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".

 

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

It varies somewhat due to us not taking a margin on these, the 61.44TB drive is the Solidigm D5-P5336 which is around Euro 7.500 here. Upgrading from 4TB to 8TB adds about 400-450. You can also leave out the standard included storage and save a similar amount. We prefer and strongly suggest to use Intel/Solidigm drives exclusively. It’s been quite challenging to get local storage to perform on par, or at least close to, streaming / networked storage as the network card included with the Olympus makes use of all of our most recent improvements, therefor we recommend to not just drop in any brand of either u.2 or u.3 storage drive.

 

A few more manufacturing photos/movies:

Top cover ventilation holes drilling (there are 6000 in the top cover):

 

Drilling holes in copper, as you can see this process differs from aluminium drilling, with aluminium you can go straight through in one pass, copper needs around 8 passes for 10mm.

This is the bottom plate which supports the motherboard:





Like this:

 

It varies somewhat due to us not taking a margin on these, the 61.44TB drive is the Solidigm D5-P5336 which is around Euro 7.500 here. Upgrading from 4TB to 8TB adds about 400-450. You can also leave out the standard included storage and save a similar amount. We prefer and strongly suggest to use Intel/Solidigm drives exclusively. It’s been quite challenging to get local storage to perform on par, or at least close to, streaming / networked storage as the network card included with the Olympus makes use of all of our most recent improvements, therefor we recommend to not just drop in any brand of either u.2 or u.3 storage drive.

Hi Emile,

So to make sure I’m understanding correctly, are you saying that playing files from streaming (e.g., Qobuz) or an NSA (network storage device) will result in equal or better sound quality than from playing files from internal storage? And that therefore you can choose to leave internal storage out completely and not lose out on sound quality?

 

Hi Emile,

So to make sure I’m understanding correctly, are you saying that playing files from streaming (e.g., Qobuz) or an NSA (network storage device) will result in equal or better sound quality than from playing files from internal storage? And that therefore you can choose to leave internal storage out completely and not lose out on sound quality?

Yes correct. Do note we have only tested a NAS connected to our Router / powered by the DC distributor in this scenario. I will put testing other scenarios on the to-do list. It’s quite possible a more remote NAS leads to similar results as the NAS competes with Tidal/Qobuz streaming for SQ which is most definitely a remote source. The Olympus with XDMI just changes some things we accepted as a norm in the “prior age of streaming”. The NAS we used is a 10 year old 2 bay Synology, nothing special unless you want to label this as “NOS” storage

 

This news about streaming and NAS sound quality is both unexpected and exciting! Can't wait to get my mitts and ears on the Olympus XDMI...

 

Yes correct. Do note we have only tested a NAS connected to our Router / powered by the DC distributor in this scenario. I will put testing other scenarios on the to-do list. It’s quite possible a more remote NAS leads to similar results as the NAS competes with Tidal/Qobuz streaming for SQ which is most definitely a remote source. The Olympus with XDMI just changes some things we accepted as a norm in the “prior age of streaming”. The NAS we used is a 10 year old 2 bay Synology, nothing special unless you want to label this as “NOS” storage

Can't be happier. I preferred to stream everything in the past.
I liked the storage only because of increased SQ and zero waiting time , but it sounds Olympus has eliminated the difference.

From the other hand 400 to 450 Euro for additional 4TB is very attractive.
No-brainer for someone who needs it.

I am curious what type storage that old Synology has? HDD or SSD ?
I found long ago the HDD as it is magnetic gives some kind of " tape" vibe.

 

Yes correct. Do note we have only tested a NAS connected to our Router / powered by the DC distributor in this scenario. I will put testing other scenarios on the to-do list. It’s quite possible a more remote NAS leads to similar results as the NAS competes with Tidal/Qobuz streaming for SQ which is most definitely a remote source. The Olympus with XDMI just changes some things we accepted as a norm in the “prior age of streaming”. The NAS we used is a 10 year old 2 bay Synology, nothing special unless you want to label this as “NOS” storage

Ha ha. Thank you Emile for the confirmation. That is remarkable and unexpected.

Turned the system on yesterday and listened tonight to the current fully loaded extreme (with XDMS) after being out of town for several days.

Wow…it seems the sound only continues to get better and not by a small increment.

Thank you so much Emile and the Taiko team for the great unexpected listening pleasure you’ve provided us with a relatively minor incremental hardware investment and zero incremental software cost.

The gift that keeps giving - even now prior to the much anticipated Olympus upgrade!!

God give me patience now!!

 

Right now XDMS only supports playing stored music from a local drive, not a NAS, so if this does not change in the short term I would think people would want at least some internal storage.

 

Can't be happier. I preferred to stream everything in the past.
I liked the storage only because of increased SQ and zero waiting time , but it sounds Olympus has eliminated the difference.

From the other hand 400 to 450 Euro for additional 4TB is very attractive.
No-brainer for someone who needs it.

I am curious what type storage that old Synology has? HDD or SSD ?
I found long ago the HDD as it is magnetic gives some kind of " tape" vibe.

Old school 3.5” spinning discs!

 

Right now XDMS only supports playing stored music from a local drive, not a NAS, so if this does not change in the short term I would think people would want at least some internal storage.

