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".

 

Do you have any theories as to why using the Taiko router wifi would sound better than using one's home wifi + port forwarding?

I do have theories but there are some inconsistencies/variables.

1) the router integrated Wi-Fi default configuration is set to the old 802.11b standard with no transmission power boosting (0dB). This uses much less power than the WAN RJ45 port, so you could theorise it’s simply a function of power usage, as that’s influenced by having to process data.

2) You could easily verify this yourself by changing the protocol to 802.11N which transmits on both 2.4G and 5G or 802.11AC which transmits on 5G only and/or boost the transmission power. This would the increase the Wi-Fi module’s power consumption and decrease the advantage over using your home Wi-Fi.

You can find these settings in the same section as where you can change your Wi-Fi channel, see pages 25-28 in the Router’s user manual:

https://taikoaudio.com/taiko-2020/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Taiko-Audio-Router-Manual-V23.x80569.pdf

 

My question is simply this: Why has my TaikoAaudio network, which was stable as a rock for months, decide to go bizerk and shut down intermittently only since I installed TestFLight 2.4.7.1? This has still not been addressed after several days while making sure that the Taiko Audio network is active (unless it drops in the middle of the night) and my TV passwords kept current and refreshed for the team to see anytime. I am readily available by email, phone, morse code, smoke signals, and carrier pigeon but....crickets. Very frustrating. If I knew how to change the router channel, I would, or do anything else required at my end. I don't need my XDMS playlists (even though I put work into them) since the Olympus will use Roon. But is a stable TaikoAudio network with Roon only too much to ask?

If you want stability you have to stick to Roon.

XDMS is in alpha stage, which is the stage preceding beta, which in turn precedes stable. You can expect good stability from beta versions with just some bugs, and rock-solid stability from stable releases, but not from alpha.

I understand the enthusiasm of jumping on the alpha program of XDMS when reading gushing feedback from testing participants, but I strongly recommend to exercise restraint if you don’t possess an above average level of computer operating skills.

 

These network issues do not sound good! Hence me delaying my order until I "thought" things were stable. Not a good situation...

If you are referring to delaying an Olympus order, there are no stability issues, it runs Roon exclusively, we will not offer XDMS on the Olympus until it’s reached stable release status.

If you are referring to the Router, I recommend reading the manual first, I understand few ever do, I never read user manuals myself, but in this case it would be good.

Then if manually changing Wi-Fi settings look overly complicated for you, request your Router to be shipped set to 802.11n , it will be active on both the 2.4 and 5G bands and you will never run into issues from the Wi-Fi being drowned out by neighbouring Wi-Fi setups.

On top of that, those who actually did experience Wi-Fi connectivity issues is limited to just a handful of people, who just happen to be very active posters, and post about it repeatedly, which I understand can create a negative sentiment, but generally its just stable at even the lowest protocol/transmission power defaults.

 

How's the Olympus production line going ? first shipment batch close ?

Yes very close, we actually wanted to have a bunch out this week, but we have a few guys away on an holiday, and somehow customer support has been murder lately, so we just ran out of time, next week it is then!

 

Just curious about the charging time setting. If Olympus needs to be charged all the time while playing music, what is the point of setting the charging time for it?

Is it still charging when powering off?

When you flip the backside AC power switch it cannot charge.

If you shutdown the OS, by pressing the front button, which is now actually situated on the bottom, aka put it in “standby” it will still charge.

The BPS powering the main hardware always charges.

The BPS powering XDMI can be configured to charge all the time as well, or to only charge in a specific time window you can configure yourself by using the remote control app.

The remote control app connects directly to the BPS over Bluetooth, it does not need the Olympus operating system to be running.

 

I am hoping every final test of a new Olympus turns into a few hour blissful listening session for everyone at Taiko. Well deserved.

And/or they are prepping an announcement of a new product from that previously mentioned ~17 products currently being worked on via that road/treasure map mentioned long ago..... (no inside info here) ... just trying to fill in some space for @Tuckia and @John T

btw, thanks to not only all at Taiko but to their families as well as as clearly candles get burnt on both ends and that needs true team support

Thank you! We have a new anodiser who did your Heisenberg power amplifiers, the Olympus should be a perfect surface finish match to them

 

If you want stability you have to stick to Roon.

