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".

 

@dminches , we’re updating on this forum, see above for the last.

This to put an end to the mayor support headache the webpage creates. It looked like a good idea but it turned out to be a very bad one.

We are contemplating moving to a subscription based e-mail system, working on that now.

Meanwhile Silver Olympus servers (without I/O): 41.1, 47, 51, 58, 63, 65 shipped to the hazardous material handling company while Black Olympus servers (with 3 I/Os) : 34.1, 40, 42, 44, 49, 60 are being finished. Silver I/Os are expected to arrive this Thursday but will need to pass QC. And eagerly awaiting the arrival of a rather sizeable black batch.

An update for "team black":

Black Olympus servers finished: 34.1, 40, 42, 49
Black Olympus servers under construction: 44, 53, 54, 56, 60, 61, 62

We currently have 45 chassis waiting to be anodised, of which 30 in black, but now at 2 different anodising companies. And we have just hired another team member so hopefully we can build these fast upon their return!

 

As a follow up to this. I have run multiple tests over multiple days. This appears to be a Qobuz issue. I have uninterrupted local file and Tidal playback (tested up to 24 hours), but Qobuz fails regularly, it doesn't even need to be queue based playback, it can even stop during an individual manually selected track. Roon logs show timeout errors in the network stream in that case.

I'm not going to spend more time on this now as this is out of our control anyway, and we're busy enough as is!

Emile, I am also having stoppages here, and it's not just with Qobuz, it is even with local (on NAS) files.

Since I connected up the Olympus on Monday, I have had a house full of family for Thanksgiving, so have had little time for troubleshooting. But I was hoping to burn in the unit with 24/7 playback, and every time I check, it seems to have stopped with "Roon lost control of the audio device."

I did reboot my entire network stack, and I also experimented with 2 Roon settings: "Max buffer size" and "power of 2 buffers." Neither makes a difference.

One last observation: it runs uninterrupted the longest after a reboot, but the intervals between stoppages become greater over time.

I'll open a support ticket and send you my serial number if you'd like to look at the Roon logs. We can take it offline from here, but just wanted to alert you that the problem here is not just with Qobuz.

 

An update for "team black":

Black Olympus servers finished: 34.1, 40, 42, 49
Black Olympus servers under construction: 44, 53, 54, 56, 60, 61, 62

We currently have 45 chassis waiting to be anodised, of which 30 in black, but now at 2 different anodising companies. And we have just hired another team member so hopefully we can build these fast upon their return!

I'm happy for those that are happy with black. What's the prognosis for we silver Olympus + I/O denizens?

 

I'm happy for those that are happy with black. What's the prognosis for we silver Olympus + I/O denizens?

Denizens: a good word seldomly used!

 

Emile, I am also having stoppages here, and it's not just with Qobuz, it is even with local (on NAS) files.

Since I connected up the Olympus on Monday, I have had a house full of family for Thanksgiving, so have had little time for troubleshooting. But I was hoping to burn in the unit with 24/7 playback, and every time I check, it seems to have stopped with "Roon lost control of the audio device."

I did reboot my entire network stack, and I also experimented with 2 Roon settings: "Max buffer size" and "power of 2 buffers." Neither makes a difference.

One last observation: it runs uninterrupted the longest after a reboot, but the intervals between stoppages become greater over time.

I'll open a support ticket and send you my serial number if you'd like to look at the Roon logs. We can take it offline from here, but just wanted to alert you that the problem here is not just with Qobuz.

Apple or Android?

 

I'm happy for those that are happy with black. What's the prognosis for we silver Olympus + I/O denizens?

We’re still waiting for silver I/O chassis, unfortunately we’re completely at the mercy of our (initial) anodising company here as they did not finish these today as indicated.

 

Apple or Android?

Apple iPad.

 

Apple iPad.

Anyone out there with Android having the same issue? Sans bms

 

Denizens: a good word seldomly used!

Denizens -- isn't that like a cave full of Buddhist monks?

Steve Z

 

Denizens -- isn't that like a cave full of Buddhist monks?

Steve Z

We are the denizens of the audio world, and yes some of us are Buddhist Monks who live in caves and forests...

 

Denizens -- isn't that like a cave full of Buddhist monks?

Steve Z

I feel like an ascetic, cast into the wilds, hearing of all others enjoying their new Olympi!

 

My two+ week update on the O-I/O sonics with XDMI-Digital out.

Quick summary (with apologies to "This is Spinal Tap" and "American Bandstand"): I give it a score of 11 out of 10. It's got a good beat and you can dance to it.

