It's been a week since I got my Olympus and in the meantime I had to fight the weather anomalies, trees falling, electricity blacking out etc. Anyway, after a week I feel like I am getting a hint of what is happening with the Olympus.
Just to remind you - what I have is XDMI link to Lampizator DAC and USB ports which are - according to Emile - non audiophile, just for technical reasons like inserting HDD or pendrive. Anyway - this USB plays music as well.
My worst problem was that I could not understand why on some occasions I was in a. state of bliss on other occasions - I was just okay. It seems like the sound quality very strongly depends on the battery system voltage which in turn depends on level of charge . The higher charge the better sound. My first two days I was using the Olympus at below 5% charge because from cold start - it is how high it will go in one hour . If you charge without listening - it goes up faster. So as soon as the Olympus would show up in Roon - I would IMPATIENTLY listen. That was a wrong approach. Next level of quality is when the Olympus gets charged to 80% or so - things get really interesting. But eventually the Olympus will charge enough and disengage the charger and glide without engines - on battery power alone. THATS the real McCoy. My problem is that I don't know when these things happen because there is no display. I had to learn to use their app which monitors batteries, chargers, currents, voltages etc. The app is free (the only free thing with Taiko ;-) and easy to use.
Another thing I did not have is an Extreme server for reference so I was using Lampizator Gulfstream which I know very well.
Back to the "hated" USB port- say what you want or sue me but it sounds fantastic. It does something that my Gulfstream could only dream - the bass and space is so awesome, and the presentation is so not-digital that I really love it. As a lover of USB I can only dream that Taiko would provide the "audiophile approved" usb card in addition to these USB motherboard ports.
Now switching to XDMI with the (Taikoized) Horizon DAC. We enter different realm. I can only compare it to enhancing the listening session with a small puff of weed. Things become so whooooaaa spooky. To fully appreciate it's sound I suggest a completely dark room and relaxed state of mind. We change the so called "they are here" experience with "you are there" and it is for me the goal of being in this hobby. (the hobby is listening to music because my business is managing the factory). The ideas of having Jimi Hendrix in my room is interesting, but the goal is to travel in time and space and to be in Woodstock in person.
I honestly honestly don't know if bass is deeper, if frequency response is wider, if signal to noise is better, if THD is better, if jitter is lower, if dynamic range is improved - I swim in music and don't have a care in this world.
I can imagine it may not be for everyone, like close encounters with musicians in your room would not be welcome by introverts and sociopaths. For ME and I speak only for myself - this is the ultimate fun machine. We will NEVER agree unanimously - like with my other hobby sailing - some people like sailboats, other prefer motorboats, other love catamarans, or god forbid windsurfing. Similarly with audio - the endless quarrels between SS versus tube people, horns vs planars, headphones versus speakers, silver cables versus copper, opamped DACs versus no-feedback - there is never any consensus. I predict that equal 1/3rd of people will love Taiko analog out, 1/3rd will like XDMI to tubed DAC and 1/3 will like USB to SS DAC or something like that. If you are a person who "normally agrees with Lukasz Fikus' idea of sound - you will probably love the Lampizator+Olympus path. I heard before the Taiko analog output and it was super exciting but I prefer Horizon. Emile uses also Horizon in his system. If this is telling you something. And I will be fine if many people will disagree with me because I can not produce tens of horizons per month anyway. My take away advice for the Horizon users: let the Olympus charge and stabilise for MINIMUM 24 hrs from unpacking. Get the best XDMI cable you can - these are really important. Don't expect miracles because miracles don't happen. Do expect that you will never go back. Tell your family they won't see you any time soon. Stash food supplies and water.
Great feedback Lukasz. Thank you. I agree with most of it, although to me it's really hard to believe that anyone will want to use AES/EBU or USB to another DAC. I liked your "political" answer, but my prediction is that 99% of the people will use XDMI analog or native XDMI to your Lampizator DAC (or Aries Cerat in the near future). I've been listening for 4 days, and I seriously don't think any DAC without native XDMI has any chance to get even remotely close to what I am hearing from XDMI analog. Oops, I was trying really hard not to say that out loud, but I think I just did... If I was a high-end DAC manufacturer, I would be really worried and try to work with Taiko / XDMI if I want to have a future in the high-end DAC market. Can't stress enough how important the streamer to DAC connection really is.
Having said that, I would not qualify USB as non-audiophile. It's the most musical USB I have heard. The problem is - XDMI analog is right next to it and once you hear this, it's just game over for USB.
On the battery charge levels, the shipping rules are quite complicated. There are requirements of how much batteries can be charged during shipment and that depends on the size of the batteries, whether you have an option to disable the battery output, etc.
I plugged my Olympus to the AC mains when I received it, did not start it up from the front button, and by the time I came back I found this:
@Lukasz "Lampizator" Fikus - yours must have been charged less than mine if you saw 5%.
One thing to note - don't turn off the power switch on the back. That disables the battery charger. This will drain the "System" battery rather quickly.
So, to avoid further confusion, here is an official guide from me:
1. Batteries come with a decent charge level.
2. The BPS is in "shipping mode" when you receive your Olympus (i.e. battery output is disabled). But as soon as you plug a power cord to it, it exits that mode and starts charging.
3. You want the "System" battery to be charged at 100% for best sound quality. If you don't press the power button on the front, the "System" battery charges a lot faster. By the time I connected my interconnects and took one phone call, I was already at 100%, so I think it charges relatively fast.
4. The XDMI battery does not matter that much. It will automatically charge overnight and can play the whole day.
5. When you receive your Olympus, connect the power cord, don't push the power button on the front, and give it a little time. That will be the perfect time to stash food supplies and water (you will need it).
6. I would not even use the power button on the back. If you turn it off, you will start depleting the batteries. Obviously that's unavoidable in some cases, for example if there is a storm and you unplug all your equipment. I usually unplug power cords in those cases.
7. If you need to disconnect the power to your Olympus (unplugging the power cord or turning off the power button on the back) make sure you also turn off the Olympus from the front button to avoid depleting the batteries too quickly. The "System" battery depletes quickly if not constantly charging (and the Olympus is running). By quickly I mean in a matter of hours.
The BPS app is very easy to use. You just want to make sure you are close to the Olympus as the Bluetooth range is quite short.
As far as an update from me - yeah, I've been in Paradise, and my Olympus XDMI keeps sounding better and better every day. It has not stopped improving, and so my initial impressions are already outdated. One thing I mentioned in my initial impressions but did not stress enough - don't underestimate the benefit of running on (state of the art) BPS. You are off the grid and that is phenomenal.
A friend of mine who only cares about analog, stopped by for a quick listen yesterday and said: "I can't believe how good everything sounds. Every track is a reference track. My brain switched off and I really don't think anymore if this is analog or digital". A note from me about him - his brain never allowed him to really enjoy digital before.
My wife was passing by a couple of nights ago. She sat down to listen for a moment and said: “Can you please play that exact same track to my mom when she comes next time. I really want her to hear this”. Biggest testimonial ever!
