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".

 

Stacking works fine here!

Stacking will be fine by me as well

I really like the clean, minimalist design of the Olympus and Olympus I/O stack.

Is there any special feature to prevent the Olympus I/O from being damaged when placing the Olympus on top of it?

Cheers,
Thomas

 

Stacking works fine here! Ofcourse a difference is inevitable, how that works out depends entirely on the rack / shelf material etc. I’ve grown to not assume anything, I just listen to every single change I make, now matter how tiny, or how irrelevant it may seem.

Stacking is my only option in my current rack configuration. I have my Extreme on a Daiza platform, which will free up. For the stacked Olympus +I/O arrangement, is the Daiza still a good idea? How about a Seismion active vibration canceling table as an alternative? What are your thoughts, based upon your experiences with it so far, Emile?

 

Stacking will be fine by me as well

I really like the clean, minimalist design of the Olympus and Olympus I/O stack.

Is there any special feature to prevent the Olympus I/O from being damaged when placing the Olympus on top of it?

Cheers,
Thomas

As long as you keep the footers clean of sand / dust they shouldn’t scratch the surface of the I/O (the bottom layer of the footers is made out of acrylic material).

 

Stacking is my only option in my current rack configuration. I have my Extreme on a Daiza platform, which will free up. For the stacked Olympus +I/O arrangement, is the Daiza still a good idea? How about a Seismion active vibration canceling table as an alternative? What are your thoughts, based upon your experiences with it so far, Emile?

I haven’t used active vibration for a long time but have several Herzan Table Stables somewhere in the warehouse. I should try those again some time.

The standard Daiza (483*450) is too small for the Olympus (480*480). IMHO the Olympus doesn’t need resonance reduction in the time domain but it does respond to footers / the surface it’s placed on. Feel free to run your own experiments, and please don’t forget to share your results!

 

my Extreme is sitting on Center Stage LS Ultra 2.25 and that is sitting on a CMS platform with Excellent results. I plan on using the same footers under the IO and whatever Emile supplies stock with the Olympus is how my Olympus will sit on the IO

 

I haven’t used active vibration for a long time but have several Herzan Table Stables somewhere in the warehouse. I should try those again some time.

The standard Daiza (483*450) is too small for the Olympus (480*480). IMHO the Olympus doesn’t need resonance reduction in the time domain but it does respond to footers / the surface it’s placed on. Feel free to run your own experiments, and please don’t forget to share your results!

Oh right, getting my Daiza back to use elsewhere….Emile it can be an extra selling point for Olympus upgrade!

I am thinking of trying Carbide Bases under my Olympus.

 

Apologies if this is a dumb question or one that has been covered previously...

What is the 'integrated dac' option? Does this indicate that I can buy an Olympus with a dac inclusive?

 

What is the 'integrated dac' option? Does this indicate that I can buy an Olympus with a dac inclusive?

yes

 

Apologies if this is a dumb question or one that has been covered previously...

What is the 'integrated dac' option? Does this indicate that I can buy an Olympus with a dac inclusive?

RCA analogue output only, for now.

 

Stacking will be fine by me as well

I really like the clean, minimalist design of the Olympus and Olympus I/O stack.

Is there any special feature to prevent the Olympus I/O from being damaged when placing the Olympus on top of it?

Cheers,
Thomas

I also like the clean, minimalistic, stack. However, after all the different isolation applications with the Extreme, evidently the Olympus, so it seems, is more immune. I couldn't imagine placing the Extreme on another device...

 

yes

Thank you so much for the relatively effusive reply, Ron!

 

Thank you so much for the relatively effusive reply, Ron!

Hi Patrick.If you order the Olympus with the analogue board you don't need an external DAC ......only with the digital board

 

Hi Patrick.If you order the Olympus with the analogue board you don't need an external DAC ......only with the digital board

Hi Steve! I miss chatting with you.

 

Hi Steve! I miss chatting with you.

ditto that Patrick. I hope all is well

 

Before the weekend do you think you will be able to share some insight into when shipments will begin?

The latest on this:

We’ll receive our airfreight safety certificate in 2 weeks.

We’ve been working hard on our production output, we were initially at a 6 chassis a week capacity, meaning we machined 12 since the Munich show.

This week we’re going to manage 10 thanks to several efficiency adjustments. We have new tooling and waste management, and we are going to run 3 shifts (24/7) as of next week, increasing output to 20 a week.

So if no further hiccups we can start shipping in 2 weeks and maintain a pace of 20 a week. That means everybody who ordered an Olympus should receive it before the end of August.

This is an all hands on deck maximum 24/7 effort we can only do for a limited amount of time, so we’ll take a small break after that, orders placed now will therefore start shipping halfway of September.

 

After living with and listening to the Olympus XDMI for four days at Munich I’m actually comfortable now waiting because I realize how good the future is going to be!

 

After living with and listening to the Olympus XDMI for four days at Munich I’m actually comfortable now waiting because I realize how good the future is going to be!

Ok go ahead Bob, you've stimulated my Pavlovian response

 

@Taiko Audio
Emile, do you anticipate the I/O manufacture to be pushed out until after you finish/ship the Olympus? And if I'm the only I/O guy, I'm sure these other fellas won't mind if you do mine first, to just get it out of the way. We're all friends here anyway!

 

The latest on this:

We’ll receive our airfreight safety certificate in 2 weeks.

We’ve been working hard on our production output, we were initially at a 6 chassis a week capacity, meaning we machined 12 since the Munich show.

This week we’re going to manage 10 thanks to several efficiency adjustments. We have new tooling and waste management, and we are going to run 3 shifts (24/7) as of next week, increasing output to 20 a week.

So if no further hiccups we can start shipping in 2 weeks and maintain a pace of 20 a week. That means everybody who ordered an Olympus should receive it before the end of August.

This is an all hands on deck maximum 24/7 effort we can only do for a limited amount of time, so we’ll take a small break after that, orders placed now will therefore start shipping halfway of September.

What does the timeline look for those who ordered the whole schmear? Will we get our Olympus first and then the I/O when production commences on those? Or are you going to hold us off until both can ship (I almost wrote "penalize us", but...)?

 

What does the timeline look for those who ordered the whole schmear? Will we get our Olympus first and then the I/O when production commences on those? Or are you going to hold us off until both can ship (I almost wrote "penalize us", but...)?

Sorry for leaving that out, as the I/O requires much less machining time, we’re just going to spend 1 week on those which should cover all I/O orders (between 30 and 40). We’re aiming to ship complete orders!