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".

 

Thanks, Emile. Like ctydwn, I have opted in for 8TB internal storge and out of the fuss and troubles. Keep it simple, stupid (referring to myself).

Good call for a modestly sized music library!

 

I was thinking that whether I use a stand alone Seagate 12TB or a NAS drive it would be preferred to use the DCD to power it. I can't do that if I put the drive (either one) near the Extreme so I can access the Extreme USB port. Could I therefore hook up the drive I select to the USB port on the Router instead? I guess if its a NAS, I would use the LAN connection, but if it is a 12TB Seagate, would the Router USB port work to transfer files off the Extreme and reinstall them to the Olympus the same way?

 

if it arrives at year end we could call it XMAS

If there's a 1 or 2% improvement not having memory in the O, could a future version of the I/O be a nas?

 

I was thinking that whether I use a stand alone Seagate 12TB or a NAS drive it would be preferred to use the DCD to power it. I can't do that if I put the drive (either one) near the Extreme so I can access the Extreme USB port. Could I therefore hook up the drive I select to the USB port on the Router instead? I guess if its a NAS, I would use the LAN connection, but if it is a 12TB Seagate, would the Router USB port work to transfer files off the Extreme and reinstall them to the Olympus the same way?

If your Seagate was formatted as NTFS file system, the router USB port doesn’t recognise it, yet.

 

If there's a 1 or 2% improvement not having memory in the O, could a future version of the I/O be a nas?

The current I/O can already do that, but that’s quite a hefty price-tag for just 1-2%.

 

You could remove the USB card and use the freed up slot for 4 more drives

Is it adviced to remove USB card
or / and
USB functionality for the ultimate performance with Olympus?

 

Yes, but after you have listened to that you should unplug the USB cable, and even better reboot, before listening to XDMI.

Getting rid of USB (or other traditional digital connection) is the primary reason that I wanted to move to Olympus. I have a 15-year-old Pioneer Elite DVD player (flagship then) modded with proprietary i2s out (master clock, bit clock, L/R or word clock and data) with the DAC similarly modded (for watching my big library of opera and classical music live concert video discs) - in a purist way, "direct coupling" (the 4 i2s signals gathered directly on the circuit board of the DVD and sent directly to the 4 RCA jacks, bypassing all transformers, capacitors etc. in the signal paths); the DVD's oscillator clock was also upgraded. The ribbon cables (a set of 4, each 1.0M long) used are 200 microinch (0.005mm) ribbons insulated only in very thin polymer sleeves (to reduce skin and dielectric effects) with individualized values for each cable (determined with a test box, with 6 "networks" which I thought are resistors arrayed in a proprietary algorism array for each cable) to maximize impedance between DVD transport and DAC for that specific i2s signal. I did not want to post before (to avoid being pilloried): the modded DVD-DAC connection via the i2s ribbons sounds more natural and organic than the Extreme-DAC connection via USB. This is a lowly DVD player with probably switch power supplier against Extreme used with the Switch, yet once I have heard such purer sound from the i2s connection, I cannot unhear it. The USB sound is now heard as being obviously (more) veiled and I cannot wait to be rid of it. This is not to downplay the sheer achievements of Extreme, but that purist DVD mod did give me a premonition of what to come with Olympus, which should be much more thorough going in its "purist" approach than the modest DVD mod (limited to i2s out). I believe what Emile estimated: easily 2x better than Extreme. The sound of Olympus should be sui generis and qualitatively different. Eagerly await Olympus' arrival. Thanks.

 

If your Seagate was formatted as NTFS file system, the router USB port doesn’t recognise it, yet.

He could reformat it to exFAT, assuming that’s what the router recognizes. In marty’s case he is only using it for backup and transfer so he should be connecting it to the Extreme and Olympus directly.

 

Is it adviced to remove USB card
or / and
USB functionality for the ultimate performance with Olympus?

I believe the Olympus USB port is built in as part of the motherboard if i remember correctly. So, not removable.

 

I believe the Olympus USB port is built in as part of the motherboard if i remember correctly. So, not removable.

I don't think that is true based on this post by Emile:

Yeah indeed, there’s a point where you just run out of expansion slots. There are 5 in total. Then you have the same “issue” we have with the Extreme that certain devices sound better in certain slots.

