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".

 

Happy New Year to everyone from me as well.
Below is some speculation from me, after reflecting on the difficult and challenging year for Taiko in 2024.

But that's just the beginning. When I was in the Netherlands and talked to people in the Taiko R&D, one thing was clear to me. What people are hearing from their Olympus right now is barely scratching the surface of what's possible with the Olympus and XDMI. There are so many major improvements to come for this platform and an abundance of ideas of new things to try. Emile and others at Taiko just need more time to focus on R&D.

Here is what I expect:
XDMI analog v1 is already a giant killer.
XDMI analog v2 will shake the market.
XDMI analog v3 will become the first sophisticated XDMI analog release with all the functions people need, such as volume control, additional inputs, etc.

I hope I am not way off with my assessment and speculation. Wishing a healthy and successful year to the Taiko team and everyone here.

@nenon

thanks for sharing your thoughts on Olympus evolution in the coming year.

when you were visiting, did anything you saw/heard give you any ideas on evolution strategies/plans for the Extreme? i'm sure many of us are excited about the advances of XDMI but not if the Extreme does not have a parallel path forward (although at a lower altitude) due to allocation of resources.

another thought: an identified evolution path for the extreme will be beneficial in re-selling all the Extremes that were traded in by Olympus buyers.

 

Happy New Year to everyone from me as well.
Below is some speculation from me, after reflecting on the difficult and challenging year for Taiko in 2024.

What products Taiko will release will be entirely driven by market demand and perception.

I see the XDMI analog on the Olympus as a product to test the market. It's already better than most high-end DACs out there, although it was designed to compete with DACs at the price range of an Aqua Formula DAC.

One of the intentions of the XDMI analog card was to get a better understanding of how easy or difficult it will be for new innovative technology to change what people have been taught about high-end audio over the years (typically from manufacturers that do very little to no innovation, distributors/dealers who get very healthy margins, and massive marketing campaigns).

We can already see massive resistance by a lot of people here. It does not have my favorite tube, so it can't match my current DAC. It does not have XX DAC chips (5000?) in parallel, so it can't be good. It's just a small board in a very noisy computer environment, and it can't be better than my DAC. It does not have the analog stage of my X or Y DAC, and it can't be that good. It does not have the fancy (5-digit priced) clock on my DAC, so it can't be taken seriously. The resistance from quite a few people here so far has been so big, that they refuse to pop in the XDMI analog card they have on hand and have a listen to it.

But as it always happens with innovative technology, there is always a massive pushback in the beginning, but the technology always wins in the end. Uber is a good example of a new technology that was difficult to accept. And look at Uber now... Not much in common with the Taiko Olympus XDMI of course other than both companies are "innovators" in their field.

A lot of pushback... and yet, almost everyone who dared to listen to the XDMI analog card has decided to stay with it and sell their previous favorite DAC. That includes a wide range of what were considered state-of-the-art DACs ranging from $50K to $150K and from quite a few really good manufacturers.

Some of these more open-minded, less dogmatic people, who trust their ears and nothing else, managed to sell their DAC, DAC power cord, and USB cable. They freed up a shelf or two or three on their rack, simplified their system, and have a better sound than ever. Some of them even kept a little cash in their pocket in the end.

Thanks to the acceptance and the feedback of these people, Emile got excited and motivated and is working on XDMI analog v2. That will not be something released to compete just with $10K-$20K DACs... And it won't be just a "different flavor". It will be an answer to the small but good XDMI analog acceptance and the natural next step this product evolves to.

But that's just the beginning. When I was in the Netherlands and talked to people in the Taiko R&D, one thing was clear to me. What people are hearing from their Olympus right now is barely scratching the surface of what's possible with the Olympus and XDMI. There are so many major improvements to come for this platform and an abundance of ideas of new things to try. Emile and others at Taiko just need more time to focus on R&D.

Here is what I expect:
XDMI analog v1 is already a giant killer.
XDMI analog v2 will shake the market.
XDMI analog v3 will become the first sophisticated XDMI analog release with all the functions people need, such as volume control, additional inputs, etc.

But these things take time. A lot of time. So, I am guessing XDMI v2 sometime in the second half of 2025 and XDMI v3 in (probably late) 2026?

