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

Taiko-Olympus-big-advert.png

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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dminches
SwissTom said:
Hi Stefan,

Regarding the daughterboards for the XDMI interface, it all depends on what you've ordered.

You should have a list of what you ordered in the confirmation email.

But I suppose you will get:

- the XDMI daughterboard for LampizatOr
- the analogue daughterboard (DAC)
- the digital daughterboard (AES/EBU - XLR)

But again, it depends on what you've ordered. The best thing to do is to contact the support team.

As far as USB is concerned, and according to what Emile explained here on the forum, the XDMI interface is so much superior that it wouldn't make sense to use the USB.

The Olympus is really designed around the XDMI interface.

As for the technical details regarding the USB interface on the Olympus, Emile (@Taiko Audio ) will be in a better position to answer.

A little research on the forum may also give you some answers.

View attachment 133931

Hopes this helps,

Cheers,

Thomas
Click to expand...

Tom, initially most people are not going to be able to use XDMI natively since most DACs don’t have an XDMI input.

So, people will have the choice of USB or S/PDIF / AES/EBU unless they use the analog DAC. USB is still a very important interface for a lot of users given the resolution limitation of S/PDIF / AES/EBU
 
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J
dminches said:
Tom, initially most people are not going to be able to use XDMI natively since most DACs don’t have an XDMI input.

So, people will have the choice of USB or S/PDIF / AES/EBU unless they use the analog DAC. USB is still a very important interface for a lot of users given the resolution limitation of S/PDIF / AES/EBU
Click to expand...
David, (agreed on USB) so for those of us who do have the Horizon with Native XDMI, the other interfaces onboard the Olympus will be Analog Out and USB. Other than Lampizator Out from the Olympus is USB/Analog Out The Factory Default Configuration? Or am I missing something? Is AES/EBU also part of the Factory Default Configuration?
 
dminches
John T said:
David, (agreed on USB) so for those of us who do have the Horizon with Native XDMI, the other interfaces onboard the Olympus will be Analog Out and USB. Other than Lampizator Out from the Olympus is USB/Analog Out The Factory Default Configuration? Or am I missing something? Is AES/EBU also part of the Factory Default Configuration?
Click to expand...

I am not sure what you mean by Factory Default Configuration. The USB output works on its own. The other outputs are daughter boards on the main XDMI board. One decides which one they want to use (XDMI, analog out, digital (S/PDIF or AES/EBU).
 
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J
dminches said:
I am not sure what you mean by Factory Default Configuration. The USB output works on its own. The other outputs are daughter boards on the main XDMI board. One decides which one they want to use (XDMI, analog out, digital (S/PDIF or AES/EBU).
Click to expand...
I understand the USB works on its own. What I'm asking is the Olympus has output choices that fits your needs. For those of us with Native XDMI our Olympus will have Lampizator Out and Analog Out. AES/EBU would be an additional charged output and not needed for those of us with Native XDMI installed in our Horizons. Unless you needed AES/EBU for the interim with a different situation...The point I was attempting to make is 2 outs are free with the Olympus, a 3rd which can be done is chargeable...
 
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Tuckia
John T said:
I understand the USB works on its own. What I'm asking is the Olympus has output choices that fits your needs. For those of us with Native XDMI our Olympus will have Lampizator Out and Analog Out. AES/EBU would be an additional charged output and not needed for those of us with Native XDMI installed in our Horizons. Unless you needed AES/EBU for the interim with a different situation...The point I was attempting to make is 2 outs are free with the Olympus, a 3rd which can be done is chargeable...
Click to expand...
After the introductory period ends on August 1, 2024, only the XDMI analog out (dac card) is included in the base price. Additional daughter boards - Lampi xdmi or other mfg. specific card; or the spdif/AES/EBU card - are 900 Euros each.

Swapping xdmi daughter cards requires popping the Olympus or I/O lid. Only one can be mounted at a time.

Considering the loss of the introductory discount, the increase in base price, and the additional cost of daughter boards; order soon if you haven't.
 
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Taiko Audio
StefanK said:
Hi all, I've joined the club recently and really looking forward to replace my Taiko Extreme with Olympus.
Based on the FAQ pdf provided earlier, there is a section which specifies that during the introduction period all the 'Olympus Server XDMI' will be shipped with 'Enhanced USB Card' included.
However from the pictures posted here it looks like the USB is just the default one from the motherboard.

