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 ofcourse be possible to buy multiple output card options. Pricing tbd, up to @tsaett actually. You can express your desire to purchase multiple cards by contacting support@taikoaudio.com .

Thanks, Emile, for your further clarification. Please set up an individualized configuration system to deal with buyers' preference for the specific digital output that comes with Olympus prior to shipping. In my case, (1) I do not want to have the SPDIF/AES-EBU daughter card and want to have the Horizon daughter card only (you had confirmed earlier that it would be an even exchange with no additional charge); (2) desire to have the analog card preinstalled with Olympus (with the separate Horizon card included in the Olympus shipment box); and (3) ship my Horizon to Lampizator for retrofitting upon receipt of the Olympus.

 

my question regarding the absence of a volume control and using the analogue card and go direct to amplifier is, "how will one control volume " until a volume control becomes reality on the Olympus

Roon has a volume control.

 

Roon has a volume control.

I don't use Roon but will in order to test the analogue card

My preference is XDMS NSM

 

I don't use Roon but will order to test the analogue card

My preference is XDMS NSM

Someone had posted that the Olympus isn’t shipping with XDMS (although some may have access to it via the alpha testing group). In addition, currently XDMS can only access music from the internal drives, not a NAS.

 

Someone had posted that the Olympus isn’t shipping with XDMS (although some may have access to it via the alpha testing group). In addition, currently XDMS can only access music from the internal drives, not a NAS.

that was posted yesterday and Roon as a temporary stop gap is fine with me. Just think of how many different scanners we have used with the XDMS control app. I have no problems reverting to Roon util XDMS is completed but at the moment I still prefer XDMS NSM

 

that was posted yesterday and Roon as a temporary stop gap is fine with me. Just think of how many different scanners we have used with the XDMS control app. I have no problems reverting to Roon util XDMS is completed but at the moment I still prefer XDMS NSM

Steve, I tip my cap to you. I figured when you heard this you would go down kicking and scratching! With age comes wisdom...We hope!

 

Roon has a volume control.

Unfortunately, Roon's digital volume control algorithm seems to be lossy.

The only lossless digital volume control algorithm I know of is Leedh Processing.

To my knowledge there is no other.

It's a fascinating maths/algorithms subject.

This is one of the reasons why I chose the Soulution 760 DAC, and the fact that it's a DAC that's a bit out of the ordinary. Cyrill Hammer, Soulution's owner, is a vinyl amateur.

If you fancy reading technical documents, the white page on the site, explaining the problem, is worth a read.

Leedh Processing | Digital Volume Control | France

Leedh Processing lossless digital volume control

www.processing-leedh.com

It will be interesting to discover which approach Taiko Audio will choose for its volume control: digital or analogue

 

Using the Roon volume control is a temporary solution. No one is suggesting they use it long term.

 

As we are fortunate to be in the possession of an Ageto as-well I can tell you they play magically together. However we don’t have an Ithaca so that’s going to be up to you to try.

Details on that to be worked out /announced.

As all DACs have their own unique distinct character/sound signature there’s no answer to that, do you prefer MSB, Aries Cerat, Lampizator, Totaldac etc, analogous to which wine you prefer, or perhaps you prefer a specific whiskey, or just a nice cool beer.

Thanks Emile! You answered most of my questions even cryptically. Haha.

 

a 'passive pre-amplifier', or rather a (shunt) resistor between DAC and AMP works fine. I can recommend Khozmo as one of the most neutral versions I've heard (and used with Z foil resistors).

The sonic difference between digital volume control and real colume control is quite real IME, Metrum makes volume control on the DAC possible by varying the reference current for the R2R system and that method sounds better than a passive volume control.

 

my question regarding the absence of a volume control and using the analogue card and go direct to amplifier is, "how will one control volume " until a volume control becomes reality on the Olympus

I can vouch for the Khozmo, with Z Foils, and only 1 input, to work perfectly between my Extreme and SETs. Probably as simple as it gets. It uses relays rather than a pot to adjust volume. 64 x 1dB steps enable fine control.

