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".

 

I am #82 and don’t expect it until sometime in January/February

I'm #99 and honestly would love to be refunded and move on .Order date Jan . I will end it there .

I understand your frustration.

 

perhaps a separate thread for delivery issues, and leave this thread for feedback on SQ, functionality, etc?

 

Taiko Team, could you do something like this? IMHO, this would be far more informative.

CAVEAT: the numbers below are purely for illustration purposes. This is not an actual update. Fractional build numbers are for chuckles only. Carry on!

Build update Nov 13, 2024​

Latest order numbers competed DG and shipped to customer:​

30, 35, 36

Latest order numbers completed build and sent for DG (dangerous goods) certification:​

37, 37.1, 38, 39, 41

Latest order numbers currently being built:​

42, 43, 43.1, 43.2, 43.3, 43.4

We could, obviously, however there's more to consider here, we have a sizeable group of customers being unhappy with us publishing this data, additionally we're struggling with the support load these updates are causing, you would be surprised to see the responses we get to this!

We're not updating the page yet with order numbers but I can share we're now building a batch of 6 black servers with 2 black IOs and 6 silver servers, however their 4 accompanying silver I/Os didn't pass QC, those are back for a refinish and arrive here start of next week.

We're changing our direction now as it does not seem possible to get a better yield then about 65% on anodising, which is a lot better then the 20% we started out with, but still not great. We've contracted an external CNC machining facility to double up chassis manufacturing rate, and we're just going to have to discard a third. It is what it is..

The I/O order density is much lower on the remaining orders at 20% where it's been 50% till now, an I/O takes virtually the same amount of time and resources as a server build so this will help a lot in speeding up delivery rate.

We have expanded the team by 4 FTE this year, which are about 50/50 split between email duties and assembly, it was 5 but one left us again already. We need at least 2 more for assembly for which we have ads running.

Unfortunately all the extra personnel and chassis discard rate has a very significant effect on overhead and is incompatible with our current pricing strategy so it looks like we'll be forced to either raise prices and/or be less generous with our Extreme trade in policies. This is something we'll revisit at the end of the year.

MSB has verified our XDMI PRO ISL implementation meanwhile, so we're good to go there! I'm very excited about this and very eager to get feedback from the field on this. We'll update on when we can start shipping this next week.

 

Emile

Great news on MSB/XDMI

Any thoughts on a different design to eliminate defects or a different finish instead of anodizing? Not sure what that could be but it seems like your biggest bottleneck.....

 

We could, obviously, however there's more to consider here, we have a sizeable group of customers being unhappy with us publishing this data, additionally we're struggling with the support load these updates are causing, you would be surprised to see the responses we get to this!

We're not updating the page yet with order numbers but I can share we're now building a batch of 6 black servers with 2 black IOs and 6 silver servers, however their 4 accompanying silver I/Os didn't pass QC, those are back for a refinish and arrive here start of next week.

We're changing our direction now as it does not seem possible to get a better yield then about 65% on anodising, which is a lot better then the 20% we started out with, but still not great. We've contracted an external CNC machining facility to double up chassis manufacturing rate, and we're just going to have to discard a third. It is what it is..

The I/O order density is much lower on the remaining orders at 20% where it's been 50% till now, an I/O takes virtually the same amount of time and resources as a server build so this will help a lot in speeding up delivery rate.

We have expanded the team by 4 FTE this year, which are about 50/50 split between email duties and assembly, it was 5 but one left us again already. We need at least 2 more for assembly for which we have ads running.

Unfortunately all the extra personnel and chassis discard rate has a very significant effect on overhead and incompatible with our current pricing strategy so it looks like we'll be forced to either raise prices and/or be less generous with our Extreme trade in policies. This is something we'll revisit at the end of the year.

MSB has verified our XDMI PRO ISL implementation meanwhile, so we're good to go there! I'm very excited about this and very eager to get feedback from the field on this. We'll update on when we can start shipping this next week.

Will you consider not using anodising for your next product?

 

Emile

Great news on MSB/XDMI

Any thoughts on a different design to eliminate defects or a different finish instead of anodizing? Not sure what that could be but it seems like your biggest bottleneck.....

Yes we are exploring several alternatives, in fact have another 3 visits scheduled tomorrow (a weekly occurrence), 2 coating companies and 1 anodiser. PVD coating is a serious alternative but we only found one reliable supplier for that process with a 10-12 week lead time and a fairly large MOQ. In practical terms this would mean about a month of machining to reach the MOQ and then wait 3 months, 4 months in total. But we're not giving up on this.

 

Will you consider not using anodising for your next product?

