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 have two of these I’m not using if anyone wants to buy.

I would gladly buy both. Can't DM you. Can you DM me or email me? My email is yuwang.se@gmail.com


Thanks

 

I'm not sure if your quick question was answered, but in case it was not, the Olympus serial number can be found around the back on a small sticker underneath the PCI ports section on the right.

Yes, thanks Christiaan, I did figure that out, although for me that is a hard to reach location. I did find a couple of other easier ways to locate the serial number from the comfort of your sofa. Even if you rename your Roon server name as I did, like this:


If you check the signal path in Roon (click on the dot next to the play controls), you still see the serial number (obfuscated in red) in the RAAT line:


In addition, I also see the serial number in the host name that my router picks up. This is specific to my router's web UI, but it shows up on the DHCP clients list.


Hope this helps other O users!

 

I've had my O only for a week, so this is an early update. I can only echo the superlatives that have been mentioned by so many O owners on this forum. I won't repeat them again. I still have my Extreme in the system, so I can confirm:
1. O > USB > Vinnie Rossi L2i SE with L2 DAC is head and shoulders better than E > USB > Vinnie Rossi L2i SE with L2 DAC. No extended listening needed.
2. O > XDMI Analog > RCA > Vinnie Rossi L2i SE is head and shoulders better than O > USB > Vinnie Rossi L2i SE with L2 DAC. Again, no extended listening needed.

I did try something that perhaps has not been reported here yet. I was curious to see where the XDMI Digital AES/SPDIF card fit in the SQ range between Olympus USB and Olympus XDMI analog. My results were very interesting, and obviously will be dependent on your DAC's implementation of AES or SPDIF inputs.

I compared:
- O > USB > Vinnie Rossi L2i SE with L2 DAC to
- O > XDMI Digital > coax SPDIF > Vinnie Rossi L2i SE with L2 DAC.

In my system, with the VR L2 DAC, XDMI Digital SPDIF was a big step up over USB. Did it close the gap with XDMI Analog? Emphatically, no. XDMI Analog is unambiguously the best sounding option by far in my system.

What does this mean? Well, I assume all of us will want to assess if we still need our former DACs with the Olympus. Many of us will find that XDMI Analog is so good that we can sell or repurpose our previous DAC.

But in making the evaluation between your DAC and XDMI Analog as thorough as possible, I would encourage you to try not only USB to your DAC, but also XDMI AES or SPDIF, especially if your DAC implements these interfaces well.

For a small subset of DACs (Lampi, MSB etc), there is or will be XDMI integration. For these cases, it will be very interesting to learn how these XDMI-enabled DACs perform relative to XDMI Analog. To my knowledge, no one has reported on this so far, although I'm sure someone will feel the motivation to try this sooner or later.

 

For a small subset of DACs (Lampi, MSB etc), there is or will be XDMI integration. For these cases, it will be very interesting to learn how these XDMI-enabled DACs perform relative to XDMI Analog. To my knowledge, no one has reported on this so far, although I'm sure someone will feel the motivation to try this sooner or later.

I don’t think anyone with an XDMI-equipped Horizon has compared it to the XDMI analog. I plan on doing that when I get my O but it’ll still be a while. <edit> I should say no one has compared the 2 and reported on it.

 

I've had my O only for a week, so this is an early update. I can only echo the superlatives that have been mentioned by so many O owners on this forum. I won't repeat them again. I still have my Extreme in the system, so I can confirm:
1. O > USB > Vinnie Rossi L2i SE with L2 DAC is head and shoulders better than E > USB > Vinnie Rossi L2i SE with L2 DAC. No extended listening needed.
2. O > XDMI Analog > RCA > Vinnie Rossi L2i SE is head and shoulders better than O > USB > Vinnie Rossi L2i SE with L2 DAC. Again, no extended listening needed.

I did try something that perhaps has not been reported here yet. I was curious to see where the XDMI Digital AES/SPDIF card fit in the SQ range between Olympus USB and Olympus XDMI analog. My results were very interesting, and obviously will be dependent on your DAC's implementation of AES or SPDIF inputs.

I compared:
- O > USB > Vinnie Rossi L2i SE with L2 DAC to
- O > XDMI Digital > coax SPDIF > Vinnie Rossi L2i SE with L2 DAC.

In my system, with the VR L2 DAC, XDMI Digital SPDIF was a big step up over USB. Did it close the gap with XDMI Analog? Emphatically, no. XDMI Analog is unambiguously the best sounding option by far in my system.

