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

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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".
 
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oldmustang
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.
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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
 
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T
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?
 
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steve williams
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
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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
 
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dminches
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
Click to expand...

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.
 
S
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.
 
S
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.
Click to expand...
an Optane only NAS would be the best answer :D
 
steve williams
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.
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as I said in my post I doubt that the ROI would be worth the price of admission
 
O
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.
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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
 
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Taiko Audio
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
Click to expand...

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

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).
 
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joet
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.
Click to expand...
By the way, I got a 4TB SATA SSD for $200. Not too crazy.
 
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SwissTom
@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 :

One_NAS_To_Rule_Them_All_3.png

Cheers :)

Thomas
 
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S
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
Click to expand...
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?
 
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A
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).
Click to expand...
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?
 
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dminches
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
Click to expand...

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.
 
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dminches
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
Click to expand...

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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