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

oldmustang · May 31, 2024

dminches said:
Good points. However, the way I see it, these NAS are just being used large drives. If you have it backed up (and you better) I see no reason to have drive redundancy. Yes, if a drive crashes you have to rebuild NAS but that is just a lost day.

No doubt, David and I back up regularly in a variety of ways -- NAS to NAS as well as NAS to high-capacity external drives, some stored on-site, some off-site, some with friends.

As always YMMV.

Steve Z

tubes59 · May 31, 2024

If I'm going to use a NAS for music storage, what (if any) are the pros that might offset the cost savings and 1-2% SQ improvement of not having the minimum 3.84 TB internal storage onboard the Olympus?

steve williams · May 31, 2024

oldmustang said:
I'd just mention that there is a small but non-zero risk associated with RAID5 vs RAID6.

When a drive fails and a new drive is inserted to rebuild the RAID, the remaining drives go into an almost 100% duty cycle. If all drives are the same age and/or type as the one that failed, another might go south during the rebuild. Although thankfully rare, I do remember the data centers that experienced a very high failure rate for some Seagate 3 and 4TB drives a few years ago.

RAID 6 does come with an additional space penalty but for a high-capacity NAS with high-capacity enterprise drives this is not much of an issue other than cost.

That said, I'm still going to at least compare a less expensive high capacity USB drive powered by the DCD and plugged into the spare USB port on the Taiko router, to one of my 115VAC powered NAS located in another room, plugged into an unused RJ-45 port on the Taiko router.

Steve Z

I know that and am not worried as I have my entire library safely backed up and stored elsewhere. I guess the question for all of us will be how much we will use our library inasmuch as streaming with the Olympus will be as good as our internal library wherever that might be. For me the only thing I might consider after answering that question is to find a SSD NAS that I can keep in my music room and be powered via the DCD. At this point as I think I understand it is that even though there is a slight improvement in SQ going that way, is whether the ROI will be worth it

dminches · May 31, 2024

Steve Williams said:
I know that and am not worried as I have my entire library ssafley backed up and stood elsewhere. I guess the question for all of us will be how much we will use our library inasmuch as streaming with the Olympus will be as good as our internal library wherever that might be. For me the only thing I might consider after answering that question is to find a SSD NAS that I can keep in my music room and be powered via the DCD. At this point as I think I understand it is that even though there is a slight improvement in SQ going that way, is whether the ROI will be worth it

95% of the digital music I listen to is not available via streaming. My local files are my main source. Regarding using SSDs in a NAS, I am not sure it would sound better. I have never tried it and I haven’t read others describe the difference. Maybe it does but it is too expensive to find out.

SaiteiMan · May 31, 2024

I'm pondering whether I'll need a special mounting bracket or device if I choose to buy a U.2/U.3 drive later on for internal storage in the open market, as Emile noted it's situated in slot 5.

seatrope · May 31, 2024

dminches said:
95% of the digital music I listen to is not available via streaming. My local files are my main source. Regarding using SSDs in a NAS, I am not sure it would sound better. I have never tried it and I haven’t read others describe the difference. Maybe it does but it is too expensive to find out.

an Optane only NAS would be the best answer

steve williams · May 31, 2024

dminches said:
95% of the digital music I listen to is not available via streaming. My local files are my main source. Regarding using SSDs in a NAS, I am not sure it would sound better. I have never tried it and I haven’t read others describe the difference. Maybe it does but it is too expensive to find out.

as I said in my post I doubt that the ROI would be worth the price of admission

Taiko Audio · May 31, 2024

SaiteiMan said:
I'm pondering whether I'll need a special mounting bracket or device if I choose to buy a U.2/U.3 drive later on for internal storage in the open market, as Emile noted it's situated in slot 5.

It plugs right in, we freed up slot 5 by using a dual drive adapter in slot 1 which holds the Operating system drive and can hold the music drive.

onlychild · May 31, 2024

Taiko Audio said:
2) If you don’t want to have to deal with any of this, local storage is the way to go. Just plug your Olympus into your home network somewhere and you’re good to know. Local file playback quality is hardly, if at all, affected by your network setup.

Hi Emile,

if I'm reading #2 correctly, and one plans to use only local storage, will you be able to control the Olympus/Roon wirelessly with an iPad and still have no degradation in sound or will you need a wired connection for controling Roon with no degradation?

Thanks

Taiko Audio · May 31, 2024

onlychild said:
Hi Emile,

if I'm reading #2 correctly, and one plans to use only local storage, will you be able to control the Olympus/Roon wirelessly with an iPad and still have no degradation in sound or will you need a wired connection for controling Roon with no degradation?

Thanks

You will need a wired connection to the Olympus, remote control can be either or both wired and wireless.

joet · May 31, 2024

My logic was similar to Steve's and @dminches. All else being equal, I went for the promise of a small increase in sound quality. I was already using a NAS as a backup. Adding an inaudible one for the listening room was an easy choice. I chose an SSD, not because I thought it would sound better (I doubt it would), but because it was quieter and would run cooler - allowing me to use "quiet mode" with more confidence. I also went with a 1-bay NAS because I have failover elsewhere and am more concerned with reducing data swapping than backup, and I don't have a huge library. All in all, since I don't find adding a second NAS inconvenient, and the cost is equivalent to internal storage, the small SQ improvement is free. If adding a NAS is confusing or concerns you, then it may not be worth the effort. By the way, regarding backups, I would recommend including an option where there is an off premises copy. AWS Glacier is a good choice.

steve williams · May 31, 2024

By the way, regarding backups, I would recommend an option where there is an off premises copy. AWS Glacier is a good choice.

