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".

 

It would be nice for him to answer for himself,

...do you mean in addition to the five times its already been answered? And net-net: you email Emile for the pricing specific to your example. Asked and answered. No cheerleading involved. Good Luck!

 

...do you mean in addition to the five times its already been answered? And net-net: you email Emile for the pricing specific to your example. Asked and answered. No cheerleading involved. Good Luck!

Totally understand but how many companies give a ( what you paid) buyback to move up in the line. The other option as I see it is to do a FSBO ( for sale by owner).

lastly also remember that we are talking returning a used not a NIB item. Not everybody’s I bet will show the same wear so I get what you’re saying and I’m not trying to answer for Emile but rather give you my thoughts to what I consider very appropriate questions by you

Having said that I believe if you go back in the posts here you’ll find reason to what Emile said

Let’s keep the peace. It’s all good

 

It would be nice for him to answer for himself, rather than a cheerleader. I paid €28k so this isn’t about me, and yes the €5k offer is a sweet deal, but perhaps let the owner speak to this. No?

Post #235 Emile answers this

 

I think they should give the current market price of €28,000 as a trade since with inflation both the new and used costs have gone up. This should carry over with the trade in my opinion. It would also make things easier for creating a standard price rather than many different price quotes on trade ins. Make it a standard €28k and call it a day. Just my 2¢ @Taiko Audio

Unfortunately the math doesn’t work on that.

 

It seems to me that if you thought a masterclock was necessary for optimum sound, you would have included a connector on the daughterboard from the outset. Can you kindly expand your thoughts on this? Other digital systems use optional and often very expensive (25K) masterclocks which they claim are required for peak performance. Yet it seems that you consider this a "perhaps nice to have" but not a "must have" for top level sound. Is this more of an incremental value proposition for Taiko that is just not necessary or desirable for the XDMI architecture, or something else that you can share?

It’s of no benefit to XDMI.

It can be part of an interface designed around the DAC providing the masterclock which XDMI can accommodate for backwards compatibility.

 

It would be nice to be able to use two DAC’s with the Olympus. Is that going to be possible for those of us who have had to swap USB cables for the DAC in use with the Extreme.

You can use both USB and XDMI to connect 2 DACs.

 

A solution would be for me to be one of those "long time" reviewers. But alas, this is as feasible as winning the multi-million dollar lottery.

I do, however, love living vicariously through all of the posts about this product. It really sounds like new barriers have been broken and I can only imagine the sweet sounds those of you who have experienced this are experiencing. If I play my cards right, perhaps one day. Until then? I am loving the empirical evidence. It is simply undeniable.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, gentlemen. Please keep up the great posts!

Tom

 

Merry Christmas Everyone!

 

We currently have 2 daughterboards available.

1) a daughterboard containing a DAC and an analogue output stage with stereo RCA out.

2) a daughterboard with XLR AES out and RCA SPDIF out.

None of these 2 boards are designed to accept an external masterclock nor do they provide masterclock.

If there’s (enough of) a demand for it we can design a daughterboard with this functionality though as the baseboard architecture allows these features.

Emile,

Just wanted to make sure that I’m understanding correctly that the Olympus+Olympus I/O option will be shipped with two daughter boards - one with an analog RCA stereo output, and the other with AES and SPDIF digital outs. Correct?

 

Emile,

Just wanted to make sure that I’m understanding correctly that the Olympus+Olympus I/O option will be shipped with two daughter boards - one with an analog RCA stereo output, and the other with AES and SPDIF digital outs. Correct?

If you replace “Olympus + Olympus I/O” in that sentence with “XDMI” then yes.

XDMI ships with 2 daughterboards, one with an analog RCA stereo output, and the other with AES and SPDIF digital outs.

Olympus and Olympus I/O can both be ordered without XDMI.

You ordered Olympus, Olympus I/O and XDMI, so yes you will receive both those daughterboards

 

If you replace “Olympus + Olympus I/O” in that sentence with “XDMI” then yes.

XDMI ships with 2 daughterboards, one with an analog RCA stereo output, and the other with AES and SPDIF digital outs.

Olympus and Olympus I/O can both be ordered without XDMI.

You ordered Olympus, Olympus I/O and XDMI, so yes you will receive both those daughterboards

Great. Thank you for the clarification Emile!

Best holiday wishes to the Taiko Team!

 

Merry Christmas!

 

It does not have volume control. We are however interested in adding one in the future, mainly as part of providing a direct headphone output module.

Emile, this is exciting for headphones users. When you get to the planning phase, would you consider putting a more powerful headphone amp in the Olympus I/O box, maybe even something balanced?

 

Emile, this is exciting for headphones users. When you get to the planning phase, would you consider putting a more powerful headphone amp in the Olympus I/O box, maybe even something balanced?

Yes we can do that.

 

Yes we can do that.

I enjoy Stax headphones. Will Olympus be compatible with them too? Thanks

 

I enjoy Stax headphones. Will Olympus be compatible with them too? Thanks

Electrostratic headphone output sure, why not! Bleeding edge digital Swiss Army Knife.

 

Electrostratic headphone output sure, why not! Bleeding edge digital Swiss Army Knife.

hey, if i can sell my T2 electrostatic amp and my DAC, i might be able to afford the Olympus!

 

Our grand cat is visiting and still loves our Extreme. TBD how he reacts to the Olympus and all the BPS's (I will have them side by side, so we'll be able to a proper A/B when my Olympus arrives!)

Merry Christmas everyone!

 

Well the new drives can run off battery power so yes that does perform better. You do tend to pay around 100 euro per each TB of new drive capacity so that is a consideration. It sounds great with the old drives too, it’s not critical to performance.

Can the new storage modules be used together with the old modules migrated from the Extreme? For instance, if an Extreme owner with 8TB of storage in his Extreme wished to transfer those drives to his new Olympus and also purchase an additional, say, 8TB of storage space, would you recommend the new generation drives for the expanded storage? Or would that create compatibility issues?

 

Yes we can do that.

Nice. Had asked a few days ago about the potential of xlr out from Olympus to mono balanced amps in the future/or current.

understood only rca currently available. Is xlr possible or is this a different animal vs post above re the positive that balanced out for olympus headphone amp?