Introducing Olympus & Olympus I/O - A new perspective on modern music playback

For those who just started reading up on Olympus, Olympus I/O, and XDMI, please note that all information in this thread has been summarized in a single PDF document that can be downloaded from the Taiko Website.

https://taikoaudio.com/taiko-2020/taiko-audio-downloads

The document is frequently updated.

Scroll down to the 'XDMI, Olympus Music Server, Olympus I/O' section and click 'XDMI, Olympus, Olympus I/O Product Introduction & FAQ' to download the latest version.

Good morning WBF!​

We are introducing the culmination of close to 4 years of research and development. As a bona fide IT/tech nerd with a passion for music, I have always been intrigued by the potential of leveraging the most modern of technologies in order to create a better music playback experience. This, amongst others, led to the creation of our popular, perhaps even revolutionary, Extreme music server 5 years ago, which we have been steadily improving and updating with new technologies throughout its life cycle. Today I feel we can safely claim it's holding its ground against the onslaught of new server releases from other companies, and we are committed to keep improving it for years to come.

We are introducing a new server model called the Olympus. Hierarchically, it positions itself above the Extreme. It does provide quite a different music experience than the Extreme, or any other server I've heard, for that matter. Conventional audiophile descriptions such as sound staging, dynamics, color palette, etc, fall short to describe this difference. It does not sound digital or analog, I would be inclined to describe it as coming closer to the intended (or unintended) performance of the recording engineer.

Committed to keeping the Extreme as current as possible, we are introducing a second product called the Olympus I/O. This is an external upgrade to the Extreme containing a significant part of the Olympus technology, allowing it to come near, though not entirely at, Olympus performance levels. The Olympus I/O can even be added to the Olympus itself to elevate its performance even further, though not as dramatic an uplift as adding it to the Extreme. Consider it the proverbial "cherry on top".

 

Great investigative fervor! Is your log wall less resonant than your floor?

Thank you, talk about possessed or obsessed! I got a little carried away! For sure the walls have less resonance. Even though the home is 2 X12, 16 on center with 6 concrete columns under the main girder. 3/4" sub floor and 3/4" tongue and groove it inevitably has movement. It also has bracing between the floor joists. The log walls on the other hand are somewhat isolated from the flooring structure. Keep in mind the walls sit on the plates that rest on the foundation, hence the isolation from the flooring structure. Including long through bolts, spring loaded.

Your fortunate to have concrete...

 

I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who stopped by to say hi at Axpona. I met so many WBF members over the weekend - it was great to finally put some faces to the names (or WBF handles)!

This year’s show was absolutely packed, especially on Friday and Saturday. I was in a smaller room this time, which was a strategic choice - to show the Olympus in a different context: smaller space, completely different speaker type, side-by-side with a great vinyl rig, and alongside some new industry partners who are highly respected. We also had another Olympus in a big room downstairs with Scott Walker Audio.

The room definitely had its challenges - it was tight and far from ideal - but that almost made it easier to hear the differences between the Olympus and the vinyl setup. I’ll leave it to others to share their impressions, but for me - and for at least a dozen others, including some hardcore analog fans - the differences were strikingly obvious.

Apologies if I haven’t responded to your message yet. Please don’t take it personally - it’s just been overwhelming. This was by far the busiest show I’ve ever done. My days started at 6am and went until 1am, with hundreds of conversations, dinners and drinks with folks in the industry, and since it’s my hometown, after-hours listening sessions at my place. I’ve been getting about 100 messages and 50 calls a day. And to top it off, our little one was having a rough few nights, so sleep has been... non-existent.

Thanks for your patience - I’ll catch up as quickly as I can. And if I miss you, feel free to ping me again.

Lastly, I may not get a chance to recalculate the Estimated Schedule in time for Julien’s weekly update today. I’ll try to finish everything tomorrow—I just want to make sure it’s accurate and not rushed, as we need to reflect some color changes and a few other things.

 

Thank you, talk about possessed or obsessed! I got a little carried away! For sure the walls have less resonance. Even though the home is 2 X12, 16 on center with 6 concrete columns under the main girder. 3/4" sub floor and 3/4" tongue and groove it inevitably has movement. It also has bracing between the floor joists. The log walls on the other hand are somewhat isolated from the flooring structure. Keep in mind the walls sit on the plates that rest on the foundation, hence the isolation from the flooring structure. Including long through bolts, spring loaded.

Your fortunate to have concrete...

Truly "high-end" home anatomy for a high-end system!

 

Truly "high-end" home anatomy for a high-end system!

Truly High-End Insanity!

 

Truly High-End Insanity!

Goes with the territory, John T!

 

. And to top it off, our little one was having a rough few nights, so sleep has been... non-existent.

I guess it's one of the few advantages of being my age, if my "little one" who is 35 years old, has a rough night... let his wife suffer

 

I have the Olympus sitting on an IKEA bamboo cutting board which sits on Revopods on concrete floor.

https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/ikea-hacks.40518/

 

One might instead say the platform’s purpose is to be able to drain vibration from the gear into the platform.