XDMS is in alpha stage, which is the stage preceding beta, which in turn precedes stable. You can expect good stability from beta versions with just some bugs, and rock-solid stability from stable releases, but not from alpha.

I understand the enthusiasm of jumping on the alpha program of XDMD when reading gushing feedback from testing participants, but I strongly recommend to exercise restraint if you’re don’t possess an above average level of computer operating skills.

I appreciate the candor Emile. More restraint would have certainly deterred me from downloading 2.4.7.1, but I did not have your sage advice prior! No matter, Roon only is now running courtesy of Ed, and the TaikoAudio network has operated flawlessly for 3 days. I apologize for not being comfortable on Discord so all my requests have gone through the support mechanism. I hope that continues to be acceptable.

 

I appreciate the candor Emile. More restraint would have certainly deterred me from downloading 2.4.2.7, but I did not have your sage advice prior! No matter, Roon only is now running courtesy of Ed, and the TaikoAudio network has operated flawlessly for 3 days. I apologize for not being comfortable on Discord so all my requests have gone through the support mechanism. I hope that continues to be acceptable.

Happy to hear your issues have been resolved.

Naturally support is available for any kind of enquiries!

For those who don’t know what Discord is, it’s a chat app where XDMS alpha program participants share feedback, file bug reports and get quick help.

 

If you are referring to delaying an Olympus order, there are no stability issues, it runs Roon exclusively, we will not offer XDMS on the Olympus until it’s reached stable release status.

If you are referring to the Router, I recommend reading the manual first, I understand few ever do, I never read user manuals myself, but in this case it would be good.

Then if manually changing Wi-Fi settings look overly complicated for you, request your Router to be shipped set to 802.11n , it will be active on both the 2.4 and 5G bands and you will never run into issues from the Wi-Fi being drowned out by neighbouring Wi-Fi setups.

On top of that, those who actually did experience Wi-Fi connectivity issues is limited to just a handful of people, who just happen to be very active posters, and post about it repeatedly, which I understand can create a negative sentiment, but generally its just stable at even the lowest protocol/transmission power defaults.

No, poor wording on my part. Early onset router channel, drop out. etc, gave me slight pause/angst, for ordering the router initially. I thought something became unstable. Posts here can be a double edged sword, very helpful, yet sometimes not. Too much info. All my orders are in. Everything will be fine, Thanks for the tip 802.11n and peace of mind!

 

Do you have any theories as to why using the Taiko router wifi would sound better than using one's home wifi + port forwarding?

In my case, I haven’t heard a difference between TaikoRouter WiFi and TaikoRouter rj45 to iPad controller.

 

Emile is too nice to fully express the extent of the issue at hand. I reached out to him for an update on the Olympus shipping yesterday, as my clients are becoming increasingly impatient with the lack of updates. There is a delicate and complex situation there. The ongoing discussions about squeezing out the last 0.1% of sound quality with NAS, WiFi settings/options, tablet choices, etc., have triggered a significant number of support inquiries to Taiko. While we see only 40-50 posts from a few vocal participants, these posts lead to a massive influx of support inquiries to Taiko.

These inquiries are consuming the entire team's time, especially when some team members are on holiday, keeping them busy with emails all day. From what I understand, this is the primary reason for the delay in shipping the Olympus servers. It’s not the Windows licenses or the air shipping certification; it’s the overwhelming volume of support requests. A huge portion of these requests are generated by the latest discussions here and another significant portion by the XDMS Alpha group (a group that is designed to help development, not to overwhelm support).

As Emile mentioned, he planned to ship a few Olympus orders yesterday but couldn’t due to lack of time. During our quick discussion, he mentioned that on the busiest days, he only manages to sleep for 3 hours, spending the rest of the time working.

When I realized the extent of the issue, I was tempted to suggest here that @steve williams lock the Taiko threads for a week or so. However, I felt this might not be appropriate. Instead, I reached out to some friends and asked them to help spread the word and encourage others to slow down a bit. We are a small community, and many of us have lines of communication outside of WBF.

Things should get better when people come back from holidays next week. Emile also mentioned that a new person is starting in assembly, which should help. If we can somehow reduce the non-critical questions sent to Taiko and let them focus on building the Olympus, it would be a massive help, and everyone will get their Olympus sooner. Let's get the 300-ish % improvement first, and we will worry about the last 0.1% later.