Due to functionality built into XDMS that overlaps with optimizations within XDMI, the Olympus server will be running Roon only when it is introduced. We will work on optimizing XDMS and introduce it to Olympus later.

 

Due to functionality built into XDMS that overlaps with optimizations within XDMI, the Olympus server will be running Roon only when it is introduced. We will work on optimizing XDMS and introduce it to Olympus later.

Thanks for that information.

 

Due to functionality built into XDMS that overlaps with optimizations within XDMI, the Olympus server will be running Roon only when it is introduced. We will work on optimizing XDMS and introduce it to Olympus later.

Good to know...

 

I don't understand what a u.3 option is, but I'm a bit confused on the memory issue, I can't say I'm thrilled about why I am now being asked to pay more for "new memory" that I don't want or need. I bought an Olympus planning to take my old Horizon memory out and transfer it to the new unit as promised. Now I have a choice. Keep my old memory with poorer sound, or bite the bullet and pay more for better sound (that never ends !). However, it would be good if Emile would address the obvious- why does the choice of memory effect the sound? It's just a digital file, right? Is there something about how that new memory is processed that is different from the old memory? If so, what and why? (A teaspoon of sugar helps the medicine go down!)

 

I'm hoping to get clarity on one concern: using the new Olympus + I/O with XDMI feeding a Lampi Horizon, will one still be able to use a USB connection out for other DAC's (or with the Horizon, if only for shits and giggles comparisons)?

 

I'm hoping to get clarity on one concern: using the new Olympus + I/O with XDMI feeding a Lampi Horizon, will one still be able to use a USB connection out for other DAC's (or with the Horizon, if only for shits and giggles comparisons)?

It is possible to order the full monty : Olympus (with USB adapter) + OIympus I/O XDMI.

That's what I chose.

The configuration will be as follows. Emile will correct me if I'm wrong ( @Taiko Audio )

However, I'm pretty sure you'll only be able to use one output at a time: USB or XDMI.

 

I don't understand what a u.3 option is, but I'm a bit confused on the memory issue, I can't say I'm thrilled about why I am now being asked to pay more for "new memory" that I don't want or need. I bought an Olympus planning to take my old Horizon memory out and transfer it to the new unit as promised. Now I have a choice. Keep my old memory with poorer sound, or bite the bullet and pay more for better sound (that never ends !). However, it would be good if Emile would address the obvious- why does the choice of memory effect the sound? It's just a digital file, right? Is there something about how that new memory is processed that is different from the old memory? If so, what and why? (A teaspoon of sugar helps the medicine go down!)

The explanation is actually quite simple in this case. It’s now just a matter of current draw.

The m.2 drives as used in the Extreme operate at 3.3 volts. U.2 / U.3 drives operate at 12 volts.

These drives can consume up to 15 watts each.

For the U.2 / U.3 drives that equates to 15/12 = 1.25A

For the M.2 drives it equates to 15/3.3 = 4.55A

On top of that you’d run those in pools of 4 (4*4.55=18.2A) or 8 for 36.2A

On top of this the type of current draw drives create is extremely “dirty”, and scales up with increased draw.

 

It is possible to order the full monty : Olympus (with USB adapter) + OIympus I/O XDMI.

That's what I chose.

The configuration will be as follows. Emile will correct me if I'm wrong ( @Taiko Audio )

However, I'm pretty sure you'll only be able to use one output at a time: USB or XDMI.

View attachment 128705

Yeah indeed, there’s a point where you just run out of expansion slots. There are 5 in total. Then you have the same “issue” we have with the Extreme that certain devices sound better in certain slots.

The current config we run here is:

Slot 1: combined for graphics and OS drive
Slot 2: network card
Slot 3: XDMI or USB
Slot 4: prefer not to use (heat)
Slot 5: USB or U.3 storage drive

 

I have a TrueNAS Scale NAS that is sitting on a different VLAN (146TB array, hosting VMs, Kubernetes, etc). Any sense if this is going to be equivalent to your tested Synology to the Taiko router given the degree of processing noise?

The explanation is actually quite simple in this case. It’s now just a matter of current draw.

The m.2 drives as used in the Extreme operate at 3.3 volts. U.2 / U.3 drives operate at 12 volts.

These drives can consume up to 15 watts each.

For the U.2 / U.3 drives that equates to 15/12 = 1.25A

For the M.2 drives it equates to 15/3.3 = 4.55A

On top of that you’d run those in pools of 4 (4*4.55=18.2A) or 8 for 36.2A

On top of this the type of current draw drives create is extremely “dirty”, and scales up with increased draw.

@Taiko Audio Emile - based on this, is there any difference between using one U.2 drive and one U.3 drive? Trying to get to whether there is a difference btw U.2 and U.3 as U.2 is way more common.

 

I have a TrueNAS Scale NAS that is sitting on a different VLAN (146TB array, hosting VMs, Kubernetes, etc). Any sense if this is going to be equivalent to your tested Synology to the Taiko router given the degree of processing noise?

@Taiko Audio Emile - based on this, is there any difference between using one U.2 drive and one U.3 drive? Trying to get to whether there is a difference btw U.2 and U.3 as U.2 is way more common.

I suspect it won’t matter. Any remote storage source appears to be close, if not equal in SQ. Next week we’re planning to test hooking up a USB drive to the router. I suspect we’ll achieve very similar results. That would be a very cost effective solution.