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".

 

XDMI direct to Lampizator Poseidon making beautiful music in our listening room right now!

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I have to say I was hoping MSB would be first......

 

I am chiming in since so much interesting developments happened just this week.
We have been monitoring the development of Taiko new protocol because obviously we never wanted to stay behind. Basically my developments followed on weekly basis every hint of where Emile is going with his plan. Finally during my most recent visit to Taiko factory 4 weeks ago we decided the final solution and in about 2 weeks we built in Warsaw the working prototype, that sounded great to my ears and I decided to give the whole project a green light. We took then one new Poseidon off the manufacturing process and rebuilt it with the Taiko connection implemented inside.
The TAIKO link does not require any Taiko hardware inside our DAC - the thought is enough, not the hardware. We made our part of the equation ourselves and the way we like doing things.
Also it doesn't require any battery power - all this is on Taiko Olympus side. we do our part.
We decided to allow this development to be done only for two top DACs - Horizon and Poseidon.
They both will get a retro-fit package allowing us to offer the solution to all existing users of Poseidon and Horizon.
All new orders introduced in our system from February 01 will have it already built in every Horizon (and Poseidons per request)
There will be no price-list increase from our side because the Taiko link is not very difficult when built from scratch and it is VERY difficult to add afterwards. The margin on the DAC allows me to hide the cost of build, especially that we have to sacrifice one existing input and make some savings.
The retro-fit job will cost - in our preliminary calculations - circa 10% of the DAC price.
The Taiko link has one EXTREMELY important feature - the cable. It's role is critical to maintaining low jitter, low losses and low distortions. The absolute magic of the Olympus lies in these factors and we want to show the Olympus sound in all its glory. We contracted one high end cable manufacturer to build for our clients such cable in the highest humanly possible quality and also we will make the second cable in house with very high quality but more "human price". The choice is ultimately yours. We will provide the cable as part of the retrofit price package, the new builds will have the cable as an option and the high end third party cable will be a third party business.
No existing cables will work in this totally new DAC/Server scheme of things.It has to be Taiko/Lampi cable.
The maximum cable length will be 2m. (6 1/2 FT)
I want to thank Taiko team lead by Emile for being so helpful and creative, and also for PUSHING THE BAR of music reproduction to a new unheard levels. I am extremely proud of having even the smallest part of this whole news.
The biggest inequality problem right now is that Emile has a Horizon for himself, and I am still waiting for my Olympus.

Hi Lukasz - great news! When you write that the Horizon retrofit is ‘VERY difficult’ does this mean that it can be done by local dealers or that it requires the DAC to be returned to the national distributor or the factory in Poland? How much dismantling is required? Will the DAC go back together again maintaining structural and aesthetic integrity?

 

I have to say I was hoping MSB would be first......

We were all banking on Lampi

 

Hi Lukasz - great news! When you write that the Horizon retrofit is ‘VERY difficult’ does this mean that it can be done by local dealers or that it requires the DAC to be returned to the national distributor or the factory in Poland? How much dismantling is required? Will the DAC go back together again maintaining structural and aesthetic integrity?

Wondering the same.

 

This is great news! Amazing speed of development!

When will be the earliest for ordering the retrofit package for Horizon and when for the third party cable?

Hello, we ae sending this week a batch of boards to print, it should take 2 weeks after that and we will be ready. In the meantime we have to create custom firmware package to take care of switching, muting and whole GUI housekeeping. We also order parts etc. Realistically March 01 could be the deadline. As I was just hoping to spend all february skiing. Damn it.

 

Concerning the retrofits: the nature of this job - many changes in hardware, electronics, firmware, programming, labelling and a sophisticated end test - dictate that ONLY factory can do it. As a bonus we will do a free periodic maintenance checkup and we will issue a fresh bill of health also - if necessary- for the tubes.

 

I have to say I was hoping MSB would be first......

Not on my watch...

 

I turned on my system (with all the latest Taiko hardware goodies plus NSM) this evening after not having heard it since last week when a few friends came over to listen.

They had heard the system two months ago and they were all very impressed by the “new” sound. It was indeed very good and due “only” to incremental software changes.

But today was something else. The session started with a software version upgrade. As soon as I let things warm up, I knew this was a very different upgrade.

We were now going down Alice’s rabbit hole to a new wonderland. This was not an incremental increase. This was real music as never before. It was alive in every sense of the term - effortlessly live engaging music.

An unprecedented appreciation for me of the thrill of a musician’s performance as never before with an electronic simulation of recordings I’d heard many times before.

