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".

 

What I understood was that the first Olympus Servers came with both the analog card and the AES/EBU card.

My KBL cable is XDMI at both ends so it goes into the Taiko port on my Horizon so there are no limitations to format as with saes/ebu. True native XDMI

 

My KBL cable is XDMI at both ends so it goes into the Taiko port on my Horizon so there are no limitations to format as with aes/ebu. True native XDMI

As I understand it Lampizator is the first dac that provides native XDMI at the present time

 

You had the choice of 2 daughter boards. Some of us chose the DAC card and the XDMI link to Lampizator so we won’t be getting the digital output card.

But Nenon does not have a Lampizator DAC, it is logical that he received the DAC card and the AES/EBU

 

But Nenon does not have a Lampizator DAC, it is logical that he received the DAC card and the AES/EBU

I wasn’t talking about Nenon’s setup. You said “ What I understood was that the first Olympus Servers came with both the analog card and the AES/EBU card.” I was just clarifying that if someone has a Lampi DAC they probably didn’t get the AES/EBU card. Nenon doesn’t but someone else early in the queue may.

 

In March I visited Nenon with my Horizon in tow. Over 8 hours we mixed and matched components in his system. This afforded a compare between his diy dac and the Horizon. Given the usual qualifiers with system unfamiliarity, I’d say the two were different, but in the same performance sphere. The Horizon has better HF dimensionality, but his had a tighter bottom. Likely differences in choice of chip sets where his I believe is AD1865 based. Keep in mind he builds Sean Jacob’s power supplies too. Not your average Joe.

This doesn’t address his choice of card choice. One time he said he would have all of them, which makes sense for a dealer. However, it may add some perspective to his early assessment and compares.

 

I wasn’t talking about Nenon’s setup. You said “ What I understood was that the first Olympus Servers came with both the analog card and the AES/EBU card.” I was just clarifying that if someone has a Lampi DAC they probably didn’t get the AES/EBU card. Nenon doesn’t but someone else early in the queue may.

Yes, I said that in response to those who wrote cat6men referring to Nenon “Let's qualify that, as he doesn't have xdmi with the digital daughter board. He is a saying analog out is better than USB to his DAC.”

 

I have several Olympus (and I/O) orders and each order is coming with different daughter card, so I will end up with all 3 daughter cards eventually. The idea is to have demo Olympus XDMI servers and Olympus I/O that I can send to potential clients.
I am really interested in the Horizon XDMI implementation. Hence I started with the Lampizator XDMI daughter card.

My Olympus XDMI is sounding even better today. Emotional engagement is simply off the charts. I really haven't heard a better sounding digital than this. And I've listened to DACs that cost a lot more than the Olympus.
In fact, I am talking to someone who has a MSB Select II DAC to bring my Olympus there. It will be a long drive but totally worth it. I think I know what the outcome of that shootout will be but let's see...

Back to my listening session now...

 

On the other hand, if XDMI Analogue->Preamp is superior to XDMI Digital-AES/EBU->DAC, which may potentially be the case in a not insignificant number of DACs that don't yet have a Native XDMI implementation, then that will hopefully spur other DAC manufacturers to work with Emile to develop Native XDMI implementations for their DACs as well.

My bet is that XDMI if well received (and that already seems to be a no brainer) will be the pie in the sky for Taiko

 

the other unknown for me is how much more the IO adds to the uptick of the overall sound

 

Has anyone compared xdmi analog out vs xdmi digital out (aes/ebu)? I assume they have at Taiko, but I don’t recall any conclusions.

 

the other unknown for me is how much more the IO adds to the uptick of the overall sound

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...

www.whatsbestforum.com

Stock Extreme using the USB interface: 100%
Extreme + Olympus I/O with USB card mounted: 150%
Extreme + Olympus I/O with XDMI mounted: 200%
Olympus with USB card mounted: 175%
Olympus with XDMI mounted: 275%
Olympus with Olympus I/O with XDMI mounted: 300%

We also removed end reinserted the switch and router on Olympus + Olympus I/O, ratings as follows:
Olympus with Olympus I/O: 100%
Olympus with Olympus I/O + switch: 110%
Olympus with Olympus I/O + switch + router: 125%

DC distributor preferences unchanged, switch at Default, router at Alt2, powered by LPS.

Hope that helps.


Here are the ratings proposed by Emile.
But this is from December.
There have been some changes, for better.
But I believe that overall the ratings shouldn't have changed.

Cheers,

Thomas

 

-----------------------------------------------------------

Warning : silly Saturday night idea!

-----------------------------------------------------------

Everyone is seated?

Here we go!

The XDMI interface is in two parts: motherboard and daughterboard.

It's a practical and flexible modular system.

The analogue daughterboard is a DAC.

I suppose it's a good DAC, but what makes it so great is that it's on the XDMI motherboard.

Now imagine.... An XDMI daughterboard with a really good DAC!

Taiko Audio will surely come up with something. But it's not for tomorrow.

So why not tinker an ‘adapter’ XDMI daughterboard?

Do you see where I'm going with this?

Imagine the following :



Buy a second-hand Chord Dave.

Take the Chord Dave apart.

Remove the circuit board that makes the DAC.

And stick it on an XDMI ‘adapter’ daughterboard.

And that's it!

Just imagine the result, it could be quite something, couldn't it?

Cheers,

Thomas

 

-----------------------------------------------------------

Warning : silly Saturday night idea!

-----------------------------------------------------------

Everyone is seated?

Here we go!

The XDMI interface is in two parts: motherboard and daughterboard.

It's a practical and flexible modular system.

