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".

 

So far, I too am leaning on the taiko network stack to provide a moat to whatever is upstream of it. At this point, I can’t really hear a difference between my home file server and Qobuz

Is there a lift to having an audio optimized NAS? Maybe, but I haven’t gone that road yet. I have found that anything you throw at your Taiko network stack has a huge positive impact, so that is where I’m spending my attention right now (power, dc cables, etc)

 

Is anyone running their NAS off the Extreme DC power distributor? I seem to remember people talking about it.

 

Is anyone running their NAS off the Extreme DC power distributor? I seem to remember people talking about it.

I am.

 

I am.

Thank you for your reply.
Would it be possible to describe you NAS setup? What type of NAS, type of cable to dc power distributor, what is powering your dc power distributor, and is anything else running of the power distributor? I have a synology ds423+ and it uses a 4-pin dc cable into the back of it.
Any information or input would be appreciated.

 

Thank you for your reply.
Would it be possible to describe you NAS setup? What type of NAS, type of cable to dc power distributor, what is powering your dc power distributor, and is anything else running of the power distributor? I have a synology ds423+ and it uses a 4-pin dc cable into the back of it.
Any information or input would be appreciated.

I am using a DS224+ which pulls about 1A. It connects with a DC cable with barrel connectors on both sides. I am also powering the Taiko router and switch.

The DS423+ requires a lot more power so you would need a more powerful LPS connected to the DCD to power that.

 

@dminches what drives are you using in the 224+ ? I need to set this up myself. Cheers...

 

@dminches what drives are you using in the 224+ ? I need to set this up myself. Cheers...

2 x 8 TB WD Red. I have the array formatted as RAID0 so there is no redundancy. You end up with about 14 TB of space. Obviously there are larger drives if you need more.

 

would it be possible to give MSB owners some insight into plans for finalizing the MSB connection. You mentioned the need to send MSB an Olympus so they can finish the process. Is that Olympus availability for the MSB unit going to have to wait until the end of the order catchup?

 

I am using a DS224+ which pulls about 1A. It connects with a DC cable with barrel connectors on both sides. I am also powering the Taiko router and switch.

The DS423+ requires a lot more power so you would need a more powerful LPS connected to the DCD to power that.

Thank you that was very good information. Any ideas on a LPS that would power that NAS and the Taiko router and switch?

 

Thank you that was very good information. Any ideas on a LPS that would power that NAS and the Taiko router and switch?

The power supply for the 423+ is 90 watts. At 12V that is 7.5A. I am sure it doesn’t need that full time. Maybe that is the max when it powers up. My guess is that 6A would be enough. If you add the router and switch that gets you to 7A. Thus, you probably need a 12V / 7A LPS.

 

would it be possible to give MSB owners some insight into plans for finalizing the MSB connection. You mentioned the need to send MSB an Olympus so they can finish the process. Is that Olympus availability for the MSB unit going to have to wait until the end of the order catchup?

For the latest updates we got earlier in the month see here onward:

MSB and Taiko, let's go!

As I understand it I *think* you would need to add the I/O box to your Extreme to be able to use the XMDI card + daughterboards (like MSB ProISL, Lampi, AES, Taiko analog).

www.whatsbestforum.com

 

My experience would emphasize this and that it needs a very long burn in and it will not be an accurate comparison without enough time.

I thought I had enough run-in time on the Taiko Dac board at about 100-150 hrs. At that time I “concluded” it was somewhat slow and mid bass heavy sounding compared to the usb/Ithaka dac.

But now, I think I can safely say that sound signature has disappeared and the Taiko dac/Xdmi sounds quick and incisive. I don’t have any desire to go back and listen to the USB.

Maybe the Taiko dac needs 200+ hours? Curious what others have found?

Wil:
Are you saying you prefer the XDMI internal DAC to the USB connection to the Ithaka DAC?

 

Wil:
Are you saying you prefer the XDMI internal DAC to the USB connection to the Ithaka DAC?

I’ll do another comparison, now that the internal dac/Xdmi are thoroughly run-in.

 

Back to comparing USB/Ithaka DAC and XDMI/internal DAC:

I'm listening to Chick Corea, Trilogy 2 , with Christian McBride and Brian Blade. -- an excellent live recording which captures the energy of the live music.

The two presentations are very different, both with their relative strengths/weakness.

USB/Ithaka: Great energy, speed. More live sounding. Maybe more sense of space and harmonics.

XDMI/Internal DAC: More mid bass centric. More smooth. Less noise? Less likely to fatigue. Seems to lack some of the life force of the Ithaka.

I'm left thinking, and it shouldn't be a surprise, that the best of both worlds may come together for me with XDMI native to Ithaka DAC.

 

Back to comparing USB/Ithaka DAC and XDMI/internal DAC:

I'm listening to Chick Corea, Trilogy 2 , with Christian McBride and Brian Blade. -- an excellent live recording which captures the energy of the live music.

The two presentations are very different, both with their relative strengths/weakness.

USB/Ithaka: Great energy, speed. More live sounding. Maybe more sense of space and harmonics.

XDMI/Internal DAC: More mid bass centric. More smooth. Less noise? Less likely to fatigue. Seems to lack some of the life force of the Ithaka.

I'm left thinking, and it shouldn't be a surprise, that the best of both worlds may come together for me with XDMI native to Ithaka DAC.

Hi @wil ,

If you’re up for a little experiment; I suppose you don’t have a phase reversal switch on your preamp? If you do use it If you don’t try reversing your speaker cable polarity, simply swap plus/minus on the amplifier side. See if you notice a difference

 

Did Emile mention the Olympus is less fussy than the Extreme??

I did not mention that, it reacts differently though.

 

Emile/ray-dude, I’m assuming the quality of power cable for the external NAS will also make a difference to the signal quality feeding the Olympus - might you be able to say to what degree the effect might be, and more vitally, if regardless of quality of cable, sound quality will always be improved over that of the standard 4TB internal storage?

Thanks for your patience with this : ) - kevin

I did not spend a lot of time on this, hearing no difference between Qobuz and files downloaded from Qobuz on to my NAS gives this a “to investigate further, when I really can’t think of anything better to do” priority.

 

I think Emile meant to say that the internal music drive of the Extreme won’t fit in the Olympus. The internal Extreme drives are m.2 SSDs in a PCIe Hyper card.

They do fit actually, but the SQ hit is absolutely unacceptable.

 

Hi @wil ,

If you’re up for a little experiment; I suppose you don’t have a phase reversal switch on your preamp? If you do use it If you don’t try reversing your speaker cable polarity, simply swap plus/minus on the amplifier side. See if you notice a difference

OCD among us most definitely should not do this experiment

 

Down-Sampling

To make the most of the Taiko XDMI DAC daughterboard, I'm planning to down-sample some of my music from 24/352.8 and 24/192 down to 24/96, or even 16/44.1.

However, I'd like to ensure I do it correctly.

I've found three pieces of software that look promising:

• SoX
• iZotope RX
• PGGB

iZotope RX seems to stand out, but which one do you think would be the most suitable for high-quality down-sampling?

Also, what are your experiences with these programs?

Thanks for your help.

Cheers,

Thomas

If you’re asking me, I wouldn’t bother. These things can change, in which case you’ll have wasted your time.