Then the purpose of the unit’s footers is to drain the unit’s vibrations into the platform.

Then the purpose of whatever the platform rests on is to isolate the platform from airborne and floor-borne vibrations.

Not sure if the above is accurate with some uber expensive footers and platforms.

I subscribe to the belief that vibration from a component needs to be drained rather than isolated. The use of those silicone-like ball-shaped footers popping up a component seems to work to isolate vibration, not draining it into a thick platform, trapping vibration in the component. But belief is belief, which may vary from results in given systems. I have not done any extensive experiment myself. For all my components, I consistently use pointed brass cones (smaller in size with lighter components) or plain small brass "acorn nuts" (for light components) that rest on ebony-wood pucks (each with 3 tiny brass washers on the back side) which in turn rest on a 4- (or at least 2-) inch thick maple wood shelf in a Mapleshade Samson rack (with sharp brass cones) that rests on ebony wood pucks touching the wood floor. So far, I am very happy with the much improved transparency but would like to try those magical silicone-like isolating footers if I could borrow some.

 

Have you ever tried IKEA bamboo cutting boards?

Not extensively. I did borrow some bamboo platforms that a friend modified. The density of the different species of bamboo can widely vary...

I though it might be worth sharing my personal info on this matter, as I found that the finish has a large influence on the sound. Ikea bamboo cutting boards are generally either non-treated or oiled. Commercially available boards for audio use tend to be lacquered. The analogy works precisely as one would expect here, oiled sounding relatively darker and warmer, and lacquered sounding relatively faster and brighter. The harder the lacquer layer, the stronger the effect.

 

I though it might be worth sharing my personal info on this matter, as I found that the finish has a large influence on the sound. Ikea bamboo cutting boards are generally either non-treated or oiled. Commercially available boards for audio use tend to be lacquered. The analogy works precisely as one would expect here, oiled sounding relatively darker and warmer, and lacquered sounding relatively faster and brighter. The harder the lacquer layer, the stronger the effect.

This is similar results as to what we have found with several species of wood. However, when adding a different core material the finish becomes less evident. A solid piece of maple (2" thick) for example lacquered vs a Linseed oiled/waxed finish supports what you have shared. Take the same maple and sandwhich cork between two pieces of maple, 4 footers, and the different finish becomes much less evident. We have also experimented with polymers. Incredible finish! However its very expensive. I think it was $75.00 for a 4 ounce bottle. Really cool shit!

Now taking this a step further. MDF (composite) cork center (as previously mentioned we have experimented with several core materials) wrapped in a maple veneer, along with 4 footers rated at 200lbs, then the finish doesn't matter. The footers all have sorbothane gaskets between the flange and the bottom of the iso platform.

Having the natural cork between the MDF seems to neutralize the entire mass. Then in addition 4 footers with aluminum housing , rubber bottom, and a sorbothane gasket between the flange/bottom. We have used it under the Extreme, Turntable, Solution 727, and the Horizon 360 with excellent results. I'm considering the same concept for the Olympus but with 6-8 footers. This way if the I/O is added and I decide to stack, I'm well over the weight requirement and don't have to change or lift anything...

 

How thick is the cork layer you are using?

 

Good Question. 1/2" thickness of the cork would make the platform from the bottom of the footer to the top of the platform 3.5" finished with veneer on both top/bottom, sides. 3/8" or even 1/4" is ample enough thickness for the cork but I have this compulsion to over build everything...

Strangely Being in the wine industry for many years I developed a HATRED FOR CORKS (as most winemakers do) as they create many issues in winemaking, cork taint. 2,4,6, - trichloroanisole (TCA). Now I'm appreciating its value in a completely different light...

 

Good Question. 1/2" thickness of the cork would make the platform from the bottom of the footer to the top of the platform 3.5" finished with veneer on both top/bottom, sides. 3/8" or even 1/4" is ample enough thickness for the cork but I have this compulsion to over build everything...

Strangely Being in the wine industry for many years I developed a HATRED FOR CORKS (as most winemakers do) as they create many issues in winemaking, cork taint. 2,4,6, - trichloroanisole (TCA). Now I'm appreciating its value in a completely different light...

Thank you. Can you recommend a source for sheet cork stock in ½” thickness?

 

Thank you. Can you recommend a source for sheet cork stock in ½” thickness?

I'll PM You...

 

I did say that, yes, but it's slightly off—we adjusted it to 2.8V RMS, as almost all audiophile DACs we measured are around 3V RMS, measured at 0 dBu which is the maximum output level.

This is also why we previously asked how people felt the output level compared to their DACs. The vast majority felt it was either the same or slightly lower, which aligns with our measurements of other DACs.