Can Taiko jump on multichannel now? Makes no logical or business sense to me. Taiko will instead be focusing on other things, such as increasing the manufacturing output, reducing the lead time to days or weeks instead of many months, building some stock, etc. And of course, releasing updates and upgrades for the Olympus and Extreme.

I hope I am not way off with my assessment and speculation. Wishing a healthy and successful year to the Taiko team and everyone here.

Well, it is possible, but I am hoping that by the end of 2025 Taiko will release a XDMI analog with at least two digital inputs, even if optional. I need one for my Kaleidescape and one for my AppleTV X. For me, it could be an AES/EBU an a spdif/Coax.

I fully agree that video (in my case with a 133" screen) with top audio is sometimes better than just audio. It is complementary to just audio, and probably a more social activity.

 

Well, it is possible, but I am hoping that by the end of 2025 Taiko will release a XDMI analog with at least two digital inputs, even if optional. I need one for my Kaleidescape and one for my AppleTV X. For me, it could be an AES/EBU an a spdif/Coax.

I fully agree that video (in my case with a 133" screen) with top audio is sometimes better than just audio. It is a complementary to just audio, and probably a more social activity.

The fully developed analog DAC board may be larger in size than what the O's or even IO's expansion slot can accommodate. If so, I imagine a larger IO with a full-size analog board addressing different requirements, the volume control, the headphone output, the SPDIF/AES-EBU inputs, the special i2s inputs (my fond hope), and so on. @Taiko Audio said that it was not in the DAC business, but why not? Taiko is in the best position to produce a DAC that is fully optimized with its XDMI technology, potentially the best DAC, bar none, that is fully integrated with and benefits from its infrastructure or ecosystem.

 

The fully developed analog DAC board may be larger in size than what the O's or even IO's expansion slot can accommodate. If so, I imagine a larger IO with a full-size analog board addressing different requirements, the volume control, the headphone output, the SPDIF/AES-EBU inputs, the special i2s inputs (my fond hope), and so on. @Taiko Audio said that it was not in the DAC business, but why not? Taiko is in the best position to produce a DAC that is fully optimized with its XDMI technology, potentially the best DAC, bar none, that is fully integrated with and benefits from its infrastructure or ecosystem.

While this all sounds great, it may have limited market appeal which would make it difficult for anyone to develop this at a reasonable cost.

 

While this all sounds great, it may have limited market appeal which would make it difficult for anyone to develop this at a reasonable cost.

If a $40K-50K IO (hypothetically) with a killer DAC built in sounds better than a 60K, 140K DAC in Taiko's ecosystem (source being the most important critical factor), I could imagine another queue of 150. 2 boxes of O and IO that render an external DAC and a preamp redundant, that would have great appeal.

 

If a $40K-50K IO (hypothetically) with a killer DAC built in sounds better than a 60K, 140K DAC in Taiko's ecosystem (source being the most important critical factor), I could imagine another queue of 150.

My guess is that the current DAC and certainly v2 already fit that bill. I was referring more to the all the other extras you are seeking.

 

While this all sounds great, it may have limited market appeal which would make it difficult for anyone to develop this at a reasonable cost.

 

Happy New Year to everyone from me as well.
Below is some speculation from me, after reflecting on the difficult and challenging year for Taiko in 2024.

What products Taiko will release will be entirely driven by market demand and perception.

I see the XDMI analog on the Olympus as a product to test the market. It's already better than most high-end DACs out there, although it was designed to compete with DACs at the price range of an Aqua Formula DAC.

One of the intentions of the XDMI analog card was to get a better understanding of how easy or difficult it will be for new innovative technology to change what people have been taught about high-end audio over the years (typically from manufacturers that do very little to no innovation, distributors/dealers who get very healthy margins, and massive marketing campaigns).

We can already see massive resistance by a lot of people here. It does not have my favorite tube, so it can't match my current DAC. It does not have XX DAC chips (5000?) in parallel, so it can't be good. It's just a small board in a very noisy computer environment, and it can't be better than my DAC. It does not have the analog stage of my X or Y DAC, and it can't be that good. It does not have the fancy (5-digit priced) clock on my DAC, so it can't be taken seriously. The resistance from quite a few people here so far has been so big, that they refuse to pop in the XDMI analog card they have on hand and have a listen to it.

