|
KRAKOW SONIC SOCIETY № 151 TAIKO AUDIO
The 151st meeting of the Krakow Sonic Society opens, symbolically, the next stage of its activities. And it does so with a bang, as it starts with a listening to one of the most expensive audio file transports on the market, the TAIKO AUDIO Server XDMI with Olympus I/O XDMI module. We've tested this pair before, but this time the I/O XDMI features a DAC, and Taiko's creator and head, Mr. Emile Bok, is there to tell us about the equipment. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
KSS
introduction and summary by WOJCIECH PACUŁA |
 |
No 253 June 1, 2025 |
IT WAS A SPECIAL DAY, because it was the day of Pope Francis' funeral. The event that had been planned for a long time therefore had a quiet character, even though this time we played music really loud. We started it, by the way, by paying tribute to the deceased, listening to a magnificent excerpt from FRANZ LISZT's Via Crucis, conducted by Leif Ove Andsnes and performed by the Norvegian Soloist Choir. 
⸜ Rysiek checks out what’s going on in the system The meeting was extremely interesting and exciting. One, that it was probably the first time that people from the Society had to deal with a file transport of this caliber, two, that our host lent for listening a D/A converter and preamplifier in one, the Bricasti Design M12, which will perhaps become part of his listening system, and three, that after the meeting, a long discussion took place in the group chat, but not at all about the device as such, but about how gigantic changes happened just by pressing a button changing the absolute phase. In a word: audiophiles... ▌ Taiko Audio THE TAIKO AUDIO COMPANY was founded by Emile Bok, who built his first speaker at the age of twelve. In 2008, he designed and manufactured his first audio products. Today, the company offers Extreme and Olympus audio servers/transports. The latter is one of the most advanced and most expensive products of its kind in the world. It took Emil Bok and his team almost four years to prepare its successor, building on ideas gathered during the development of the Extreme platform, but going even further in their implementation. The result of this work is Olympus. It's a device that can work as a file server, file transport and, with the installation of a suitable D/A converter card, a complete file player. Along with it, the Olympus I/U interface was offered, with which you can upgrade your existing Extreme server or further improve the sound of the Olympus. 
⸜ Emile Bok, founder and owner of Taiko Audio (left), Eelco Bussink, engineer in charge of mechanics at Taiko Audio (middle) and yours truly On the functional side, this powerful, weighing 85 kilograms (60 + 25), measuring 480 x 480 x 304 mm (Olympus - 190 mm + I/O - 105 mm) device is simply an audio file server. That is, an audio file transport equipped with internal memory. And, in fact, it's a complete file player, as it comes with a D/A converter card. Ondrej Artim, the distributor's representative, brought the system to the meeting, and Emile Bok, head and chief designer, and Eelco Bussink, the engineer in charge of mechanical design, came to tell us about the device. | A few simple words… EMILE BOK 
⸜ Emile Bok TAIKO AUDIO STARTED in the early 2000's. It was simply a hobby of mine that started - literally - in my garage. At some point I was contacted by a man, after I had published something online, who asked me to design a music server for him. I did it, he liked it, and after some time I thought to myself that I could develop such a server and start selling it. And so I did. This product, the Extreme (2008) model, turned out to be good and met with favorable reception from the public. And although it is already years old, we still sell it. Sixteen years is a long time for the audio industry, but the design shows characteristics that are difficult to improve by conventional methods. We have been, of course, upgrading it, but its core has remained the same. What helped us is that the device is a modular design. Olympus Server XDMI is also composed of modules. So it will be even easier to upgrade it. And its important part is the XDMI output, which can replace the USB output. As we know, the USB port was used by audiophiles to get around the limitations of S/PDIF outputs - RCA/BNC and optical - at that time organically limited to 24 bits and 96 kHz, and even today limited by a sampling rate of 192 kHz. And without the ability to transmit a native DSD signal, apart from - to a limited extent - DoP form. USB was not designed for audio signal transmission, and only adapted to it. Which is not very good. Just imagine that packets of files are transmitted at 8 kHz, and those eight kilohertz interferes with the signal in some form. So we've developed a new type of interface that transmits files in a constant way, with no queuing, no peaks, etc., in addition to a sophisticated power supply. And it is these problems with USB that cause people to talk about “digital audio.” We don't believe that “digital sound” is associated with the digital medium, even with 16/44.1 files. I/O can be equipped with different types of modules, RCA, USB, AES/EBU, but also customized interfaces for converters from companies such as Lampizator and MSB Technology. We are now working with Soulution and CH Precision on similar solutions. So we are busy all the time :) This type of output, we think, is a much better solution. ▌ SOUND HOW WE LISTENED • The listening took place in Tomek Folta's system, and consisted of comparing the Taiko Audio Server XDMI file transport to the resident → AURENDER N20 ˻PL˺. We used the Qobuz streaming service as a file source. Before the meeting, we asked the participants to select one song that a person listened to in the best place in the room, the so-called “sweet spot”. We conducted a separate listening session with an Olympus I/O XDMI module equipped with the company's DAC. 
