiple levels of reclocking and isolation.

anyone else have experience with the extreme and aes/ebu out?

@taiko--what can you tell me about the aes/ebu option? since the usb card was said to be the noisiest subsystem in the extreme, would the aes/ebu option be better for my setup? maybe a new upgraded output card and other good things are in the works, but emile cannot yet talk about them.

Extreme with USB to Totaldac is always inferior to AES route for 3 reasons
1 st
is that usb chip in Totaldac is very very old . It's not optimal in many ways.
2nd
Totaldac is build all the way with very well optimized AES everywhere.
It sends signal with no conversions all the way via 3 reclockers and all DAC monoblocks this way.
3rd
AES is less noisy by default.

People always wanted "higher sampling rates and DSD" in their DACs but Totaldac is amazing as true R2R with lower frequency.
I will say more. It easy beats higher formats with lower frequency files.
It just sounds so much better.
So I stick to upto 24bit 192 khz as this is more than anyone could ever need.

Luckily Elimie designed Olympus with PCM being optimized . Not as an oversampling device. So Olympus should be ideal partner for Totaldacs
Via AES xdmi board.
 
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Extreme with USB to Totaldac is always inferior to AES route for 3 reasons
1 st
is that usb chip in Totaldac is very very old . It's not optimal in many ways.
2nd
Totaldac is build all the way with very well optimized AES everywhere.
It sends signal with no conversions all the way via 3 reclockers and all DAC monoblocks this way.
3rd
AES is less noisy by default.

People always wanted "higher sampling rates and DSD" in their DACs but Totaldac is amazing as true R2R with lower frequency.
I will say more. It easy beats higher formats with lower frequency files.
It just sounds so much better.
So I stick to upto 24bit 192 khz as this is more than anyone could ever need.

Luckily Elimie designed Olympus with PCM being optimized . Not as an oversampling device. So Olympus should be ideal partner for Totaldacs
Via AES xdmi board.
agree on all points, including 24-192 as more than sufficient. WAV format PCM is magnificent.
 
i have to say i'm embarrassed that i didn't know (or remember?) that aes/ebu was an option for the extreme. i have been using the new usb card output to a battery powered sotm usb==>aes/ebu reclocker with the superclock option, aes/ebu output to my totaldac setup. with the sotm reclocker and a totaldac sublime reclocker ahead of the totaldac tri-unity dac, i get multiple levels of reclocking and isolation.

anyone else have experience with the extreme and aes/ebu out?

@taiko--what can you tell me about the aes/ebu option? since the usb card was said to be the noisiest subsystem in the extreme, would the aes/ebu option be better for my setup? maybe a new upgraded output card and other good things are in the works, but emile cannot yet talk about them.
I do the same. USB out into DCC to convert to AES/EBU and then AES/EBU into my dac. This was recommended by Emile over using the Extreme AES/EBU output. I presume he knows best. It was a bit more of a faff but it works.
 
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I am still in the painful process of relocation, setting up system in the next weeks.

Where am I supposed to have optimally the AC „life“ phase at the AC inlets of the Taiko Extreme (and where at the Sean Jacobs mini arc)?

Thx for your advice! It would save some time when a lot of other things need to be done …

Cheers, Ulrich
 
I haven’t been active here in a while, mainly because I’ve started dabbling with R2R and listening to a lot of vinyl as well.
Would someone mind summarizing where we are with XDMS? I am a beta tester but was hoping it would be out of TestFlight by now.
Thanks.
 
I haven’t been active here in a while, mainly because I’ve started dabbling with R2R and listening to a lot of vinyl as well.
Would someone mind summarizing where we are with XDMS? I am a beta tester but was hoping it would be out of TestFlight by now.
Thanks.Dlog for the latest developments
Steady progress being made on XDMS. Latest build with nice uptick in SQ


Check the Blog in the XDMS Alpha Testers Discord Server for the latest upates and improved functionalities
 
Another question:

I remember the Samsung Galaxy tab a8 being recommended here as tablet to control the Extreme and sounding better (or introducing less noise) than ipads.
Well, to run the control app of my new CH Precision gear I will need an android tablet, so I think I will get one and use it for Taiko Extreme and CH Precision only.

Would you still recommend the Samsung Galaxy tab a8 or other android tablets?

Cheers, Ulrich
 

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