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".

 

Powercord also made a huge difference!

Absolutely. —-huge difference indeed. I was astounded by that

 

Amen to that. I still listen to physical media (vinyl, SACD, CD), so a preamplifier is essential. In over my 35+ years of buying high end audio, I’ve never found an “integrated” solution that bests separates, and I’ve tried a lot of such products. There’s a lot of seemingly compelling arguments about minimizing the signal chain complexity, but even if I could restrict myself to one digital source, I’m not sure I want an analog preamplifier to be inside a computer with its many sources of intrinsic noise, even one as extremely well-built as a Taiko. Yes, adding a lot of separates does add costs, including cables, space, heat etc. (see attached pic, those are 10-feet ceilings!). It would be nice to reduce clutter. But each time I try one of these integrated solutions, I invariably go back to separates.

I do have a nice Mola Mola MAKUA integrated preamplifier that combines a class A solid state preamp, a highly flexible phono stage, a world-class DAC, and a Roon endpoint. I use it in extremely hot weather with its matching Kaluga class D monoblock amplifiers, like in the current never-ending 100+ degree days that the Bay Area is suffering through. But once cooler weather returns, I’m sure I’ll switch back to my separates ARC/Lampi tube gear!

View attachment 137443

Never say never.
I was similar thinking long ago.
My totaldac 24 has NO output stage . Pure Vishay resistor ladder exits directly to XLRs and amps.
Internal volume control of totaldac must be very sophisticated as It was much better with Direct totaldac to amps than with respectable Kondo M1000 MK2 on the way.
So after 2 years of trying I sold Kondo becuse direct was simply way better.

Recently some friends were bringing many top preamps Including Audio Research , Gryphons , AudioNet and those always take some of the good stuff away.
I am still open to experiment and try new stuff. But so far direct is way better

 

Absolutely. —-huge difference indeed. I was astounded by that

I was told that the powercord wont make a difference since olympus is a battery powered. However, the difference is huge and even more than in extreme.

 

I was told that the powercord wont make a difference since olympus is a battery powered. However, the difference is huge and even more than in extreme.

Yes. As far as we are based on Steve opinion and Taiko staff opinion.
The reason is that the quality of the grounding wire in powercord makes a big difference.
I tried this on other gear and yes, quality of the grounding wire as well as it's capacitance , siver v copper , makes a big difference.

 

I was told that the powercord wont make a difference since olympus is a battery powered. However, the difference is huge and even more than in extreme.

The powercord absolutely makes a very large difference, particularly the neutral and ground wires. Worst case / depending on system components design these can even share current paths with your signal level conductors!

 

What is the current price for
Olympus
Olympus IO
(With xdmi.)
Including 21% VAT.
There are few who asked me and was not sure what are the numbers as there was an introduction discount.

@Christiaan Punter will upload the current pricelist to our website's download section later today. We've held off on adding the Olympus to our website in an official capacity to limit the order volume.

 

Emile, as someone getting ready to take delivery of an Olympus, but who would prefer an XLR analogue out, the mention that this feature will be forthcoming in a number of months has me curious whether those who received an earlier Olympus with rca analogue output will be able to retrofit XLR in the field, or will be required to return their unit to the factory for the retrofit of XLR. Any insight would be very much appreciated.

All XDMI output modules can be retrofitted by yourself if you have reasonable screwdriver skills. We'll make some videos on how to exchange modules.

We've made XDMI as modular as possible in order to make it relatively easy to exchange and/or purchase additional or alternative output options.

Currently available for ordering (as extra):

XDMI output cards MSRP excl. VAT

XDMI digital output board (RCA & AES/EBU) €900
XDMI Lampizator output (Taiko Link) €900
XDMI MSB output (ProISL) €900

 

The powercord absolutely makes a very large difference, particularly the neutral and ground wires. Worst case / depending on system components design these can even share current paths with you signal level conductors!

