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 now sent 2 additional requests with no ticket response. One, last PM, another after you requested it , this AM (roughly 10 min. ago).

I just re-resubmitted my request and received note ticket is 2616

 

I have now sent 2 additional requests with no ticket response. One, last PM, another after you requested it , this AM (roughly 10 min. ago).

Indeed, now, I see three new tickets from you in the system: 2614, 2616, and 2617. We will respond via the ticket system.

 

Indeed, now, I see three new tickets from you in the system: 2614, 2616, and 2617. We will respond via the ticket system.

the last two did show up in my email

 

the last two did show up in my email

Ok, maybe there was a temporary congestion. Glad that it is working now. I hope you also received my response, 25 minutes ago?

 

Ok, maybe there was a temporary congestion. Glad that it is working now. I hope you also received my response, 25 minutes ago?

email response received and answered

 

email response received and answered

We do not yet see your reply in the ticket system. Maybe the congestion is ongoing and causing a big delay. I will also look into that. In any case, please know that we are on the case.

Edit: we checked the ticket system and all is running normally. Do please note the ticket system is not real-time. A delay of 5-10 minutes is normal. In any case, this conversation now appears to work normally in our system.

 

We do not yet see your reply in the ticket system. Maybe the congestion is ongoing and causing a big delay. I will also look into that. In any case, please know that we are on the case.

Hi Christiaan. I also requested support last Friday, January 3, 2025 at 05:03:21 PM EST but no ticket assigned and/or response.

 

Hi Christiaan. I also requested support last Friday, January 3, 2025 at 05:03:21 PM EST but no ticket assigned and/or response.

If you do not get an automated response with a ticket number, we have not received your request. Can you please check your spamfolder just to be sure? If you let me know the name used for the email and/or the subject of the support request, I will double-check.

 

Hi all,

I'd like to start by stating i use headphones exclusively as i'm in an apartment with 2 kids under 3 so everything needs to be quiet. I have an MSB select 2 with a digital director connected to raal 1995 immanis headphones through a mass kobo 465. To connect the msb xdmi i have transparent opus xlr cables and for connecting the rca to my mass kobo i am using cardas audio clear sky interconnects (so $20k compared to $800).

Some test songs: (thanks to some members here) fleetwood mac - dreams, johnny cash - hurt, dave matthews band - crash into me, jacob gurevitsch - for your love, bozzio levin stevens - duende, mariah carey - hero, tiesto - boom, rachel podger - vivaldi l'estro armonico, herbert blomstedt - brahms 3&4.

I have been trying to take my time with reviewing the msb xdmi module compared to the taiko analog. Since the card swaps take a minimum of 3 minutes per swap its not always as easy or ideal as I would have liked but here goes:

When i first received my olympus it was relatively easy and quick to compare my msb pro isl to the taiko analog xdmi with a simple cable swap so the differences were very apparent immediately. The taiko card was much smoother sounding than the msb. it was easier to listen to but at the same time had stronger bass than the msb usb. It was easier to notice more details within songs. I couldn't shake the idea though that i was losing something from the msb and initially i wasn't sure i liked the taiko solution. After maybe 15 minutes of comparative listening it became clear the analog board was a hands down winner for me and i chalked up the "missing" portion to being familiarity with my msb dac.

Fast forward to receiving the msb xdmi board and giving it over 100 hours to burn in and the answer is less obvious but i think its still the same. Taking so long to do a card swap makes comparative listening a lot less ideal so i was hesitant about even posting but after swapping and comparing for the last 4+ hours its become clear that it boils down more to preference now. I still find pretty much everything better on the taiko xdmi but i was finally able to figure out what went missing, the msb does better instrument separation and a better job at filling the headphones making a classical performance like brahms symphony 3 feel more grandiose. I felt like i was in the concert hall vs with the analog it felt more intimate than it probably should have been. This might express itself even more in a 2 ch speaker setup. I'm not fluent in audiophile so i'm not sure how better to express what i'm hearing other than its clear that female vocals, violins etc sound "sweeter" and the bass just rumbles more. Its just a more pleasant sound than the msb. My favorite song for the bass was boom by tiesto. just makes my head thump in a good way.

