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".

 

For those of you with an MSB dac, which output options will you be selecting for your olympus? I know for sure i want to eventually switch to the msb xdmi interface card but for the time being my options would be to use rca and bypass the msb as a dac or use the aes/ebu until the msb xdmi card comes. I'd also like to hear what the taiko dac sounds like as an all in one solution.

 

For those of you with an MSB dac, which output options will you be selecting for your olympus? I know for sure i want to eventually switch to the msb xdmi interface card but for the time being my options would be to use rca and bypass the msb as a dac or use the aes/ebu until the msb xdmi card comes. I'd also like to hear what the taiko dac sounds like as an all in one solution.

Assuming you don't want to pay the extra 900 Euro to get all 3 XDMI daughter cards, I would suggest you do what I just did for one of my orders:




This way you can try the XDMI Analog Out and compare to the MSB Output (when it becomes available).
Yes, you will be missing the Digital Out (AES/EBU & RCA), but it is unlikely that will be your ultimate choice.
Plus, I am guessing there will be plenty of unused AES/EBU & RCA daughter cards out there that you can borrow from friends to try if you are curious.

 

Assuming you don't want to pay the extra 900 Euro to get all 3 XDMI daughter cards, I would suggest you do what I just did for one of my orders:

View attachment 131950


This way you can try the XDMI Analog Out and compare to the MSB Output (when it becomes available).
Yes, you will be missing the Digital Out (AES/EBU & RCA), but it is unlikely that will be your ultimate choice.
Plus, I am guessing there will be plenty of unused AES/EBU & RCA daughter cards out there that you can borrow from friends to try if you are curious.

I filled this out just as you showed. I plan to use the analog out primarily, but I noted at the very bottom of the page sent this AM that a USB out will also be included in all units. This should allow us to compare Olympus to our recall of the USB/Extreme we have lived with for a while. I do have MSB Reference/Dig. Director, and will want to give that a good try when the MSB output becomes available

 

Dear Taiko Team,

“Please note, that choosing no storage has a slight edge on ultimate sound quality, if used with a Taiko Router/Switch/DCD. That is true for both streaming, as well as playing from a NAS.”

Well, I guess now it is a matter of finding the best sounding (and silent) NAS.

1. Synology DS1522+, Synology DS923+ are two options. Any other better sounding option?

2. Does using a linear power supply (and top quality DC cable) for the NAS improve the sound?

3. Does using a top notch ethernet cable for connecting the NAS to the Taiko router improve the sound?

Thanks

 

Dear Taiko Team,

“Please note, that choosing no storage has a slight edge on ultimate sound quality, if used with a Taiko Router/Switch/DCD. That is true for both streaming, as well as playing from a NAS.”

Well, I guess now it is a matter of finding the best sounding (and silent) NAS.

1. Synology DS1522+, Synology DS923+ are two options. Any other better sounding option?

2. Does using a linear power supply (and top quality DC cable) for the NAS improve the sound?

3. Does using a top notch ethernet cable for connecting the NAS to the Taiko router improve the sound?

Thanks

I believe Emile advocates a low powered one for various reasons including the fact that you can power it with the DCD. I bought this one since it is only 13-14 watts.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=synology%20diskstation%20ds224%2B&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ps

 

Would the DCD need some sort of specific more powerful high end power supply to handle the load of the Taiko switch and router and a 13-14 watt NAS drive such as the one in the preceding post #1966?

 

I remember Emile said he can provide us an adaptor so we can transfer the files from our old SSD drive in Extreme to the new drive. Can we include that in the order form?

 

Would the DCD need some sort of specific more powerful high end power supply to handle the load of the Taiko switch and router and a 13-14 watt NAS drive such as the one in the preceding post #1966?

The load of the router, switch and low powered NAS is pretty low, maybe 2-3 amps.

 

I believe Emile advocates a low powered one for various reasons including the fact that you can power it with the DCD. I bought this one since it is only 13-14 watts.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=synology%20diskstation%20ds224%2B&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ps

I've owned a very similar Synology NAS for years. In fact, my music library is already on it. It's noisy. In addition to the fan, the read/writes and housekeeping can be long and loud.However, I'm using mechanical drives. SSD might be quieter. In addition, transferring data is slow, irrespective of the source or whether you use SSD. Overall, I believe the SQ of networked drives connecting to the router will be similar. It's the heat, noise, write speed and power signature I'm focusing on. Since I'm not using the drive for failover (I'll have other backups) I'm thinking a single bay SSD NAS.