⸜ As I said, a lot is happening in the back – note the XDMI connection between the two modules » RECORDINGS USED IN THE TEST ⸜ FRANZ LISZT, Via Crucis, S.53: Station VI: Sancta Veronica w: Via Crucis, dyr. Leif Ove Andsnes, Qobuz, FLAC 24/192. EMILE, Taiko Audio • To be honest, I didn't focus hard enough, but if I can say anything for sure, it's that Taiko presented a sound with much better marked reverberations, with a better defined sound drop. ONDREY, DreamAudio • Just as a quick aside, I will say that with the Taiko there is more air in the sound and the bass is better controlled, but I need to see how it will be with my track. 
⸜ Ondrej Artim, the representative of DreamAudio, Taiko Audio’s distributor JANUSZ T., KTS • I have a problem with this comparison, because we are, after all, listening to two different systems with two different playback apps. Aurender is controlled by the Aurender app, and Taiko Audio is controlled by Roon. Why do I wonder about this? Because this presentation is, to me, primarily Roon sound. This software sounds like that, it just has that signature “Roon sound”. TOMEK FOLTA, KTS, Tomasz Folta Audio-Consulting • It's hard for me to comment on this, because I use Aurender's application and never wanted a Roon server. But do you really hear Roon's signature? JANUSZ T. • Yes, for sure - that's how, more or less, Roon plays. TOMEK F. • Ooh..., that's interesting... I'm sorry I got caught up in that comment, because it actually makes sense to me now. JANUSZ T. • Roon is one thing. The other is related to the fact that although Roon has a distinct “sound of its own,” it is, I think, much better than the Aurender application. Therefore, it was reasonably listenable. In the case of Aurender, there was too much bass. The bass that this transport generated was tiring. The midrange was also worse, clearly better with the Taiko. The bass is calmer with it, no longer overshadowing the midrange so much. This, in both presentations, continued to be withdrawn, but with the Taiko its perception was better. What was important, however, was that the sound with the guest transport was more detailed. There was more air around the instruments and individual sounds. What I found lacking in this reproduction was the treble, I don't know why, but it seemed to me that earlier these speakers played brighter, there was more treble, and now it somehow dimmed. But that's only on this track, with others it was clearly better. Maybe it's a mix issue, maybe it's a matter of what we have in the streaming. RYSIEK B, KTS • The most important thing is the music. Here I think we all agree, and I wanted to emphasize that now, with Taiko, I truly heard this music. Before, it was kind of out of whack... The second thing that qualifies my assessment is related to Acoustics Professor Malecki's quote, that this is when we have the greatest listening pleasure, when the left ear hears something different from the right ear. I had this impression that with our guests' transport simply my ears hear separately, that is - better. Consequently, I had much more pleasure listening to music with this transport. The third thing is tonal grading. It seems to me that this device (Taiko - ed.) better differentiates them, so I experience more pleasure in listening to music. And the last thing is musicality. Gentlemen, as we sit here, we usually sit all rigidly, focused on the sound. Yet it should be the case that when we listen, something should “play” in us - and in this case, with Taiko Audio, it really “played” in me, but - as far as I noticed - it “played” in all of you as well. I wanted to thank the designer and the distributor for giving us the opportunity to experience this device. Thank you. 
