EXTREME SERVER
Estimated ship date: 12 weeks after ordering.
All prices are excl VAT.
Standard included: Taiko USB Card, Extreme Network Card, Flightcase and 2TB Storage.
“The Taiko Audio Extreme is a State of the Art Music Server designed to deliver the most realistic sounding / live reproduction from stored music files and streaming music from Qobuz and Tidal.”
EXTREME
PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES OF AUDIO STREAMING
Emerging from many years of relentless researching, comparing and listening, the Extreme is the culmination of what is possible in the field of music servers.
It combines many technological breakthroughs completely unseen before in the world of digital High-End Audio. Only the best components from the most respected vendors are sourced for it, many of which are custom-designed from the ground up.
During the lengthy design process, no stone has been left unturned, giving equal attention to resonance control, prevention of electric pollution, reliability, and user-friendliness. Due to its flexible and modular architecture, you can expect a very long life expectancy with both hard- and software updates, giving you the confidence of a future-proof investment in the best digital source for years to come.
2
EXTREME
PCIe STORAGE
In our research, we found SSD storage to be a significant bottleneck in the overall performance of a digital source. An SSD always connects to your system via the motherboard DMI chipset. For the Extreme, we are using PCIe modules, which connect directly to the CPU and bypass the DMI. Therefore, we achieve speeds up to 4x faster than SSD, which results in lower latency and much lower system noise overall, giving you black backgrounds, huge space rendition, and bringing an ease to the musicians’ performance, only matched by the very best vinyl and tape playback systems. We rely on the new VMD technology that Intel introduced with their new Xeon Scalable line of processors. VMD allows us on the hardware level instead of the software level to have greater bandwidth on the PCIe interface, reducing the active processes once more.
You can select anything from 2TB to up to 64TB internal storage, eliminating the need for playback from external drives such as a NAS. Worried about backups? We found that RAID is not beneficial to the sound quality. Therefore, we strongly recommend that our customers use an external backup drive, which can be accessed remotely via the Extreme. Should you still wish to use RAID, the Extreme will also handle this.
3
EXTREME
SELECTED HIGH SPEED RAM
4
EXTREME
Low queue depth and latency
The Extreme is built for bit-perfect output without upsampling the data stream to cater to the latest premium R2R and Sigma/Delta D-to-A converters. With bit-perfect streaming, system latency (=active processing time) becomes a significant part of the resulting sound quality. In our design of the Extreme, we focused on providing the lowest latency possible for every instruction or set of instructions the server has to manage.
Why? To maintain as short a queue depth as possible in all system components, which leads to a constant current draw, low EMI/RFI emissions, and powerline pollution. This is why the Extreme’s computational power seems to be overkill, but, in fact, it is paramount to the resulting quality of the audio stream.
This also ensures that the Extreme will not be harmful to any other associated equipment you have in your music playlist.
The operating system has been custom-stripped to the very core of what is absolutely needed to run music services. We believe our solution to be better and more reliable than any aftermarket software and even better than running the whole operation system in RAM.
5
EXTREME
MULTI-STAGE ULTRA LINEAR POWER SUPPLY
Our 400W linear power supply is a new in-house development specially created for the Extreme and its unique needs. It comprises only the very best capacitors from Mundorf and Duelund, combined in a way we found to be most neutral to the sound. The chokes are supplied by Lundahl and were selected also by ear.
Extensive vibrational measures have been applied to make it as resilient as possible. Again, Panzerholz was used in strategic places to shift the vibration patterns in benign territory. The whole design is built for low temperature, long life, and above all, the best sound quality.
6
EXTREME
The Cooling System
During the design phase, we quickly came to the conclusion that none of the available cooling systems would suffice our demands. Therefore we designed our very own custom 240W passive cooling system – no active parts, no fans, no noise. Many aspects needed to be considered, none more important than component longevity.
We found that most aftermarket passive cooling systems degrade in efficiency over time, which is why we machined the CPU interface with a precision of 5 microns tolerance (0,005mm!). We also use solid copper for the heat sinks, for twice the efficiency as regularly used aluminum. We estimate that our custom solution will lead to a prolonged component life of between 4 and 12 years extra, depending on the use and environmental conditions.
