Taiko Audio SGM Extreme : the Crème de la Crème

[Taiko Audio]

Man, Emile and the folks at Taiko have enough on their more-than-full research/production plate without adding this project!

Discarded around 4 years ago

 

[Steve Williams]

Welcome! You won’t be disappointed.
I have a longer USB too, Shunyata Omega 2.5m, as recommended by Taiko.
Where you place the Extreme does make a small difference to audio quality. Generally, the lower the better. Higher up will amplify vibrations (think of a mast and how much vibrations at the base amplify as you move up the mast). This is in the owner’s manual as well.
I have mine on the floor. You can use feet, like Stillpoints.

Not sure I agree. My Extreme is top shelf sitting on Center Stage feet and on a CMS platform. There are no vibrations whatsoever. I have complete isolation and am vibration free. The Extreme IMO is a masterpiece and belongs on the top shelf for all to see. It’s too beautiful to hide on the bottom IMO

 

[wil]

Welcome! You won’t be disappointed.
I have a longer USB too, Shunyata Omega 2.5m, as recommended by Taiko.

Are you saying Taiko recommends a long USB cable?

 

[matthias]

Are you saying Taiko recommends a long USB cable?

I recall a post by Emile some time ago where he found 1,5m lenght (Intona) sounding best.

Matt

 

[nonesup]

Emile, a question: will the future Ethernet card produce an improvement even if it is not used (also future) Taiko Switch and Router?

 

[Taiko Audio]

I recall a post by Emile some time ago where he found 1,5m lenght (Intona) sounding best.

Matt

Indeed, I even preferred it over a 1 meter length Intona Ultimate - Intona USB isolator - 0.2 or 0.5 meter length Intona Ultimate.

 

[Taiko Audio]

Emile, a question: will the future Ethernet card produce an improvement even if it is not used (also future) Taiko Switch and Router?

When used like some sort of tuning device you mean? Like for example a ground tweak? Connect but don’t use?

 

[nonesup]

It seems that I did not express myself clearly. I mean if the new network card will be an improvement over the current one that comes standard on Extreme, regardless of whether Switch is used, Taiko or another manufacturer.

 

[Taiko Audio]

It seems that I did not express myself clearly. I mean if the new network card will be an improvement over the current one that comes standard on Extreme, regardless of whether Switch is used, Taiko or another manufacturer.

Yes, the full picture however will become clear once we release all the details. In the past we’ve been more open and forthcoming with sharing and elaborating on design decisions, but that also led to some “copying”, unavoidable and a natural cause of events but, with a rather significant R&D investment in both time and money, we prefer to not give away the scoop prior to our actual release date this time. Which is also why we have not shared any relevant prototype/product photos.

 

[dminches]

Yes, the full picture however will become clear once we release all the details. In the past we’ve been more open and forthcoming with sharing and elaborating on design decisions, but that also led to some “copying”, unavoidable and a natural cause of events but, with a rather significant R&D investment in both time and money, we prefer to not give away the scoop prior to our actual release date this time. Which is also why we have not shared any relevant prototype/product photos.

Is the ETA still TBD due to supply issues?

 

[Zeotrope]

Are you saying Taiko recommends a long USB cable?

No, but certainly not too short. I believe Emile said 1.5m sounds best in most cases, vs 1m.

 

[Steve Williams]

No, but certainly not too short. I believe Emile said 1.5m sounds best in most cases, vs 1m.

I agree and I use a 1.5 meter USB. What I find interesting is that many cable manufacturers seem to find a set length for their USB cable. Some manufacturers feel it is 1.0 and some manufacturers make their cable 1.2 meters. This somehow must be related to the build of the cable or is the final cable length arbitrary

 

[rau]

IDK if this was asked but is the extreme fuse a 5x20 mm I know is 4 amp slo blow

 

[theaudiogeek]

Apologies if this has been answered before... has anyone used external clock to the Extreme? I see "WC IN" card and wondering if there is any benefit in connecting an external clock? If so, which cable brand and length is recommended? Thx

 

[Zeotrope]

Apologies if this has been answered before... has anyone used external clock to the Extreme? I see "WC IN" card and wondering if there is any benefit in connecting an external clock? If so, which cable brand and length is recommended? Thx

I highly doubt it, given all the work done by Taiko to minimize jitter with the built-in clock.

 

[romaz]

Apologies if this has been answered before... has anyone used external clock to the Extreme? I see "WC IN" card and wondering if there is any benefit in connecting an external clock? If so, which cable brand and length is recommended? Thx

"Word clock in" is only applicable if you opt for the AES/EBU option (either single or dual).



