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".

 

Exactly what I hear in my system/room.
In my opinion, the credits are essentially due to the direct connection into the XDMI board. Less cables, less gear, the beauty of simplicity. I wonder how it can evolve with an even better chip DAC, XLR outputs and volume control all inside the Taiko Olympus.
Maybe in a near future…

I understand the sentiment but I'm not at all certain where you will find a better chip DAC. There are currently only AKG, ESS and Rohm in general usage and availability. Many others have been absorbed by other manufacturers (Cirrus Logic taking over Wolfson, Texas Instruments taking over Burr-Brown, etc).

It is of course possible to parallel more than one chip for some gains in performance but at the cost of increased complexity and perhaps more importantly, increased current consumption, hence noise. And FPGA chips such as the Xilinx family have much greater current requirements in operation than any chip DAC I am aware of.

Emile was of the opinion that the DAC chip itself only contributes a minor portion of ultimate sound quality compared to other design considerations. Granted, we are audiophiles and so we are by definition obsessed by every possible incremental gain in SQ but it may be very expensive to realize any meaningful gains by pursuing other chipsets or multiple paralleled chips. I recall that Emile stated he was concerned about increasing the current damand from simply doubling the analog output stage to provide balanced output in the first generation of XDMI analog.

I'm sure there are some inventive ideas in the pipeline from Taiko. We might have to wait for awhile to find out what they are.

Steve Z

 

...no doubt, the Taiko analog output sounds excellent here, but not ready to sell the farm just yet! I would like to hear the MSB solution, which is en route. I'm not from Missouri (the Show Me state), but I gotta hear that little piggie at my place. Maybe NY is the "Hear Me" state? Not sure we're gettin any traction with that on a license plate.

 

I understand the sentiment but I'm not at all certain where you will find a better chip DAC. There are currently only AKG, ESS and Rohm in general usage and availability. Many others have been absorbed by other manufacturers (Cirrus Logic taking over Wolfson, Texas Instruments taking over Burr-Brown, etc).

It is of course possible to parallel more than one chip for some gains in performance but at the cost of increased complexity and perhaps more importantly, increased current consumption, hence noise. And FPGA chips such as the Xilinx family have much greater current requirements in operation than any chip DAC I am aware of.

Emile was of the opinion that the DAC chip itself only contributes a minor portion of ultimate sound quality compared to other design considerations. Granted, we are audiophiles and so we are by definition obsessed by every possible incremental gain in SQ but it may be very expensive to realize any meaningful gains by pursuing other chipsets or multiple paralleled chips. I recall that Emile stated he was concerned about increasing the current damand from simply doubling the analog output stage to provide balanced output in the first generation of XDMI analog.

I'm sure there are some inventive ideas in the pipeline from Taiko. We might have to wait for awhile to find out what they are.

Steve Z

Steve you are so well versed in this technical area. From my very amateur wheelhouse/perspective I would think doubling the analog output stage to provide balanced is no easy application. Would the I/0 be beneficial/easier to incorporate a balanced output stage? What I am asking is: By having the I/0 would this perhaps make implementing Balanced easier...

 

Personal preference will always trump all else.

Exactly what I hear in my system/room.
In my opinion, the credits are essentially due to the direct connection into the XDMI board. Less cables, less gear, the beauty of simplicity. I wonder how it can evolve with an even better chip DAC, XLR outputs and volume control all inside the Taiko Olympus.
Maybe in a near future…

I believe that there is truth to both these statements. I have said previously (in jest of course) as my system is 100% tube that if there is only a way to add a tube to the analogue board that would be the true giant slayer.

I would have to think the analogue board will definitely evolve with volume control, XLR and/or SE outputs and as od mustang says there are only a handful of chipmakers BUT every year these chip makers bring to market better chips than their previous versions.That is how Lampi has evolved. Also these chips according to Lukasz contain so many untapped functions that can be employed . Only Emile has the key to all of this in his brain which Im betting will be tapped into . Im even more anxious now to hear the analogue board in my system .......if I only weren't 100% tubes.....so yes, personal preference will trump all else. There is no one right answer. It's what floats one's auditory nerve. Yet to have a one step solution where a DAC and a preamp becomes unnecessary, and who knows an integrated which also has an amp would be a solution difficult to resist

 

We are riding the coat tails of the bleeding edge of hifi technology.
Imo, our preferences and paradigms will be tested.

 

Steve you are so well versed in this technical area. From my very amateur wheelhouse/perspective I would think doubling the analog output stage to provide balanced is no easy application. Would the I/0 be beneficial/easier to incorporate a balanced output stage? What I am asking is: By having the I/0 would this perhaps make implementing Balanced easier...

Thank you for the kind words, John but you give me too much credit. From a theoretical standpoint it seems to me that there would be advantages and perhaps a few disadvantages to having a more feature-laden XDMI analog section in the I/O rather than the Olympus. More real estate to work with in the I/O for heat sinks/heat removal, and able to perhaps accommodate a larger XDMI analog board being two that come to mind.

But current demand is current demand and with it comes more noise to be dealt with. That occurs regardless of where the XDMI analog board is physically located. One of the main reasons for I/O is to remove some of the pieces of the Olympus system from the noisier environment near the computer motherboard.

Also, going to a larger XDMI analog board means increased development costs meaning higher prices for customers, though if it is only the daughter card that grows and the exisiting XDMI PCIe card can continue to be used, that would contain some of the costs.

I've no doubt Emile and his team are working on these issues as we post these speculations. It remains to be seen if it is feasible to bring v2 in at a price enough people will be willing to pay to cover the development costs, production expense, get people paid and keep the lights on in the factory.

Steve Z

 

I would be shocked if there wasn’t another iteration of the analog board. Emile doesn’t sit still!

 

It is of course possible to parallel more than one chip for some gains in performance but at the cost of increased complexity and perhaps more importantly, increased current consumption, hence noise.

The solo cable manufacturer from whom I purchased all my ultra-thin (200 microinch for ICs, 500 microinch for speaker cables) daisy-chained 36 (!) classic Philips 1543 chips in his DIY DAC/server combo and reported VAST and HUGE improvements in SQ (which I have not heard, but I trust his experience and report; I mostly share his views and experience and he has exceptionally sharp ears). Enhanced linearity and lower noise from such daisy-chaining. Another guy, the guy who gave me proprietary i2s connection (from a modded DVD transport) reported the same improvements with the same Philips chip; he currently daisy-chained 8 chips, resulting also in a huge improvement in his view. They experimented by adding chips 1 by 1, 2 sounding better than 1, 3 than 2 and so on, the first guy currently to 36 (a huge time-consuming project for him over months). His DAC (as well as his entire audio system) is all battery-powered and no SQ degradation from extra power consumption for such daisy-chaining. That classic vintage Philips DAC chip can only handle PCM up to 24/192, a plus for him because DSD is intrinsically inferior to PCM in his view, which I share based on my own experience. I hope @Taiko Audio could experiment by daisy-chaining at least 2 DAC chips - using my coming Olympus as a guinea pig.

 

I posted this AI generated “natural” podcast about the Taiko Olympus, which is based on a meta analysis of curated data… feel free to leave your feedback. I hope you’ll find it surprising, entertaining and informative.

 

This is hilarious to listen to