Taiko Audio SGM Extreme : the Crème de la Crème

[Steve Williams]

Listening with the new Taiko router > Taiko switch > NIC/Extreme, using the Taiko DC Distributor unfiltered outputs (powered by an Uptone Audio JS-2 linear power supply) is quite an experience even without significant burn-in.

Last night I listened to music via Roon for the first time since early June (according to Roon's queue history). I thought Roon sounded pretty darn good; certainly good enough that I was able to thoroughly enjoy all the music I played without being distracted wondering how much better it might sound via XDMS.

Tonight, the longer I listened the more I realized how much better everything sounds with the Taiko router providing a music-only sub-LAN. First impressions -- this is by far the best I have ever heard Roon sound. Denser tonal saturation, truer timbre, better dynamics, much more depth and dimensionality. There is another whole layer of fine detail, subtle nuance and enhanced texture I've never heard before from very familiar music.

I had absolutely no desire to switch back to XDMS, so that comparison will have to wait for another day. In the meantime I am very, very impressed by the Taiko router.

View attachment 118052

Steve Z

I must be 2 days ahead of you as I, who am not a Roon user, found the sound of Roon using default/default to be the best I ever heard and for the next 5 days I was gobsmacked that Roon was outperforming XDMS. The next day and a half I then switched to alt1 and even though Ron still sounded better than XDMS it was but a shadow of its former self that I heard the in the few days prior to switching to alt1. I tried alt1 on both switch and router and to me it sounded anemic and was a polite version of what I had been hearing with default/default.Cut to the chase, I just could not listen to alt1 when default/default sounded better to me. I gave up on alt 1 and went to alt2. To me this was the defining moment as the sound for me was suddenly what I was used to hearing when using XDMS. I did a very lengthy a-b-a test yesterday with alt2 and going fromXDMS to Roon and back to XDMS. Roon indeed has all the attributes Steve Z describes and if you're a Roon fan you will love the sound.......but here's what I found with alt2 on Router and default on switch......to my ears I once again preferred the sound of XDMS beyond what I was hearing with Roon. At the end of day I was completely back on XDMS. All of the sonic signature that I was used to hearing with XDMS was not only back but to my ears was the soundto which I gravitate.. So yesterday was the day for me that not only cinched my DCD settings but gave me the glimpses of Roon which are indeed mesmerizing but at the end of the day I was rocking in my chair to every new and old song that I played with XDMS

@Taiko Audio, I am now officially ready for NSM. Bring it on. Ive heard the beauty of Roon, better than ever before but to my ears XDMS had the body and texture and overall involvement that I so love with XDMS. I remain "all-in" with XDMS. It's important to note that the sound with XDMS seems to improve as the burn in advances. Yesterday was a special day. I am hoping for more of the XDMS mojo as the burn in continues

 

[theaudiogeek]

The vast majority of users have an iPad and that is what we usually regard as the standard. You can use a dedicated tablet or the one you already use (either iPad or Android) and just switch Wi-Fi networks as needed/desired.

Hi Christian,

Thank you. I went and got a dedicated iPad for this purpose. I thought you need the WiFi network (connected to TaikoAudio WiFi) in order to use the ControlApp. Could you please elaborate on what do you mean by "...just switch Wi-Fi networks as needed/desired" ?

Thanks

 

[Steve Williams]

Hi Christian,

Thank you. I went and got a dedicated iPad for this purpose. I thought you need the WiFi network (connected to TaikoAudio WiFi) in order to use the ControlApp. Could you please elaborate on what do you mean by "...just switch Wi-Fi networks as needed/desired" ?

Thanks

I have an iPad in my sound room. When I play music I use Taiko WiFI. Then if I was to use it for internet or email etc, I switch to my home network. its straight forward

 

[theaudiogeek]

I have an iPad in my sound room. When I play music I use Taiko WiFI. Then if I was to use it for internet or email etc, I switch to my home network. its straight forward

Yep.. sorry.. should stop multi tasking. Christian.. plesae ignore my question.

 

[Kris]

It would be possible but a pretty significant downgrade to performance, imho

I agree 100%
I was doing multiple comparisons few years ago and I learned that a good local clock is far better than any external clock.
Plus you have a secret treat to the clocks that you never diclosed.
Cant wait to try it.

 

[wil]

I must be 2 days ahead of you as I, who am not a Roon user, found the sound of Roon using default/default to be the best I ever heard and for the next 5 days I was gobsmacked that Roon was outperforming XDMS. The next day and a half I then switched to alt1 and even though Ron still sounded better than XDMS it was but a shadow of its former self that I heard the in the few days prior to switching to alt1. I tried alt1 on both switch and router and to me it sounded anemic and was a polite version of what I had been hearing with default/default.Cut to the chase, I just could not listen to alt1 when default/default sounded better to me. I gave up on alt 1 and went to alt2. To me this was the defining moment as the sound for me was suddenly what I was used to hearing when using XDMS. I did a very lengthy a-b-a test yesterday with alt2 and going fromXDMS to Roon and back to XDMS. Roon indeed has all the attributes Steve Z describes and if you're a Roon fan you will love the sound.......but here's what I found with alt2 on Router and default on switch......to my ears I once again preferred the sound of XDMS beyond what I was hearing with Roon. At the end of day I was completely back on XDMS. All of the sonic signature that I was used to hearing with XDMS was not only back but to my ears was the soundto which I gravitate.. So yesterday was the day for me that not only cinched my DCD settings but gave me the glimpses of Roon which are indeed mesmerizing but at the end of the day I was rocking in my chair to every new and old song that I played with XDMS

@Taiko Audio, I am now officially ready for NSM. Bring it on. Ive heard the beauty of Roon, better than ever before but to my ears XDMS had the body and texture and overall involvement that I so love with XDMS. I remain "all-in" with XDMS. It's important to note that the sound with XDMS seems to improve as the burn in advances. Yesterday was a special day. I am hoping for more of the XDMS mojo as the burn in continues

Steve, it sounds a little bit like you’re saying that XDMS with the default setting took a step back from XDMS before the router was installed— independent of Roon taking a step forward?

and now you now prefer XDMS with a alt2 over Roon default?

A lot of spinning plates, along with router burn in as well…

 

[wil]

Can anyone explain technically what these Alt router settings are doing? (without divulging anything proprietary)?

 

[Kris]

I must be 2 days ahead of you as I, who am not a Roon user, found the sound of Roon using default/default to be the best I ever heard and for the next 5 days I was gobsmacked that Roon was outperforming XDMS. The next day and a half I then switched to alt1 and even though Ron still sounded better than XDMS it was but a shadow of its former self that I heard the in the few days prior to switching to alt1. I tried alt1 on both switch and router and to me it sounded anemic and was a polite version of what I had been hearing with default/default.Cut to the chase, I just could not listen to alt1 when default/default sounded better to me. I gave up on alt 1 and went to alt2. To me this was the defining moment as the sound for me was suddenly what I was used to hearing when using XDMS. I did a very lengthy a-b-a test yesterday with alt2 and going fromXDMS to Roon and back to XDMS. Roon indeed has all the attributes Steve Z describes and if you're a Roon fan you will love the sound.......but here's what I found with alt2 on Router and default on switch......to my ears I once again preferred the sound of XDMS beyond what I was hearing with Roon. At the end of day I was completely back on XDMS. All of the sonic signature that I was used to hearing with XDMS was not only back but to my ears was the soundto which I gravitate.. So yesterday was the day for me that not only cinched my DCD settings but gave me the glimpses of Roon which are indeed mesmerizing but at the end of the day I was rocking in my chair to every new and old song that I played with XDMS

@Taiko Audio, I am now officially ready for NSM. Bring it on. Ive heard the beauty of Roon, better than ever before but to my ears XDMS had the body and texture and overall involvement that I so love with XDMS. I remain "all-in" with XDMS. It's important to note that the sound with XDMS seems to improve as the burn in advances. Yesterday was a special day. I am hoping for more of the XDMS mojo as the burn in continues

Did not expect it but my story looks very simmilar In regards to the DC distributor exits.
After burning all the exits I tried different combinations and ended with
alt2 to router
default to switch
There is something very special with alt2 . Very „magical” exit.
The only price to pay is the bass being not as controlled as on others.

 

[oldmustang]

I would not dismiss direct analogue out Maybe we should provide both daughterboards so you can run your own comparisons.

That would be awesome. In my case I would really be interested in dual AES/EBU so I could compare that daughter board directly into my dCS Vivaldi DAC to the Taiko DAC (analog out) daughter board.

Steve Z

 

[Kris]

Emile.
I think the „Naked„ DC distributor might be the „Must to have„
to power the network card and usb / tacda cards .
Did you try to use it there ?

As far as I know you need both 5v and 12v to each PCI ex cards ?
That will force to use 2 distributors.

 

[Steve Williams]

Steve, it sounds a little bit like you’re saying that XDMS with the default setting took a step back from XDMS before the router was installed— independent of Roon taking a step forward?

and now you now prefer XDMS with a alt2 over Roon default?

A lot of spinning plates, along with router burn in as well…

Roon as I said still sounds wonderful, however XDMS with alt2 on Router has really grabbed my attention. YMMV but I love the sonic signature of XDMS. What I said was I prefer XDMS with alt2 on router than I prefer Roon with alt2 on the router. Roon sounds best Ive ever heard but as stated XDMS sound for me is the path I am following. Awaiting NSM.......Hint @Taiko Audio

 

[cat6man]

You could indeed connect a machine to one of the router's LAN ports for the full 1Gb transfer speed. Or temporary connect the Extreme directly to your home network. Or configure port forwarding in the router, which is a bit more elaborate. We'll put writing a manual for that on the to-do list. The Taiko Router does not work differently then any other router in that regard. I understand introducing a router in your network may take some getting used to, it's up to you if you find the SQ improvement worth it

if i understand correctly, plugging a machine into the router LAN port would have the router's dchp assign a 192.168.100.x IP address to the machine, but if a fixed IP 192.168.1.x had been assigned to that machine, it will not work without port forwarding.

while emile et al. are doing the considerably more important work with bps and nms, can someone here please post a router configuration/procedure for port forwarding that will let the existing 192.168.1.x network transfer music to the extreme with the speeds we have been accustomed to in the past. i know there are a few network gurus out there.

a second question: using my tablet/control app to access the taiko wifi, i see that i can still access the outside world (i.e. the internet). this suggests that there can be other traffic on the tablet/router wifi link other than the taiko related communication.
is this a concern, as many keep alive/heartbeats may be running on other non-necessary (for audio) processes. would it be beneficial to shut off some of these other processes, assuming we could find them? are there any configuration settings in either the router or the control app to limit network activity to those related to the control app processes?

 

[cat6man]

Roon as I said still sounds wonderful, however XDMS with alt2 on Router has really grabbed my attention. YMMV but I love the sonic signature of XDMS. What I said was I prefer XDMS with alt2 on router than I prefer Roon with alt2 on the router. Roon sounds best Ive ever heard but as stated XDMS sound for me is the path I am following. Awaiting NSM.......Hint @Taiko Audio

i'm currently at the early stages of burning in alt2/router with default/switch, listening from the next room versus closely controlled comparative listening for now. as i never use roon (just qobuz for streaming) and 98% of my indoor listening is local WAV files, i don't personally have a handle on roon vs. xdms for streaming. has anyone had a chance to do look at power options for the router/switch with xdms and local files?

i should add a caveat here. i'm using the wall wart to drive the distributor/router/switch combo. i've been waiting on the one box upgrade BPS capability and cost before deciding if i should get an LPS.

 

[cat6man]

@Taiko Audio[/USER], I am now officially ready for NSM. Bring it on.

i didn't know there was an "offical" designation
sign me up

 

[John T]

So how does all of this shake out when or if you go to the BPS? You have your ears now wrapped around what you like, Default, ALT1, AL2, what ever floats your boat. Then you go to BPS and eliminate the Power Distributer. It seems to me then you have total realignment...

 

[wil]

Can someone remind me how to save a Streamed Qobuz album in XDMS under “Favorites”? Thanks

 

[nenon]

Can someone remind me how to save a Streamed Qobuz album in XDMS under “Favorites”? Thanks

Click on the heart icon.

 

[joet]

You could indeed connect a machine to one of the router's LAN ports for the full 1Gb transfer speed. Or temporary connect the Extreme directly to your home network. Or configure port forwarding in the router, which is a bit more elaborate. We'll put writing a manual for that on the to-do list. The Taiko Router does not work differently then any other router in that regard. I understand introducing a router in your network may take some getting used to, it's up to you if you find the

 

[joet]

I'll be using an Eero node as my internet source for the router and its private network. Optimally, I'd put my ISPs modem/router into bridge mode so the Eero is the only other network in the house. However, my ISP doesn't support bridge mode and I'll need to run double nat, i.e., two SSIDs in the house where the Eero network would be, in essence, a child of the ISP network. Is that problematic? I'd make the Eero's network private, i.e., the Taiko router would be the only device on the Eero network. Or should I find an option where the Taiko router/gateway is connected to the parent network?

 

[joet]

I'll be using an Eero node as my internet source for the router and its private network. Optimally, I'd put my ISPs modem/router into bridge mode so the Eero is the only other network in the house. However, my ISP doesn't support bridge mode and I'll need to run double nat, i.e., two SSIDs in the house where the Eero network would be, in essence, a child of the ISP network. Is that problematic? I'd make the Eero's network private, i.e., the Taiko router would be the only device on the Eero network. Or should I find an option where the Taiko router/gateway is connected to the parent network?

And, if I use the double nat configuration (with the Taiko gateway I guess triple nat) will it matter if there are other devices connected to the eero network?