 

I've owned a very similar Synology NAS for years. In fact, my music library is already on it. It's noisy. In addition to the fan, the read/writes and housekeeping can be long and loud.However, I'm using mechanical drives. SSD might be quieter. In addition, transferring data is slow, irrespective of the source or whether you use SSD. Overall, I believe the SQ of networked drives connecting to the router will be similar. It's the heat, noise, write speed and power signature I'm focusing on. Since I'm not using the drive for failover (I'll have other backups) I'm thinking a single bay SSD NAS.

I assume you mean mechanically noisy. This has been in my room for a month and is 8 feet from the seating position and I never hear it. The fan never goes on in quiet mode. One can configure things to get the drives to spin less. I am not sure why the transfer speed is important since you only have to move all your music once.

 

I assume you mean mechanically noisy. This has been in my room for a month and is 8 feet from the seating position and I never hear it. The fan never goes on in quiet mode. One can configure things to get the drives to spin less. I am not sure why the transfer speed is important since you only have to move all your music once.

Thanks for insight. Yes, the noise is mostly from the read/writes of the mechanical drives. Which is why I mentioned SSD drives would be a better choice. As for configuration, there's only so much one can do regarding limiting read/writes. Particularly when the data is on multiple drives. As for the transfer speed, it can take days to move TBs of data to the unit, significant even once. Also, adding new music to it, particularly uncompressed hi-res, will take a while.

 

Thanks for insight. Yes, the noise is mostly from the read/writes of the mechanical drives. Which is why I mentioned SSD drives would be a better choice. As for configuration, there's only so much one can do regarding limiting read/writes. Particularly when the data is on multiple drives. As for the transfer speed, it can take days to move TBs of data to the unit, significant even once. Also, adding new music to it, particularly uncompressed hi-res, will take a while.

The issue with SSDs is that they expensive and I think the largest one one can buy is 7 TB which limits a 2 bay NAS to less than 14 TB. I have 2 x 8 TB drives at RAID0 which equates to about 14 TB of usable space. I transferred about 9 TB overnight when I bought it and regularly add new file sets but probably never more than 3-4 TB at time. I have 5 NAS on my network. The DS224 isn't the fastest but none of them boxes are fast as compared to adding files to the Extreme internal drives. On a daily basis it never takes more than 5 minutes.

 

Mine is an older unit than yours, perhaps that's he reason for the slower ymtransfer speed and increase file churn.

 

Mine is an older unit than yours, perhaps that's he reason for the slower ymtransfer speed and increase file churn.

But it sounds like the solution is working very well for you.

 

But it sounds like the solution is working very well for you.

What brand HDDs are you using?

 

What brand HDDs are you using?

WD Red Plus

 

My order is for an Olympus with both the analog (RCA) XDMI output and the Lampizator XDMI to my Horizon with XDMI input. What is the significance of specifying either the analog XDMI or the Lampizator XDMI as the pre-mounted vs. the XDMI digital output option on the order form?

 

My order is for an Olympus with both the analog (RCA) XDMI output and the Lampizator XDMI to my Horizon with XDMI input. What is the significance of specifying either the analog XDMI or the Lampizator XDMI as the pre-mounted vs. the XDMI digital output option on the order form?

It means that you must choose which one you want to have, already mounted, when it arrives at your home.
Then, to listen to the other option, you’ll have to change the daughter card.

 

It means that you must choose which one you want to have, already mounted, when it arrives at your home.
Then, to listen to the other option, you’ll have to change the daughter card.

That makes sense. Thank you.

 

Hi Cris.
I'm looking at the prices of the Olympus Server on the Taiko website, and I see a price for Olympus Server XDMI + USB (€60,400), I suppose that price is keeping the USB card in the Olympus. It is mandatory to keep the USB card or it can be returned to Taiko saving €1,600, out of €60,400.

Both the USB and network cards as used in the Extreme actually don’t work well with the Olympus. The Extreme and the Olympus are very different designs.

We have changed the network card design to work well with the Olympus. It looks close to the same, but it is a different card. This is why you return the one you use with the Extreme if you trade in your Extreme.

For the USB card we’ve come up with 2 designs, one to use with the Olympus, and another to use with the I/O. The Olympus server variant is not removable. The I/O USB card is removable. Again neither of these are interchangeable with the Extreme’s USB card hence you return that as well in case of a trade in scenario.

In case you’re wondering why the USB output options of the Olympus server and I/O are different, the Olympus server variant doesn’t degrade SQ just by being present, neither does the one in the I/O but in that case by being situated in an external chassis running off it’s own BPS.