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".

 

California dreamin' with XDMI analog out...the wrap around wall of sound is quite something

(bonus: media console hasn't collapsed under the weight yet)

Waiting on your suggested wine pairing with the Olympus…

I suggest shoving the empties under the console at the 1/4 and 3/4 span points. Looks a little stressed.

 

Waiting on your suggested wine pairing with the Olympus…

I suggest shoving the empties under the console at the 1/4 and 3/4 span points. Looks a little stressed.

I'll take that Reserva From La Rioja...Pass on the Conundrum...

 

New Horizon w XDMI all burned in and ready to go here. I have made peace w saying goodbye to XDMS for a bit. Will be really interesting if Horizon tube selection changes w the Olympus. I believe Emile said same tubes will be great but am ready to roll (still have original ~80 tubes) to test.

FWIW I had a brief conversation with Lukasz today and I asked him if he had to change his tube set on the Horizon after receiving the Olympus

as always, Lukasz says it as it is and here is what he said..........

"Absolutely not"

nuff said as this reinforces as well what Emile said earlier

 

Someone mentioned a while ago that the Olympus is missing analog inputs and digital inputs for other devices in the system. This is solved by having the Horizon DAC - you have 4 digital inputs and 3 analog inputs, so you can run Phono stage, CD transport, Netflix TV, reel to reel and second streamer like Extreme - at the same time and with matched volumes.

For many readers I think this could be the "pearl of the day" if you are a Horizon user

 

I'll take that Reserva From La Rioja...Pass on the Conundrum...

Agreed, the silver finish favors less extraction. White? I think not, we will leave that to the children.

Do you think the piano has a chance against the Olympus? I bet it doesn't project 3d into the room nearly as well.

 

Agreed, the silver finish favors less extraction. White? I think not, we will leave that to the children.

Do you think the piano has a chance against the Olympus? I bet it doesn't project 3d into the room nearly as well.

All those keys and peddles just get in the way...

 

I'll take that Reserva From La Rioja...Pass on the Conundrum...

Waiting on your suggested wine pairing with the Olympus…

I suggest shoving the empties under the console at the 1/4 and 3/4 span points. Looks a little stressed.

Most definitely! Quickly moved the Olympus to the left side of console shortly after this photo (step one...get it on the console...step two...rest and advil...step three...slide it into its proper place

 

I'll take that Reserva From La Rioja...Pass on the Conundrum...

Absolutely spot on! Alas, the rioja is a magnum, so will need a larger gathering for that one

 

...I just booked the flight, Ray. May I please sleep on the floor next to the console with the cat?

 

Absolutely spot on! Alas, the rioja is a magnum, so will need a larger gathering for that one

Many in the La Rioja region use Carbonic Maceration including what you have there. Beautiful process that preserves the many qualities of the grapes...

 

...I just booked the flight, Ray. May I please sleep on the floor next to the console with the cat?

You're always welcome! As of today, the grand cat would definitely prefer the Olympus (running a bit warm as Roon analyzes 30k+ tracks)

 

I got news today that mine has been passed off from the third party packager to Fedex and my O/IO arrives Tuesday-Wednesday with the final delivery date to follow shortly

Waiting on your suggested wine pairing with the Olympus…

I suggest shoving the empties under the console at the 1/4 and 3/4 span points. Looks a little stressed.

I don't drink but the good news that is going to finally happen as the dust begins to settle in Oldenzaal is the much awaited open house I have been planning at my house for a very long time. Although a date has not been set I have been contacted by Chris at Taiko that they do plan to do a long weekend open house in the near future to highlight Olympus and IO with both analogue and digital cards and native XDMI via the Horizon at my house. Lukasz and Fred remain as well keenly interested in attending pending everyone's calendar restrictions, so stay tuned on this one as I hope to have some information in the coming weeks ahead and the date will be sufficiently far enough out to give those who previously wanted to attend to also make arrangements for that weekend

 

Some new eye candy:
We have brought our whole portfolio to a professional photo shooting - personally I had no idea how complex this profession is.
I cannot count the times, where he cursed over the chrome chassis, as anything and anyone gets reflected in it - a sight to behold.

This is the perfect time to show a preview of our upcoming product webpages, especially some shots of the I/O and the combination of O + I/O.

Here's a teaser:
I/O front


I/O back


Olympus inside


Mount Olympus

 

Some new eye candy:
We have brought our whole portfolio to a professional photo shooting - personally I had no idea how complex this profession is.
I cannot count the times, where he cursed over the chrome chassis, as anything and anyone gets reflected in it - a sight to behold.

This is the perfect time to show a preview of our upcoming product webpages, especially some shots of the I/O and the combination of O + I/O.

Here's a teaser:
I/O front
View attachment 134998

I/O back
View attachment 134999

Olympus inside
View attachment 135000

Mount Olympus
View attachment 135001

Nice photos. Thanks for posting!

 

Most definitely! Quickly moved the Olympus to the left side of console shortly after this photo (step one...get it on the console...step two...rest and advil...step three...slide it into its proper place

I've been spending some time with a few friends preparing for moving Olympus when it gets here:



Steve Z

 

Some new eye candy:
We have brought our whole portfolio to a professional photo shooting - personally I had no idea how complex this profession is.
I cannot count the times, where he cursed over the chrome chassis, as anything and anyone gets reflected in it - a sight to behold.

This is the perfect time to show a preview of our upcoming product webpages, especially some shots of the I/O and the combination of O + I/O.

Here's a teaser:
I/O front
View attachment 134998

I/O back
View attachment 134999

Olympus inside
View attachment 135000

Mount Olympus
View attachment 135001

Amazing pictures
Seeing how packed single Olympus XDMI is I am glad I ordered IO.
It will have little more space.

Do you have the pictures of IO inside ?

 

Amazing pictures
Seeing how packed single Olympus XDMI is I am glad I ordered IO.
It will have little more space.

Do you have the pictures of IO inside ?

More space for what?

 

More space for what?

For the AIR.

More air is more cooling - little less heat
Further away components - less noise
Emile mentioned that IO was designed to take those critical components "away from noisier environment to less noisy "
Thats why has its own chassis.
And it's own battery power supplys in IO.

Additionally some future bigger modules were mentioned such as XLR out with volume control.
Those might be just to big to fit in the main Olympus chassis if you don't have IO.

 

For the AIR.

More air is more cooling - little less heat
Further away components - less noise
Emile mentioned that IO was designed to take those critical components "away from noisier environment to less noisy "
Thats why has its own chassis.
And it's own battery power supplys in IO.

Additionally some future bigger modules were mentioned such as XLR out with volume control.
Those might be just to big to fit in the main Olympus chassis if you don't have IO.

It seems as though the main advantage of the I/O is isolating the input and output cards from the main computer and giving them their own power which makes sense. I don’t think the cards are too packed in the Olympus on its own. Also, I would think that the battery power supply generates less heat than the LPS that was in the original design but I don’t know that for a fact.

I plan on using XDMI native to my Lampizator Horizon for starters.

 

This was posted in #1839. Do a search on motherboard. It is all here.

In a nutshell this leads to the following changes in the Olympus design:

1) AMD Epyc 32-core -> AMD Threadripper 24-core (86.4 GHz to 100.8 GHz total base clock)
2) 128Gb memory -> 64Gb memory
3) 3*BPS -> 2*BPS
4) 1*LPS + 1* charger PS -> 1* monster charger PS
5) 4* Regulator -> 8* Regulator
6) Larger / more sophisticated heatsink design
7) Even better sound

This is the Olympus as displayed at the Munich show. Functionally there's no difference, it only changes the specs list!