But as it always happens with innovative technology, there is always a massive pushback in the beginning, but the technology always wins in the end. Uber is a good example of a new technology that was difficult to accept. And look at Uber now... Not much in common with the Taiko Olympus XDMI of course other than both companies are "innovators" in their field.

A lot of pushback... and yet, almost everyone who dared to listen to the XDMI analog card has decided to stay with it and sell their previous favorite DAC. That includes a wide range of what were considered state-of-the-art DACs ranging from $50K to $150K and from quite a few really good manufacturers.

Some of these more open-minded, less dogmatic people, who trust their ears and nothing else, managed to sell their DAC, DAC power cord, and USB cable. They freed up a shelf or two or three on their rack, simplified their system, and have a better sound than ever. Some of them even kept a little cash in their pocket in the end.

Thanks to the acceptance and the feedback of these people, Emile got excited and motivated and is working on XDMI analog v2. That will not be something released to compete just with $10K-$20K DACs... And it won't be just a "different flavor". It will be an answer to the small but good XDMI analog acceptance and the natural next step this product evolves to.

But that's just the beginning. When I was in the Netherlands and talked to people in the Taiko R&D, one thing was clear to me. What people are hearing from their Olympus right now is barely scratching the surface of what's possible with the Olympus and XDMI. There are so many major improvements to come for this platform and an abundance of ideas of new things to try. Emile and others at Taiko just need more time to focus on R&D.

Here is what I expect:
XDMI analog v1 is already a giant killer.
XDMI analog v2 will shake the market.
XDMI analog v3 will become the first sophisticated XDMI analog release with all the functions people need, such as volume control, additional inputs, etc.

But these things take time. A lot of time. So, I am guessing XDMI v2 sometime in the second half of 2025 and XDMI v3 in (probably late) 2026?

Can Taiko jump on multichannel now? Makes no logical or business sense to me. Taiko will instead be focusing on other things, such as increasing the manufacturing output, reducing the lead time to days or weeks instead of many months, building some stock, etc. And of course, releasing updates and upgrades for the Olympus and Extreme.

I hope I am not way off with my assessment and speculation. Wishing a healthy and successful year to the Taiko team and everyone here.

"I Won't That"

 

when you were visiting, did anything you saw/heard give you any ideas on evolution strategies/plans for the Extreme?

There are definitely ideas and plans for Extreme upgrades, but I don't have any specifics.

 

Has anyone installed a u.3 internal disk in an Olympus on their own, other than the factory installed option? Is it possible to buy a 3rd party u.3 disk or must these be sourced from Taiko? Does the Olympus come with the cable that connects the SFP port to the industry standard RJ45 port? The more I learn about the Olympus, the more I see it as viable only if you adopt the entire Taiko ecosystem (much like owning a Mac requires adopting their proprietary ecosystem including hardware and software). I see the logic, of course, but the learning curve becomes much steeper for newbies (and potential delays in obtaining the parts needed to make it work). Given we are entering an unpredictable year where the new administration is planning on unspecified changes, it’s another cause for uncertainty. Thanks!

 

Is it possible to buy a 3rd party u.3 disk

Yes

or must these be sourced from Taiko

No need to source them from Taiko. They are standard.

Does the Olympus come with the cable that connects the SFP port to the industry standard RJ45 port?

Yes, an SFP module is included, so you can plug in a regular ethernet cable.

The more I learn about the Olympus, the more I see it as viable only if you adopt the entire Taiko ecosystem (much like owning a Mac requires adopting their proprietary ecosystem including hardware and software). I see the logic, of course, but the learning curve becomes much steeper for newbies (and potential delays in obtaining the parts needed to make it work).

I am curious to learn more about the thought process that led you to this comment.

