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".

 

I couldn’t locate the pre-order link just yet, is it already live ?

 

Regarding adding an Olympus I/O to Extreme; it requires returning old USB and NIC cards..."old" meaning original cards and not upgraded versions ?

Im not aware of any upgraded Taiko USB or NIC cards

 

The 2 spare Olympus battery supplies will then power the interface cards. The I/O cards will then be situated in the I/O chassis. Altogether you’ll have an increased level of isolation in a reduced EMI/RFI environment.

The 3rd Olympus battery supply powers the OS / music drives.

The improved performance of Olympus over Extreme + I/O is larger for XDMI then for USB as USB has a relatively high noise level itself. Where XDMI noise levels have to be measured on a nanovolt scale, a best effort USB implementation is more in the micro/millivolt range, aka thousands of times higher.

If we went the olympus + olympus i/o route, it sounds like once you swap the 2 interface cards from the olympus to the i/o there would be 2 dormant BPS remaining in the olympus. Am i thinking about that correctly?

If so, is there a way to have the 2 unused BPS in the olympus power the motherboard or maybe some other practical application for them?

Thanks

 

post nr 103:
Very roughly I expect it to be around 1x Olympus + 1x Olympus I/O > 2x Extreme > 1x Olympus > 1x Extreme + 1x Olympus I/O > 1x Extreme > 1x Olympus I/O (based on USB / without XDMI).

so if I see correctly pricing of Olympus + Olympus IO is more than 2x Extreme from your post.

It looks in the end will be more like 4x , not 2x Extreme mentioned In post 103.

I was very enthusiastic after I was seeing it first time ( >2xExtreme) but now is difficult counting 4x.

I at least assumed that if Olympus is < 2x Extreme, that this is the Olympus including the XDMI board.

Well I hope the XDMI discount will stay around a bit longer as an upgrade that costs like 2.3x (or 1.3x trading in the Extreme) is quite substantial.

Now my feeling it that still at these prices the new Taiko offerings are reasonably valued vs. many other manufacturers pricing these days (where you sometime feel the rational is foremost „we take as much as we can get“). Still, it‘s something to digest because I had a stand-alone 4-5k DAC Card and a say 12-15k small BPS in mind and now I‘m looking at something 1,5-2x the amount of that.

 

If we went the olympus + olympus i/o route, it sounds like once you swap the 2 interface cards from the olympus to the i/o there would be 2 dormant BPS remaining in the olympus. Am i thinking about that correctly?

If so, is there a way to have the 2 unused BPS in the olympus power the motherboard or maybe some other practical application for them?

Thanks

They power the 2 separate connection cards than

 

They power the 2 separate connection cards than

Understood. Thanks

 

post nr 103:
Very roughly I expect it to be around 1x Olympus + 1x Olympus I/O > 2x Extreme > 1x Olympus > 1x Extreme + 1x Olympus I/O > 1x Extreme > 1x Olympus I/O (based on USB / without XDMI).

so if I see correctly pricing of Olympus + Olympus IO is more than 2x Extreme from your post.

It looks in the end will be more like 4x , not 2x Extreme mentioned In post 103.

I was very enthusiastic after I was seeing it first time ( >2xExtreme) but now is difficult counting 4x.

1x Olympus + 1x Olympus I/O = 72.800
> 2x Extreme = 56.000
> 1x Olympus = 52.000
> 1x Extreme + 1x Olympus I/O = 48.800
> 1x Extreme = 28.000
> 1x Olympus I/O = 24.000

(based on USB / without XDMI).

 

The HyperCards in Extreme or just the drives in the HyperCards?

The complete cards.

 

Does the Olympus need two power cords, one for LPS and other for battery charger?

One.

 

I was noticing that the XDMI module - especially at full retail (i.e. not introductory) price - has a significant cost. In my case I could justify it - at least in the short term - only if the sound quality of the analog output is in line or better than my current DAC.

