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 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?

 

Nice to see the defaults now handle all the connection scenarios.

Nothing really changed.
Roon always worked from both networks with the default settings. Just plug and play, zero configuration.

Early on I remember some questions on port forwarding when devices were on separate networks.

A couple of people wanted to get XDMS and VNC to their Taiko Extreme work from their home network. None of that is relevant to the Olympus, though (as the Olympus does not run XDMS and access to the Operating system is locked down).

We have people with very different levels of technical skills on this forum. It's common for the people with more advanced technical skills to confuse the ones with very little technical skills. I am also guilty of that.

The bottom line is that with the Taiko Olympus, router, switch, etc. everything works with the default configs. It's all really plug and play and forget type of thing.

 

Nothing really changed.
Roon always worked from both networks with the default settings. Just plug and play, zero configuration.


A couple of people wanted to get XDMS and VNC to their Taiko Extreme work from their home network. None of that is relevant to the Olympus, though (as the Olympus does not run XDMS and access to the Operating system is locked down).

We have people with very different levels of technical skills on this forum. It's common for the people with more advanced technical skills to confuse the ones with very little technical skills. I am also guilty of that.

The bottom line is that with the Taiko Olympus, router, switch, etc. everything works with the default configs. It's all really plug and play and forget type of thing.

Very true. What I really like is that I can either be on my home network or Taiko Audio network and access Roon. If I am downstairs in my family room on my home network and want to create a playlist or add Albums etc, I don't have to be on Taiko network ( I can access Taiko from my kitchen and family room and back yard but occasionally I might drop the signal so I am always on Taiko in my sound room

 

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...

John, maybe we should take that high speed trip to the edge of the solar system now. When we get back a week from now, Taiko product will be plentiful, WI will have palm trees, and just as importantly, my savings account will be flush with interest.

 

John, maybe we should take that high speed trip to the edge of the solar system now. When we get back a week from now, Taiko product will be plentiful, WI will have palm trees, and just as importantly, my savings account will be flush with interest.

I'm game Greg, I still have some Cosmic Cowboy left! I think I see Shangri-La in the distance...

 

...hey! Can I tag along? You'll need comic relief, after all.

 

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.

always appreciate your posts as i’m sure we all do. it is noteworthy imho you did not mention comps to Horizon 360 via xdmi.

also you say “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.”

Really do not know what “massive” resistance that you are referring to? or “resistance has been so big that they refuse to pop in the XDMI analog card”’…. are you implying SteveW? others?

Many of us are just hoping for an honest comp between analog XDMI out versus Digital XDMI out to Horizon or MSB compatible XDMI. would never describe this as “massive resistance” or some refusal to believe.

you say “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.”

almost everyone? “dared”? Has anyone sold their Lampizator or MSB xdmi compatible dacs? have they said olympus analog out is superior to them? Please share as noone has posted that here. Have you done those comparisons?

 

Nothing really changed.
Roon always worked from both networks with the default settings. Just plug and play, zero configuration.


A couple of people wanted to get XDMS and VNC to their Taiko Extreme work from their home network. None of that is relevant to the Olympus, though (as the Olympus does not run XDMS and access to the Operating system is locked down).

We have people with very different levels of technical skills on this forum. It's common for the people with more advanced technical skills to confuse the ones with very little technical skills. I am also guilty of that.

The bottom line is that with the Taiko Olympus, router, switch, etc. everything works with the default configs. It's all really plug and play and forget type of thing.

Thanks Vassil, it was nice to have this summary for something I perhaps misunderstood, as networking is not an area of strength for me. You have a sharp, young mind for retention of technical detail And I have yet to even experiment with Windows 11, but seeing the warnings about W10 support going away this year, it won't be long.

 

...hey! Can I tag along? You'll need comic relief, after all.

Sure! I’ll have Elon warm up the Tardis.

 

Sure! I’ll have Elon warm up the Tardis.

We should take the electric school bus, A Ken Kesey reenactment...It would then truly be "The Electric Acid Kool-Aid Test"...

 

also you say “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.”

you say “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.”

Hope we don't engage in such inquiry or debate regarding insinuations, motives or justifications. Members should be able to freely express their opinions, as long as they are not directed to specific persons or expressed in bad faith. Nobody (including a manufacturer) owns the "truth". The so-called "data points" (implying objective facts) are mere personal views; what sounds good to you may not sound good to me. Let's leave it at that.

 

always appreciate your posts as i’m sure we all do. it is noteworthy imho you did not mention comps to Horizon 360 via xdmi.

also you say “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.”

Really do not know what “massive” resistance that you are referring to? or “resistance has been so big that they refuse to pop in the XDMI analog card”’…. are you implying SteveW? others?

Many of us are just hoping for an honest comp between analog XDMI out versus Digital XDMI out to Horizon or MSB compatible XDMI. would never describe this as “massive resistance” or some refusal to believe.

you say “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.”

almost everyone? “dared”? Has anyone sold their Lampizator or MSB xdmi compatible dacs? have they said olympus analog out is superior to them? Please share as noone has posted that here. Have you done those comparisons?

I wouldn’t take this as an affront or an insult because I think we all agree that at the end of the day, once again it comes down to one’s personal preference

I’m a tube guy. That’s my preference so for me the Taiko digital card to my ears using the KBL Supreme XDMI cable is the best digital my ears have ever heard “ in my system “

I know we will get a listen to the analogue card and it will indeed sound spectacular and perhaps o might be swayed but I’m loving what I hear now. I do know several here who as I stated are lurkers and have heard both and their nod is also the digital card but I cannot convince them to post.

 

I wish I had a 1/10th of Vassil's @nenon knowledge, its impressive to say the least. I don't want to speak for @ctydwn but I think he wanted a wider perspective...