I have mine in my bank safe deposit box

SaiteiMan · May 31, 2024

Just to confirm the following:
-The SQ of the internal storage (U.2/U.3) will be 10-15% better than an NAS without router/switch/DCD.
-The NAS SQ will be 1-2% better than an internal storage (U.2/U.3) with router/switch/DCD.

Regarding internal storage, the default option is a 3.84TB capacity likely from Micron? However, it's worth noting that the recommended Solidigm brand offers capacities ranging from 7.68TB to 61.44TB.

Taiko Audio · May 31, 2024

SaiteiMan said:
Just to confirm the following:
-The SQ of the internal storage (U.2/U.3) will be 10-15% better than an NAS without router/switch/DCD.
-The NAS SQ will be 1-2% better than an internal storage (U.2/U.3) with router/switch/DCD.

Regarding internal storage, the default option is a 3.84TB capacity likely from Micron? However, it's worth noting that the recommended Solidigm brand offers capacities ranging from 7.68TB to 61.44TB.

Yes, though only the router already more or less performs that “trick”, the switch/dcd allow for a degree of “voicing” to taste.

The included 3.84TB drive is Solidigm. Note that Solidigm purchased the NAND division of Intel, some vendors list them under Intel, or Solidigm (formerly Intel).

joet · May 31, 2024

joet said:
My logic was similar to Steve's and @dminches. All else being equal, I went for the promise of a small increase in sound quality. I was already using a NAS as a backup. Adding another, inaudible one for the listening room was an easy choice. I chose an SSD, not because I thought it would sound better (I doubt it would), but because it was quieter and would run cooler - allowing me to use "quiet mode" with more confidence. I also went with a 1-bay NAS because I have failover elsewhere and am more concerned with data swapping than backup, and I don't have a huge library. All in all, since I don't find adding a second NAS inconvenient, and the cost is equivalent to internal storage, the small SQ improvement is free. If adding a NAS is confusing or concerns you, then it may note be worth the effort. By the way, regarding backups, I would recommend an option where there is an off premises copy. AWS Glacier is a good choice.

By the way, I got a 4TB SATA SSD for $200. Not too crazy.

SwissTom · May 31, 2024

@Taiko Audio

Good evening Emile,

I have a question here that might be of interest to the community.

Context :

- Olympus Server + Olympus I/O
- Taiko switch/router/DC Power Distributor

- Synology NAS - DS1618+
- I'm going to add a second NIC to the NAS
- All my music is currently stored on my main NAS.

- I have two Roon licences.

General idea:

Use the music files located in my main NAS for both Roon home clients and the Olympus Server.

Is this feasible?
Do you see any drawbacks?

Details :

Cheers

Thomas

seatrope · May 31, 2024

SwissTom said:
@Taiko Audio

Good evening Emile,

I have a question here that might be of interest to the community.

Context :

- Olympus Server + Olympus I/O
- Taiko switch/router/DC Power Distributor

- Synology NAS - DS1618+
- I'm going to add a second NIC to the NAS
- All my music is currently stored on my main NAS.

- I have two Roon licences.

General idea:

Use the music files located in my main NAS for both Roon home clients and the Olympus Server.

Is this feasible?
Do you see any drawbacks?

Cheers,

Thomas

View attachment 131985

seems like the only risk might be of a broadcast storm but if your two VLANs are appropriately segregated that will probably be fine? Is the Router also connected to your Catalyst L3 switch? That connection is missing.
You can also maybe tag the first connection back to the catalyst with both VLANs?

alwayslearning · May 31, 2024

Taiko Audio said:
Yes, though only the router already more or less performs that “trick”, the switch/dcd allow for a degree of “voicing” to taste.

The included 3.84TB drive is Solidigm. Note that Solidigm purchased the NAND division of Intel, some vendors list them under Intel, or Solidigm (formerly Intel).

Emile -- There are a few of us Olympus buyers who have not yet bought your Router, Switch, or DCD. My plan is to buy these additional components over the next year or two. Your response above -- "only the router already more or less performs that 'trick'" -- suggests to me that in prioritizing these additional purchases from Taiko, we should give priority to the Router to ensure the best SQ immediately. Then add the Switch and DCD later to permit some flexibility in voicing. Do you agree that, when used with Olympus, the Router should be given priority over the Switch and DCD if one has not already bought these products from Taiko?

dminches · May 31, 2024

SwissTom said:
@Taiko Audio

Good evening Emile,

I have a question here that might be of interest to the community.

Context :

- Olympus Server + Olympus I/O
- Taiko switch/router/DC Power Distributor

- Synology NAS - DS1618+
- I'm going to add a second NIC to the NAS
- All my music is currently stored on my main NAS.

- I have two Roon licences.

General idea:

Use the music files located in my main NAS for both Roon home clients and the Olympus Server.

Is this feasible?
Do you see any drawbacks?

Details :

View attachment 131987

Cheers

Thomas

Wouldn't you be better off having 2 NAS so that you have a built in backup and a less complicated setup? I guess a NIC costs less than a NAS with drives but but I am not sure cost is your number 1 criteria.

dminches · May 31, 2024

SwissTom said:
The idea is to have two clearly separated networks.

So connecting the Taiko Router to the home switch wouldn't make sense.

The only problem I can see is managing the default gatway for the 192.168.2.x network.

I don't really know how to tinker around with this.

Cheers,

Thomas

I thought Emile felt that whatever was on the "other side" of the Taiko router didn't really matter. That's why I felt safe connecting my Taiko router to my home network router.

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