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 wonder if anyone out there can help me. I have approached Taiko but they seem to be too busy, and with the weekend fast approaching, I'm becoming a little desperate. I replaced my analog card with the MSB module two days ago, and while the Olympus was open, I attempted to remove the music storage drive. I inadvertently removed the wrong drive and need to undo this error. when I went to prepare the Olympus for re-opening by placing the BMS's in shipping mode, my System BMS would respond, will not pair with my app. I am thus at the moment stuck unable to get the system BMS into shipping mode. I am assuming it would be deadly dangerous for me to enter the Olympus when not in shipping mode. Does anyone know a workaround for my dilemma?

Send me a PM with the best way to call you.

 

Probably the Optane drive belong to the System and need to be installed to reach the BMS.

Could be. I am wondering why soarsz feels the Olympus needs to be in shipping mode to put the optane back in.

 

The “simplification” is not a slur I don’t think, but the reason it performs so amazingly well.

Simplicity isn't always synonymous with the best, but something (perhaps my telecom engineering background) is telling me that this must be the case in the digital domain.

 

Probably the Optane drive belong to the System and need to be installed to reach the BMS.

 

I was told Optane drive has no effect on BMS app. And, no, I've been told neither its ok nor forbidden to replace the Optane drive without shipping mode, but I don't want to die by electrocution, so am assuming I should not be inside Olympus without disabling the power

 

as an interested bystander (without a dog in the fight) to this dialog about comparisons i find it interesting that there is no recent mention of any analog reference to use as a target, or just a milepost. the talk about dac-bias and tube-bias can be minimized with a performance reference that cuts through all that with some degree of objectivity. otherwise we get into so many differences, instead of actual performance improvements. how do we find the sustaining performance qualities we most desire? what are the best most effective tools? and physically it's much easier and more fun to do an A/B with a resident analog reference than all the gear changing it takes to compare these dac/interface options.

as a 2+ decade serial format comparer i made my analog references central to my view of my digital. not that there were not things digital did better than my analog, but only that it gave me some truth to measure by and got me past some of my biases. and particular analog references can work over many different systems effectively.

many here in this discussion don't have any handy high quality analog reference to use; but some do. and probably some are not interested in an analog reference. no worries.

just that no mention of it seemed curious. i will now return to quiet by standing.

@Mike Lavigne - FWIW, JR from WallyTools just analyzed my brand new Lyra Atlas cartridge and shipped it with a corrective brass shim and some extra setup tools I may need to dial it in as well as I can. Once I install it and give it some time to break in, I will bring some friends over and do some listening tests. The rest of my vinyl rig is a Kronos Pro turntable with every upgrade there is, including their power supply, and the Kronos Discovery RS tonearm, all going to the big Ypsilon step-up (silver) and an Ypsilon phono stage (also silver). It's not the best vinyl rig there is, but it's quite decent.

I also have a Studer reel-to-reel, and as good as that is, while the signal is going through the old Studer electronics, it is not a match to the Olympus in terms of noise floor, resolution, etc. I haven't invested in an outboard headstage, which would be a lot better, simply because of the high price and limited recordings on tapes (of the music I like).

The only issue with sharing such comparisons publicly is that the community is very polarized, and there are people who will attack you no matter what you say. And for me, because I am a dealer, that apparently makes me "not qualified" to share such comparisons. Little do they know how passionate and honest I am, and if I really like something better, I will say it and will also try to get it. But I have been called out by brand fanboys that I am aggressively targeting other products, and honestly, these comments bring my motivation to share any discoveries publicly really low. I prefer to share things in private groups, such as some WhatsApp groups and Slack channels I use to communicate with audiophiles friends.

Perhaps what I am going to do is gather people here to do the comparison and have them comment, instead of me (so they get the blame and attacks ). The problem is I don't have any local friends who are active on WBF. In any case, I am happy to organize "bring your own DAC" events and vinyl vs. digital listening sessions but need to carefully consider how and where I share my subjective opinion on the overall outcome. And at this point I am inclined not to post them on WBF.

BTW, @Mike Lavigne - I am guessing you have done the same with your analog vs. Wadax? Can you please point me to these, I will be very curious to read through that as you have a SOTA system. Maybe ping me in a private message, so we don't take the thread off topic.

 

I was told Optane drive has no effect on BMS app. And, no, I've been told neither its ok nor forbidden to replace the Optane drive without shipping mode, but I don't want to die by electrocution, so am assuming I should not be inside Olympus without disabling the power

Has the System BMS changed name in the app to something like Taiko BEXX? If so, the app will not connect to your iPad and you need the original code from Taiko to connect.

 

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

Thank you for sharing your findings, @tomas329 and for quickly following up on removing the DD.
We've heard the same things, but your evaluation expands on using the XDMI MSB Pro ISL module, which was very interesting to read about.

