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".

 

There are many power cords between Ching chens and an MB Ultra.

 

What’s next. Talk about the weather?
The shipment update page should show a picture of a pot of water.

 

Thank to everyone for their ideas, however as the saying goes, "necessity is the mother of invention". Big shout out to Steve Z who lit up a few neurons deep in the back of my brain

Not pretty but this is the first attempt and it works like a charm. I have a plethora of these packing blocks and tomorrow I'll use a sharper knife and wean down the width at the bottom and narrow the vertical piece. I'm still picking the styrofoam confetti off my floor but small price to pay as this fix was totally free.....Fit perfectly under the base of the IO


View attachment 135942

Steve did you put upgraded power cables on both the Olympus and IO in your testing?

 

Steve did you put upgraded power cables on both the Olympus and IO in your testing?

No. Christoph told me that the IO only needs a standard PC. There is no benefit he said in paying big bucks for an expensive PC to IO

 

Which does not match Christian Punter's post 3,347. Perhaps it would be best to test it yourself.

 

Hi everybody, let me give you a quick status update, it’s running late here so we’ll update the shipping page later:

Shipped:
3* silver Olympus
3* silver I/O
1* black Olympus

Almost finished but not ready to ship yet:
3* silver Olympus
1* black Olympus

And we shipped 2 Extremes but I guess nobody here cares about that

One more week to go of suffering through personnel shortages but nevertheless, slightly proud of this week’s accomplishments.

 

Updates are much appreciated. Have a good weekend.

 

Which does not match Christian Punter's post 3,347. Perhaps it would be best to test it yourself.

I read that post and not sure I agree with you. I can only go by what Christoph told me when he was here. Short of that I have not tested

 

No. Christoph told me that the IO only needs a standard PC. There is no benefit he said in paying big bucks for an expensive PC to IO

Steve, I don't have my I/O yet but from everything I know so far, a better power cord on the I/O will make a difference.
I highly advise you to give it a try.

 

I will for sure and thank you

 

Hi everybody, let me give you a quick status update, it’s running late here so we’ll update the shipping page later:

Shipped:
3* silver Olympus
3* silver I/O
1* black Olympus

Almost finished but not ready to ship yet:
3* silver Olympus
1* black Olympus

And we shipped 2 Extremes but I guess nobody here cares about that

One more week to go of suffering through personnel shortages but nevertheless, slightly proud of this week’s accomplishments.

Great work Emile/Taiko and execution under the pressure and the creative commentary here lol.
Hope you all get some rest this weekend with reinforcements soon to arrive.

And thank you Ed for the latest XDMS updates today! Sounding great and making the waiting much easier, for me.

 

Hi everybody, let me give you a quick status update, it’s running late here so we’ll update the shipping page later:

Shipped:
3* silver Olympus
3* silver I/O
1* black Olympus

Almost finished but not ready to ship yet:
3* silver Olympus
1* black Olympus

And we shipped 2 Extremes but I guess nobody here cares about that

One more week to go of suffering through personnel shortages but nevertheless, slightly proud of this week’s accomplishments.

Can you please update this with the order numbers ?

Shipped:
The following order numbers have been shipped:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 17, 19, 20, 32

Expected to be shipped soon:

Thx

 

Olympus #32 has entered the premises and has his sights on dethroning Lord Extreme!

 

Trying to decide whether to use Revopods screwed into Oly feet or to use the Wellfloat Babel (which I had under the Extreme). Laziness is telling me to just screw in the Revopods and be done with it. ( and move the Babel to the Aries Pre which is lighter than the Oly and thus easier for the precise positioning required of the Babel).

 

Trying to decide whether to use Revopods screwed into Oly feet or to use the Wellfloat Babel (which I had under the Extreme). Laziness is telling me to just screw in the Revopods and be done with it. ( and move the Babel to the Aries Pre which is lighter than the Oly and thus easier for the precise positioning required of the Babel).

I would recommend to use the stock footers first for the following reasons:

1) We have tested a lot of footers / materials and picked the acrylic discs for the most neutral balance with a multitude of shelf / floor materials. This is not just a random pick, even the size of the discs matters, down to the millimetre, which is why they are somewhat “odd” looking in the relative large space available.

2) The chassis itself has multiple independently decoupled sections. It all works very well together, but you can also very easily undo the efforts we put into this.

3) If you do decide to use after market footers, and of course they can alter the sound very significantly, I would recommend to at the very least stick to the large round cutouts we designed for that purpose.

4) Last but not least, listen carefully, the Olympus does not behave like you’re used to from other equipment. I would recommend to listen to multiple recordings, and even spread out over multiple days.

 

Thanks for that advice and background. Pods are coming off!

 

I would recommend to use the stock footers first for the following reasons:

1) We have tested a lot of footers / materials and picked the acrylic discs for the most neutral balance with a multitude of shelf / floor materials. This is not just a random pick, even the size of the discs matters, down to the millimetre, which is why they are somewhat “odd” looking in the relative large space available.

2) The chassis itself has multiple independently decoupled sections. It all works very well together, but you can also very easily undo the efforts we put into this.

3) If you do decide to use after market footers, and of course they can alter the sound very significantly, I would recommend to at the very least stick to the large round cutouts we designed for that purpose.

4) Last but not least, listen carefully, the Olympus does not behave like you’re used to from other equipment. I would recommend to listen to multiple recordings, and even spread out over multiple days.

The pearl of the day Emile. Now you have me thinking

 

Have been trying to connect to BMS. It seems to temporarily connect and then goes to message "can't locate device." Identical on both phone and iPad. Did restart on phone. Checked Bluetooth settings. Just wondering if any other users have run into this?

 

Have been trying to connect to BMS. It seems to temporarily connect and then goes to message "can't locate device." Identical on both phone and iPad. Did restart on phone. Checked Bluetooth settings. Just wondering if any other users have run into this?

It’s range limited to about 10 feet.

 

I did but as Emile points out, the closer you are to the Olympus/IO it suddenly becomes discoverable