⸜ According to our tradition, our guests received honorary membership certificates of the Krakow Sonic Society |
WOJTEK, KTS • I think it was a completely different sound, completely different. It's totally like a different system, even though the basics are the same. With the Taiko it was primarily the lower bass, which I heard thanks to, I think, the Bricasti. Although the American device does not begrudge the saturation of this range, with the Aurender the bass base was short and quite hard. With the Taiko it was a different sound, very elegant for me. Compared to the Dutch transport, Aurender sounded like a little dog - playful, energetic and incredibly excited, but excited about everything around it. Everything was exciting to him in the same way, on the same level, making everything the same. Taiko, on the other hand, was momentarily showing the differences between quiet and loud, energetic and calm. And, to be clear, this is not Aurender's problem, I like the device, after all, we know it from a lot of listening sessions and it's a very competent file transport. But... The example with Lou Reed's vocals was striking to me. With Aurender, he sounded in a very offensive way, almost “jumped” in front of the speakers. That's why listening to this great song was like an adrenaline roller coaster ride for me. Everything was very up front, strong and attacking. If I hadn't been comparing the two playbacks, it probably would have been acceptable, but Taiko didn't give Aurender any chance. Reed's voice is shown strongly up front in this recording, that's how it was mixed, but with the Taiko it was very coherent with everything beyond it. Everything with it was very coherent, consistent, smooth. The sound of the chorus moving from the back to the front was great. When this sound appeared with the Aurender, I knew it started deep in the stage, but it was “somewhere in there,” then just jumped to the speakers. With Taiko, I knew exactly where the sound appeared, it wasn't “somewhere there,” but “exactly there.” When we started listening with the Aurender the sound was very cool. In my opinion, the Bricasti made a big difference, and in this system it seems to me a much better choice than the Ayon - mainly because of its preamp section. Therefore, the Aurender also sounded very good. The piano hit in Via Crucis was great, it was shown with lots of space and big sound. But Taiko did more than that. It showed that a piano is not just a hammer and a string, but also a case, wood, metal strings, a powerful instrument in a large space. JAREK WASZCZYSZYN, KTS, Ancient Audio • Exactly - with Taiko it was Grand Piano, not Piano. EMILE • It was indeed the case that with the Aurender the sound was more massive. ONDREY • But also because with it bass is longer but not lower. ANDRZEJ • I am positively surprised, because it seemed to me that the way Aurender played was the way I like it. I am familiar with Aurender, I had this device at my place once. But what I noticed with the Taiko, however, was that its performance was more refined. And more orderly. The piano’s timbre was more natural with it. In my opinion, the cymbals were also nicely separated with it. There was more of them in the recording, even though they were not so forward. In conclusion I will say, this sound captivated me more, maybe because it was calmer, not so jittery internally. And this is a very aggressively recorded album, with such strong bass. With Taiko it was, I would say, better arranged, but there was also the needed dynamics. Thanks a lot. It was cool. Super! TOMEK L., KTS • Let me start by saying that with the change of the DAC section and preamplifier to Bricasti, we have remodeled the acoustics of this room. It's a completely different sonic experience, a better one. Now you can listen more freely here and compare devices, which is a big plus. As for the differences between the transports, my attention was drawn to the fact that with the Taiko music flowed freely, naturally, there was calmness in it. When there was silence in a recording, that silence was there. The decay of instruments was also more natural, more pleasant, and the reverberation was much longer. As for the sounds that go beyond the line connecting the speakers, finally, for the first time, I could hear them circulating around the room. In this respect, it was much better. It is also important that Taiko's sound has no nervousness in it. Every instrument, every musician has their own space. There is no this sort of compression with it and the feeling that everyone is crowded into a small space, that everyone wants to come to the fore, to show themselves. With Taiko everyone had their place and everything sounded freely. I really, really liked the presentation. It was also great that we just played very loudly, and nothing annoyed us. 
⸜ As I told you, there was a lot going on there… Notice the XDMI connections between both modules JAREK • Exactly - we played very loudly and so we must do in the future. Not the usual quiet sounds, but the slam, the rumble, the scale. Finally! And with Taiko it sounded really good. The Aurender plays very cool, but with the Dutch transport you can hear perfectly what we pay such big money for. You could listen to really anything with it. As for me - for the first time. TOMEK F. • Let me start with what Tomek just mentioned, that thanks to the fact that the Bricasti M12 DCK Preamp has been in the system for a while, we are able to listen as loud as we are listening today and we could endure or even enjoy it. As it turned out, my year-long battle with the new speakers, with adapting the Dynaudio Confidence 50 to this room and to this system, seems to have finally come to an end. The final step in this battle was the use of a real preamplifier, which is included in this unit. It turned out to be a mistake to drive the power amplifier incorrectly due to the lack of a full-scale preamplifier in the Ayon (Ayon Audio Kronos - ed.). As a result, we can now listen really loud. For the comparison, I chose a track from a genre that helped diversify the listening experience, and I also wanted to celebrate yesterday's release of the new Ghost album, with the cover designed by none other than KSS member Zbyszek Bielak, who is absent today. For many months I had this theory that Accuphase electronics are completely unsuitable for listening to metal music. First Bricasti showed that it is not so bad after all. Now, in addition, the Taiko has taken it to the next level. Ghost with Taiko and Bricasti sounded wonderfully. There was a really decent wall of sound, a wall of guitars, but everything was clear, not annoying, and served with the right drive. I liked Taiko's presentation better than Aurender’s. As for the tracks we had listened to before, especially with the Liszt, until the piano entered, it seemed to me that they were completely comparable devices. On the other hand, already the entrance of the piano, its power showed that we are dealing with something better. I only had doubts with Pink Floyd, whether I liked this presentation better, but with each successive track the Taiko showed its superiority in terms of resolution, frequency range, timbre spread, bass control, the space it generated, it is certainly a better device. But want to also point out that - first of all - I would like to object to the opinions that at any point it was “impossible to listen” to Aurender, because this is not true. With that I circle back to what I said and wrote at the last meeting, that we often use hyperbole to describe sound. Well, I can’t agree that anything was “unlistenable” with the Aurender. I think it is a good device that was able to hold the ground in this comparison. Therefore - secondly - I would like to point out that the Taiko is a much more expensive device, and somehow we didn't dwell on that. 
