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".

 

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?

That’s what I’m doing until Lukasz has a solution for XDMI and i2s

 

As Warren Zevon said:
"I appreciate the best
But I'm settling for less
So I'm looking for the next best thing"

 

Any chance of an aes/ebu 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.

The problem there is how it was eventually designed. A lot of it’s benefits will be lost that way. You’d be better of just sticking with USB then. I will spend some time in the next few days providing you with some design details which may make it clearer why. There is a very good reason why we are offering these specific configurations.

 

That’s what I’m doing until Lukasz has a solution for XDMI and i2s

My hope is that when all is said and done the Olympus is my DAC.

 

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.

Does this sound has much to do with DAC chip in the XDMI card?

 

I would like to see the colour chart. Always fancied a bright red Extreme.

Surely you know a lad in the UK who could pop round and Plastidip your Extreme/Olympus.

 

Does this sound has much to do with DAC chip in the XDMI card?

I’d say most of it comes from what happens before the DAC chip.

 

Surely you know a lad in the UK who could pop round and Plastidip your Extreme/Olympus.

Lots of car wrapping companies in the neighbourhood, we could give that a try as well.

 

As Warren Zevon said:
"I appreciate the best
But I'm settling for less
So I'm looking for the next best thing"

As long as you don't need lawyers, guns and money Marty!

Steve Z

 

Lots of car wrapping companies in the neighbourhood, we could give that a try as well.

I've painted a lot of DIY audio projects with a rattle-can of flat black, in my younger days. Just sayin'

Steve Z

 

My hope is that when all is said and done the Olympus is my DAC.

I hear you but im loving the tube kit I’m using and I’m a tube guy. The Extreme is the only SS component I own but enough to make me a believer. However I believe that Lampi DAC owners over the past 6-12 months have taken tube rolling, adapters and socket grounding to a whole new level such that I can’t be without my Hoirizon

 

Lots of car wrapping companies in the neighbourhood, we could give that a try as well.

I was attempting to be funny with little actual consideration given towards him following through. Or anyone for that matter!

Professional consideration towards all options on the table for manufacturer applied labeling or surface treatments is your call. In this case I'll reference the saying about Las Vegas showgirl, Good from far, far from good, would apply less to hydrographics than an open air Plastidip rattle-can session.

If this ends up being of limited use to you, great.

 

If you read between the lines, I think that the analogue out of XDMI might be stupid good, but since it's new they don't want to brag but rather get that feedback from actual users. If you consider O+OIO+XDMI as a server+dac package the price is not at all high actually. I just would want balanced XLR out.

 

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.

One issue I have on my side is the trade in value being lower due to an early purchase of the Extreme (lucky me!), but that adds to a significant investment due to the lower trade-in and unfortunately makes the O out of reasonable reach for me. Adding to that I appreciate the very creative solution in isolating the cards, in the IO, although I appreciate it muddles the low noise end-to-end signal path for XDMI. But hey, it’s great to have options!

 

XDMI is obviously some of the magic sauce in all of this - would you mind @Taiko Audio explaining in a bit more detail what makes up XDMI and why it is special / different to other products in the market.

I‘m not sure of its final incarnation but I believe I heard an early version of XDMI (correct me if I’m wrong) and it was very, very good! Personally I think the overall Olympus package becomes very compelling when you are also making use of the internal DAC chipset - using an external DAC, what benefits is one still able to leverage from XDMI?

Thanks Emile

 

The software seems an intrinsic, indeed vital, component in all of this. To what extent does Roon benefit from the hardware and power improvements within Olympus and O I/O?

 

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.

Sounds very attractive.
No words about the mids ?

 

Also already included!

So Olympus has 3 cards powered by 3 BPSes ?
or usb is a small attachement to xdmi card For total of 2 cards?

1. xdmi that has 4 exits : analog RCA, spidf rca, spidf bnc, aes
2. improved network card
3. improved usb card

why do we have an usb if this is a source of noise?
is it wise to remove it from Olympus if you plan not to use usb ?

 

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.

than the preamp is mandatory to have a volume control with Olympus ?

 

Lots of car wrapping companies in the neighbourhood, we could give that a try as well.

They spray a lot of water during application, but if you give them empty chassis it should work !