It is not applicable to USB since it is asynchronous.

As for the best clock cables, the best I have personally experienced by a large margin is the High Fidelity Cables CT2 3D and it's not overly expensive (if you can find one). Supposedly, certain clock cables should also be a certain length (and each manufacturer seems to have their preferred length).

As for clocking in general, while the SGM 2015 and Evo both used expensive OCXOs to clock the CPU, the Extreme does not because Emile found a better way.

Taiko Audio SGM Extreme : the Crème de la Crème

At the end, I cant help but purchase my own M12 Gold switch. The 2 Plixir LPS power M12 Gold switch and Intona USB isolator 3.0 respectively. Need some advise about how I can improve on my network chain RT-AC87U -> Supra Cat8 cable -> Cisco Enterprice switch-> Telegartner Gold LAN-> Telegartner...

www.whatsbestforum.com

 

[cat6man]

Let's talk streaming.

I know this may all be moot when xdms arrives (got an update for us Ed?), but I wonder if my streaming results align with others here.

Some friends have been equipment shopping for DACs and speakers, respectively, and I've gone hunting with them on occasion. It occurred to me that I could create my own qobuz list of the reference tracks I use at home.
Today I tried that for the first time, comparing local WAV files with streamed FLAC files from qobuz.

I was surprised by how much better the local versions sounded, better isolation and detail on instruments, wider soundstage, leading edges. Given a choice, I doubt I would ever listen to the streamed versions if I was given the local file option.

I'm using TAS and have the USB card. Listening was done with a stax sr009 and totaldac d1-direct. The two test tracks were Brokedown Palace on Eternity Blue by Henry Kaiser and It's All Over Now Baby Blue from Joan Baez' album of Dylan songs.

So, do others also hear a significant difference between local and streaming with TAS?

My next tests here will be to compare local WAV and FLAC. In the past (pre-Taiko), there was such a significant difference here that I stopped using FLAC completely.

Thoughts?

Edit:. Does anyone know what the compression level is for FLAC streaming on Qobuz?

 

[oldmustang]

Let's talk streaming.

I know this may all be moot when xdms arrives (got an update for us Ed?), but I wonder if my streaming results align with others here.

Some friends have been equipment shopping for DACs and speakers, respectively, and I've gone hunting with them on occasion. It occurred to me that I could create my own qobuz list of the reference tracks I use at home.
Today I tried that for the first time, comparing local WAV files with streamed FLAC files from qobuz.

I was surprised by how much better the local versions sounded, better isolation and detail on instruments, wider soundstage, leading edges. Given a choice, I doubt I would ever listen to the streamed versions if I was given the local file option.

I'm using TAS and have the USB card. Listening was done with a stax sr009 and totaldac d1-direct. The two test tracks were Brokedown Palace on Eternity Blue by Henry Kaiser and It's All Over Now Baby Blue from Joan Baez' album of Dylan songs.

So, do others also hear a significant difference between local and streaming with TAS?

My next tests here will be to compare local WAV and FLAC. In the past (pre-Taiko), there was such a significant difference here that I stopped using FLAC completely.

Thoughts?

Edit:. Does anyone know what the compression level is for FLAC streaming on Qobuz?

I will have to go back and do some comparisons between local and streamed, now that I have my Extreme wired to its very own StarLink mesh access point, but even before on slow-speed DSL I was hearing very little difference between streamed and local. So little in fact that I would not have wanted to have been forced to identify which was which blind.

If anything, the StarLink connection sounds even better than what I was using before, so I wouldn't be surprised if any differences have disappeared.

Steve Z

 

[cat6man]

@Kris
PM sent

 

[theaudiogeek]

"Word clock in" is only applicable if you opt for the AES/EBU option (either single or dual).

View attachment 95468

It is not applicable to USB since it is asynchronous.

As for the best clock cables, the best I have personally experienced by a large margin is the High Fidelity Cables CT2 3D and it's not overly expensive (if you can find one). Supposedly, certain clock cables should also be a certain length (and each manufacturer seems to have their preferred length).

As for clocking in general, while the SGM 2015 and Evo both used expensive OCXOs to clock the CPU, the Extreme does not because Emile found a better way.

Taiko Audio SGM Extreme : the Crème de la Crème

At the end, I cant help but purchase my own M12 Gold switch. The 2 Plixir LPS power M12 Gold switch and Intona USB isolator 3.0 respectively. Need some advise about how I can improve on my network chain RT-AC87U -> Supra Cat8 cable -> Cisco Enterprice switch-> Telegartner Gold LAN-> Telegartner...

www.whatsbestforum.com

Thank you!