Everything looks pretty standard to me:
- Network is a standard SFP port with an RJ45 transceiver included.
- For connectivity to another DAC you can use the USB output, AES/EBU, SPDIF, or the proprietary MSB ISL Pro, or the Lampizator XDMI digital outputs.
- Or you can use a standard analog output (RCA connectors) from the XDMI Analog card. XLR / balanced to be added in the near future.
- Software is Roon.
- Storage is standard u.3 or you can use any standard network-based storage. In my case, I have only a handful of albums that are not available on Qobuz/Tidal, and so I don't even bother with local files. But that is not the case for others.

 

Yes


No need to source them from Taiko. They are standard.


Yes, an SFP module is included, so you can plug in a regular ethernet cable.


I am curious to learn more about the thought process that led you to this comment.

Everything looks pretty standard to me:
- Network is a standard SFP port with an RJ45 transceiver included.
- For connectivity to another DAC you can use the USB output, AES/EBU, SPDIF, or the proprietary MSB ISL Pro, or the Lampizator XDMI digital outputs.
- Or you can use a standard analog output (RCA connectors) from the XDMI Analog card. XLR / balanced to be added in the near future.
- Software is Roon.
- Storage is standard u.3 or you can use any standard network-based storage. In my case, I have only a handful of albums that are not available on Qobuz/Tidal, and so I don't even bother with local files. But that is not the case for others.

Thanks a lot, @nenon, you’ve clarified some of my major concerns. It’s my sense from talking to Steve and others that the Olympus was designed to exploit the Taiko ecosystem, including their proprietary switch etc. As a prospective buyer, it would greatly help to know at the outset some of the potential gotchas. Since I just invested in a Netgear WiFi 7 system with their Orbi router and satellites, I’m trying to understand how the Taiko system is setup in terms of networking.

 

I use Orbi as my home network and as stated had my NAS plugged into my Orbi router in my downstairs guest room. I connect to the Orbi router with a cheap $5 ethernet cable. It worked flawlessly

 

Great to hear, thanks, Steve!

 

Thanks a lot, @nenon, you’ve clarified some of my major concerns. It’s my sense from talking to Steve and others that the Olympus was designed to exploit the Taiko ecosystem, including their proprietary switch etc. As a prospective buyer, it would greatly help to know at the outset some of the potential gotchas. Since I just invested in a Netgear WiFi 7 system with their Orbi router and satellites, I’m trying to understand how the Taiko system is setup in terms of networking.

Everything is plug and play and compatible with your existing network. From a functional standpoint all you really need is a network cable going to the Olympus. It connects to your home network and works great.

From a sound quality standpoint you may want to explore some of the Taiko network components at some point. There is a switch and a router. The two most common ways to connect them are described below.

Option #1 - use both, the Taiko router and the Taiko switch.
Taiko Olympus ---> Taiko switch --> Taiko router ---> your home network
The Taiko router has RJ45 ports to connect to your home network. The rest of the connections are Direct Attached Cables (those have been standard cables in enterprise network for 20 years).

Option #2 - use just the Taiko router.
Taiko Olympus ---> Taiko router ---> your home network
In this case you have a Direct Attached Cable between the Olympus and the Taiko router and a RJ45 cable from the Taiko router to your home network

The Taiko router creates a new WiFi called Taiko Audio and isolates the Olympus. Everything is s plug and play and no special knowledge is needed.

You will have a device to control Roon (a tablet, phone, laptop, etc.). That device can be on your home WiFi or on your Taiko Audio WiFI - whatever is more convenient for you; it will work by default from both networks.

Hope that helps.

 

This is incredibly helpful, thanks again, @nenon.

 

Happy New Year to everyone from me as well.
Below is some speculation from me, after reflecting on the difficult and challenging year for Taiko in 2024.

What products Taiko will release will be entirely driven by market demand and perception.

I see the XDMI analog on the Olympus as a product to test the market. It's already better than most high-end DACs out there, although it was designed to compete with DACs at the price range of an Aqua Formula DAC.

One of the intentions of the XDMI analog card was to get a better understanding of how easy or difficult it will be for new innovative technology to change what people have been taught about high-end audio over the years (typically from manufacturers that do very little to no innovation, distributors/dealers who get very healthy margins, and massive marketing campaigns).