The current config we run here is:

Slot 1: combined for graphics and OS drive
Slot 2: network card
Slot 3: XDMI or USB
Slot 4: prefer not to use (heat)
Slot 5: USB or U.3 storage drive

 

@tsaett Could you enable view of our Olympus choices (color, storage size, output cards etc.)? I did in midnight stupor but am not 100% sure of the correctness of my choices (I did not get confirmation via email of my choices). Thanks.

 

I don't think that is true based on this post by Emile:

Yeah indeed, there’s a point where you just run out of expansion slots. There are 5 in total. Then you have the same “issue” we have with the Extreme that certain devices sound better in certain slots.

The current config we run here is:

Slot 1: combined for graphics and OS drive
Slot 2: network card
Slot 3: XDMI or USB
Slot 4: prefer not to use (heat)
Slot 5: USB or U.3 storage drive

Though that may have changed. See here: he says Olympus server variant USB is not removable.

Post in thread 'Introducing Olympus & Olympus I/O - A new perspective on modern music playback'
https://www.whatsbestforum.com/thre...ve-on-modern-music-playback.37939/post-974470

 

Though that may have changed. See here: he says Olympus server variant USB is not removable.

Post in thread 'Introducing Olympus & Olympus I/O - A new perspective on modern music playback'
https://www.whatsbestforum.com/thre...ve-on-modern-music-playback.37939/post-974470

I saw that I couldn't understand it.

@Taiko Audio Can you explain USB in the Olympus? Was it once a PCI card and now it is just part of the motherboard? What changed?

 

Is it adviced to remove USB card
or / and
USB functionality for the ultimate performance with Olympus?

No, as long as you don’t use the USB port it doesn’t hurt anything.

 

I don't think that is true based on this post by Emile:

Yeah indeed, there’s a point where you just run out of expansion slots. There are 5 in total. Then you have the same “issue” we have with the Extreme that certain devices sound better in certain slots.

The current config we run here is:

Slot 1: combined for graphics and OS drive
Slot 2: network card
Slot 3: XDMI or USB
Slot 4: prefer not to use (heat)
Slot 5: USB or U.3 storage drive

Changed to:
Slot 1: OS drive + Music drive
Slot 2: Network card
Slot 3: XDMI
Slot 4: free, but blocked if you are going to use MSB Pro ISL or AES/EBU
Slot 5: free

Slots 4 & 5 can both be needed for future more expansive XDMI options, like for example balanced outputs with volume control

 

@tsaett Could you enable view of our Olympus choices (color, storage size, output cards etc.)? I did in midnight stupor but am not 100% sure of the correctness of my choices (I did not get confirmation via email of my choices). Thanks.

You have PM

 

He could reformat it to exFAT, assuming that’s what the router recognizes. In marty’s case he is only using it for backup and transfer so he should be connecting it to the Extreme and Olympus directly.

Not yet but working on that!

 

Changed to:
Slot 1: OS drive + Music drive
Slot 2: Network card
Slot 3: XDMI
Slot 4: free, but blocked if you are going to use MSB Pro ISL or AES/EBU
Slot 5: free

Slots 4 & 5 can both be needed for future more expansive XDMI options, like for example balanced outputs with volume control

Could you please also provide single-ended output with VC when VC becomes available? I subscribe to the school which thinks SE is intrinsically more musical than balanced for home audio use (balanced is better only for recording studios which need to run very long cables). My system is entirely SE and will never go balanced.

 

Changed to:
Slot 1: OS drive + Music drive
Slot 2: Network card
Slot 3: XDMI
Slot 4: free, but blocked if you are going to use MSB Pro ISL or AES/EBU
Slot 5: free

Slots 4 & 5 can both be needed for future more expansive XDMI options, like for example balanced outputs with volume control

So how this will look in my Olympus
+ Olympus IO ?

Also I was thinking AES is daughter board plugged into XDMI . Now it looks like an independent card in pci express.

 

The current I/O can already do that, but that’s quite a hefty price-tag for just 1-2%.

Does it imply that I/O adds "just 1-2%" over O for SQ? Or is it still around 9% (estimated months ago)?