I would love to, however this is not as easy at it seems, I can assure you every high-end audio company struggles with this, the larger the part, the bigger your problem...

 

Are the ones that fail your QC so bad that people couldn’t agree to have their servers built with them? For example, if the issue was just on the bottom or rear I wouldn’t care.

 

Are the ones that fail your QC so bad that people couldn’t agree to have their servers built with them? For example, if the issue was just on the bottom or rear I wouldn’t care.

 

Cool looking finish with the waves but I see how that is not what you are going for. It is too bad that this process is so hard for them to get right at a higher clip. Sorry…

 

Cool looking finish with the waves but I see how that is not what you are going for. It is too bad that this process is so hard for them to get right at a higher clip. Sorry…

I guarantee someone is going to contact Taiko and say "I want the one with the waves!"

 

Do the black chassis have a higher success rate?

 

Do the black chassis have a higher success rate?

Yes, those are at 95%, if all orders were black we probably would’ve finished shipping everything some time ago.

 

We could, obviously, however there's more to consider here, we have a sizeable group of customers being unhappy with us publishing this data.

Emile.
Since the lot numbers are not associated with the name of the owner (as is logical) the complaint of anyone that Taiko publishes these numbers is simply absurd. This numerical data without association to any name, does not belong to the buyer of the Olympus, but to Taiko Audio. I think that those of us who have paid a large amount of money months ago and are waiting to receive the Olympus, deserve at least to have updated information on the pace of manufacture and that this does not happen because there are people who are upset by the publication of some numbers on a website is a great………….. (let each one put the adjective)

 

View attachment 139701

View attachment 139702

View attachment 139703

The sides almost look like wood grain

 

Yes, those are at 95%.

Emile, I can well imagine the frustration at your end. It was understood that there were persisting issues with finishing but it wasn't at all clear that these are no better than when you first described them here months ago and, indeed, the profound extent to which they are still crippling production. I suspect that sharing a little bit more detail, as you've done in the last few posts, goes a long way to generating understanding, goodwill and renewed patience within the order-holder group - thank you. As an aside, has offering customers a switch from silver to black been considered? Even if only a few take up the offer, that might help...

 

Cool looking finish with the waves but I see how that is not what you are going for. It is too bad that this process is so hard for them to get right at a higher clip. Sorry…

I like the wave effect, too. Kind like a more understated pattern similar to my Playback Designs ADC. But theirs is actually machined into the surface.



I'm all for alternative finishes, particularly powder-coating if you can get a finish that meets your stringent requirements. And I would love a discounted price on an I/O that is, shall we say, cosmetically challenged. Might be a way to move blemished product rather than just writing it off completely. In fact, I'd take a really grim example and just have the chassis powder-coated at our local hot rod shop.

Just sayin'

Steve Z

 

Emile.
Since the lot numbers are not associated with the name of the owner (as is logical) the complaint of anyone that Taiko publishes these numbers is simply absurd. This numerical data without association to any name, does not belong to the buyer of the Olympus, but to Taiko Audio. I think that those of us who have paid a large amount of money months ago and are waiting to receive the Olympus, deserve at least to have updated information on the pace of manufacture and that this does not happen because there are people who are upset by the publication of some numbers on a website is a great………….. (let each one put the adjective)

I cannot go into the problems associated with the existence of this webpage without upsetting people.

A good solution would be to just update information here on WBF and remove the webpage. The people interested in this information do appear to be following us here anyway. You’d have the date to go with it as well then.

 

Emile, I can well imagine the frustration at your end. It was understood that there were persisting issues with finishing but it wasn't at all clear that these were no better than when you first described them here months ago and, indeed, the profound extent to which they are still crippling production. I suspect that sharing a little bit more detail, as you've done in the last few posts, goes a long way to generating understanding, goodwill and renewing patience within the order-holder group - thank you. As an aside, has offering customers a switch from silver to black been considered? Even if only a few take up the offer, that might help...

If anyone is willing to chance their order from silver to black, please do!

 

I like the wave effect, too. Kind like a more understated pattern similar to my Playback Designs ADC. But theirs is actually machined into the surface.

View attachment 139707

I'm all for alternative finishes, particularly powder-coating if you can get a finish that meets your stringent requirements. And I would love a discounted price on an I/O that is, shall we say, cosmetically challenged. Might be a way to move blemished product rather than just writing it off completely. In fact, I'd take a really grim example and just have the chassis powder-coated at our local hot rod shop.

Just sayin'

Steve Z

Regular powder coating is not that great, a bit too “industrial”, but there are very thin layer options nowadays, we’re exploring those as well. This is an example of “regular” powder coating: