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".

 

@Taiko Audio, any news on shipments of the new? Still hoping for Christmas in April...

The latest status is that we should be able to start shipping outstanding orders in the week of April 22nd-26th. With all electronic parts here for all the current Olympus orders, it should be a continuous process from then on, with 12 Olympus servers shipping every week by order date.

 

shipping outstanding orders in the week of April 22nd-26th

CP: do you have visibility on I/O order timeline as well? Cheers...

 

The latest status is that we should be able to start shipping outstanding orders in the week of April 22nd-26th. With all electronic parts here for all the current Olympus orders, it should be a continuous process from then on, with 12 Olympus servers shipping every week by order date.

Thanks for this update! OK, so I'm probably looking at Christmas in early June, then.....

 

The latest status is that we should be able to start shipping outstanding orders in the week of April 22nd-26th. With all electronic parts here for all the current Olympus orders, it should be a continuous process from then on, with 12 Olympus servers shipping every week by order date.

There’s going t be a lot of audiophile chubbies trying to be hidden beginning the week of April 22

Wives are going to be very suspicious is not accompanied by furtive glances their way.

 

The latest status is that we should be able to start shipping outstanding orders in the week of April 22nd-26th. With all electronic parts here for all the current Olympus orders, it should be a continuous process from then on, with 12 Olympus servers shipping every week by order date.

early Mother's Day presents.

 

CP: do you have visibility on I/O order timeline as well? Cheers...

Alas, that is currently still TBD. I'm sure Emile will supply more info as soon as we have a clearer window.

 

early Mother's Day presents.

Hey honey...look what I got you for mother's day...
I better get some roses too!

 

Alas, that is currently still TBD. I'm sure Emile will supply more info as soon as we have a clearer window.

So, do I understand this correctly? The Olympus is shipping soon, but the I/O ship date is still uncertain. What if you have ordered the complete set?

 

What will be the standard storage capacity for the music files?
Have you already decide ?

Extreme was 8 TB I believe. Additional cards as an option.

I dont think this was answered.

 

I dont think this was answered.

We are currently investigating and testing the available options and storage sizes. We hope to have an answer to this in about a week.

 

Olympus Update

We are happy to announce that we have finally settled on a storage option for the Olympus server.
The team in our listening room / laboratory has spent days over days, testing pretty much every possible option out there, the Olympus will ship with a single u.3 drive.
These are available in sizes from 4TB - 60TB and should therefore have enough capacity for even the biggest libraries.
When selecting a storage option, we suggest to "think ahead" with the size, as - for sonic reasons - we strongly recommend to only use one single drive and not extend storage with a second one.
However, do note that in the unprecedented low noise environment of the Olympus, file origin is not really an issue anymore. A cheap network attached storage (in combination with our switch and router) sounds as good as local playback, so does streaming from Tidal / Qobuz.

Another question was raised regarding delivery of the Olympus I/O, since many have ordered the bundle - we can safely say that I/O production will ramp up in parallel to the Olympus, all customers who ordered a bundle will get both units as a set and pre-configured.

We are also finishing our Munich High End display, where Olympus + Olympus I/O will be the source in multiple rooms, of course we hope to see many of you in our own room A4.2 E214.

 

Is there a default size? Many of us have paid for the Olympus months ago with a then-undetermined storage amount. Or is this between our dealer and us?

 

We are also finishing our Munich High End display, where Olympus + Olympus I/O will be the source in multiple rooms

Can you disclose in which rooms?
Thank you!

 

Is there a default size? Many of us have paid for the Olympus months ago with a then-undetermined storage amount. Or is this between our dealer and us?

The default size is 4TB, which comes at no additional cost.

 

The default size is 4TB, which comes at no additional cost.

thanks. Would using our current drives from the Extreme be considered a poor decision with respect to sound quality? If not, is there room for 2 hyper m.2 cards in the Olympus?

 

Is this in addition to the system drive? Or is it all on one drive? What I’m getting at is that it might be more efficient over time to acquire an approved U.3 drive ourselves for those of us who are technologically proficient and swap it in. If this is also the system drive then that would be challenging.
Are you still on Optane for system?

 

Can you disclose in which rooms?
Thank you!

Since not all exhibitors have publicly announce their lineup yet, we'd rather not disclose this ahead of our partners - Olympus will have great company

 

thanks. Would using our current drives from the Extreme be considered a poor decision with respect to sound quality? If not, is there room for 2 hyper m.2 cards in the Olympus?

Yes, migrating the Extreme drives to the Olympus is not an option we recommend. It has been thoroughly tested and this particular u.3 option is very audibly better.

 

Is this in addition to the system drive? Or is it all on one drive? What I’m getting at is that it might be more efficient over time to acquire an approved U.3 drive ourselves for those of us who are technologically proficient and swap it in. If this is also the system drive then that would be challenging.
Are you still on Optane for system?

Indeed we are still using Optane, which has proven itself to also be the best option in the Olympus. Music drive and OS drive are physically separated.
Our policy has a always been that we are installing storage pretty much at cost, we strongly recommend to go with our tested and approved options.

 

The default size is 4TB, which comes at no additional cost.

Can you provide us with the incremental price for each storage size option?