 

IMO Greg's @Tuckia post is spot on. If someone is doing work for me I expect service to be rendered in a timely professional manner. This isn't some new professional concept or a gripe over Taiko's Direction, Commitment, or Performance. If anything I believe most have been very retrained regarding delays. I just love the mention of V2 when many of us haven't seen nor heard V1...

I keep reflecting back to Emile’s comment from weeks ago saying that if all Olympus orders had been for Black ( and none in Silver) they would’ve have already shipped the entire queue of orders.

The problem is that silver anodization shows every little flaw and has consequently created an ongoing production snafu.

This may be easy for me to say as I slightly prefer the black to silver, but if the above mentioned silver production issue is still ongoing, I would urge Taiko to tell it’s customers “sorry but we can only offer in black.” To me this seems such an obvious move to make.

And the prospect of US tariffs would seem to make this an even more urgent issue.

Disclaimers: (All above comments and unsolicited advice are subject to correction from those with more authoritative information!)

 

It's not the best vinyl rig there is, but it's quite decent.

Don't forget your Victor/Victrola Vassil!

 

@Mike Lavigne - FWIW, JR from WallyTools just analyzed my brand new Lyra Atlas cartridge and shipped it with a corrective brass shim and some extra setup tools I may need to dial it in as well as I can. Once I install it and give it some time to break in, I will bring some friends over and do some listening tests. The rest of my vinyl rig is a Kronos Pro turntable with every upgrade there is, including their power supply, and the Kronos Discovery RS tonearm, all going to the big Ypsilon step-up (silver) and an Ypsilon phono stage (also silver). It's not the best vinyl rig there is, but it's quite decent.

I also have a Studer reel-to-reel, and as good as that is, while the signal is going through the old Studer electronics, it is not a match to the Olympus in terms of noise floor, resolution, etc. I haven't invested in an outboard headstage, which would be a lot better, simply because of the high price and limited recordings on tapes (of the music I like).

The only issue with sharing such comparisons publicly is that the community is very polarized, and there are people who will attack you no matter what you say. And for me, because I am a dealer, that apparently makes me "not qualified" to share such comparisons. Little do they know how passionate and honest I am, and if I really like something better, I will say it and will also try to get it. But I have been called out by brand fanboys that I am aggressively targeting other products, and honestly, these comments bring my motivation to share any discoveries publicly really low. I prefer to share things in private groups, such as some WhatsApp groups and Slack channels I use to communicate with audiophiles friends.

Perhaps what I am going to do is gather people here to do the comparison and have them comment, instead of me (so they get the blame and attacks ). The problem is I don't have any local friends who are active on WBF. In any case, I am happy to organize "bring your own DAC" events and vinyl vs. digital listening sessions but need to carefully consider how and where I share my subjective opinion on the overall outcome. And at this point I am inclined not to post them on WBF.

BTW, @Mike Lavigne - I am guessing you have done the same with your analog vs. Wadax? Can you please point me to these, I will be very curious to read through that as you have a SOTA system. Maybe ping me in a private message, so we don't take the thread off topic.

I've done the comparison in my system and like neon I would like to think I have a decent analogue rig. My comments are posted in this thread. To my ears the bar is so close for my ears that even though I feel analogue still rules the roost the mere fact that Taiko has done things with both the analogue as well as the digital card that listening to digital now with my Olympus/IO is so uniquely different and better than any digital I have ever heard that for the past few months I find I am listening to digital almost every day. There is just nothing that I can find fault with. There is no fatigue and the enjoyment just continues for me. This does not mean that I have given up on vinyl as such is not the case but once again the bar is so close that I find myself paying music from my library as well as streaming and find it almost impossible to tell from where the music is coming....streaming is just that much better . No matter what I play sounds terrific to my ears. Is it vinyl....no but it is so enjoyable that easily one could enjoy music on such a high level that. vinyl might never cross their minds.

Just my $0.02.....and with all this in mind Emile promises that it will even get better

 

I keep reflecting back to Emile’s comment from weeks ago saying that if all Olympus orders had been for Black ( and none in Silver) they would’ve have already shipped the entire queue of orders.

The problem is that silver anodization shows every little flaw and has consequently created an ongoing production snafu.

This may be easy for me to say as I slightly prefer the black to silver, but if the above mentioned silver production issue is still ongoing, I would urge Taiko to tell it’s customers “sorry but we can only offer in black.” To me this seems such an obvious move to make.

And the prospect of US tariffs would seem to make this an even more urgent issue.

Disclaimers: (All above comments and unsolicited advice are subject to correction from those with more authoritative information!)

I don't know if that is the case because I don't know what black orders have shipped in the past 3-4 weeks. The order shipment communication is sparse so it is hard to say I don't think the black servers are being shipped in large quantities (yes). Maybe Emile's comment related to a hypothetical situation of all initial orders being black.

 

I keep reflecting back to Emile’s comment from weeks ago saying that if all Olympus orders had been for Black ( and none in Silver) they would’ve have already shipped the entire queue of orders.

The problem is that silver anodization shows every little flaw and has consequently created an ongoing production snafu.

