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".

 

Hand off to a third party is common, but Taiko should still provide that party with specific delivery instructions to lessen and preferably eliminate any confusion. Of course I’m speaking of a perfect world and we know the world is less than perfect.

 

I am just happy when they follow the simple instruction "don't break anything."

 

Hand off to a third party is common, but Taiko should still provide that party with specific delivery instructions to lessen and preferably eliminate any confusion. Of course I’m speaking of a perfect world and we know the world is less than perfect.

I agree 100%. Until all this is figured out and smooth running, I would strongly suggest early order numbers to be on the phone with the delivery companies cross checking and managing the delivery process themselves

 

The following order numbers have been shipped:​

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 17, 19, 20, 32

 

Well now im drooling as my unit has not only reached Los Angeles but has been forwarded to my local destination station In Irvine. My dilemma is that the invoice says weekday delivery preferred which takes tomorrow out of the equation and Tuesday delivery as Monday is Labor Day. I spoke to Fedex asking about a tomorrow delivery but they need for the shipment to be fully entered into their system. They say it is a possibility and I need to call back later today. They also said they deliver on Labor Day, so the wait is now finite in nature from tomorrow to Tuesday. I also know that some in that delivery sequence from taiko got theirs yesterday and another is getting his today, These are all Olympus so I still think mine will be the first O/IO combo to be received. Prepaying definitely expedited the delivery out of LAX to Irvine and saved a day

I guess Lady Luck is looking down on me as I just got notice from FedEx that mine is out for delivery and should arrive in the next 2-3 hours

 

The following order numbers have been shipped:​

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 17, 19, 20, 32

Story checks out!!




Excuse the clutter as I get this unboxed, but I'm glad to report that my unit made it to me this morning.



I will be swapping out the analog card for the Lampizator XDMI link tonight and look forward to my first experience hearing them together!

 

The following order numbers have been shipped:​

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 17, 19, 20, 32

Great. Thank you.
It looks that
10, 11, 15, and 16 are Silver Combos O + IO
Hopefully Taiko will assemble them next week.
Keep fingers crossed.

We all wait for Steve and his O + IO first experience.
Please share nice pictures or video Steve !

 

Friday Update

This week has been tough on the remaining team at Taiko HQ. Since Taiko is effectively a family business (at least half), planning distributed vacations is difficult - one family vacation and half the company is gone. Additionally, the rest of the team is also scattered across Europe, with multiple hour commutes. Luckily we have a dedicated team, @EuroDriver will arrive next week to help onsite, @Christiaan Punter and me are also exploring the various hotel offerings nearby. In one and a half weeks, the team is back with - finally - more men power than before, since our new assembly and logistics staff will get onboarded.

We are aiming to complete a full silver batch next week, we have a deep stash of anodized chassis already in house to source from.

Indeed we are currently still in need of a 3rd party forwarder, that is certified to ship lithium ion batteries. We have taken all necessary steps to get certified ourselves already some time ago, but this is a lengthy process, involving amongst others a government approval and subsequent database registration. Until we are approved, this forwarder is the only way to get the servers out the door. Unfortunately this has other implications, like limited storage capacity of the forwarder, or schedule conflicts.

While requiring a direct signature from the consignee is standard with all our shipments (thank you @ray-dude for making us aware), liftgate truck delivery and ahead calls are, as far as we know, no option with the forwarder we use. We'll discuss this with our partner to see if he can arrange those options. However, 2 people can lift a pallet'ed Olympus off and on a truck without big issues, we do it regularly and we are no buffed dudes (yet, maybe after all units shipped)

In any case, bear with us, we are looking forward to Steve's I/O report - it is a very nice addition to the already unbelievable Olympus!

 

To put things in perspective for everyone and using mine as an example and living across the pond and on the other side of this continent, mine was tendered late Friday evening to the third party shipper. I guess FedEx was used as the intermediary to clear and deliver the shipment. I received a FedEx tracking number late Friday evening and because it was now the weekend nothing happened other than notice that it had immediately cleared international customs. Following the tracking number there was ZERO movement on the package until Wed evening at 8:30 PM in Netherlands when I got notice "ON THE WAY" and the next notice showed that at 0130 Thursday it was in Belgium. and then suddenly at 1130 AM Thursday it was in Indianapolis and did not depart Indianapolis until 2:30 PM on Thursday. It then arrived at 0450 this morning at LAX and by 0750 it was not in IRVINE (my local FedEX facility and 0846 I got the message OUT FOR DELIVERY between 9:10 and 11:10 AM. So shockingly it took almost 5 days to show movement but cleared customs and made it across the pond and across the entire USA , then to my local facility and out for delivery in really no more than 3 days

Previously I found international shipments sat at LAX for 1-2 days until I received a notice of duty due and to make payment so I would encourage everyone to pay the duty once you get your tracking number

 

liftgate truck delivery and ahead calls are, as far as we know, no option with the forwarder we use. We'll discuss this with our partner to see if he can arrange those options.

Please do. That would be greatly appreciated, especially by those of us with back issues.

 

The eagle has landed

 

The eagle has landed View attachment 135665

Congratulations Steve!

 

Too heavy he said to get it over my threshold. My guys arrive shortly to get it up stairs and unpacked

 

I'm ready for when #41 arrives.

 

 

Congratulations Steve!

Drinks on Steve!

Steve W that is.

Steve Z

 

I don't drink but I will buy the first round when Emile makes his trek over here to open up my house and get everyone here who wants to hear the Olympus and IO along with native XDMI. My dilemma at the moment is that the IO is ideally placed below the Olympus and my IO came loaded with the digital board and I have the analogue board safely put away. So I will be listening to Taiko Native XDMI here in the next short while and should people come to visit and want to hear the analogue card we will have to lift the Olympus off to achieve that purpose. I was hoping keep the two on separate shelves but I ran out of shelf space and in fact Joe just delivered a new CMS platform that has no load issues with respect to the weight of both the Olympus and IO and I will continue to use the Center Stage LS Ultra 2.25 footers

 

Steve, with all your anticipation and enthusiasm, I was expecting maybe you’d have a local shaman/priest/rabbi come and bless the thing before bringing it inside! Such an event surely demands a ritual ;-)

 

Burn some sage!

 

To all of you, which are still waiting, I assure that you’ll be rewarded by a NEW, FRESH, and REFRESHING sound.
Here, the real event of the recording, has never been so noticeable.
I say: USB is dead. Long live XDMI.