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".

 

We have two Taiko Olympus servers at the T.H.E. Show SoCal 2025 in Costa Mesa, CA. Come say Hi if you are at the show.

Bristol III Room:
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Balboa Bay II Room with my friends @Ron Resnick and @gleeds
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In the second room (not the YG), any preamp here? Which one?

 

In the second room (not the YG), any preamp here? Which one?

It’s the Westminster Quest v2 preamp with bridged REI monoblocks…

 

...while we're waiting for The Californians to wake up, here's a little power cable anecdote re: Olympus.

Thursday, I finally got my new platform in place, and with help from "Jake" shuttled the server a couple of feet back to its new home.

I was hoping I could abandon the massive Shunyata Omega X kielbasa I have been using for Taiko servers since the Extreme. I have fat-cable fatigue after five years with all these fatties threaded everywhere.

I left the Fatty OX on the couch and swapped a very short vanilla pc for my Quest pre, and a nice TWL Obsession for the Olympus.

It sounded pretty good. But not superbly good, per usual. I left it overnight and all day Friday, listening in from time to time. Still missing that little bit of extra "smells like teen spirit" funk.

So, fatty is off the couch (not me, the other fatty) and I'm back to feeding the Olympus from the firehose. The Obsession is back on the Quest and harmony has been restored. Sound is fabulous.

Bonus: part of the hifi beautification project moving the Olympus made room for my Luxman SACD spinner.

Another tasty way to extract digital goodness here in the bothy.

SoCal: please report in when you get fully caffeinated!

 

In my quick run through yesterday ( I will return today as well) I thought the best I heard was Vassil's set up on the big YG speakers with the matching bass towers. My second favorite was Evolution Acoustics in a larger room this year and I had to ask Kevin if it was the same speaker as last year (which they were) as I thought the sound was terrific.

 

as another very interesting room I also thought Eddie Sudz from the Audio Association was playing a speaker our of France which I have never heard before , DIPTYQUE, which was a panel speaker. The sound was extremely good and definitely worth a visit to the room. Besides , Eddy is a wonderful host

 

as another very interesting room I also thought Eddy Sudz from the Audio Association was playing a speaker our of France which I have never heard before , DIPTYQUE, which was a panel speaker. The sound was extremely good and definitely worth a visit to the room. Besides , Eddy is a wonderful host

Thanks Steve! We're in Bristol 1 with Diptyque, Balboa 1 with Evolution Acoustics and Soulution and 269 with Grimm Audio and the LS1c Integrated Speaker System. Come by and say "hi!"

 

Just got back from Day 1 of THE Show and one of the highlights of the day was to meet Vassil. Not only is he a great guy and a wonderful representative for the brand we all lobve but I have to say of all the rooms I heard today Vassil's was number 1 . He was showing with the big YG Acoustics and the matching bass towers. Music coming out was superb and good to see it was being fed by an Olympus/IO , Taiko router, switch and DCD

It was great to finally meet you in person, Steve. Glad you liked the room!


In addition to the 2 Olympus servers mentioned in my previous post, we also have Taiko Extreme servers in 4 other rooms. You can see some of them here:

Taiko Audio At T.H.E. Show SoCal 2025 – M & S | Ultimate High-Fidelity

www.monoandstereo.com

 

 

…my brand new, uncrated, Black Olympus + Olympus I/O + HDMI + the preferred Analog outputs is now up for sale in the classified section…tremendous savings over the new pricing.

VBW,
ALF

 

After way too much car drama, enjoying Costa Mesa today. So far, YG + O big system is definitely the room to be in. @Ron Resnick ’s room delightful as well. Very low key today, easy to enjoy the music and conversation

 

Extremes everywhere…well done Vassil!

 

Ok we have a new best room of the weekend! Many thanks to Steve and his lovely wife hosting us for some delightful music and conversation this evening!

Had crazy high expectations for the Zellaton Plurals and they exceeded them. Can’t wait to hear the big Zells when they arrive!

 

It was a fun evening. Some great music for sure. I’ll have some thoughts tomorrow that I’m going to post in my Zellaton thread

The End Of A 35 Year Journey ---Zellaton -The Reference Ultra Final Frontier

It was a long time ago in a Galaxy far away when my audiophile journey began. Ive been in this hobby now for probably more years than the age of most readers of this thread. Over the years I have owned many, many different speakers but about 35 years ago I developed a fixation for Wilson Audio...

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