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".

 

Quick question: In your experience, what is your estimate of the appropriate time needed to let the XDMI digital and XDMI analog cards settle?

I would say, XDMI digital card - 2-3 days. XDMI analog card - 2-3 weeks.

Settling or burn-in time is quite interesting in general. With the linear power supplies I have been building, I've had people who stopped hearing changes after 2-3 weeks. And I had people who were very sensitive and could hear changes after 3 months. Usually they all stopped hearing changes after 4 months.

When I got my Extreme, I kept hearing improvements for an entire year!

From my experience the burn-in time people hear is subjective and depends on several factors (usually a combination of all)
1. How experienced you are as a listener.
2. How resolving your system is.
3. How often you make changes to your system.
(your ears and brain also take time to adjust)

#3 is an interesting one. People who have not made any significant changes for a while (and are experienced listeners with resolving systems) usually can hear changes for much longer. That's understandable as they've had much more time with their initial reference point.
And those who tweak and tinker their systems on daily/weekly basis are mored used to hearing changes from various changes much more frequently and may not have a choice but try to establish a new reference point fairly quickly (so they can move on to other changes and tweaks).
There are also people who are not very sensitive on the burn-in changes or simply don't hear much.

The Olympus makes your system more resolving and you start hearing small changes that were not so obvious before. And usually one doesn't jump on buying an Olympus if the other components are not resolving. So I do expect most people here to hear changes with the XDMI analog card for at least 2-3 weeks (say 500 hours). And I do expect some more sensitive ears to hear improvements over a much longer period.

One thing also worth mentioning is that the Olympus itself will keep improving over a long period of time. We don't have completely burned-in Olympus and what we are hearing initially is not just from swapping the XDMI daughter cards. So it's all kind of a moving target for the first several months. But regardless of that the XDMI analog daughter card needs much more time than the XDMI digital daughter card.

In @oldmustang case, I don't think his dCS Vivaldi will benefit from more hours on his digital daughter card. But the XDMI analog card will keeping getting better, and so I expect that if he repeats the same tests in 4-5 months, the delta will be even bigger.
Of course both (dCS and XDMI analog) will benefit from the Olympus itself running in / settling over time.

 

If I remember correctly, Emile (@Taiko Audio ) suggests letting the Taiko-XDMI-DAC run continuously for 2-3 weeks to reach its full potential.

It might be worth listening to it briefly now, then allowing it to run for that period before listening again.

I'm very curious to hear your feedback once the Taiko-XDMI-DAC has reached 100% of its potential.

Cheers,

Thomas

My experience: it takes over 150 hr for Xdmi/Taiko dac to start to plateau and reach its best. And I think it keeps improving well after that.
However you’ll hear the difference compared to usb right from the start.

And, on top of all that, I continue to be amazed at how good the Olympus to Ithaka Dac via USB is.

While I like the HDMI/analog out the best, it’s really more of a preference rather than an overwhelming “this is a lot better than that experience.” This is what I’ve heard from the very beginning and it hasn’t changed at all through numerous back and forths. This speaks to the quality of the Olympus as well as the Ithaca dac, imo.

I’m cautiously expecting the Aries Xdmi implementation to raise the level significantly.

 

Possibly, as already suggested, Stavros' implementation of the USB input is very good at double reclocking and that may partially mitigate the intrinsic (noise) deficiency of USB.

 

I would say, XDMI digital card - 2-3 days. XDMI analog card - 2-3 weeks.

Settling or burn-in time is quite interesting in general. With the linear power supplies I have been building, I've had people who stopped hearing changes after 2-3 weeks. And I had people who were very sensitive and could hear changes after 3 months. Usually they all stopped hearing changes after 4 months.

When I got my Extreme, I kept hearing improvements for an entire year!

From my experience the burn-in time people hear is subjective and depends on several factors (usually a combination of all)
1. How experienced you are as a listener.
2. How resolving your system is.
3. How often you make changes to your system.
(your ears and brain also take time to adjust)

#3 is an interesting one. People who have not made any significant changes for a while (and are experienced listeners with resolving systems) usually can hear changes for much longer. That's understandable as they've had much more time with their initial reference point.
And those who tweak and tinker their systems on daily/weekly basis are mored used to hearing changes from various changes much more frequently and may not have a choice but try to establish a new reference point fairly quickly (so they can move on to other changes and tweaks).
There are also people who are not very sensitive on the burn-in changes or simply don't hear much.

The Olympus makes your system more resolving and you start hearing small changes that were not so obvious before. And usually one doesn't jump on buying an Olympus if the other components are not resolving. So I do expect most people here to hear changes with the XDMI analog card for at least 2-3 weeks (say 500 hours). And I do expect some more sensitive ears to hear improvements over a much longer period.

