Taiko Audio SGM Extreme : the Crème de la Crème

[Tuckia]

Yes, I’m sure running both will get the job done, but is it best practice? Running both at the same time would be rare, hopefully . Given the proximity of things, SQ would be irrelevant in such a case. Leaving both active would be an issue I’m sure. I don’t want to talk my wife through the change process when traveling.

I don’t believe Roon would need to be involved at all with feeding an endpoint running Squeezelite as long as it was DLNA compatible. How hard can this streaming/networking stuff be?

Or I could just tell my wife to buy her own Extreme. As long as it was bigger than mine I’m sure she would be ok with it. Extreme-er.

 

[John T]

I have commented on this before and many of you chimed in to calm me down. And I appreciated it. This still sounds convoluted and confusing! I have a Taiko on order, looking forward to its arrival. But all of this shit sounds terrible. Compatible drivers and all of this other stuff. I've been doing this since Phase Linear/Revox Reel to Reel days/Empire TT. I want to play my music without BS. If switching between XDMS and ROON creates I NEED HELP! Like I am dividing the atom. This is not my idea of playing music. Forgive me if I sound a little frustrated and leary, but all of this stuff does not sound inviting! Buffer size, Amanero with certain DACS, WTF. We shall see...

 

[2ndLiner]

I have commented on this before and many of you chimed in to calm me down. And I appreciated it. This still sounds convoluted and confusing! I have a Taiko on order, looking forward to its arrival. But all of this shit sounds terrible. Compatible drivers and all of this other stuff. I've been doing this since Phase Linear/Revox Reel to Reel days/Empire TT. I want to play my music without BS. If switching between XDMS and ROON creates I NEED HELP! Like I am dividing the atom. This is not my idea of playing music. Forgive me if I sound a little frustrated and leary, but all of this stuff does not sound inviting! Buffer size, Amanero with certain DACS, WTF. We shall see...

Not to worry, John, once you have your Extreme in front of you I think you’ll find it way simpler to get dialed in than it appears plus you’ll have the Taiko Team at the ready to provide support. I’m a technical Luddite and have had minimal issues. Enjoy!

 

[Tuckia]

I have commented on this before and many of you chimed in to calm me down. And I appreciated it. This still sounds convoluted and confusing! I have a Taiko on order, looking forward to its arrival. But all of this shit sounds terrible. Compatible drivers and all of this other stuff. I've been doing this since Phase Linear/Revox Reel to Reel days/Empire TT. I want to play my music without BS. If switching between XDMS and ROON creates I NEED HELP! Like I am dividing the atom. This is not my idea of playing music. Forgive me if I sound a little frustrated and leary, but all of this stuff does not sound inviting! Buffer size, Amanero with certain DACS, WTF. We shall see...

Yes, no worries with operating a server, especially with a support team behind you. If you survived vinyl and reel to reel, this will be a piece of cake. Changing LP’s is dangerous and messy. You can squirt record cleaner in your eye, get paper and vinyl cuts, heaven forbid drop one and injure it, or e gads break the stylus off. Then there is the morning debris field.

I started spinning vinyl in 1978, swore off cd’s in the 80’s, then eventually adopted them, and then switched to servers in 2015. The listening experience has never been better. And no debris field in the morning . If you were able to find your way here, you won’t have any problems.

 

[Steve Williams]

I have commented on this before and many of you chimed in to calm me down. And I appreciated it. This still sounds convoluted and confusing! I have a Taiko on order, looking forward to its arrival. But all of this shit sounds terrible. Compatible drivers and all of this other stuff. I've been doing this since Phase Linear/Revox Reel to Reel days/Empire TT. I want to play my music without BS. If switching between XDMS and ROON creates I NEED HELP! Like I am dividing the atom. This is not my idea of playing music. Forgive me if I sound a little frustrated and leary, but all of this stuff does not sound inviting! Buffer size, Amanero with certain DACS, WTF. We shall see...

John

Too bad all. of this started because it truly is much ado about nothing. Like you I was all analogue. The Extreme truly changed the way I listen to music and I haven't used Roon in several years as IMHO TAS is sonically superior. XDMS will be superior to TAS so even more of a reason not to use Roon but the TAS App allows for simple switching between TAS and Roon if you wish to use either . Many Extreme users continue to use Roon and are awaiting the finished product (XDMS) and there ar many Extreme users such as myself who gave up on Roon yers ago

 

[oldmustang]

I have commented on this before and many of you chimed in to calm me down. And I appreciated it. This still sounds convoluted and confusing! I have a Taiko on order, looking forward to its arrival. But all of this shit sounds terrible. Compatible drivers and all of this other stuff. I've been doing this since Phase Linear/Revox Reel to Reel days/Empire TT. I want to play my music without BS. If switching between XDMS and ROON creates I NEED HELP! Like I am dividing the atom. This is not my idea of playing music. Forgive me if I sound a little frustrated and leary, but all of this stuff does not sound inviting! Buffer size, Amanero with certain DACS, WTF. We shall see...