I’ve made similar awe-filled statements before based on previous iterations of the Taiko server/software before.

And the Olympus is going to significantly improve on this?

I’m convinced and willing to bet that Emile will keep pulling rabbits out of the proverbial hat.

And hearing Lukasz’s own parallel advances with the Taiko/Lampizator interface is making me drool about future awe-fillled moments.

Can’t wait. To quote Irvin Berlin: “I’m in heaven, I’m in heaven”

 

Concerning the retrofits: the nature of this job - many changes in hardware, electronics, firmware, programming, labelling and a sophisticated end test - dictate that ONLY factory can do it. As a bonus we will do a free periodic maintenance checkup and we will issue a fresh bill of health also - if necessary- for the tubes.

Ok - thanks for the clarification.

 

I have to say I was hoping MSB would be first......

...as long as it happens at all, I'll be happy. That said, I have to give it up for Team Lampi. They really jumped on their solution. Chapeau.

 

@Emile, should we expect to be able to compare (i) Olympus XDMI vs (ii) Olympus + Olympus IO XDMI during the Munich High End (May 9-12)?

 

...as long as it happens at all, I'll be happy. That said, I have to give it up for Team Lampi. They really jumped on their solution. Chapeau.

Indeed, its great to see!

AFAIK (and I hope) a new-hire Taiko design engineer will be working on an XDMI <> ProISL daughter card as their first project, IIRC it was potentially for the May-ish timeframe.

In my recent dealings with Vince at MSB I've been urging him to have their team investigate what additional benefits there might be from a native XDMI interface, as we (and MSB) don't want to be left behind by the other DAC manufacturers

 

@Emile, should we expect to be able to compare (i) Olympus XDMI vs (ii) Olympus + Olympus IO XDMI during the Munich High End (May 9-12)?

I’m still hoping it’ll happen before at my house

 

IMHO, XDMI native to Poseidon with stock tubes sounds significantly better then AES/EBU to Horizon with exclusive tubes.

Phenomenal news, Emile! Now, just wait until you get some exclusive tubes in the XDMI interfaced Poseidon...

 

@Taiko Audio Now that the native XDMI connection with Lampizator Horizon has been clarified, could you give us the option of not having the AES/EBU-SPDIF card included in the Olympus or Olympus I/O (and for those who have prepaid, a credit/refund for that card)? Many of us probably still need the analog DAC card (it would be nice too to provide an opt-out/credit option for the DAC card), which will be especially useful to cover the period when the Horizon is with Lampizator for retrofitting. I have a second digital source, so the use of an external DAC is indispensable.

 

@Emile, should we expect to be able to compare (i) Olympus XDMI vs (ii) Olympus + Olympus IO XDMI during the Munich High End (May 9-12)?

Well at show conditions, with continuously packed rooms, which we will be sharing with other manufacturers, that particular comparison is unlikely to be possible I'm afraid.

I’m still hoping it’ll happen before at my house

That is a more realistic scenario.

 

Indeed, its great to see!

AFAIK (and I hope) a new-hire Taiko design engineer will be working on an XDMI <> ProISL daughter card as their first project, IIRC it was potentially for the May-ish timeframe.

In my recent dealings with Vince at MSB I've been urging him to have their team investigate what additional benefits there might be from a native XDMI interface, as we (and MSB) don't want to be left behind by the other DAC manufacturers

Yes they've received a lot of "urging" e-mails

 

should we expect to be able to compare (i) Olympus XDMI vs (ii) Olympus + Olympus IO XDMI during the Munich High End (May 9-12)?

In HiFi, the noise floor is something that equipment manufacturers and end users try to keep as low as possible.


But there is one noise level that we tend to overlook: ambient noise.


For critical listening, as in the case of a product evaluation, the noise floor of the room is key.


An acoustically-treated room reduces ambient noise (among many other things), making it possible to hear small nuances that would be more difficult to perceive with a higher ambient noise levels.


I very much believe that t is very difficult, if not impossible, to evaluate a component while hearing the music of the neighbouring booth in the background.


Shows are mainly there to showcase new products/technologies.... and see/meet manufacturers, like Emile!

 

Shows are mainly there to showcase new products/technologies.... and see/meet manufacturers, like Emile!

Emile is a phantom! In the last two years of visiting the Taiko room I gave a hug to Edward, had a chat with Bob, said Hello to the Taiko crew… but Emile… that felt like looking for Nessie at Loch Ness.

 

Hi Emile, any progress with Aries Cerat in the implementation of XDMI?