One thing also worth mentioning is that the Olympus itself will keep improving over a long period of time. We don't have completely burned-in Olympus and what we are hearing initially is not just from swapping the XDMI daughter cards. So it's all kind of a moving target for the first several months. But regardless of that the XDMI analog daughter card needs much more time than the XDMI digital daughter card.

In @oldmustang case, I don't think his dCS Vivaldi will benefit from more hours on his digital daughter card. But the XDMI analog card will keeping getting better, and so I expect that if he repeats the same tests in 4-5 months, the delta will be even bigger.
Of course both (dCS and XDMI analog) will benefit from the Olympus itself running in / settling over time.

WhenI turn off mty system, my O/IO is ALWAYS on and I continue to play a loop of music forever until I power up the system again. FWIW power consumption this way is very minimal

 

WhenI turn off mty system, my O/IO is ALWAYS on and I continue to play a loop of music forever until I power up the system again. FWIW power consumption this way is very minimal’…

How do you achieve this? When I turn off my Horizon at the end each day, Roon won’t continue to play since there is ‘no audio device found’…

 

I don’t know. except to say I’m using my internal library Maybe it’s not playing all the time but when I do turn on the system and search history it’s pretty long. BTW I do use a playlist from my library that is very long if that’s helpful I never turn off my O/IO. They are always on. You pose an interesting question

 

I don’t know. except to say I’m using my internal library Maybe it’s not playing all the time but when I do turn on the system and search history it’s pretty long. BTW I do use a playlist from my library that is very long if that’s helpful I never turn off my O/IO. They are always on. You pose an interesting question

Hmm. Perhaps you can take a look at Roon once you’ve turned off the DAC and see whether or not it’s still playing, and let us know…?

 

How do you achieve this? When I turn off my Horizon at the end each day, Roon won’t continue to play since there is ‘no audio device found’…

He doesn’t use USB, he uses XDMI which doesn’t care if the DAC is on or off.

 

He doesn’t use USB, he uses XDMI.

Right. This is what I’m asking. When using XDMI, and turning off the DAC, Roon will continue to play…?

 

Right. This is what I’m asking. When using XDMI, and turning off the DAC, Roon will continue to play…?

Yes, I edited my reply while you quoted it realising this would be the follow up question a bit too late

 

Team Taiko,

Wanted to also thank everyone on the Taiko Team for the handling and coordination of the shipment and delivery.

Even with a 3-day delay in customs, the delivery was completed in six days once it shipped including a weekend!

That’s pretty good compared with some of my previous experiences with international freight shipments.

 

Team Taiko,

Wanted to also thank everyone on the Taiko Team for the handling and coordination of the shipment and delivery.

Even with a 3-day delay in customs, the delivery was completed in six days once it shipped including a weekend!

That’s pretty good compared with some of my previous experiences with international freight shipments.

Congrats on your delivery. Looking forward to hearing the first reports about performance with totaldac.

 

Added a second Gryphon cabinet so I can have the Olympus on top. Recovered my old NAS, updated the OS and copied all music files from Extreme to the NAS. I now have “only” 85 Olympus before my own to join the party.

 

Just over 60 to go for me...

 

Added a second Gryphon cabinet so I can have the Olympus on top. Recovered my old NAS, updated the OS and copied all music files from Extreme to the NAS. I now have “only” 85 Olympus before my own to join the party.View attachment 139515

Will that top shelf support the Olympus. It weighs 60 kgm

 

I hope so, it looks more solid than the Artesania Audio rack that supports my 60kg Kassandra, but I will check with Gryphon.
Thx

 

I have the O/IO on my top shelf and have a special CMS rack to support the load

 

Is it viable to plug an Olympus, Olympus I/O and the network stack (router, switch, power distributor) into a Stromtank 2500? If yes, how much is the power draw of the Taiko devices/how much Stromtank capacity would remain for powering other gear?

Model comparison - STROMTANK - German Power Tank

Compare the StromTank models

stromtank.com

Thanks.
Parker

 

Is it viable to plug an Olympus, Olympus I/O and the network stack (router, switch, power distributor) into a Stromtank 2500? If yes, how much is the power draw of the Taiko devices/how much Stromtank capacity would remain for powering other gear?

Model comparison - STROMTANK - German Power Tank

Compare the StromTank models

stromtank.com

Thanks.
Parker

Seems to me a bit redundant as the Olympus and Oly I/O are already fully battery powered?

 

Seems to me a bit redundant as the Olympus and Oly I/O are already fully battery powered?

Safety/peace of mind during the 6-8 month thunderstorm season we have in the southeast.