John,

I suggest you reach out to the Taiko team a day or two before your Extreme arrives to set up an appointment to have them do the setup for you. They can talk you through the entire process of logging into the Extreme and giving them a Teamviewer authorization so that they can remotely log in. This is very easy, so don't stress it if you don't know what TeamViewer is right now (it's a simple app already on your Extreme's desktop).

Part of the setup process is you telling them what DAC you are using and how you intend to connect the Extreme to your DAC (USB, AES/EBU, ethernet, etc). They'll install the appropriate driver for your DAC and the connection method you use.

I've found them to be patient and if you don't understand something they'll continue to explain it until you do. They will also transfer your digital music library to your Extreme's onboard storage if you so desire.

Likewise, they will set up your Extreme for the player you wish to use, be it TAS, XDMS, or Roon. There is a short but complete .pdf manual for TAS and I am sure there will be a very clear, well illustrated manual forthcoming for XDMS as well.

I've never tested the limits of Taiko's customer service hand-holding, but given their desire to provide the absolute best customer experience I am sure that they will make sure you are happy and address any problems if you run into a snag. Also, this forum is a great resource if you have a question or get stuck, often posting answers to questions in minutes.

With any new piece of equipment or software music player there is always a learning curve, but for the Extreme, once you have it set up and playing it is rock solid.

The combined ownership of the Extreme will all be going through the learning curve with XDMS when it is released, so you are among friends who will be more than willing to help each other through the process.

Chill, John. Don't worry -- be happy!

Steve Z

 

[EuroDriver]

Yes, I’m sure running both will get the job done, but is it best practice? Running both at the same time would be rare, hopefully . Given the proximity of things, SQ would be irrelevant in such a case. Leaving both active would be an issue I’m sure. I don’t want to talk my wife through the change process when traveling.

I don’t believe Roon would need to be involved at all with feeding an endpoint running Squeezelite as long as it was DLNA compatible. How hard can this streaming/networking stuff be?

Or I could just tell my wife to buy her own Extreme. As long as it was bigger than mine I’m sure she would be ok with it. Extreme-er.

Hi Tukia,

XDMS User Experience philospohy is to support Roon to the fullest, and also to allow easy switching between Roon and XDMS

 

[RUIN*ish]

XDMS
Extreme design Musically superior
Mn

 

[EuroDriver]

We recognize on the develoment team, that we are geekier and nerdier on average than our user base.

However we are all absolutley commited to deliver the best User Experience and will evolve the UI/UX to make the Taiko Extreme experience as intuiative, enjoyable and rewarding as possible

 

[John T]

Thanks, to all of you. I lead a simple existence and when I hear certain jargon, I start to over think. I make it sound like I am having a Heart Transplant! The nature of living in the middle of a forest surrounded by trees, for many years! I have spoken with Emile a number of times and he has assured me when it is time they will take over. I already have TeamViewer installed. I really do appreciate the input and again walking me back off the ledge!!! John

 

[onlychild]

Glad I moved from Roon to TAS.

i had not changed Roon even after reading posts that extolled the superiority of TAS. Figured the improvement was incremental and not worth the risk of changing to TAS when XDMS was just around the corner.

But a few weeks ago, I noticed my system was not sounding right after accepting Roon’s updates. A majority of the emotional engagement was gone and it was sounding very hi-fi. Apparently others were experiencing the same thing after the updates.

It took me a while to change to TAS and get it up and running but DAMN!! What a dramatic change!!

I’m not going to go into audiophile terms as they cannot do justice to what I heard. And many of you are there already.

But what I can say is that music pieces I had listened to hundreds of times were transformed beyond what I had ever heard before in my room and my system: My heart filled with emotion effortlessly and my soul just soared. Jaw dropped.

If XDMS improves on this then Damn…I can’t wait!

Thanks for posting this. I am also back on TAS now since the OS upgrade and there's no going back to Roon (again).

 

[Taiko Audio]

Thanks for posting this. I am also back on TAS now since the OS upgrade and there's no going back to Roon (again).

Unfortunately things did indeed change a bit again.

 

[Taiko Audio]

Thanks for explaining Steve.
The Amanero doesn’t allow for adjusting the buffer size if I remember correctly. JL Sound does. TAS exploited this feature for increased SQ. Will XDMS do the same? Seems likely.

