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".

 

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

Ok. So here is the additional benefit of having included BOTH boards In the 60 K price tag.
And there are 4 exits as for as I remember

Analog RCA
AES
spdif RCA
spdif BNC

 

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

No, without XDMI you'd be better off with USB again. I understand this is confusing, but XDMI is much more then just the physical output. It's a complete solution combining drivers, software and hardware, designed to work together to provide the "purest" / "fastest" possible path with minimum processing overhead.

 

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).

but what if we have a 16 TB library

 

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

I missed the second part of your question.

There will be storage included but if you'd want say 30TB of storage that would indeed be an additional ~3K. Your existing storage can be reused in the Olympus, if so desired. In the period the Extreme retailed at 28.000 that included the Network card and USB card so that's not worth extra.

For an exact calculation I'd think it would be better to contact me directly

 

but what if we have a 16 TB library

16 TB is not a large amount of storage nowadays. You can contact me directly to workout which way to handle it. Move it or migrate it. Both is possible and the choice is yours.

 

If I miss any questions or if any of my answers are unclear please don't hesitate to ask again. I fully anticipated this launch to raise a lot of questions as nothing similar exists yet, as far as I know anyway.

 

I placed an order by email.

 

If I miss any questions or if any of my answers are unclear please don't hesitate to ask again. I fully anticipated this launch to raise a lot of questions as nothing similar exists yet, as far as I know anyway.

I asked for Your impressions on how it sounds and what different sound means ?
This is very important as we have no clue what that means

 

I asked for Your impressions on how it sounds and what different sound means ?
This is very important as we have no clue what that means

I know few of Taiko members were exposed to that Sound.
So the more opinions the better.

 

I know few of Taiko members were exposed to that Sound.
So the more opinions the better.

Let's see if they want to chime in.

 

I asked for Your impressions on how it sounds and what different sound means ?
This is very important as we have no clue what that means

XDMI is more about purity, clarity, holographic and immersive sound staging, it has a very high resolution extending evenly to the frequency extremes, deep sub bass included, and an absence of a "digital" sound signature.

 

I'm receiving a lot of questions of existing Extreme owners on is they should add an I/O or if they should trade up to an Olympus.

My recommendation would be if you are going to stick to USB to add the I/O to your Extreme and call it a day. You'd be near maxed out on what we can extract from USB now and in the foreseeable future. If you want to go for XDMI, you'd be better off trading up to an Olympus.

 

I'm receiving a lot of questions of existing Extreme owners on is they should add an I/O or if they should trade up to an Olympus.

My recommendation would be if you are going to stick to USB to add the I/O to your Extreme and call it a day. You'd be near maxed out on what we can extract from USB now and in the foreseeable future. If you want to go for XDMI, you'd be better off trading up to an Olympus.

This seems like the obvious direction for "normal" people. I really hate to be the bearer of bad news but we are not normal...Decisions, decisions...

 

Sorry if I have missed this Q&A but can the Olympus house both a USB and XDMI card so one can compare the analog out via XDMI with a USB DAC?

 

Sorry if I have missed this Q&A but can the Olympus house both a USB and XDMI card so one can compare the analog out via XDMI with a USB DAC?

Yes, actually this includes both USB and XDMI:
Olympus server XDMI: € 65.400 / introduction discount € 5.000 -> € 60.400

We should probably add that information

 

Ok. So here is the additional benefit of having included BOTH boards In the 60 K price tag.
And there are 4 exits as for as I remember

Analog RCA
AES
spdif RCA
spdif BNC

Correct, and USB.

 

And a network card or do we keep the one we have in our Extreme? A lot of moving parts!

 

And a network card or do we keep the one we have in our Extreme? A lot of moving parts!

Also already included!

 

No, without XDMI you'd be better off with USB again. I understand this is confusing, but XDMI is much more then just the physical output. It's a complete solution combining drivers, software and hardware, designed to work together to provide the "purest" / "fastest" possible path with minimum processing overhead.

Any chance of an aes/ebu (or other outputs) xdmi card, perhaps with external power, for the extreme?
This would fill a price point gap and increase the volume of xdmi cards.
Think of it as a gateway drug on the path to Olympus.

That's assuming, of course, that the performance benefit (certainly less that the 200% of I/o w/xdmi) was commensurate with the effort/cost.

 

or a select your output XDMI with external power input both for DIY and the Extreme...please ;-)