7
EXTREME
The Chassis design
As physically imposing as the chassis of the Extreme may seem, everything is there for a reason. The finely machined aircraft-grade aluminum available in silver or black acts as a shield from external noise but also keeps your other components free from pollution. The heavy top, for example, hosts a total of 6.000 machined holes. These holes are “waveguides” which attenuate emissions by 81 dB, which is around 10.000 times!
Inside, you will find multiple measures to tackle the vibrational behavior of the component. Copper and Panzerholz have proven to be the best materials for this task, bringing low mechanical impedance and a benign vibrational spectrum to the table.
The footers, too, are custom-designed to give optimal coupling to the surface below. The Extreme is a sight to behold and built to last.
I’ve been using and evaluating many digital front-ends over the past few years and while I did encounter certain uber-shifts in the performance, I’ve never felt such a balanced and seamless way of music’s flow as I’m currently within my reference system fronted by the Taiko Audio server.
MONO & STEREO MAGAZINE
The Taiko Extreme gets me closer to the music, closer to what the musicians are conveying to me, and closer to the room/venue that the recording was recorded in than I have previously experienced. And it accomplished this while looking and behaving the part of an ultra-reference component, with the tech support to properly back it.
ENJOY THE MUSIC
CPU
Dual Intel Xeon Scalable
10 core – 20 thread CPU’s for
20 cores – 40 threads in total.
Cooling
In-house designed ultra high
precision passive cooling system.
Storage
Standard storage provisions include 280GB of PCIe Intel Optane storage for the operating system, 2TB of PCIe storage for music files. Music storage can be increased in 2TB increments up to a maximum of 24TB.
RAM
Twelve 4GB custom order
industrial memory modules
for 48GB in total.
Colour Options
Silver and Black.
Power Supply
No compromise linear power supply, 400VA transformer, Lundahi chokes, 700.000uF of Mundorf and Duelund capacitors.
Software
Custom Windows 10 Enterprise
LTSC 2019 OS, Roon playback software.
Weight
45kg / 99Ibs.
Connections
External connections consist of 5 USB ports,2 copper Rj45 ethernet ports, 1 fiber SFP open slot ethernet port, 1 VGA port. S/PDIF, AES/EBU single, dual or quad optionally available.
Remote Access
Setup and maintenance will
all be conducted remotely,
no user action needed.
Dimensions
483 width, depth 455cm, height 180mm
including feet.
Chassis
CNC machined hybrid copper / aluminium / ‘panzerholz’ chassis. Completely passive cooled for silent and fanless operation.
CPU
Dual Intel Xeon Scalable, 10 core – 20 thread CPU’s for 20 cores – 40 threads in total.
RAM
Twelve 4GB custom order industrial memory modules for 48GB in total.
Software
Custom Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2019 OS with Roon playback software.
Remote Access
Setup and maintenance will all be conducted remotely, no user action needed.
Cooling
In-house designed ultra high precision passive cooling system.
Colour Options
Silver and Black.
Weight
45kg / 99Ibs.
Dimensions
483 width, depth 455cm, height 180mm including feet.
Storage
Standard storage provisions include 280GB of PCIe Intel Optane storage for the operating system, 2TB of PCIe storage for music files. Music storage can be increased in 2TB increments up to a maximum of 24TB.
Power Supply
No compromise linear power supply, 400VA transformer, Lundahi chokes, 700.000uF of Mundorf and Duelund capacitors.
Connections
External connections consist of 5 USB ports,2 copper Rj45 ethernet ports, 1 finer SFP open slot ethernet port, 1 VGA port. S/PDIF, AES/EBU single, dual or quad optionally available.
Chassis
CNC machined hybrid copper / aluminium / ‘panzerholz’ chassis. Completely passive cooled for silent and fanless operation.
Taiko Extreme
iPad
DAC
USB
Internet Connection
Taiko Extreme
iPad
DAC
USB