 

Dear Emile, When do expect we can start using XDMS with the Olympus? June? July? August?
I believe it will be another important step up vs. Olympus running Roon.

 

@emile, i will trade in my Extreme server for Olympus XDMI server. Does it come with the 4T u.3 storage ? If so, will it come with the adapter for file transfer ?

 

Copied from the Extreme server thread for relevant content:

I am amazed by this.

With Olympus Server, does this mean the streaming sound is better than the sound stored on the internal 4TB of storage?

Is Taiko Router, Switch, and DCD a must?

Yes and no. I can now elaborate on this topic in more detail as we spend more time running extensive tests on this yesterday.

1) The Olympus bolsters a larger degree of immunity towards network noise / disturbances then the Extreme. Do note that the network card in the Olympus is not the exact same network card as used in the Extreme, it has been adjusted to perform better running off battery power. To get ahead on a follow up question I can foresee coming up next: No this is not an upgrade for the Extreme, the Extremes total system design architecture simply differs.

2) What this accomplishes is that the DCD/Switch/Router no longer significantly impacts local file playback quality. Sound quality of local file playback is more or less the same whether we run RJ45 directly to the wall outlet connecting to the building main switch.

3) In this scenario, without DCD/Switch/Router, local file playback is significantly better then streaming from Tidal/Qobuz, and/or playback from a NAS.

4) When you add the DCD/Switch/Router, the story changes, this elevates streaming from Qobuz to the same level as local file playback, assuming the same file format, to this end we have purchased and downloaded several albums from Qobuz in a .flac format, in the same resolution as offered by the Qobuz streaming services to ensure as much as we can we're using the same files. Copying these files to a NAS connected to the Router provides more or less identical results. A small exception is streaming from Tidal, for reasons unknown that sounds a bit better then everything else here, that goes for both our 1Gb internet fiber service in Oldenzaal, as for the 100Mbit internet fiber subscription at @audioquattr . We're aware many prefer the sound of Qobuz, perhaps this varies on a global location scale ( @audioquattr lives about 50km away from here), but admittedly we simply don't know why.

5) Inevitably you may ask what happens if you remove the local storage from the Olympus. Undeniably this does make a small difference, if you are hunting for the last ~2% of ultimate performance, removing local storage and using Tidal/Qobuz/NAS with DCD/Router/Switch as your file source, does ultimately produce the absolute best Sound Quality here.

As a footnote, I would like to add we're not talking changes at the level of changing interconnects/power cords or even components here, with the only exception being streaming without DCD/Router/Switch, that has a very considerable impact. Hence my answer to the specific question: "Is Taiko Router, Switch, and DCD a must?" would be, only if you want your Tidal/Qobuz streaming to be on par with local file playback, similarly, if you have a very large library, and want to use a NAS with virtually unlimited storage expansion capabilities, at a much lower cost then internal storage, then in our opinion, the DCD/Switch/Router would be a "must" as well.

 

Dear Emile, When do expect we can start using XDMS with the Olympus? June? July? August?
I believe it will be another important step up vs. Olympus running Roon.

No eta on this, the priority is to get XDMS to a 100% stable beta state first on the Extreme, then we will start rewriting it for the Olympus. Do note that the Olympus will "care less" about the actual playback software used, hence although the overall lighter footprint of XDMS may produce some benefits, I would not expect this to be as major as it's on the Extreme.

 

@emile, i will trade in my Extreme server for Olympus XDMI server. Does it come with the 4T u.3 storage ? If so, will it come with the adapter for file transfer ?

Yes it comes with 4TB of storage by default, and yes we could provide the adapters on request.

 

Copied from the Extreme server thread for relevant content:



Yes and no. I can now elaborate on this topic in more detail as we spend more time running extensive tests on this yesterday.

1) The Olympus bolsters a larger degree of immunity towards network noise / disturbances then the Extreme. Do note that the network card in the Olympus is not the exact same network card as used in the Extreme, it has been adjusted to perform better running off battery power. To get ahead on a follow up question I can foresee coming up next: No this is not an upgrade for the Extreme, the Extremes total system design architecture simply differs.

