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".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have you talked to CH on XDMI?

 

Beautiful industrial design Team Taiko! Apple-level - meant as a positive...

Sweet with the upgrade path for us Extreme-owners - much appreciated.

But - now I want to climb up Olympus and visit the gods living there!

 

It looks fantastic! Congratulations - can't wait to find out out the further details (pricing, etc.).

 

Put me down for O I/O.

 

Will there be a mini bps or is IO the device to power the switch and router?

 

Holy Smoke! Love the new design and various paths to audio heaven. Well done to Emile and his team for moving digital music into what I’m sure will be another stratosphere. I’m still trying to get over how good NSM is, and now this lies ahead

 

Any trade in option for the Extreme? For me one-box solution has become quite critical

 

Good morning WBF!

Today 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 over the course of it's life cycle. Today I feel we can safely claim it's holding it's 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 today, called the Olympus. Hierarchically it positions itself above the Extreme. It does provide quite a different music experience then the Extreme, or any other server I've heard for that matter. Conventional audiophile descriptions as sound staging, dynamics, colour 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 as we are to keeping the Extreme as current as possible we are introducing a second product today, 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 it's performance even further, though not as dramatic an uplift as adding it to the Extreme. Consider it the proverbial "cherry on top".

There are many technological advanced innovations in the Olympus, describing them all will take time and will make this introduction piece hard to digest, we will add bits and pieces of information over the coming days. For now I'll just say that the best way to describe it in short is that we have eliminated a large number of intermediate processing steps and conversions, in both hardware and software, for a more direct, more streamlined, more purist "signal path". I will post a graphical presentation in the following posts which we made in an attempt to provide an as clear as possible overview of the Olympus product series. Pricing and availability information to follow later as well.

Is it possible to explain in % how much you gain from Extreme beseline ?
Extreme fully equipped is 100%
For example:
Extreme + Olympus IO adds 100 % SQ = 200% ?
Olympus - 250 % ?
Olympus + Olympus IO = 270 % ?

I know it is hard to properly get this numbers but I believe everyone has to base their expectations on something
YOU are the only who got a chance to compare the difference in the SQ
That will help me a lot on my decission making and the others as well I believe.

 

Will there be a mini bps or is IO the device to power the switch and router?

There are several problems which currently prevent us from offering a mini BPS either as a separate device or as a direct DC output. Regulatory institution requirements are quite stringent surrounding battery supplies, and justly so. We do have a TPM (Trusted Platform Module) solution identifying a connected device as a Taiko Audio approved device after which the battery supply can enable its output, but this is not something we can just implement straight away.

Here's an example of such a solution:

 

Any trade in option for the Extreme? For me one-box solution has become quite critical

Of course, details to be announced asap.

 

Is it possible to explain in % how much you gain from Extreme beseline ?
Extreme fully equipped is 100%
For example:
Extreme + Olympus IO adds 100 % SQ = 200% ?
Olympus - 250 % ?
Olympus + Olympus IO = 270 % ?

I know it is hard to properly get this numbers but I believe everyone has to base their expectations on something
YOU are the only who got a chance to compare the difference in the SQ
That will help me a lot on my decission making and the others as well I believe.

Not a bad estimate! If you rank Extreme + IO at 200% I'd rank Olympus at ~300% and Olympus + IO at ~330%.

 

Just for clarity, the Olympus I/O powers the Extreme, router and switch?

 

Just for clarity, the Olympus I/O powers the Extreme, router and switch?

No. The first reason is outlined in post#16, the second reason is with the network card "isolated" from the Extreme/Olympus by interface and floating on it's own dedicated battery supply it's just not necessary.