Can you please explain how it is?

I will for sure use the new XDMI interface with my future purchase of Lampizator Horizon, but also would be great if I still had the option with Enhanced USB card for some DACs, that can't use XDMI (majority for now).

With the Lampizator XDMI card as part of the order will I only get the XDMI Analog card or also the XDMI Digital card? So 2 cards or 3 cards in total.
Click to expand...

Hi @StefanK ,

Thank you for your order!

The USB implementation employed in the Olympus has been changed since its announcement.

It is now indeed one of the "default" ports of the motherboard in combination with a new USB driver.

For those interested in the technical details as to why, with the Olympus, the type of noise affecting sound quality most is the type generated by current draw, aka power consumption. The way USB audio works is very unfavourable towards the ability of modern processors to save power.

The thought now entering your mind may be, why would I care about power savings? The answer is it's a critical part of modern processor performance. Processors need to save as much power as possible to be able to reach higher performance levels without overheating. To this end, processors, controllers, buses, interfaces, auxiliary devices power down all the time, up to thousands of times a second !

USB audio / USB controllers are not that sympathetic towards this concept, they attempt to either not power down at all, for minimal latency and/or to avoid dropouts / distortion, or a very bare minimum for compliancy. This also applies to the Extreme, it will use around 60 watts in idle, and about 80 watts when streaming USB audio.

The same solution in the Olympus though, with a much more powerful CPU, does not increase power consumption by ~25%, but doubles it!

Now we have been through a lot of different USB implementations, we have a full stock of modified USB cards which perform better then our original USB cards, yet still not that great due to the power consumption "issue". The best solution we found is the lowest processing overhead, maximum power savings supporting, onboard controller with a new USB driver, it adds 16 watts to the power consumption when playing USB audio, a 68% reduction, does not suffer from latency/dropout issues, and is now "pretty darn good" if I may say so :)

This new USB driver supports all the DACs listed in the supported DAC document on our website, but changing the DAC profiles no longer has an appreciable effect, and thus can be ignored.
 
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Taiko Audio
SwissTom said:
Good evening Emile (@Taiko Audio ) , good evening everyone,

I've just realised that there is a missing information.

If I'm not mistaken, the information is neither on the forum nor in the documentation.

What is the impedance of the XDMI digital daughterboard?

75 ohms or 110 ohms?

Cheers,

Thomas
Click to expand...

AES/EBU is 110 ohms, SPDIF 75 ohms. But you can safely ignore that, the better quality connector and/or cable will sound better, regardless of its specified impedance. Without knowing this for a fact I would not be surprised if most audiophile cabling does not meet these impedance specs, and they don't need to, nobody will know :)
 
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J
Tuckia said:
After the introductory period ends on August 1, 2024, only the XDMI analog out (dac card) is included in the base price. Additional daughter boards - Lampi xdmi or other mfg. specific card; or the spdif/AES/EBU card - are 900 Euros each.

Swapping xdmi daughter cards requires popping the Olympus or I/O lid. Only one can be mounted at a time.

Considering the loss of the introductory discount, the increase in base price, and the additional cost of daughter boards; order soon if you haven't.
Click to expand...
Yes until the "DISCOUNT" ends..
 
K
oldmustang said:
Not true, at least if we are to believe several manufacturers of RCA connectors and or RCA terminated 75 ohm cables:


75 Ohm RCA Connectors, One Piece, Fixed Pin | Product Catalog | TVC

75 Ohm RCA Connectors, One Piece, Fixed Pin
www.tvcinc.com www.tvcinc.com

https://www.bluejeanscable.com/articles/75ohmrca.htm (see Canare RCA at the end of this article)

Steve Z
Click to expand...

Thank you Steve
It's good to know someone fixed this issue over past few years.
I was looking for 75ohm RCAs few years ago and was forced to switch to BNC instead .
 
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steve williams
aLLeARS said:
Anxiously awaiting the first reviews!
Click to expand...
here's a first tickler. I have more but I will wait for said person to post some thoughts tomorrow.

I am hearing almost limitless music space without boundaries. As if I was free falling from the clouds of sound

On USB ,it is a game changer and on XDMI it is more like vinyl.

I'm drooling just reading that :)
 
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