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".

 

noted

 

In my case I have the basic Extreme going USB to SPDIF to Audio Note DAC.
Trading in my Extreme for an Olympus with XDMI and going analogue out into my preamp would mean being able to ditch my Dac making the move much more palatable, assuming of course that I like the sound of going direct from Olympus to preamp but this option makes the move financially much more viable I think.

 

ohhhh, yes... popping back in the disc that just slipped out

This guy just bought an Olympus.

 

This guy just bought an Olympus. View attachment 121707

I have seen him today in the morning.

 

I think we can measure all or our percolation with a seismic meter! I just felt a rumble! I sailed with another guy many years ago from Miami to St. Thomas 55'Cat, NO LORAN, (before GPS) Dead Reckoning. I feel like I'm back in that catamaran! We are kind of in unchartered waters. We all want to make informed decisions. Many of us have become quite fond of the Horizon and would like to be able to combine HDMI in the fold. Hence the uncharted waters. Do we "stick" with USB until Lampizator creates an alternative as @Steve Williams referenced? We all have some EXTREMELY interesting decisions to make....

 

I think we can measure all or our percolation with a seismic meter! I just felt a rumble! I sailed with another guy many years ago from Miami to St. Thomas 55'Cat, NO LORAN, (before GPS) Dead Reckoning. I feel like I'm back in that catamaran! We are kind of in uncharted waters. We all want to make informed decisions. Many of us have become quite fond of the Horizon and would like to be able to combine HDMI in the fold. Hence the uncharted waters. Do we "stick" with USB until Lampizator creates an alternative as @Steve Williams referenced? We all have some EXTREMELY interesting decisions to make....

Wouldn’t the Horizon just be a preamp at that point anyway, since it would be receiving analogue from the XDMI? I don’t see the point in the Horizon if the XDMI is already converted. Maybe I misunderstand? I couldn’t imagine Horizonlessness

 

Wouldn’t the Horizon just be a preamp at that point anyway, since it would be receiving analogue from the XDMI? I don’t see the point in the Horizon if the XDMI is already converted. Maybe I misunderstand? I couldn’t imagine Horizonlessness

I'm confusing myself now, which doesn't take much. The Olympus will house both USB/HDMI. So can we not utilize USB as we are doing now until hopefully a solution with the Horizon comes to fruition? Please explain if I'm off base with this because I am not 100% sure if my understanding is correct...

 

Wouldn’t the Horizon just be a preamp at that point anyway, since it would be receiving analogue from the XDMI? I don’t see the point in the Horizon if the XDMI is already converted. Maybe I misunderstand? I couldn’t imagine Horizonlessness

No. XDMI can send at present PCM only to the Horizon via AES output. In hopefully future iteration it will send I2S to horizon via HDMI or some other cable. All these would be digital for the Horizon to convert to analog as its essential function as a DAC (Digital to Analog Converter).

 

Post 292 from Emile suggests a potential direction...

 

No. XDMI can send at present PCM only to the Horizon via AES output. In hopefully future iteration it will send I2S to horizon via HDMI or some other cable. All these would be digital for the Horizon to convert to analog as its essential function as a DAC (Digital to Analog Converter).

Thanks for the clarification.

 

I'm confusing myself now, which doesn't take much. The Olympus will house both USB/HDMI. So can we not utilize USB as we are doing now until hopefully a solution with the Horizon comes to fruition? Please explain if I'm off base with this because I am not 100% sure if my understanding is correct...

Yes that’s my understanding John - use USB out to the Horizon until such time as XDMI can be utilised fully…

 

Btw I’m still confused so just to clarify:

Olympus I/O will hold the network cards and usb cards and TACDA or TACDD with battery power supply. (One battery for network, one for usb or TACDA or TACDD as all 3 won’t be used at the same time)
This also means a second power cord for the I/O in addition the the extreme.

If you have an Olympus it would hold the network card and usb and TACDA or TACDD with single power cord.

However if you have an I/O as well then you’ll need (same like with extreme) to transfer the usb and network and TACDA / TACDD to the I/O and get a second power cord.

In this second scenario what will the two battery power supplies that were formerly powering the usb/network/TACDA in the Olympus now do?

 

Also to do balanced analog out would you need two TACDA cards and so yet another battery in the Olympus or Olympus I/O?

 

Btw I’m still confused so just to clarify:

Olympus I/O will hold the network cards and usb cards and TACDA or TACDD with battery power supply. (One battery for network, one for usb or TACDA or TACDD as all 3 won’t be used at the same time)
This also means a second power cord for the I/O in addition the the extreme.

If you have an Olympus it would hold the network card and usb and TACDA or TACDD with single power cord.

However if you have an I/O as well then you’ll need (same like with extreme) to transfer the usb and network and TACDA / TACDD to the I/O and get a second power cord.

In this second scenario what will the two battery power supplies that were formerly powering the usb/network/TACDA in the Olympus now do?

I believe Emile said they will now power the interface card that will be needed to connect the Olympus to the I/O.

 

The Olympus renderings don’t show any screws or fasteners. The top surface is full of holes! For access to the tasty bits, does the entire top half of the enclosure lift right off? Latches on the left and right sides under the overhanging seam? I sincerely hope so, as bottom access might be a little…challenging!

 

No. XDMI can send at present PCM only to the Horizon via AES output. In hopefully future iteration it will send I2S to horizon via HDMI or some other cable. All these would be digital for the Horizon to convert to analog as its essential function as a DAC (Digital to Analog Converter).

So, you’re talking about 2 digital to analog conversions? That doesn’t sound like the greatest solution. Caveat: I know nothing!

 

So, you’re talking about 2 digital to analog conversions? That doesn’t sound like the greatest solution. Caveat: I know nothing!

No. Everything stays in digital through XDMI to the Horizon or other DAC. (Unless you are using the analog out). Only 1 D to A conversion.

 

The difference between reading this thread and War and Peace is that I only had to read the latter once to understand it.

At this point, my only question pertains to the outputs that will be available for XDMI initially. Like many others, my skepticism of a single DAC chip that offers equal performance to a top stand alone DAC seems appropriate. I too, am not enamoured with a maximum resolution of 24/96 files and would also prefer to play files in their native configuration up to DSD512. While you will offer SPDIF, AES and analogue outputs for XDMI, it seems to me that I2S transmitters and receivers are common place and inexpensive. Simply put, why not offer one now? Why wouldn't that be a high priority to include in the first Olympus release rather than wait until a later time (that would require internal internal board swaps once again) since most Extreme users already have a high level DAC. In short, there's a psyche bridge in accepting a chip DAC or reduced bandwidth formats (or Band-Aids such as DoP) that may be difficult to cross with the initial offering.

 

The fix as I understand it has to happen at the Lampi end of things and the JL USB board used now needs to be replaced with one that works with XDMI.....I think

I am keeping the USB card until Lampi solves the problem I have no desire to use AES/EBU to get anything but native files beyond 24/192 and no DSD to boot. Option 4 for me

 

Without hearing XDMI we can speculate all day long. How much "better" is XDMI Vs USB with I/0 along with our stand alone DACS. Emile himself said: He recommended if you stick with USB add I/0 with existing Extreme and call it a day. I certainly understand the allure of the other potential paths...At this juncture I'm frankly not sure...