Have owned the Takiko twice in the last 18 months including a (quality upgraded to its own PSU) and the Innous statement (pre psu upgrade) although I did build one of mine for it which helped a lot.
Let qualify the buzz around the Extreme as a great many of the WBF are tripping over themselves (The manufacturer is also on there) on how good this thing really is in the non-influencer world.
Its very good, real 3D depth, texture and sheer presence low noise floor & it’s got slam/detail and sheer gravitas that I've only genuinely listened to on three or four occasions, make no mistake this is a real game changer for most audiophile wealthy potential owners.
That said, I really don't like Roon, I feel its shall we say somewhat over priced for what it REALLY is, but that will not stop many people that can from purchasing one because of the influencer buzz that’s been generated around this piece in the circles it was destined for. The manufacture has gone about this the right way for this product.
Why I am not using one is very simple I am purely a musical enjoyment guy, not a hifi nurd. Music has to captivate me, move and engage with me it has to move me and let me slip into the sounds as a whole. Not as to cite listening to the piccolo's 37th row from the top left hand side of the woodwind section or have a 26 foot Eric Clapped out demonstrating his inability to deliver the guitar god status.
The Taiko for digital guys, if you have not listened to anything in this *class* before (IE: a system that can do this piece justice) will make you think 'Holy Crap' it is that good!
For you dragging a rock around the groove guys it’s the same as listening to a 250K Rockport TT with the best cart/SUT/Arm/Phono ETC it’s in that league for sheer Wow factor no question. You would need a ultra fi dac to really make the best of it as well.
Now I have listened to better in that it delivered a far more complete all-round sound with ease of use & with superlative musical involvement no question and that is not a commercially available product either.
They are a few viaing for the top honours The Tidal Arkas/Pink Faun 2.16/Taiko Extreme etc.
These are all put simply cut down mother boards optimised via BIOS/OS/Playback software. They also have dedicated high quality linear power supplies some even have rather nifty file (audio) movement abilities oh and the obligatory big ultra-thick chassis cost up to £30K, they are a couple more above that which is a tpic for another day.
The other issue for myself is the use of USB as a transfer medium, its used simply because they are millions of devices that use USB (universal Serial audio Bus) and yes it can deliver galvanically isolated data up to and not including 1.5Mhz for those with specific dac's plenty of cable choice and simple connectivity.
Interesting whenever I hear a USB implementation, I sort of cringe a bit.
Maybe that’s just me or my hearing could skewed, etc? Yes, it could be or it just could be I really don't like USB and its sonic signature, after all its a bit perfect data transfer, galvanically isolated and with quadrature pairs of 5Kv opto couplers, nothing could possibly be inaccurate right?
Again, that's a debate for another day.
Getting on to the topic of streamed music V's Local files, I have 100% no question that local files (on board the server/PC) are for more natural and realistic than internet provider streamed files regardless of what ever infostructure is in place before the said streamer/PC.
Now I am not saying all the re-clocking, switches, signal conditioners do not make a difference, because the clearly do and only an asr zealot would deny this. I am also it produces a great upturn in SQ not in question. However no customer of ours or in our own systems demonstrate this in any way. We have quite a few who serious have spent around £20K on the infostructure before the internet connection to the said playback device.
What I will qualify is this, we are taking about systems that sport significant mains conditioning abilities, first class grounding, high quality cables and correctly set up room/speaker interface so any changes are absolutely and unequivocally noticeable,
This is a very recent email (last week) from a chap who has such a set up, I have blanked out the name of the equipment he loaned from us, that against forum rules but also isn't the way we work. What I am trying to illustrate is that currently at the moment its just not as good as local files. Also, you may find some irony at the end of his sentence as well. For the record he is an owner of an internet infostructure support company so it really surprised him as well.
"Two other things I have tried: even with the XXXX my CD transport (DCS) is still quite inferior to ripped files, and a purchased/downloaded 16/44.1 FLAC file from Qobuz is superior to the streamed version (which you already knew)!"
Sometimes we can get blinded by the whole substance of how we approach things and that leads to many rabbit holes.
Just wishing to put another perspective in the mix.
