The Taiko Audio Extreme Music Server receives The Absolute Sound 2022 Golden Ear Award
REVIEW by Matthew Clott Nov 25th, 2022
Ignore the aircraft-grade aluminum enclosure with enormous heat sinks. Ignore the 6000 holes drilled into the top plate of the chassis to attenuate resonance. Ignore the linear power supply with 400VA transformer, Lundahl chokes, and 700,000µF of Mundorf and Duelund capacitors. Ignore the two-microprocessor architecture, designed to provide Roon with its own microprocessing environment for software tasks, while isolating the music engine on a separate dedicated microprocessor. Ignore that the Extreme is a music server that weighs a massive 99 pounds. Even ignore the fact that the Extreme is engineered and built (in The Netherlands) from the ground up to optimize the playback of streaming music as well as natively stored files. Oh, you might as well also ignore the fact that Taiko is constantly upgrading its own native software to optimize Roon and outperform its previous generation music software, while also providing a 100% reliable environment. What you can’t ignore is the fact that this music server sounds like music without a hint of digital artifact and does so better than any other digital source I have ever heard. The Taiko Extreme got me closer to what was recorded and the venue it was recorded in than any source but the best analog rigs I have been exposed to. It is expensive, but this is a supreme case of “you get what you pay for.”
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