There’s actually a good reason for having a somewhat higher output level than the “standard.” This level is only reached at 0dBu, which is not where most recordings typically sit; levels between -10 and -20dBu are much more common, especially with audiophile recordings. Many analog circuits tend to exhibit higher distortion and/or noise at very low or very high levels, so ideally, you want to keep the typical signal range in a more favorable operating window.

With that 2.8V RMS max output level, between 400mV and 1V is a fairly typical average output level with most recordings.

I though it was 20V output and 2.8V may not be enough for my bespoke preamp... Would XLR version double the output?

 

Hi @Alex G ,

There's a good reason for these "dual ground posts" as there are 2 separated isolated grounds. The only function of the AC/DC power supply is to charge the battery packs. The battery packs power the electronic circuitry of the Olympus. The battery packs are floating, meaning there is no connection to the AC (safety) ground. You can however create this connection by connecting the 2 ground posts together, this would connect the Olympus circuitry to your AC ("safety") ground.

In the "grounding universe", there are often different tweaks connecting to AC(safety), chassis or signal ground. AC ground tweaks you would therefor connect to the AC ground post (near the AC inlet), signal and chassis ground tweaks you would connect to the signal/chassis ground post (near the USB connector).

Usually, with floating battery power circuitry, you'd like to keep this floating, as this is one of its key advantages.

May I know the ground post on I/O whether it is signal/chassis or AC ground post?

 

Roon 1525..sounds amazing
Finally a good update

 

I though it was 20V output and 2.8V may not be enough for my bespoke preamp... Would XLR version double the output?

Hi @cykin ,

20V I may have mentioned as the maximum voltage range the analogue stage can supply, which is correct, but this is not the 0dBu RMS output level.

Output levels can be specified in multiple ways, let me try to explain the differences by an example:



This photo shows a measurement of a 1KHz @ 0dBu output (maximum level) from a DAC analogue output..

The Peak-to-Peak Voltage (Vpp), the total voltage swing from the maximum positive peak to the maximum negative peak, is 8.46V.

The maximum positive peak amplitude is 4.24V.

The maximum negative peak amplitude is -4.22V.

There is a DC offset of 0.012V causing a difference in the positive and negative peak amplitude.

The RMS Voltage (Root Mean Square) is 2.99V (which you can also calculate by dividing Vpp by 2sqrt2).

What is RMS voltage: A type of "average" voltage that represents the equivalent DC power delivered by an AC signal.

The 2.8V RMS output voltage I specified for the current XDMI analog, is 7.92 Vpp.


Some Context:

Type Voltage (RMS) Reference
Consumer Line Level ~0.316 V -10 dBV
Professional Line Level ~1.23 V +4 dBu
Headphone Output (varies) 0.3–2 V Depends on device & load

The -10 dBV standard (common in home audio gear) means that 0.316 V RMS is the nominal output.

So as you can see typical audiophile equipment utilises significant higher output voltages than consumer level, or even studio equipment, and even the 2.8V RMS output of the XDMI DAC is already a very high output level which will typically need to be attenuated by a preamplifier for most power amplifiers, though some audiophile recordings can be at such low levels, and some power amplifiers have very low input sensitivity, so you could still end up in a situation where you'd need an active pre-amplifier to actually further amplify this already very high level....


And yes balanced can give you double the voltage swing but that does completely depend on the design

 

May I know the ground post on I/O whether it is signal/chassis or AC ground post?

The ground post on the I/O grounds both the AC battery charging supply as the chassis. There is no signal ground provision for the I/O.

 

Taiko Audio – Head Quarters in Netherland

A quick trip to the Netherlands gave me the chance to visit Taiko Audio’s headquarters and, more importantly, to meet Emile and his team.

I got the full tour!

The place feels like a giant labyrinth, organised like a university campus!

In every corner, something’s going on:

tinkering, brainstorming, coffee machines, electronic circuit design, eureka moments, protein drinks in the fridge, children’s drawings, listening rooms, holiday photos (when there are any), a gym (yes a gym!), and a pallet jack that makes you want to ride it like a go-kart, etc.

Hard to say what’s the most fun:

The machine room that looks/sounds like a nightclub?
The stunning listening room?
Or that infamous pallet jack that makes you want to act like a ten-year-old kid?

One thing’s for sure: you don’t get bored at Taiko Audio ))

But what everyone really wants to know is: did Emile share any secrets with me?

The answer is… yes!

He’s got a well-kept one…

Something unexpected…

Yet perfectly in line with what I picked up from his personality.

…

...

The guy's a powerlifter, he loves lifting heavy!!!

It’s a pleasure that nicely balances his dedication to audio design, with all its rigour, finesse and intensity.

Alright, alright... let me just crack open the door a bit on what everyone’s curious about: what’s on the horizon is going to surprise us, no doubt about it! But I won’t say any more ;-)

What I’ll remember most from the visit is a welcoming team, and a multi-talented conductor with a great sense of humour.