This may be easy for me to say as I slightly prefer the black to silver, but if the above mentioned silver production issue is still ongoing, I would urge Taiko to tell it’s customers “sorry but we can only offer in black.” To me this seems such an obvious move to make.

And the prospect of US tariffs would seem to make this an even more urgent issue.

Disclaimers: (All above comments and unsolicited advice are subject to correction from those with more authoritative information!)

At this juncture I'm not losing any sleep. It's just frustrating. Aesthetics play a role here too. I always liked silver components...

 

Has the System BMS changed name in the app to something like Taiko BEXX? If so, the app will not connect to your iPad and you need the original code from Taiko to connect.

this was the case and Ted gave me the PW. Fixed that problem. Now I have Roon opens but it won't play. I have it connected to my MSB Reference with five out from MSB Olympus connector to Pro ISL in the Digital Director. I can select albums but when I hit play it just does not start playing. the cursor remains static and there is no count down.

 

@Mike Lavigne - FWIW, JR from WallyTools just analyzed my brand new Lyra Atlas cartridge and shipped it with a corrective brass shim and some extra setup tools I may need to dial it in as well as I can. Once I install it and give it some time to break in, I will bring some friends over and do some listening tests. The rest of my vinyl rig is a Kronos Pro turntable with every upgrade there is, including their power supply, and the Kronos Discovery RS tonearm, all going to the big Ypsilon step-up (silver) and an Ypsilon phono stage (also silver). It's not the best vinyl rig there is, but it's quite decent.

I also have a Studer reel-to-reel, and as good as that is, while the signal is going through the old Studer electronics, it is not a match to the Olympus in terms of noise floor, resolution, etc. I haven't invested in an outboard headstage, which would be a lot better, simply because of the high price and limited recordings on tapes (of the music I like).

The only issue with sharing such comparisons publicly is that the community is very polarized, and there are people who will attack you no matter what you say. And for me, because I am a dealer, that apparently makes me "not qualified" to share such comparisons. Little do they know how passionate and honest I am, and if I really like something better, I will say it and will also try to get it. But I have been called out by brand fanboys that I am aggressively targeting other products, and honestly, these comments bring my motivation to share any discoveries publicly really low. I prefer to share things in private groups, such as some WhatsApp groups and Slack channels I use to communicate with audiophiles friends.

Perhaps what I am going to do is gather people here to do the comparison and have them comment, instead of me (so they get the blame and attacks ). The problem is I don't have any local friends who are active on WBF. In any case, I am happy to organize "bring your own DAC" events and vinyl vs. digital listening sessions but need to carefully consider how and where I share my subjective opinion on the overall outcome. And at this point I am inclined not to post them on WBF.

BTW, @Mike Lavigne - I am guessing you have done the same with your analog vs. Wadax? Can you please point me to these, I will be very curious to read through that as you have a SOTA system. Maybe ping me in a private message, so we don't take the thread off topic.

thank you for the response. i think it would be bad form for me to throw out links to my analog<->Wadax compares here. i respect the vibe of this thread direction and the enthusiasm of this group and don't want to distract it. i will PM you with more specifics. basically in my 1000+ post initial Wadax thread and the later Wadax PSU thread with Wadax upgrades i would refer to my analog from time to time as a reference or many would ask about that and i would respond.

having a reference is a fundamental part of system growth. for me anyway. being able to do an actual A/B to a source native recording is invaluable. even within digital to digital. you simply cannot beat the native format file. sometimes digging a little is required to find that native file/original pressing/master tape dub. we can ignore the consequence in favor of preference, but it does give us some truth. if your system has advanced to the point where you trust it, then it can help to keep sources honest and accountable.

cheers,

Mike

 

At this juncture I'm not losing any sleep. It's just frustrating. Aesthetics play a role here too. I always liked silver components...

Sure, I get it. But it’s not uncommon for audio components to be offered in a single finish (often black).

If tariffs come into play, is the chassis finish preference worth it? That would be quite negative whether the consumer must pay or whether Taiko has to eat it.

I just want to see everyone get their orders (including an IO for me) asap and for Taiko to not be drowning in production (and tariff cost) issues when they could be working on more innovations.

 

I don't know if that is the case because I don't know what black orders have shipped in the past 3-4 weeks. The order shipment communication is sparse so it is hard to say I don't think the black servers are being shipped in large quantities (yes). Maybe Emile's comment related to a hypothetical situation of all initial orders being black.

I believe all orders — silver and black— have been held up by the silver anodizing issues.

 

I believe all orders — silver and black— have been held up by the silver anodizing issues.

Again, I don’t know the specifics but they were supposed to get 35-40 black chassis before or right after the holidays and start working on them.

 

these comments bring my motivation to share any discoveries publicly really low.

There is a strong culture of "no good deed goes unpunished" when it comes to sharing experiences and subjective findings on forums in general, but especially here on this forum. As moderator of the long-running "novel" thread on AS, I should know.

I've adjusted my expectations and behavior accordingly.