Out of curiosity, and since the swap took so long, i wanted to have some confidence in what i was hearing so i decided to try the msb xdmi vs the msb usb. This is why i've come to the conclusion that its down to preference. The msb xdmi card makes everything better with the same sonic profile as their usb. Its cleaner sounding more detailed and better bass. I wouldn't say its a night and day difference like comparing the msb usb to taiko analog was when i originally did it but everything was just better. If you have an msb dac and an olympus but haven't had a chance to swap the card yet i think you can get a very good feel of what difference you're likely to get just doing msb usb to taiko xdmi.

I'd like to finish this by saying i'm generally a skeptical person and i didn't think there was any way in hell that a cheap off the rack dac chip would be able to compare to my $100k+ system. I also didn't want it to be anywhere close as i only recently bought this system and didn't want to have buyers remorse. I do think on the whole the taiko is just better for 90% of the things i want it to do. I had plans to go up the upgrade path with MSB to their new dac but that's very likely not happening. I don't know if i'll be selling the select 2 and digital director yet as i can see it possibly having some application in a speaker system in a dedicated audio room (which i'm hoping for in the next year to be built out) but i'm definitely leaning towards clearing up space on my rack. I'd also like to add i'm not a vendor or associated with any of the parties mentioned above. i'm just a guy with some buyers remorse. MSB has been great over the last couple years but i think taiko has made me a believer and its definitely the future for now.

Take it fwiw and have a good day

 

...Tomas, if your MSB workflow is still set up, might you perhaps try input from the daughter board directly to the dac, by-passing the Digital Director?

There is a "theory" some of us are discussing with regards to the impact of the DD on the XDMI workflow.

I will be doing this myself at some point, but have switched back to the analog card for a bit. Cheers...

ps: are you using DAC cables in your workflow? Specifically, 2m cable from Olympus to MSB?

 

will do

...Tomas, if your MSB workflow is still set up, might you perhaps try input from the daughter board directly to the dac, by-passing the Digital Director?

There is a "theory" some of us are discussing with regards to the impact of the DD on the XDMI workflow.

I will be doing this myself at some point, but have switched back to the analog card for a bit. Cheers...

ps: are you using DAC cables in your workflow? Specifically, 2m cable from Olympus to MSB?

will do

 

will do

will do

I was not aware of any DAC cable for connection from Olympus to MSB. I thought that was done with the fiber cable directly into the Pro ISL module.

 

...Tomas, if your MSB workflow is still set up, might you perhaps try input from the daughter board directly to the dac, by-passing the Digital Director?

There is a "theory" some of us are discussing with regards to the impact of the DD on the XDMI workflow.

I will be doing this myself at some point, but have switched back to the analog card for a bit. Cheers...

ps: are you using DAC cables in your workflow? Specifically, 2m cable from Olympus to MSB

...Tomas, if your MSB workflow is still set up, might you perhaps try input from the daughter board directly to the dac, by-passing the Digital Director?

There is a "theory" some of us are discussing with regards to the impact of the DD on the XDMI workflow.

I will be doing this myself at some point, but have switched back to the analog card for a bit. Cheers...

ps: are you using DAC cables in your workflow? Specifically, 2m cable from Olympus to MSB?

Sorry i missed the DAC cable question. I am not. i have the full taiko suite of router switch and distributor. I'm also using a stromtank for my msb power as i live in NYC and the electric here was worse by far.

 

I was not aware of any DAC cable for connection from Olympus to MSB. I thought that was done with the fiber cable directly into the Pro ISL module.

