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 indeed is no standard for I2S, yet from what I see there is sortof a consensus, perhaps you want to check with Pink Faun, they make an I2S output for various formats either using HDMI or RJ45 connectors
There are quite a few DAC's using the same principle, yet there may well be quite a few using some other output format...some DDC's use dipswitches to adapt, that may be a bit old school and can perhaps be handled with firmware/software?

Pink Faun I2S Bridge - Pink Faun

The Pink Faun I2S bridge realizes a high-quality I2S (PCM) connection between the music computer and the DAC. Read more here.

www.pinkfaun.com

Well that’s indeed relatively easy at PCM only with a 24/192 sample rate limit but I doubt that’s something anybody is really interested in. We’d want it to be DXD and DSD capable meaning you need signalling or be subject to nasty things happening on format changes. This is definitely going to be a “project”

 

The Olympus is a 2 part chassis design, the top is basically half of the chassis and can be removed, see here (the design has changed a bit now but just in some small details and I have these available on my iphone) :

View attachment 121729

View attachment 121730

Very interesting, Emile. Thank you. So the top, with its 6168 holes, fits like a crown on the head of Olympus and seems to rest on the 4 cylindrical legs. And the 17 larger vertical holes on both sides of the main enclosure are for cooling?
Just a guess, but is the On/Off/Reboot switch going to be a capacitative button, hidden under the top cover, and touch activated?

Looking forward to photos of Olympus, when the finished product is ready.

 

Well that’s indeed relatively easy at PCM only with a 24/192 sample rate limit but I doubt that’s something anybody is really interested in. We’d want it to be DXD and DSD capable meaning you need signalling or be subject to nasty things happening on format changes. This is definitely going to be a “project”

true, I keep forgetting that there are other formats.... ;-)
Mono is where my Vinyl got stuck, same with PCM ! (R2R DAC and all that)

 

Very interesting, Emile. Thank you. So the top, with its 6168 holes, fits like a crown on the head of Olympus and seems to rest on the 4 cylindrical legs. And the 17 larger vertical holes on both sides of the main enclosure are for cooling?
Just a guess, but is the On/Off/Reboot switch going to be a capacitative button, hidden under the top cover, and touch activated?

Looking forward to photos of Olympus, when the finished product is ready.

Correct, a “crown” is a nice description

The 6148 holes is almost double of the Extreme in order to increase internal airflow. The 2*17 vertical holes are indeed air vents but subject to change as this design is doubled up for 2 possible cooling arrangements, they may not be necessary.

I’m personally not sold on the capacitative button yet, I like something with an audible click when pressed, but capacitative is a bit friendlier from a design perspective.

 

The lead engineer and project manager for further developing XDMI output options and product integration starts working on this February the 1st.

MSB Pro ISL is first as it’s completely defined and MSB has ready modules available, it’s more or less designing a pcb to mount them. This should be quite easy to do, I cannot put a firm date on it but May should absolutely be doable.

I’m curious if there can be speculation about the following hypothetical scenario:

If the analog output dac from Olympus were to sound better than a standalone usb dac, would the Xdmi Dac still likely sound better when the stand-alone dac is properly mated with Xdmi digital output?

 

Emile, when Steve hosts the Olympus soft launch, logistically how easy will it be carry out the a/b of XDMI option versus his Horizon?
I can't imagine anyone attending will not want to hear the difference, especially with the very strong pitch you're making for XDMI being an absolute game changer.
Would you need to bring two Olympus' and/or two I/Os with you to his house? Would the a/b simply necessitate a box swap?
I can see how comparing an AS2000 versus AF0 is next to impossible to achieve, but I would hope this comparo is doable.

 

I’m curious if there can be speculation about the following hypothetical scenario:

If the analog output dac from Olympus were to sound better than a standalone usb dac, would the Xdmi Dac still likely sound better when the stand-alone dac is properly mated with Xdmi digital output?

Well I’m not going to assume we’ll just outperform decades of DAC building expertise of other manufacturers in all areas on our first attempt, with all due respect to all the high tech engineering of our analogue module. Most of the magic, imho, comes from the interface technology. It’s a kind of improvement which has some similarities with the “nsm” update of XDMS, but incomparably larger in delta. The first manufacturer interested in integrating our solution directly into his DACs is the manufacturer of yours, and he’s flying in in the next couple of weeks to discuss practical details.