⸜ One of the important components of Tomek’s system was preamplifier/DAC Bricasti M12 ONDREY • In this round, the sound localization was better. What was really interesting was that when the bass went very low and big, the sound was still relaxed, it was still cool. The sound from the Taiko was cleaner and details from the background were better defined. JAREK • The second most difficult task out of the whole session, i.e. choosing the album, was done for me by my colleagues, whom I thank for that :) The first strong hit, for me, was Pink Floyd, because it's a rock track, and rock requires a good bass and drive. With the Aurender transport listening to Roger Waters' voice in the first session I almost fell asleep. It was bland, there were some “piggies” and nothing more. With Taiko, on the other hand, it was a beautiful bass beat and I could hear that it was not a fretless bass. And it delivered a wonderful rhythm played by Waters. I heard the same thing with Riszard's piece - a great bass. And it repeated in all tracks. So the common point of differentiation between the Aurender and Taiko is the significantly better presentation of the lower end by our guests' device. The second is vocals. With the Aurender these were aggressive from time to time. A well-designed audio device presents all the differences more clearly. On the one hand, the Taiko was a bit softer with vocals, but it was also great with the Jacques Loussier Trio. With the Aurender, it felt like there were a lot of instruments on stage, but the presentation lacked emotions. And with Taiko, the drums came to life. Also, Lou Reed's vocals. The first time we listened to it, I didn't know why Wojtek chose this song, what was so special about it. With Taiko, Lou Reed's vocals were full of emotion. Because, what is it that we are doing here? - art is not a verbal transmission of emotions between performer and audience. It's a subliminal message, enveloping us in its entirety. If emotions aren't clearly communicated, it doesn't make sense. For me, it's a fantastic meeting, because Emile showed me how “polishing” digital technology makes emotions come out more and more. Now I see that digital devices are getting better and better and better. This is a message to all those who “don't believe” in streaming, as I do. At least until now. This is changing and streaming seems to me a really interesting option. ▌ Summary THE HUGE PRICE DIFFERENCE between the devices in the system, the permanent resident, i..e. Aurender N20 and the Taiko Audio Olympus Server XDMI, obviously promotes the latter device; remember that Aurender costs 63,000 zlotys, while the Taiko Audio - the basic module - costs 193,000. The differences between the two, however, were not just that something was different, or just “better,” but that the Dutch file transport showed a completely different type of sound. One that is often referred to as “analog,” as Emile himself emphasized. Digital products for file playback have thus already reached a place that was hard to dream of just a few years ago. The problem may be that you need a good product to get it all, but above all you need to take care of the lots of elements around it: LAN switch, cables, anti-vibration accessories, power supply. In truth, the treatments around streaming are just as time-consuming and expensive as those associated with top turntables. And then there are things that are less annoying with analog. In our case it was the small absolute phase switch button in the Bricasti DAC menu. As I’ve mentioned, in the second part of the meeting we listened to the Taiko as a complete file player. The Olympus Server XDMI module was in this version connected via XDMI cables to the Olympus I/O XDMI module, where the output card was the DAC. And it wasn't a bad sound. This small device - I mean the card - performs very well indeed. But we also had no doubt that the DAC in the Bricasti sounded - in this system - better. Its sound was fuller, deeper, better differentiating. Simply put - better. Emile, the head of Taiko Audio, apparently heard this as well because he asked at one point if we could change the absolute phase when playing files from his player. We did so. As it turned out, the change was very big, it was a much nicer sound than before. Apparently, the Bricasti reverses the absolute phase from the RCA analog inputs. This small change, a small button, made the unit play just fine. In my opinion, it was still not the level of the Bricasti, but it was no longer such a big difference. 
⸜ Krakow Sonic Society greets the „High Fidelity” readers! Which shows how much in audio depends on small things. But the meeting showed, above all, that top digital source offers a truly top sound. And also that the differences between file transports are not only clear, but can completely change the perception of music. And, finally, that you have to pay big money for the good stuff, and even bigger money for the best stuff. There is no avoiding it. ● ▌ System ⸜ Audio file player: AURENDER N20 |
 |
main page | archive | contact | kts
© 2009 HighFidelity, design by PikselStudio,
projektowanie stron www: Indecity