2) What this accomplishes is that the DCD/Switch/Router no longer significantly impacts local file playback quality. Sound quality of local file playback is more or less the same whether we run RJ45 directly to the wall outlet connecting to the building main switch.

3) In this scenario, without DCD/Switch/Router, local file playback is significantly better then streaming from Tidal/Qobuz, and/or playback from a NAS.

4) When you add the DCD/Switch/Router, the story changes, this elevates streaming from Qobuz to the same level as local file playback, assuming the same file format, to this end we have purchased and downloaded several albums from Qobuz in a .flac format, in the same resolution as offered by the Qobuz streaming services to ensure as much as we can we're using the same files. Copying these files to a NAS connected to the Router provides more or less identical results. A small exception is streaming from Tidal, for reasons unknown that sounds a bit better then everything else here, that goes for both our 1Gb internet fiber service in Oldenzaal, as for the 100Mbit internet fiber subscription at @audioquattr . We're aware many prefer the sound of Qobuz, perhaps this varies on a global location scale ( @audioquattr lives about 50km away from here), but admittedly we simply don't know why.

5) Inevitably you may ask what happens if you remove the local storage from the Olympus. Undeniably this does make a small difference, if you are hunting for the last ~2% of ultimate performance, removing local storage and using Tidal/Qobuz/NAS with DCD/Router/Switch as your file source, does ultimately produce the absolute best Sound Quality here.

As a footnote, I would like to add we're not talking changes at the level of changing interconnects/power cords or even components here, with the only exception being streaming without DCD/Router/Switch, that has a very considerable impact. Hence my answer to the specific question: "Is Taiko Router, Switch, and DCD a must?" would be, only if you want your Tidal/Qobuz streaming to be on par with local file playback, similarly, if you have a very large library, and want to use a NAS with virtually unlimited storage expansion capabilities, at a much lower cost then internal storage, then in our opinion, the DCD/Switch/Router would be a "must" as well.

Thanks Emile, more fascinating insights..!

I assume the size of the internal storage on the Olympus wouldn't matter wrt sound quality, its just the fact of it being there or not, in the form of a single drive of the type you identified / recommended?

 

Copied from the Extreme server thread for relevant content:



Yes and no. I can now elaborate on this topic in more detail as we spend more time running extensive tests on this yesterday.



4) When you add the DCD/Switch/Router, the story changes, this elevates streaming from Qobuz to the same level as local file playback, assuming the same file format, to this end we have purchased and downloaded several albums from Qobuz in a .flac format, in the same resolution as offered by the Qobuz streaming services to ensure as much as we can we're using the same files. Copying these files to a NAS connected to the Router provides more or less identical results. A small exception is streaming from Tidal, for reasons unknown that sounds a bit better then everything else here, that goes for both our 1Gb internet fiber service in Oldenzaal, as for the 100Mbit internet fiber subscription at @audioquattr . We're aware many prefer the sound of Qobuz, perhaps this varies on a global location scale ( @audioquattr lives about 50km away from here), but admittedly we simply don't know why.

Emile, has your testing included assessing how sound quality is affected by where the NAS is in the system and how it is powered? That is, is it optimal for the NAS to be connected to the Taiko router (as opposed to just being on the home network) and is sound quality improved by powering the NAS via the DCD?

 

Reposting in the Taiko thread. Sorry for the double post!

 

Thanks Emile for the updates. We may need to look into fanless NAS to place in our listerning room then. Like this one.

HS-453DX | Silent but Powerful: Fanless Multimedia NAS with Hybrid Storage Structure, 10GbE connectivity, and HDMI™ 2.0 4K output

The 2018 Computex d&i Design Award-winning HS-453DX features a stylish minimalist appearance while providing maximum multimedia performance. Powered by an Intel® Celeron® J4115 quad-core processor with HDMI™ 2.0 (4K @60Hz) output, the HS-453DX allows you to directly enjoy high-quality videos on...

www.qnap.com