 

Emile, when Steve hosts the Olympus soft launch, logistically how easy will it be carry out the a/b of XDMI option versus his Horizon?
I can't imagine anyone attending will not want to hear the difference, especially with the very strong pitch you're making for XDMI being an absolute game changer.
Would you need to bring two Olympus' and/or two I/Os with you to his house? Would the a/b simply necessitate a box swap?
I can see how comparing an AS2000 versus AF0 is next to impossible to achieve, but I would hope this comparo is doable.

That would only take some cable swapping.

 

A different perspective:

I'm not "end game" here with Taiko, I'm in the game with the best in the business. And I'll bet Olympus isn't Emile's "end game" move.

 

Well I’m not going to assume we’ll just outperform decades of DAC building expertise of other manufacturers in all areas on our first attempt, with all due respect to all the high tech engineering of our analogue module. Most of the magic, imho, comes from the interface technology. The first manufacturer interested in integrating our solution directly into his DACs is the manufacturer of yours, and he’s flying in in the next couple of weeks to discuss practical details.

This is wildly EXCITING!!!

 

That would only take some cable swapping.

Ok Emile, so the comparo is eminently doable.
I know nothing about computer audio, but even *I* can swap cables, lol.

 

Emile, I really appreciate your availability, patience, and thoughtfulness when faced with the barrage of questions here. Of course you knew that was coming.

I have what I think is a simple question. Early on in the development of TACDA you said you had chosen a Rohm DAC chip for this project. You further said that the DAC chip would support formats up to 32/768 and DSD512. And you indicated that the chip would be able to play PGGB files (e.g., 32/705 and 32/768) natively.

Are you still planning to use this same Rohm DAC chip in the implementation of XDMI in both Olympus and Olympus I/O? And will it support native playback of PGGB files?

 

Ok Emile, so the comparo is eminently doable.
I know nothing about computer audio, but even *I* can swap cables, lol.

Do I sense a desire to join the event here in an official cable swapper capacity?

 

Do I sense a desire to join the event here in an official cable swapper capacity?

It's a looong way to travel. But I'm content with the vicarious thrill.

 

Emile, I really appreciate your availability, patience, and thoughtfulness when faced with the barrage of questions here. Of course you knew that was coming.

I have what I think is a simple question. Early on in the development of TACDA you said you had chosen a Rohm DAC chip for this project. You further said that the DAC chip would support formats up to 32/768 and DSD512. And you indicated that the chip would be able to play PGGB files (e.g., 32/705 and 32/768) natively.

Are you still planning to use this same Rohm DAC chip in the implementation of XDMI in both Olympus and Olympus I/O? And will it support native playback of PGGB files?

Yes, we’re using the Rohm BD34301EKV.

PCM 32 kHz to 768 kHz
DSD 2.8 MHz to 22.4 MHz

 

I would like to note that Emile responded to my question in less than 10 minutes while working late on a Saturday night in Holland.

 

A different perspective:

I'm not "end game" here with Taiko, I'm in the game with the best in the business. And I'll bet Olympus isn't Emile's "end game" move.

You’re killing me. But having said that, what comes out of his mind is amazing so never say ………….

im betting that this new XDMI interface will become an audiophile standard and will be one of the things that putsTaiko on the map.

 

There is no standard definition for (external) i2s at all. First of all you can have LSB or MSB first, both are used. Second of all there’s no pinout definition. And third but not least, you need muting and signaling functionality on format changes.

For I2S you may worst case end up designing a different configured i2s output stage for each different DAC vendor.

SPDIF and AES/EBU on the contrary are standardised and will be compatible with any DAC (if it has those as input options)

Thank you. If I am reading you correctly, I think you are suggesting not to fall on the sword of playing digital sources in their native configuration because the benefits of the XDMI interface with a SPDIF or AES output will sonically trump what can be garnered from a USB output playing native files anyway. Is that a reasonable assessment?

 

Thank you. If I am reading you correctly, I think you are suggesting not to fall on the sword of playing digital sources in their native configuration because the benefits of the XDMI interface with a SPDIF or AES output will sonically trump what can be garnered from a USB output playing native files anyway. Is that a reasonable assessment?

Yes I’d say that’s spot on.

 

Are the router, switch, and DCD still utilized as before with #3 Olympus or #4 Olympus + Olympus I/O, or are any of the functions incorporated in Olympus? With either #3 and #4 Olympus options can you start with the memory you have and later upgrade to the improved memory? Can you start with Olympus #3 and later add Olympus I/O?