The analogue daughterboard is a DAC.

I suppose it's a good DAC, but what makes it so great is that it's on the XDMI motherboard.

Now imagine.... An XDMI daughterboard with a really good DAC!

Taiko Audio will surely come up with something. But it's not for tomorrow.

So why not tinker an ‘adapter’ XDMI daughterboard?

Do you see where I'm going with this?

Imagine the following :

View attachment 134183

Buy a second-hand Chord Dave.

Take the Chord Dave apart.

Remove the circuit board that makes the DAC.

And stick it on an XDMI ‘adapter’ daughterboard.

And that's it!

Just imagine the result, it could be quite something, couldn't it?

Cheers,

Thomas

From what I know and will be shot at dawn if I were to say anything, it is a superb DAC on the analogue card and likely a whole lot better than the Chord Dave. I would stick with the Taiko analogue board ......I thought you were going to suggest a volume control to remove the need for a preamp

 

thanks for fishing out what I knew has been posted but as I read the post here is the answer

Olympus with XDMI mounted: 275%
Olympus with Olympus I/O with XDMI mounted: 300%

so the IO adds an additional 25%

 

-----------------------------------------------------------

Warning : silly Saturday night idea!

-----------------------------------------------------------

Everyone is seated?

Here we go!

The XDMI interface is in two parts: motherboard and daughterboard.

It's a practical and flexible modular system.

The analogue daughterboard is a DAC.

I suppose it's a good DAC, but what makes it so great is that it's on the XDMI motherboard.

Now imagine.... An XDMI daughterboard with a really good DAC!

Taiko Audio will surely come up with something. But it's not for tomorrow.

So why not tinker an ‘adapter’ XDMI daughterboard?

Do you see where I'm going with this?

Imagine the following :

View attachment 134183

Buy a second-hand Chord Dave.

Take the Chord Dave apart.

Remove the circuit board that makes the DAC.

And stick it on an XDMI ‘adapter’ daughterboard.

And that's it!

Just imagine the result, it could be quite something, couldn't it?

Cheers,

Thomas

Ahem. I thought you said a really good DAC, Tom.

Steve Z

 

-----------------------------------------------------------

Warning : silly Saturday night idea!

-----------------------------------------------------------

Everyone is seated?

Here we go!

The XDMI interface is in two parts: motherboard and daughterboard.

It's a practical and flexible modular system.

The analogue daughterboard is a DAC.

I suppose it's a good DAC, but what makes it so great is that it's on the XDMI motherboard.

Now imagine.... An XDMI daughterboard with a really good DAC!

Taiko Audio will surely come up with something. But it's not for tomorrow.

So why not tinker an ‘adapter’ XDMI daughterboard?

Do you see where I'm going with this?

Imagine the following :

View attachment 134183

Buy a second-hand Chord Dave.

Take the Chord Dave apart.

Remove the circuit board that makes the DAC.

And stick it on an XDMI ‘adapter’ daughterboard.

And that's it!

Just imagine the result, it could be quite something, couldn't it?

Cheers,

Thomas

no disrespect to a chord. but very interesting…. i would be loathe to disembowel my second horizon here equipped and ready for xdmi input. i guess i am putting my $ down that olympus analog out cannot surpass the sound quality of olympus xdmi native to horizon. (of course tricky due to tube combos/sound preferences enabled)

a couple of us raised this issue a year ago - dac manufacturers, across even the higher price spectrums, could quite consequently suffer should taiko analog out, even at its nascent stage, defeat/even rub elbows with/ the competitors swisstom mentions. imho taiko smartly will let the user base speak for itself.

tricky stuff but great for innovation regardless. glued to my seat and i imagine other companies might be following here as well, without a doubt.

 

I also agree with Nenon that those sitting the fence should avail themselves quickly before time expires of the Taiko preorder whereby they get both analogue and digital cards. If for no other reason it becomes an easy a/b test to show any interested visitors who are contemplating purchasing an Olympus . I am not a dealer for either Taiko (like Nenon) or LampizatOr like Fred but the work that both have done for we end users and early adopters will make us ambassadors for the products and we should all take pleasure in helping both of these great companies to thrive

I don’t think anyone’s sitting on the fence. You either have the funds or not.

It’s a big jump from Extreme to Olympus even if you factor in the sale of your dac so for many Extreme users we’re waiting for all those used dacs from new Olympus owners to hit the market.

And hopes of trickle-down tech too.

 

The daughterboard was a good design decision, as DACs seem to come and go (the MSB Select II is 10 years old, and its modularity helped keep it current).

We've seen what Emile put into the Olympus and we know it's a great product. What I'm most curious about is how robust the BPS design is, and how it holds up over a few years (until the next thing everyone has to have). Thoughts?

 

The daughterboard was a good design decision, as DACs seem to come and go (the MSB Select II is 10 years old).

We've seen what Emile put into the Olympus and we know it's a great product. What I'm most curious about is how robust the BPS design is, and how it holds up over a few years. Thoughts?

Emile reported 30 plus years of projected battery life @ 90 or 95%. It’s buried in one of these threads somewhere. Amortize the cost over that span and you have an audio bargain. Should net a favorable benefit to cost ratio. (As the enabling choir sings - buy it, just buy it, you have only three days).

 

@emile--can you tell us the rough distribution of daughter boards ordered? Are many going for the DD option of AES/ebu or spdif/RCA?

96% have opted for the analog output (yes, some skipped this free option)

Roughly half have opted for the digital output board
About a third opted for the Lampizator Taiko link
Around 20% have opted for the MSB ProISL output