This will be relevant to me as my Extreme will arrive in a couple weeks while I still have a Pacific with Amanero. In two months or so my Lampizator Horizon will arrive with the JL Sound card. So I’m likely to take a path covering all these bases. Roon, TAS, then XDMS; then onto the JL Sound with Horizon.

In the meantime I’m still curious if XDMS will be able to be used as the server library, or core, for the endpoint which is the source for my home zone system. Roon allows for one library on the server to front all devices. For those not familiar with this common arrangement of feeding an endpoint (player with renderer and dac) it works through the home LAN; not usb, spdif, etc.

Indeed, our USB driver cannot support the Amanero interface, you can still change buffersizes using the driver supplied by Amanero but with a much more limited adjustment range.

The bottom line is you can use a DAC with an Amanero interface just fine but you will then lack a few more advanced SQ enhancing options which our own USB driver provides.

XDMS only supports USB, AES/EBU, SPDIF. For networked endpoints it only supports those sporting a network ASIO driver like RAVENNA (Merging DACs).

 

[RUIN*ish]

Hi Tukia,

XDMS User Experience philospohy is to support Roon to the fullest, and also to allow easy switching between Roon and XDMSView attachment 92335

How long does it take to transition from roon to xmds using these toggles?
Mn

 

[EuroDriver]

How long does it take to transition from roon to xmds using these toggles?
Mn

We need to test, when that part of the mobile UI is coded, but going by the TAS example about 5 seconds

 

[simorag]

We need to test, when that part of the mobile UI is coded, but going by the TAS example about 5 seconds

I switch between Roon and TAS when moving from discovery mode (or synoptic modality, like in comparing the same composition across multiple performances / eras) to critical listening mode.

A bit of tinkering yes, but pretty smooth and it allows to get the best of both worlds ;-)

 

[Christiaan Punter]

I switch between Roon and TAS when moving from discovery mode (or synoptic modality, like in comparing the same composition across multiple performances / eras) to critical listening mode.

A bit of tinkering yes, but pretty smooth and it allows to get the best of both worlds ;-)

This is the beauty, and the curse, I guess, of computer-based audio. All the endless possibilities are fantastic but they can lead to too many options to choose from. Here are my two cents on the matter.

I always like to have all the options but don't necessarily need all the functionality in one device. On the PC, I run jRiver Media Center (for metadata edits and easy directory search), Roon and whatever app takes my fancy at any given time. My main server runs the Roon Core, Roon Remote on the PC connects to the same core while the other apps on the PC look at the server's music folder via a network share. This ensures I am always looking at the same music data no matter where I access it. This works just fine for me and has no sonic repercussions since I need to run Roon anyway.

If the main server does not run Roon (or if it is shut down) and you still want to use Roon, the easy solution is just to run the Core on a PC or Mac. This Core could look either at the Extreme's Music Folder via a network share or you could keep a second copy of the music library on the computer that Roon looks at, which is a good idea for contingency anyway. HDD space costs peanuts and while duplicating all the data can initially take some time, keeping it up to date thereafter is only a minor job that could even be automated.

I always like to have multiple copies of my library anyway, so I keep these not only on the Music Servers but also on the PC, all synced via the free program SyncBack. I make backups manually to removable HDDs that I disconnect entirely when done and store away.

Disclaimer: while accessing a server's music content with an external Roon installation is technically no problem, this might have a sonic impact in the same way that having a second Roon Core active has an impact on the primary Roon Core SQ. 'K.I.S.S.' and 'Less Is More' remain powerful proverbs. Then again, it is easy enough to shut down the computer during critical listening.

 

[Rhapsody]

TWO MAGICO M9/PILIUM/VYDA SYSTEMS WITH EXTREME SERVER FRONT ENDS-

 

[Rhapsody]

TWO MAGICO M9/PILIUM/VYDA SYSTEMS WITH EXTREME SERVER FRONT ENDS-
View attachment 92422View attachment 92423

Actually Chris Hesse in the first pic with Konstantinos has TWO EXTREMES. One for the M9 system and one for the Alsyvox/BAYZ/Diesis system.

 

[John T]

Wow! 2 Extremes for 2 systems! I think for me with two serious systems my eyes would be constantly glazed over, I may be wandering around these country roads naked and confused! On a serious note you guys have done a great job building my excitement for the arrival of the Extreme! My current streaming is dialed in. Its very good. I average 5 hours a day listening, maybe more. Mephisto/Pandora/DV2/NS1/Custom Opti-Link cable/M12/ LPS/2 Rel Carbon Specials/Joseph Audio Pearl 20/20's, well thought out dedicated circuits and cabling. Roon/Tidal/Qobuz/several Tb of well recorded music. Some from master recordings. If the Extreme does what I think it will do and what you all have shared. I will be utterly ecstatic!! John