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".

 

Dear Emile
Did you test the Olympus IO solution with more than 2 separate battery power supplys?
It looks like there is potential of further developement by having 3 or 4 separate battery packs for Olympus IO placed inside bigier Olympus chassis .
In This case there would be 2 identical bigger chassis.
each of the 4 battery packs would be powering separately each card and each pciexpress board.
Did you try to further split the IO part of the Olympus with 3 or 4 supplys ?
I was curious if This could potentially increase the performance or not ?

Hi @Kris ,

Yes we did but there’s currently no additional performance to be gained from that. The modularity of the system though could allow for easily retrofittable further improvements with future technology, for example if we run out of room one could add a second I/O and move modules around, but we don’t have anything for that right now.

 

Hi @Kris ,

Yes we did but there’s currently no additional performance to be gained from that. The modularity of the system though could allow for easily retrofittable further improvements with future technology, for example if we run out of room one could add a second I/O and move modules around, but we don’t have anything for that right now.

Thank you Emile
So the idea of additional separate power supplys is vivid .
I understand that could be for example the long awaited battery pack for switch and router.

 

@Taiko Audio Does Olympus XDMI DAC support MQA decoding ?

 

Thank you Emile
So the idea of additional separate power supplys is vivid .
I understand that could be for example the long awaited battery pack for switch and router.

Hi @Kris , yes, but more is not always better!

 

@Taiko Audio Does Olympus XDMI DAC support MQA decoding ?

Hi @rocco1113 , no it doesn't, and I'm afraid we have no plans to implement it either, with the MQA bankruptcy and controversy around it's popularity, it would be a waste of our resources IMHO, I would rather spend our efforts on something else

 

Hi @Kris , yes, but more is not always better!

But, but, but. . . we're audiophiles, Emile!

Steve Z

 

Yes, think extreme, not sensible. I think this will catch on.

 

Hi @rocco1113 , no it doesn't, and I'm afraid we have no plans to implement it either, with the MQA bankruptcy and controversy around it's popularity, it would be a waste of our resources IMHO, I would rather spend our efforts on something else

Everyone should read the true opinion of the music creators about the MQA modifications
this company did to their files.
Few were able to compare the two files before and after and they were shocked .
This as not what they created anymore,
MQA was basically altering the upper frequencies.

I personally turned MQA off few years ago in settings as I found it very uncomfortable sounding
( to harsh)
I selected also ” favour everything else over MQA„ in Roon.

 

Here some MQA summary opinion published 2 years ago.

 

Will the Daiza or double Daiza platform still be as good a platform with the Olympus?

 

Will the Daiza or double Daiza platform still be as good a platform with the Olympus?

@RichardA - the current thinking is that Daiza works well with aluminum chassis but not with chassis with a lot of copper, such as the Taiko switch, router, DCD, and the Olympus server or I/O.

See this comment from Emile:

I’ll retry that when I get a chance but the last time I tried it was negative. I have it on the floor currently..

 

Yes I read those comments when Emile posted about the Daiza with the switch and router. Since the new chassis is a copper/aluminum hybrid I was interested if he had any new thoughts or observations.

 

I've had great results with aluminum and copper Taiko bits using:

Sonority Design

 

Hi all, please see below Lukasz "Lampizator" Fikus' latest posts regarding the progress of implementing XDMI.

"Hello, this is the latest weather report from the Taiko Olympus situation at Lampizator. We have 11 units of Horizon partly assembled and with the TAIKO XDMI link built in, and my Horizon guy just this morning ended up in the hospital with a knee injury, and I just lost a week. I am not sure if anybody will be free to substitute so we probably have to hold our breath for a week. Olympus link continues to impress me, and I am listening to the early prototype right now - just to test the SPECIAL CABLE BY KBL Co. KBL did not let me down, and they prepared especially for my TAIKO LINK, the umbilical cable that is so good that it raises some eyebrows - how a cable can make such difference. I fully endorsed this cable and KBL just started gathering materials to start rolling them in a more or less regular fashion. I must say I am impressed how their very sophisticated monocrystal copper beats my silver in teflon variant of that cable. As great as crude silver is, the monocrystal Cu is another story. The prices and specs of the cables will appear on Lampizator www tomorrow. At the same time - we have a blowback with our cheaper Poseidon DAC - the firmware controlling the DAC to accommodate the Taiko link has to undergo a deep rewrite and this lasts much longer than expected (as it does with the IT people), and I am told a minimum of 2 more weeks are needed - because EVERYTHING WORKS WONDERFULLY but I can't switch it by a remote. This is a bummer because we have tens of backlog orders for TAIKO-equipped Poseidon."