Is this by design or just an unavoidable problem due to battery charge necessity?

 

Is this by design or just an unavoidable problem due to battery charge necessity?

It applies to any appliance which interfaces to other appliances. It has less to do with battery charging, more with current/noise/conductive paths, filtering etc.

The whole is infinitely complex, unfortunately rather impactful on sound quality, and the reason for the existence of a large variety of audiophile ground tweaks.

This is largely unrelated to mains noise affecting sound quality in one way or another which you can indeed get largely rid of by using battery supplies. But there are even bigger advantages to using batteries, like the absence of rectifier noise and/or, depending on your design, no need for electrolytic bulk capacitors and filter stages which we consider to be large sources of "colouration (noise)".

 

@Christiaan Punter will upload the current pricelist to our website's download section later today. We've held off on adding the Olympus to our website in an official capacity to limit the order volume.

Pricelist added here: downloads

 

@Christiaan Punter will upload the current pricelist to our website's download section later today. We've held off on adding the Olympus to our website in an official capacity to limit the order volume.

Thank you Emile
It's so much better if they will go directly to the web page and discuss with Taiko Team not with us users.

But I must say without updated web page and no pricelist you already did quite a rumor anyways.
Congratulations

 

Never say never.
I was similar thinking long ago.
My totaldac 24 has NO output stage . Pure Vishay resistor ladder exits directly to XLRs and amps.
Internal volume control of totaldac must be very sophisticated as It was much better with Direct totaldac to amps than with respectable Kondo M1000 MK2 on the way.
So after 2 years of trying I sold Kondo becuse direct was simply way better.

Recently some friends were bringing many top preamps Including Audio Research , Gryphons , AudioNet and those always take some of the good stuff away.
I am still open to experiment and try new stuff. But so far direct is way better

Sure, we all have our individual preferences. Direct sound is great if you can stick to one digital streaming source. What if you are like me, and have several turntables, several CD/SACD players, cassette decks etc.? Even in digital I keep around a healthy diversity of products. Here is a great digital front end, the Chord Blu Mk2 transport and M-scaler and the Dave DAC on a lovely Chord stand with massive Wavestorm BNC cables. It has a rightness of sound on CDs that I find almost impossible to match via a streaming source. Rob Watts million tap filter technology does wonders in upscaling Redbook CDs, and I have many thousands of these lying around my house after collecting them for 40 years. CDs last forever. Hard drives? Ha! Don’t get me started. I have closets full of busted hard drives.

 

Look who’s here lending us a hand this week :

 

...nice! I call dibs on that machine! Thanks @nenon

 

Fantastic, looks like a great hire. More Olympii already released into the wild!…

 

Fantastic, looks like a great hire. More Olympii already released into the wild!…View attachment 137522

Alright! Looks like the drinks are finally on me (#15 silver). Thank you for the progress report. Obviously getting Vassil on the job broke the logjam.

Steve Z

 

I only have 101 issues left. I'm definitely going to become a teetotaler.

 

It has probably already been answered but here is my question… since the Olympus is all about minimizing processing steps has it been determined which file format is optimum? WAV is generally regarded (argued to be) the best sound format, does it hold true with Olympus? Is Olympus so good wav vs. flac is moot point?

 

TBH I haven't been following the "progress" but I thought #15 was announced to be shipped well over a week ago? I remember because I knew it was Steve's and I commented #15 had been dangling in the wind for some time...I assumed @oldmustang Steve must of already received it and was baffled as he hasn't commented. Now I realize it actually wasn't shipped...Call me confused!

 

TBH I haven't been following the "progress" but I thought #15 was announced to be shipped well over a week ago? I remember because I knew it was Steve's and I commented #15 had been dangling in the wind for some time...I assumed @oldmustang Steve must of already received it and was baffled as he hasn't commented. Now I realize it actually wasn't shipped...Call me confused!

That was Friday, webpage was not updated till this morning.