What does this mean? Well, I assume all of us will want to assess if we still need our former DACs with the Olympus. Many of us will find that XDMI Analog is so good that we can sell or repurpose our previous DAC.

But in making the evaluation between your DAC and XDMI Analog as thorough as possible, I would encourage you to try not only USB to your DAC, but also XDMI AES or SPDIF, especially if your DAC implements these interfaces well.

For a small subset of DACs (Lampi, MSB etc), there is or will be XDMI integration. For these cases, it will be very interesting to learn how these XDMI-enabled DACs perform relative to XDMI Analog. To my knowledge, no one has reported on this so far, although I'm sure someone will feel the motivation to try this sooner or later.

congrats! can you tell us the sources you used, wav/flac/streaming? were they the same in all comparisons?

 

I don’t think anyone with an XDMI-equipped Horizon has compared it to the XDMI analog. I plan on doing that when I get my O but it’ll still be a while. <edit> I should say no one has compared the 2 and reported on it.

For a small subset of DACs (Lampi, MSB etc), there is or will be XDMI integration. For these cases, it will be very interesting to learn how these XDMI-enabled DACs perform relative to XDMI Analog. To my knowledge, no one has reported on this so far, although I'm sure someone will feel the motivation to try this sooner or later.

I think the key phrase os XDMI integrated DAC as I understand it AES/EBU via XDMI is limited to 24/192 and DSD 64 I have had the digital board installed on my O/IO since day one as I can listen native to all formats which has always been the way I have preferred to listen to my digital files. My XDMI analog board remains unopened on my shelf and never used. Im betting that everyone who has an aes/ebu only DAC will like their digital card but will 100% prefer the XDMI analogue card. Lampi and now MSB have an XDMI integrated DAC and that will universally be their preference . For me so also is the fact that Im an all tube system and the new Horizon 360 using XDMI in using my favorite tube set will not deliver to my ears what I imagine the XDMI analogue card will do. I have said in jest in the past when XDMI was first discussed here that 'how wonderful it would be if the analogue card came with a tube" It is this magic that my ears simply prefer. I just have not heard any digital as good as what I am hearing now

Having said this, I am still hoping that when the dust settles for Taiko and Emile is caught up with orders that we can still do the taiko open house that I have wanted to do for a very long time . If that comes to fruition Im hoping I can talk Emile into bringing an IO installed with the analogue card so that not only can an a/b test be done but it can be done as quickly as changing the QSFP cables from my digital loaded XDMI board on my IO and connected to the IO with the analogue XDMI board. We all know that our aural recall is very short in nature and such an A/B test would prove more meaningful that having to take my Olympus off the underlying IO and then the time taken to swap card and to replace the Olympus which I bet is easily a 30-45 minute job.

 

congrats! can you tell us the sources you used, wav/flac/streaming? were they the same in all comparisons?

Not sure what you're asking. I obvously used the same set of tracks when making these comparisons.

I do not have local SSD on my Olympus. These were flac files streamed locally from my NAS. I have not done flac vs. wav comparisons.

 

Not sure what you're asking. I obvously used the same set of tracks when making these comparisons.

I do not have local SSD on my Olympus. These were flac files streamed locally from my NAS. I have not done flac vs. wav comparisons.

Marty Meyers came to my place a few weeks ago and blew my mind by playing the same tracks comparing the Wav and Flac versions. The Wav files were night and day better than the Flac versions. I never paid attention prior to Wav vs Flac but I know Marty is investigating this along with some others at Taiko. This listening was done on both the Extreme and the O-I/O.

 

Marty Meyers came to my place a few weeks ago and blew my mind by playing the same tracks comparing the Wav and Flac versions. The Wav files were night and day better than the Flac versions. I never paid attention prior to Wav vs Flac but I know Marty is investigating this along with some others at Taiko. This listening was done on both the Extreme and the O-I/O.

This is interesting because what Roon transmits is neither FLAC nor WAV, but a PCM stream.

It would indeed be interesting to find out where this difference lies.

Cheers,

Thomas

 

This is interesting because what Roon transmits is neither FLAC nor WAV, but a PCM stream.

It would indeed be interesting to find out where this difference lies.

Cheers,

Thomas

Marty, Can you chime in on your "investigation"?