Taiko Audio SGM Extreme : the Crème de la Crème

as I try to keep everyone in the loop who have expressed desire to attend a weekend open house at my home to showcase the new Olympus and I/O as well as a new Horizon which has the ability to play native XDMI. Im told that my Horizon will be completed tomorrow followed by 4 days of burn in. I...

www.whatsbestforum.com

"Concerning the retrofit upgrades of Horizon to Taiko Olympus link - we will do it gladly, but AFTER the Olympus is produced and we can test it. While new units are produced blindly on the assumption that everything should work, there is a big cost involved in retrofit work shipping and handling, and we can not risk the double travel. Taiko promised to send us one of their earliest Olympus builds, but for the time being, we use an identical "taiko simulator" with signal generator. It is my own good invention, but IT IS NOT OLYMPUS, if you know what I mean.

Summarizing: we have the technology, the parts, the cables, the firmware - everything needed for the Horizon new builds and retrofit jobs. We will start new builds when the guy returns on March 25th, and we should get the Olympus for testing around March 30 and after one week, when we are happy, we will start accepting requests for retrofit."

Taiko Audio SGM Extreme : the Crème de la Crème

as I try to keep everyone in the loop who have expressed desire to attend a weekend open house at my home to showcase the new Olympus and I/O as well as a new Horizon which has the ability to play native XDMI. Im told that my Horizon will be completed tomorrow followed by 4 days of burn in. I...

www.whatsbestforum.com

"The simulator uses Taiko signal transfer protocol, but the music source is a normal computer, and compared with the same material played the traditional way, the sound from Horizon is, for me, 100% indistinguishable from Taiko link - this means the link works well, it is transparent, and the addition of the Olympus as a source will bring a leap in the sound quality that will show in the Horizon. The leap quite frankly will be dramatic."

Taiko Audio SGM Extreme : the Crème de la Crème

as I try to keep everyone in the loop who have expressed desire to attend a weekend open house at my home to showcase the new Olympus and I/O as well as a new Horizon which has the ability to play native XDMI. Im told that my Horizon will be completed tomorrow followed by 4 days of burn in. I...

www.whatsbestforum.com

 

Yes I read those comments when Emile posted about the Daiza with the switch and router. Since the new chassis is a copper/aluminum hybrid I was interested if he had any new thoughts or observations.

Hi @RichardA , the Olympus footers are modular and can be exchanged, as that leads to quite some possible permutations I cannot say anything definitive about it yet, most likely we could design a footer with a surface interacting favourably and/or optimally with the Daiza. But as a start we’re going with something with a broad compatibility, which is btw also compatible with the Daiza, which I guess answers your question directly.

 

...Taiko Honchos: any new info on the MSB version of the XDMI implementation via ProISL? The Lampi status is *very* stimulating, but Solid State guys are wringing our collective hands in anticipation! Even a "no news" to report update is news.

 

...Taiko Honchos: any new info on the MSB version of the XDMI implementation via ProISL? The Lampi status is *very* stimulating, but Solid State guys are wringing our collective hands in anticipation! Even a "no news" to report update is news.

Hi @MarkusBarkus ,

We're working on it! It's a bit complicated due to the custom proprietary nature of the MSB PRO ISL interface, which requires design efforts in both hardware as software/firmware. But it's in progress!

The other interface options/expansions we're working on in parallel are:
-Aries Cerat XDMI interface
-Generic I2S interface
-Analogue balanced out (XLR)
-Volume control

No fixed timelines here, but we're hoping to have Aries Cerat and MSB ready before Munich, Lampizator XDMI boards are on order and are expected to arrive mid April.

 

Hi @RichardA , the Olympus footers are modular and can be exchanged, as that leads to quite some possible permutations I cannot say anything definitive about it yet, most likely we could design a footer with a surface interacting favourably and/or optimally with the Daiza. But as a start we’re going with something with a broad compatibility, which is btw also compatible with the Daiza, which I guess answers your question directly.

Will these footers be removable from the outside of the chassis? I ask, because on the Extreme you cannot do so without essentially dismantling the innards, which stops one from using, say, Revopods in a threaded fashion. It would be great to avoid this in the Olympus and I/O.

 

Hi @MarkusBarkus ,

We're working on it! It's a bit complicated due to the custom proprietary nature of the MSB PRO ISL interface, which required design efforts in both hardware as software/firmware. But it's in progress!

The other interface options/expansions we're working on in parallel are:
-Aries Cerat XDMI interface
-Generic I2S interface
-Analogue balanced out (XLR)
-Volume control

No fixed timelines here, but we're hoping to have Aries Cerat and MSB ready before Munich, Lampizator XDM boards are on order and are expected to arrive mid April.

This is great news !
Is the XLR bslanced analog output going to have a volume control?
Will it be software based VC ?

 

Will these footers be removable from the outside of the chassis? I ask, because on the Extreme you cannot do so without essentially dismantling the innards, which stops one from using, say, Revopods in a threaded fashion. It would be great to avoid this in the Olympus and I/O.

Yes