We can already see massive resistance by a lot of people here. It does not have my favorite tube, so it can't match my current DAC. It does not have XX DAC chips (5000?) in parallel, so it can't be good. It's just a small board in a very noisy computer environment, and it can't be better than my DAC. It does not have the analog stage of my X or Y DAC, and it can't be that good. It does not have the fancy (5-digit priced) clock on my DAC, so it can't be taken seriously. The resistance from quite a few people here so far has been so big, that they refuse to pop in the XDMI analog card they have on hand and have a listen to it.

But as it always happens with innovative technology, there is always a massive pushback in the beginning, but the technology always wins in the end. Uber is a good example of a new technology that was difficult to accept. And look at Uber now... Not much in common with the Taiko Olympus XDMI of course other than both companies are "innovators" in their field.

A lot of pushback... and yet, almost everyone who dared to listen to the XDMI analog card has decided to stay with it and sell their previous favorite DAC. That includes a wide range of what were considered state-of-the-art DACs ranging from $50K to $150K and from quite a few really good manufacturers.

Some of these more open-minded, less dogmatic people, who trust their ears and nothing else, managed to sell their DAC, DAC power cord, and USB cable. They freed up a shelf or two or three on their rack, simplified their system, and have a better sound than ever. Some of them even kept a little cash in their pocket in the end.

Thanks to the acceptance and the feedback of these people, Emile got excited and motivated and is working on XDMI analog v2. That will not be something released to compete just with $10K-$20K DACs... And it won't be just a "different flavor". It will be an answer to the small but good XDMI analog acceptance and the natural next step this product evolves to.

But that's just the beginning. When I was in the Netherlands and talked to people in the Taiko R&D, one thing was clear to me. What people are hearing from their Olympus right now is barely scratching the surface of what's possible with the Olympus and XDMI. There are so many major improvements to come for this platform and an abundance of ideas of new things to try. Emile and others at Taiko just need more time to focus on R&D.

Here is what I expect:
XDMI analog v1 is already a giant killer.
XDMI analog v2 will shake the market.
XDMI analog v3 will become the first sophisticated XDMI analog release with all the functions people need, such as volume control, additional inputs, etc.

But these things take time. A lot of time. So, I am guessing XDMI v2 sometime in the second half of 2025 and XDMI v3 in (probably late) 2026?

Can Taiko jump on multichannel now? Makes no logical or business sense to me. Taiko will instead be focusing on other things, such as increasing the manufacturing output, reducing the lead time to days or weeks instead of many months, building some stock, etc. And of course, releasing updates and upgrades for the Olympus and Extreme.

I hope I am not way off with my assessment and speculation. Wishing a healthy and successful year to the Taiko team and everyone here.

Hi nenon,

“When I was in the Netherlands and talked to people in the Taiko R&D, one thing was clear to me. What people are hearing from their Olympus right now is barely scratching the surface of what's possible with the Olympus and XDMI.”

I’ve been a big Taiko fan since the early SGM days. It is incredibly exciting to hear that the train ride is going to get even more exciting!

 

I wish I was10 years younger! All of the forementioned future advancements are so very, very, exciting. Face it, we're audio Junkies! However, I want musical enjoyment to the best I can afford now. Right now! I try not to think too far down the road. No doubt the proverbial surface hasn't been scratched by Emile/Taiko. I hope some of these advancements come to fruition sooner than later. Everyone of us is pulling for Taiko. I get it, its fun to imagine future upgrades. But for now, I'll be very happy with the Olympus when it arrives and explore the two possibilities it will provide for me...

 

If one has not fully experienced Mozart's operas (as acted and produced in an opera house), one has not experienced the full glory of his music.

Reminds me of a line from a Mozart biography that "he [Mozart] was never so animated as when he was directing his operas." When in Prague last summer, I couldn't pull myself away from the site of the premiere of Don Giovanni, imagining the amazing history.

I love Mozart too.

 

You will have a device to control Roon (a tablet, phone, laptop, etc.). That device can be on your home WiFi or on your Taiko Audio WiFI - whatever is more convenient for you; it will work by default from both networks.

Early on I remember some questions on port forwarding when devices were on separate networks. Nice to see the defaults now handle all the connection scenarios.

For anyone: is it true there is a preference for connecting a NAS directly to the Taiko router?