Bottom Line:
1. Surpassed the Audiophile Test. Yes on all counts from 3 dimensional soundstage, to visceral bass, to extended highs, to prat, to yada yada yada.

2. Surpassed the "No Artifacts" Test. Artifacts get the attention of your left/analytical brain and defeat the right/emotional side. Once past the initial settling in period, the O-I/O grabbed my right brain and hasn't let go.

3. Surpassed the "Phone" Test. If you attend a musical performance, in a great hall under the direction of a great conductor playing a great piece of music, do you reach for your phone to see the latest feed? I'd be hard pressed to have ever thought about it myself under those circumstances.

Although, I must admit that it was a not irregular event with previous systems in my home. And the thought did cross my mind during the O-I/O break-in period. And I actually did break out the phone on a number of occasions, which caused some worry. But once the break-in period stabilized, the thought has never occurred. All engines straight ahead!

4. Surpassed the "Minds Eye" test. I heard the story of an Asian magnate who sends his trusted aide to scour Europe and the US for high end commodities including stereo equipment. His instructions to his aide is to close his eyes when listening to stereos and see what images/emotions are conjured by the music. And to buy the equipment If the music creates strong vivid images/emotions in his minds eye.

This is my favorite and most important bottom line test. And the O-I/O passed this test beyond all previous system configurations I've ever heard in my room before. And this is before I connect the XDMI-Analog out. And even more importantly, before my intrepid "speaker whisperer" optimizes the system/speaker placement for the O-I/O.

Thank you Taiko Team for a significant step forward in digital reproduction!

Can’t wait for the next steps!

 

An update for "team black":

Black Olympus servers finished: 34.1, 40, 42, 49
Black Olympus servers under construction: 44, 53, 54, 56, 60, 61, 62

We currently have 45 chassis waiting to be anodised, of which 30 in black, but now at 2 different anodising companies. And we have just hired another team member so hopefully we can build these fast upon their return!

"Black Olympus servers finished: 34.1, 40, 42, 49"
Shipped? If not, when?

 

To add to what others here have already said. My O&I/O have about 72 hours of continuous play on them now. The sound is incredibly solid and has the dynamics that I normally associate with analog tape or vinyl. One of the most elusive things has been trying to get digital with its superior dynamic range to sound subjectively as dynamic as analog. To me digital playback has always sounded a bit flat in comparison to analog when it comes to dynamics or its ability to make sound jump out of the speaker. That has always been my biggest complaint between the two. The things that good digital does well, low noise, bass extension, low level detail, wide and flat bandwidth etc. never completely made up for its lack of subjective dynamics IMHO. That is until now.

With the O&I/O it seems that we can have the best of both digital and analog with no downsides. All the positives of digital but now with the dynamics or “jump factor” of analog. Which for me leads to a more captivating and emotional listening experience. I haven’t tuned on my TV all week because I haven’t been able to stop listening to music. And this is just with the USB output so far....
More to come.

 

To add to what others here have already said. My O&I/O have about 36 hours of continuous play on them now. The sound is incredibly solid and has the dynamics that I normally associate with analog tape or vinyl. One of the most elusive things has been trying to get digital with its superior dynamic range to sound subjectively as dynamic as analog. To me digital playback has always sounded a bit flat in comparison to analog when it comes to dynamics or its ability to make sound jump out of the speaker. That has always been my biggest complaint between the two. The things that good digital does well, low noise, bass extension, low level detail, wide and flat bandwidth etc. never completely made up for its lack of subjective dynamics IMHO. That is until now.

With the O&I/O it seems that we can have the best of both digital and analog with no downsides. All the positives of digital but now with the dynamics or “jump factor” of analog. Which for me leads to a more captivating and emotional listening experience. I haven’t tuned on my TV all week because I haven’t been able to stop listening to music. And this is just with the USB output so far....
More to come.

Fantastic to hear! What DAC do you use?

 

Fantastic to hear! What DAC do you use?

Aries Cerat Kassandra MK2

 

Hi,

Is taiko working with ch precision for the XDMI connection?

 

Aries Cerat Kassandra MK2

I’m using a Helene DAC and agree with your comments, the USB uptick is sensational. I think the best combo could well be with the XDMI interface that Stavros is designing

 

Hi,

Is taiko working with ch precision for the XDMI connection?

No, I don't think so.

 

No, I don't think so.

Sorry to hear that. I was thinking the new CH c10 or upcoming msb sentinel in the future.