You should be able to interchange fibre and DAC cables with the SFP 'sockets', with the DAC having the advantage of lower power consumption / noise vs the optical <> electrical conversions of fibre.

 

...Pro ISL module goes away. That converts USB to ISL input. Output from Olympus (unless you want it to be USB which is ok) is direct into MSB device. I am suggesting testing SQ directly into Dac machine *instead* of into Digital Director. The connection from server to dd or dac is fiber (or sub DAC). We need new acronyms for this stuff!

 

So going director to no director is definitely an easier switch and at first i thought maybe it was a placebo effect and i wasn't sure i was hearing what i thought i was but after more listening i think your theory could be correct in that the director is altering the "sweetness" of the presentation. i do think that this is kind of a middle ground between where i was with the taiko analog and the msb with the director. the change is there but its still more subtle than going msb to taiko analog.

I had since been swapping the analog and xdmi to compare without the director and i think its definitely closer now and if i had to choose an msb implementation i would remove the director (so thats up for sale asap haha) but with the time it takes to swap cards its still not as ideal as a cable swap. That said i'm failry certain that the taiko is still better for most of the time for my listening. What i do know is that every time i listen to l'estro armonico by rachel podger the 7th song down (violin concert g major rv 310 3/3 allegro) around 34 seconds it gets very "screechy" and while they both do a good job the taiko is just better at sounding smoother and more bearable.

 

...Pro ISL module goes away. That converts USB to ISL input. Output from Olympus (unless you want it to be USB which is ok) is direct into MSB device. I am suggesting testing SQ directly into Dac machine *instead* of into Digital Director. The connection from server to dd or dac is fiber (or sub DAC). We need new acronyms for this stuff!

In my MSB, I have a Pro ISL module and connected to it is fiber cable which went to a Pro USB module, and when I was using USB, I connected the USB to that Pro USB module which in turn was connected to the Pro ISL module which I present have installed in my DD. Maybe I am getting something confused here? See pic below. I removed this and connected with the fiber cable coming from the Pro ISL. Is this wrong?

 

...my USB to ISL converter is a small external box. USB goes in one side, and fiber comes out the other side of that box, run over to and terminating at my DD. Perhaps I have an older/different workflow?

My understanding for the external box is: remove USB cable (of course) and replace with output from Olympus. If XDMI / MSB version, OEM fiber or DAC, if desired.

I suggested that fiber input go, instead, into the MSB dac, and NOT the DD, which would be the expected workflow, in my mind. Happy to learn, if others have better knowledge on the matter.

 

...and a Cascade owner friend told me the Cascade must have the DD as part of its ecosystem, so the stand-alone DD may be for legacy workflows.

 

Please stop using DAC (Direct Attach Copper) cables with MSB equipment. There are multiple problems with DAC cables in MSB gear.

First the electrical drivers and receivers to do not have the equalization necessary to drive copper cables directly. It may work but there is a high probability of excess jitter and data corruption. We have incredible error correction but you do not want to rely on it.

Second the DAC cables connect the grounds of the equipment together which will severely affect the ability of the DAC to reject noise coming from the server or source.

Third the signal are routed directly from the cable, if there is any charge on the cable that charge will be dumped directly to the driver and receiver circuitry destroying them.

Fourth optical SFP transmitters and receivers use power but driven with our optimized signaling do not generate significant noise but asking the transmitter to drive a copper cable does generate excess noise.

Fifth near end crosstalk is negligible for optical cables but is excessive for copper cables. This is important for us because of the low jitter clock feedback. Optical SFP modules have negligible crosstalk between the data and clock channels.

I could go on with more problems but these are the important points.

If you want to try other cables, both multimode transmitters and receivers are viable if you exchange them in pairs. Or alternatively SFP+ (10G only) Active optical cables (AOC) are fine to use as well. I like some AOC cables in our test systems. Most of the compatible ones are orange. The 25G cables which tend to be blue have substandard performance in every case I have tested.