 

Emile
Just wondering if you could confirm the digital outputs from XDMI
You mentioned it will be possible to incorporate the AES, Spidf at RCA and BNC
Are all 3 there ?
I am asking as RCA is usually 50 ohm
BNC (a true Spidf) is 75 ohm.

That was not answered I believe.
Thank you

 

That was not answered I believe.
Thank you

Actually, it's been answered several times previously, Kris. No BNC on the XDMI daughter card that will be shipping soon.

Steve Z

 

Emile is too nice to fully express the extent of the issue at hand. I reached out to him for an update on the Olympus shipping yesterday, as my clients are becoming increasingly impatient with the lack of updates. There is a delicate and complex situation there. The ongoing discussions about squeezing out the last 0.1% of sound quality with NAS, WiFi settings/options, tablet choices, etc., have triggered a significant number of support inquiries to Taiko. While we see only 40-50 posts from a few vocal participants, these posts lead to a massive influx of support inquiries to Taiko.

These inquiries are consuming the entire team's time, especially when some team members are on holiday, keeping them busy with emails all day. From what I understand, this is the primary reason for the delay in shipping the Olympus servers. It’s not the Windows licenses or the air shipping certification; it’s the overwhelming volume of support requests. A huge portion of these requests are generated by the latest discussions here and another significant portion by the XDMS Alpha group (a group that is designed to help development, not to overwhelm support).

As Emile mentioned, he planned to ship a few Olympus orders yesterday but couldn’t due to lack of time. During our quick discussion, he mentioned that on the busiest days, he only manages to sleep for 3 hours, spending the rest of the time working.

When I realized the extent of the issue, I was tempted to suggest here that @steve williams lock the Taiko threads for a week or so. However, I felt this might not be appropriate. Instead, I reached out to some friends and asked them to help spread the word and encourage others to slow down a bit. We are a small community, and many of us have lines of communication outside of WBF.

Things should get better when people come back from holidays next week. Emile also mentioned that a new person is starting in assembly, which should help. If we can somehow reduce the non-critical questions sent to Taiko and let them focus on building the Olympus, it would be a massive help, and everyone will get their Olympus sooner. Let's get the 300-ish % improvement first, and we will worry about the last 0.1% later.

I totally agree. When I spoke to Emile earlier today here was his reply.

I’ve pulled 21 hours yesterday, 18 Thursday, 16 on all days prior

Thanks @nenon.

 

If we can somehow reduce the non-critical questions sent to Taiko and let them focus on building the Olympus, it would be a massive help, and everyone will get their Olympus sooner.

By all means cut back the non-critical questions on tweaking the Olympus that will be shipping shortly.

On the other hand, those of us sticking with the extreme are also experiencing the effects of Olympus tweaking questions overloading the support team.

If anything, the activity on discord is much much lower than before, so I find it hard to believe alpha users are a factor.

As Taiko learns to juggle multiple products and supports efforts, and as well deserved vacations end, I'm sure team Taiko will make us all happy.

As for me and many others currently active on discord, I want Xdms-nsm in beta, with peerless SQ, gapless playback and reliable scanning for the extreme.

To those of you ascending Olympus, congratulations and I'm looking forward to hearing (if not owning) one.

There will certainly be resource allocation issues that Emile will be juggling for some time to come. I trust we'll all be fine.

Let's not waste any more bandwidth on this. Yes, we are all impatient.

 

When you flip the backside AC power switch it cannot charge.

If you shutdown the OS, by pressing the front button, which is now actually situated on the bottom, aka put it in “standby” it will still charge.

The BPS powering the main hardware always charges.

The BPS powering XDMI can be configured to charge all the time as well, or to only charge in a specific time window you can configure yourself by using the remote control app.

The remote control app connects directly to the BPS over Bluetooth, it does not need the Olympus operating system to be running.

Understood. Thanks.

 

Yes very close, we actually wanted to have a bunch out this week, but we have a few guys away on an holiday, and somehow customer support has been murder lately, so we just ran out of time, next week it is then!

Dear Emile, so the first batch (12 units?) should be shipped next week, then the next 12 units should be shipped during the following week?