Initially the TACDA was presented as capable to compete with DACs in the 10-20k range, but that was before a lot of further development and - most notably - the coupling of it with an advanced battery operation.

So my question is how the XDMI analog out in its current incarnations (inside the Olympus or - even better - inside the O. I/O) compares with state-of-the art desktop DACs?

You can return it if it fails to amaze you, full refund guarantee.

 

Regarding adding an Olympus I/O to Extreme; it requires returning old USB and NIC cards..."old" meaning original cards and not upgraded versions ?

Upgraded versions.

 

Upgraded versions.

Thanks for clarifying

 

1x Olympus + 1x Olympus I/O = 72.800
> 2x Extreme = 56.000
> 1x Olympus = 52.000
> 1x Extreme + 1x Olympus I/O = 48.800
> 1x Extreme = 28.000
> 1x Olympus I/O = 24.000

(based on USB / without XDMI).

Thanks
yes now it is clear, more than has a wide range here and I failed on that .
XDMI was not calculated here as well.
I believe there were few here who misunderstood it exactly same way I did .

I hope to find a way to stay in the Taiko train.
It looks its moving faster than ever……

 

Does the XDMI include the analog output daughter board or is that a redundant question? I guess I am not 100% sure what is defined by XDMI.

 

No we'll have to quote storage, it's added at cost. A micron 9400 PRO 30.72TB drive costs around E 3.300 currently. I'm just mentioning this as there are virtually no storage capacity limitations for the Olympus. You can also use the same type of storage as used in the Extreme but there are some benefits to using these "new" types of drives / interfaces.

Dear Emile,

If I understood correctly, the price of the Olympus XDMI is Eur60.400 (with discount) plus the cost of storage. I suggest you give the price of the Olympus with the lowest storage option cost.

So, let's say the storage is Eur3.000, plus Eur60.400 (with discount) for the Olympus XDMI, then if I return the Extreme I get Eur28.000 of credit, so a net of Eur35.400 plus shipping, right?

Since I don't get credit for the Extreme storage (8Tb in my case), do I keep the storage? or do I have to send the storage with the Extreme?

If we return the Extreme with the new NIC and the new USB, do we get extra credit? How much total?


Thanks

 

You can return it if it fails to amaze you, full refund guarantee.

Well, there’s confidence for you!

 

1x Olympus + 1x Olympus I/O = 72.800
> 2x Extreme = 56.000
> 1x Olympus = 52.000
> 1x Extreme + 1x Olympus I/O = 48.800
> 1x Extreme = 28.000
> 1x Olympus I/O = 24.000

(based on USB / without XDMI).

Does the last option, Olympus I/o, have a possibility of aes/ebu without xdmi?

 

I couldn’t locate the pre-order link just yet, is it already live ?

No, we didn't actually plan on doing a pre sale, if you'd like to be an early bird I can process orders manually through contact@taikoaudio.com .

 

Does the XDMI include the analog output daughter board or is that a redundant question? I guess I am not 100% sure what is defined by XDMI.

It comes with both an analogue output board and a digital SPDIF + AES/EBU board.

 

Dear Emile,

If I understood correctly, the price of the Olympus XDMI is Eur60.400 (with discount) plus the cost of storage. I suggest you give the price of the Olympus with the lowest storage option cost.

So, let's say the storage is Eur3.000, plus Eur60.400 (with discount) for the Olympus XDMI, then if I return the Extreme I get Eur28.000 of credit, so a net of Eur35.400 plus shipping, right?

Since I don't get credit for the Extreme storage (8Tb in my case), do I keep the storage? or do I have to send the storage with the Extreme?

If we return the Extreme with the new NIC and the new USB, do we get extra credit? How much total?


Thanks

Your storage can move to the Olympus, we did not settle on the default local storage yet but it will be either 4 or 8TB. SQ wise it's no longer relevant as it would be U.2 /U.3 which can be battery powered without modification. Our final pick will be determined by a combination of reliable availability and power consumption (to reduce battery recharge time).