 

This is the Lampizator daughter card :

View attachment 139020

View attachment 139021

There is a XDMI reception socket on the Poseidon DAC too :

LampizatOr Poseidon “Duracell” DAC – M & S | Ultimate High-Fidelity

www.monoandstereo.com

Can somebody help me understand what I need to upgrade to make this work? I have both a Poseidon and a Horizon as well as a Taiko Extreme. The Horizon is going back in January for the upgrade to 360 and XDMI but what needs to be done to the Taiko to use XDMI? Thanks in advance to whomever will answer. @Taiko Audio

 

Can somebody help me understand what I need to upgrade to make this work? I have both a Poseidon and a Horizon as well as a Taiko Extreme. The Horizon is going back in January for the upgrade to 360 and XDMI but what needs to be done to the Taiko to use XDMI? Thanks in advance to whomever will answer. @Cristian Punter @Emile Bok

Currently the Extreme does not support XDMI.

 

Currently the Extreme does not support XDMI.

Do some early adapters have it and it’s been discontinued or is it coming in the future?

 

Do some early adapters have it and it’s been discontinued or is it coming in the future?

XDMI “started” with the Olympus. Taiko will have to comment on whether it will be retro-fitted to the Extreme.

 

Wasn't there mention of Extreme + I/O as a upgrade path? I vaguely remember that, where the Extreme hosts a NIC and that goes to the I/O with the XDMI card.

 

Do some early adapters have it and it’s been discontinued or is it coming in the future?

It’s coming in the future, Q2 or Q3 2025.

 

Wasn't there mention of Extreme + I/O as a upgrade path? I vaguely remember that, where the Extreme hosts a NIC and that goes to the I/O with the XDMI card.

Yes, and it's mentioned in the manual(s) - I believe the Extreme manual iirc.

 

Marty, Can you chime in on your "investigation"?

It has always been my experience (so far with Extreme) that WAV is better than FLAC (or any other compressed format), audible but perhaps not a night and day difference in most cases. Some FLAC files compress by 2/3 or even 3/4 (that is, the file size is 1/3 or 1/4 of uncompressed WAV file size) and de-compression in playback invariably introduces jitters (especially with highly compressed FLAC files). Streaming from Qobus is presumably via its compressed FLAC database. Despite claims, I continue to doubt streaming from Qobus with its compressed database is as good as local WAV playback in terms of SQ.

 

It also has been my experience that format in excess of 24/96 invariably sounds dull (I have many 24/192 albums; none sounds good). I converted 2 albums (of big symphonies) from 24/192 to 24/44.1 via dbpoweramp software and heard an audible improvement (more transparent or less congested). I intend to convert all 24/192 files to 24/44.1 going forward. Also my experience that WAV sounds better than DSD (WAV more vivid, vibrant, sharper) even for a sigma-delta DAC like Horizon. Albums with the best sound are mostly in red book format (even with Extreme). I am amazed that some albums recorded in the mid- or late-1950s sound more vivid or immediate than albums recorded recently in native 24/192 or 24/96 (e.g., Monteux's RCA Tchaikovsky symphonies, otherwise dated, compared to the latest hi-res ones which all sound lumpy, including Honeck's recordings on Reference label).

 

I went to Volent Audio in Hong Kong, and was able to compare:
A- Olympus+IO -> USB -> Totaldac Sublime ->
B- Olympus+IO -> XDMI analog ->

In that system/room, for me, Olympus+IO -> USB -> Totaldac Sublime -> preamp sounded better than O+IO -> XDMI analog. However, it was not far.

He did not have the XDMI AES installed in the O+IO, so I could not compare Olympus+IO -> xdmi AES -> Totaldac Sublime -> preamp.

AES is the native connection used in Totaldac, so I suppose this will sound better, because in my system the Olympus with XDMI/AES sounds much better than Olympus USB feeding the Totaldac Sublime. For me, the 24/192 (and DSD64 DoP) limitation of AES is not a problem.

He did not have the Live Clock update to the Totaldac Sublime and did not have the Sublime update to the Totaldac Drivers XLR mk2.

I have not tried the XDMI-analog in my system because I need two digital inputs and don't use a preamp. I use the Totaldac Drivers Sublime XLR and the Totaldac digital volume.

So next step for me is to perform the Live Clock updates to my Totaldac Sublime DAC.

Hopefully, the next version (Oct/2025?) of the XDMI analog will have at least two digital inputs (even if optional), and will be a meaningful upgrade vs. the current version.