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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Music is a passion, but I have others. Especially at the moment! The climbing and mountaineering season is currently in full swing!

Totally aligned! It is about chasing the stress away, not stressing over

Here's a little diversion, totally off topic:

We just got back from a quick "Tree Hugging" holiday. Nothing like a some 2000+ year old giants to put things in proper perspective!

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Good morning forum members, mountain climbers and tree huggers!

Today the first Olympus servers are shipping out.

Unfortunately the I/Os did not make it back in time from the Anodising company, those will start shipping next week.

We have had all chassis re-anodised by the new anodising company, the finish quality is so much better I just could not live with myself shipping out lesser quality finished chassis just to get them out the door quicker, even though those receiving them may have not even have noticed, it does really make a significant difference to the appearance of the product. The big difference is the procedure this company uses, I'm no expert in anodising but they told me they apply a process which determines the hue/colour before the actual anodising takes place. This creates a better final surface quality / consistency and additionally the colour shade is always the same. These are really nice people, they have allocated their Saturdays for the foreseeable future exclusively to finish our chassis parts!

Being fully aware the wait time has been longer then anticipated, our own impatience may actually very well have exceeded yours, we're beyond excited to finally start receiving feedback from the "field" as of next week.
 
Amazing Emile! Thank you to you and your team for the consistent openness to share w an ‘energetic’ community ongoing developments in virtual real time.
And to Ed for uploading latest xdms updates w a moments notice. Truly unique compared to any hi end audio company out there. All the utmost care/diligence will only payout multiple fold of course independent of a few days or weeks of ‘wait’. we all just stand to benefit ultimately and i think most of us are in this/have been for the long glorious haul.

Received new Horizon today w taiko xdmi input this time. Ready to roll.
 
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Good morning forum members, mountain climbers and tree huggers!

Today the first Olympus servers are shipping out.

Unfortunately the I/Os did not make it back in time from the Anodising company, those will start shipping next week.

We have had all chassis re-anodised by the new anodising company, the finish quality is so much better I just could not live with myself shipping out lesser quality finished chassis just to get them out the door quicker, even though those receiving them may have not even have noticed, it does really make a significant difference to the appearance of the product. The big difference is the procedure this company uses, I'm no expert in anodising but they told me they apply a process which determines the hue/colour before the actual anodising takes place. This creates a better final surface quality / consistency and additionally the colour shade is always the same. These are really nice people, they have allocated their Saturdays for the foreseeable future exclusively to finish our chassis parts!

Being fully aware the wait time has been longer then anticipated, our own impatience may actually very well have exceeded yours, we're beyond excited to finally start receiving feedback from the "field" as of next week.

Hey Emile (@Taiko Audio )

A few more weeks doesn't really matter, does it? :)

All that matters is that it arrives well-packaged and confy, and that everything is in place: ten fingers, ten toes, two ears, and so on. :p

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Cheers,

Thomas
 
I got word that mine ships next week. I heard they come on a palette that weighs (mine) 135 Kg and mine ships with a return for my Extreme

Im hoping team Taiko will finally be able to catch up on some much needed sleep as they have been working 16-18 hour days to commence the shipment process

Ed tells me my Extreme with its very large internal library will be used by him in Oldenzaahl to further the development of the new scanner which presently scans 5 times faster with smaller libraries and they are working on the same for larger libraries. Im going to miss XDMS until it become a reality for Olympus owners
 
I thought we were suppose to remove the internal storage in our Extreme before we return them...is yours an exception?
you can do whatever you want I suppose or do you have a problem with what I am doing. My library has been copied to an NAS, Ed has been working on my Extreme for several weeks to help develop the new scanner which is written in a different language code and he told me he would be working on my internal librarywhen it returns to Oldenzaahl. Whether mine is an exception or not I have no idea. If it makes you feel better it is a simple task to wipe the internal storage
 
you can do whatever you want I suppose or do you have a problem with what I am doing. My library has been copied to an NAS, Ed has been working on my Extreme for several weeks to help develop the new scanner which is written in a different language code and he told me he would be working on my internal librarywhen it returns to Oldenzaahl. Whether mine is an exception or not I have no idea. If it makes you feel better it is a simple task to wipe the internal storage

Steve, I think he was asking more about the hardware (m.2 cards) than the library. My understanding is that we can remove the hardware before shipping and use the storage in another machine if we do choose.
 
When will the Olympus Order Status page become operational so we can have all our shipment-related questions answered there?
Will the Olympus Order Status page be closer to reality than words from Taiko in this thread?
I don't know how many times start of shipment has been promised now but the first shipment was planned for the beginning of March, in May it was said that all ordered Olympus was supposed to be delivered before the end of August and that shipping would start in two weeks? If I'm not wrong it is vacation times in europe right now, slowing down companies.
Unfortunately, when waiting for the Taiko router I learned that Taiko's and mine time reception isn't the same, not even close. Don't Taiko think that we have lives to plan?
 
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