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".

 

Strange. I remember the claim that AES XDMI was far superior to USB.

It is on the Lampizator Horizon and Totaldac

The thing to remember is how these interfaces are implemented in the DAC.

I wrote about this earlier in the thread, there are some very distinct differences between these interfaces beside practical things like sample rate support.

With AES/EBU and SPDIF the clock is at the source and embedded into the datastream send over the cable. This is then extracted at the receiver, in short, clock jitter will be relatively high.

To address this problem DAC manufacturers can incorporate reclockers on their inputs. Some DACs accept an external clock source, allowing you to use an external masterclock.

A very obvious example is Totaldac, their larger model DACs come with a reclocker by default, you can buy the reclocker seperately to add it to lower priced DACs, some of our customers even use 2 or 3 of these reclockers in series.

With USB I2S is generated inside the DAC, including clock, it’s up to the manufacturer how to further implement this, for which there are multiple options, but obviously jitter can be low to start out with. BUT USB receivers are electrically noisy.

Stavros tells me he optimised his DACs for USB, and yes to my ears it does sound better then AES/EBU, although AES/EBU is smoother, it doesn’t really capture things right in the time domain, as in sounds a bit slow / unexciting. So next up a native implementation for AC dacs!

 

Emile, now with the Olympus running 100% of battery, has the power cord still an audible influence when not recharging?

Yeah still makes a difference, it doesn’t really make or break the performance to the degree it can do with the Extreme, but it still has a very significant impact on tonality.

I just don’t have an explanation for it, wiring matters, and imho it’s most pronounced in powercords.

We actually had a somewhat overly hot top end on Thursday with a silver powercord, changed it to a tinned copper powercord which created a totally different balance. With the silver powercord Daniele changed the tweeter crossovers to the minus setting, with the tinned copper powercord he changed it to the plus setting.

I’ve almost accepted this may be unsolvable.

 

I’ve almost accepted this may be unsolvable.

I appreciate that all things are relative in this universe. This also is part why this hobby is so much fun… and the cause of some frustration, but definitely a major source of the fascination!

In that sense, Emile, I grant you absolution for that remaining power cord influence, haha…

 

Yeah still makes a difference, it doesn’t really make or break the performance to the degree it can do with the Extreme, but it still has a very significant impact on tonality.

I just don’t have an explanation for it, wiring matters, and imho it’s most pronounced in powercords.

We actually had a somewhat overly hot top end on Thursday with a silver powercord, changed it to a tinned copper powercord which created a totally different balance. With the silver powercord Daniele changed the tweeter crossovers to the minus setting, with the tinned copper powercord he changed it to the plus setting.

I’ve almost accepted this may be unsolvable.

Nothing surprises me with silver...All though indeed a bit difficult to wrap your brain around the influence...

 

I appreciate that all things are relative in this universe. This also is part why this hobby is so much fun… and the cause of some frustration, but definitely a major source of the fascination!

In that sense, Emile, I grant you absolution for that remaining power cord influence, haha…

We can view it from a positive side, it can be quite an effective tone control. And somehow I actually enjoy some cable swapping from time to time

 

Nothing surprises me with silver...All though indeed a bit difficult to wrap your brain around the influence...

I never ever use silver in my system

 

Emile, now with the Olympus running 100% of battery, has the power cord still an audible influence when not recharging?

@emile - IIRC you were going to share some details of this ‘late’ conversion of the design to 100% battery power?

 

reports Im getting out of Munich from vendors who happened to be in Emile and Bob's room is that the sound was nothing short of spectacular. And this is from XDMI coming via the analogue card.....streaming only with no internal files. To me that speaks volumes. Kudos Taiko team

It was refreshing to see the entire Taiko team enjoying beer and schnitzel after a hard but rewarding day's work. The synergy of the Taiko team is written on each of their faces by their smiles. One can sense that this Taiko team enjoys everything they are doing as it is more than a job to them but rather a career

 

@emile - IIRC you were going to share some details of this ‘late’ conversion of the design to 100% battery power?

I will but it’s quite a story to share so it requires some time to prepare/write. And we’re at the Munich show right now!

 

I will but it’s quite a story to share so it requires some time to prepare/write. And we’re at the Munich show right now!

No problem - we’ll wait until the dust settles after the show - just curious.

 

For those curios about Native XDMI implantation, here is a peek at LampizatOr's approach.

 

Hwere's photo of my new Horizon showing the rear of the unit

 

End of day two!

 

here is a look at the XDMI cable that will go from Olympus to Horizon

 

End of day two!

View attachment 130637

Beer and schnitzel with those big smiles smacks of another wrap on a successful day

 

a link to the Taiko/LampizatOr approach

LampizatOr Introduces Native XDMI Functionality-The Next Horizon

I've been an audiophile for probably more years than I suspect many of the readers of this post are old . Over these years I have been pretty steadfast in my goal which has always been to chase the best sound quality In my system and to my ears. Until 3 years ago I was virtually 100% analogue...

whatsbestforum.com

 

Let's hope that other manufacturers will offer the Taiko XDMI interface

 

here is a look at the XDMI cable that will go from Olympus to Horizon

View attachment 130632View attachment 130633View attachment 130634View attachment 130635View attachment 130636

Steve, Is that a Taiko supplied cable?

 

I will but it’s quite a story to share so it requires some time to prepare/write. And we’re at the Munich show right now!

The real question everyone will ask here is
if we will get fully battery powered Olympus? Or the 3 Battery + AC powered as designed before ?
That should be additional significant upgrade in SQ.
Also will that require additional patience?

 

Steve, Is that a Taiko supplied cable?