Introducing Olympus & Olympus I/O - A new perspective on modern music playback

[Ron Resnick]

Hello everyone, I was one of you: Waited for well over one year, then walked away. Sadly for what I read the Olympus production issues are still unresolved as it is the pain and frustration of all the clients involved.
Now look at this picture: This is a Pink Faun 2.16 Ultra Dual, for better or worse a product comparable to the Olympus.
Ordered and paid for on 8/14 and delivered already yesterday 9/19. This is the factual striking contrast between somebody creating beautiful things but evidently completely deficient on the business side and somebody else, just a few doors down from him, also creating beautiful things but in this case, in full control of his business and capable to deliver like a pro.
I expect everything and more as a bitter payback for exposing nothing more than facts, starting from being banned for life from WBF notorious for this kind of retaliation, censuring whatever inconvenient truth may affect his sponsors.

Welcome to WBF, Alessandro!

 

[RUIN*ish]

Updated Roon to 1559.
Can others confirm the improvement I'm hearing?
Or
are my ears going blind?

 

[seatrope]

Did you restart your older roon install/oly recently? Prob important to distinguish the improvement from a restart from the version change.

 

[RUIN*ish]

Did you restart your older roon install/oly recently? Prob important to distinguish the improvement from a restart from the version change.

Was listening then update back to listen..had done restart of os yesterday..
Mn

 

[dminches]

According to the change log this build addressed a fix to a an issue with zones disappearing. But any change can affect sound quality so who knows.

 

[Kingsrule]

Updated Roon to 1559.
Can others confirm the improvement I'm hearing?
Or
are my ears going blind?

Just did the 1559 update 2 hours ago. Didn't reboot Olympus.
My first thoughts are there is more body present. Might be a bit louder as well. I'll reboot Olympus later today to observe anything more....

 

[joet]

Just in case this information is helpful to others: My Olympus is being held in customs because they require my social security number. The issue isn't customs, it's FedEx. 1) I proactively needed to get FedEx to send me the relevant form (which is submitted to them via DocuSign). 2) After 5 days, FedEx still haven't forwarded the completed form to customs. They claim it's "being reviewed." However, DocuSign ensures all necessary fields are completed, and the form contains only personal information that FedEx would be unable to validate. What's more likely is that they are understaffed and items are slipping through the cracks. Once customs receives the form, who knows how long they'll take to follow up. To others in the US: If Taiko allows it, consider giving them your relevant ID so they can include it when your Olympus ships. It might save considerable time.

 

[Kingsrule]

Just in case this information is helpful to others: My Olympus is being held in customs because they require my social security number. The issue isn't customs, it's FedEx. 1) I proactively needed to get FedEx to send me the relevant form (which is submitted to them via DocuSign). 2) After 5 days, FedEx still haven't forwarded the completed form to customs. They claim it's "being reviewed." However, DocuSign ensures all necessary fields are completed, and the form contains only personal information that FedEx would be unable to validate. What's more likely is that they are understaffed and items are slipping through the cracks. Once customs receives the form, who knows how long they'll take to follow up. To others in the US: If Taiko allows it, consider giving them your relevant ID so they can include it when your Olympus ships. It might save considerable time.

Something feels off here. Just saying......

 

[joet]

Something feels off here. Just saying......

I'm unsure what you find so hard to believe, but the takeaway from my post is that if both parties are willing to include the customer's tax ID in the import paperwork, it could save considerable time and effort on the back end. I wish I had done it.

 

[fbhifi]

I'm unsure what you find so hard to believe, but the takeaway from my post is that if both parties are willing to include the customer's tax ID in the import paperwork, it could save considerable time and effort on the back end. I wish I had done it.

Absolutely Correct.

 

[nenon]

Not Olympus or Taiko related — just a little horror story about parcel delivery and customs.

I ordered something from Poland, €500 retail. A few days later I get an email from UPS saying I owe $1,538 in customs fees, to be paid directly to the driver on delivery. No online payment option, no breakdown of charges, nothing. Just that number in the email. Customs fees more than 3 times the purchase price - who knows why...

Driver shows up while I’m home, knocks so lightly I didn’t even hear it, never rings the doorbell, and leaves. Perfect.

Day 1:

• Call #1 to UPS: 40 minutes on hold, finally someone picks up… and the line drops.
• Call #2 to UPS: 1 hr 10 mins on hold, finally someone picks up - wrong department.
• Transferred: 1 hr 20 mins more, then told I needed a different department. But since it was already 5:35 pm and they close at 5:30, they wouldn’t even transfer me. After 3 hrs 10 mins on hold that day, I missed them by 5 minutes. Told to “try again tomorrow.”

Day 2:

• Call #3 to UPS: 1 hr 30 mins on hold with the “right” department. Their system is down, so they send me to billing.
• Billing: 50 mins on hold, only to be told the guy only handles exports, not imports.
• Transferred again: 1 hr 50 mins on hold. They told me they could not help and they could not send me a breakdown of the charges. The only way to know is if I send an email to a specific email and wait for a reply.
• Sent the email and waiting to see what's next....

So yeah — these companies just don’t have enough staff, and their systems are a mess. Doesn’t matter if it’s UPS, FedEx, DHL… they’re all drowning.

 

[joet]

Just in case this information is helpful to others: My Olympus is being held in customs because they require my social security number. The issue isn't customs, it's FedEx. 1) I proactively needed to get FedEx to send me the relevant form (which is submitted to them via DocuSign). 2) After 5 days, FedEx still haven't forwarded the completed form to customs. They claim it's "being reviewed." However, DocuSign ensures all necessary fields are completed, and the form contains only personal information that FedEx would be unable to validate. What's more likely is that they are understaffed and items are slipping through the cracks. Once customs receives the form, who knows how long they'll take to follow up. To others in the US: If Taiko allows it, consider giving them your relevant ID so they can include it when your Olympus ships. It might save considerable time.

Well, today, the FedEx logistics agents admitted to me that they couldn't understand why the case agent was taking so long to clear the shipment. They tried to reach her, but apparently she wouldn't respond to them either. So, after putting me on hold for almost an hour, the logistics team circumvented the unresponsive case agent and cleared the package. The Olympus was just released, and it will be delivered tomorrow.

 

[nenon]

The Olympus was just released, and it will be delivered tomorrow.

I saw that and was just about to text you. Great news!

 

[joet]

I have able bodied people coming over in a few hours to help carry the flight cases downstairs and put the Olympus and IO on a shelf. It's a solid maple bottom shelf with about 12" head room. Due to the need for circulation I'll likely put them next to each other.

Their weight makes experimentation with platforms prohibitive, so I'd love to benefit from your experience. Short of buying new footers or platforms, I have four options. A Daiza, a 1" thick block of slate, both together, or directly on the maple. Photos below. Based upon what I've read, im thinking directly on the shelf. But any experiences with stone and/or the Daiza, or anything else that has worked will be greatly appreciated. Thank you all very much!

 

[John T]

I have able bodied people coming over in a few hours to help carry the flight cases downstairs and put the Olympus and IO on a shelf. It's a solid maple bottom shelf with about 12" head room. Due to the need for circulation I'll likely put them next to each other.

Their weight makes experimentation with platforms prohibitive, so I'd love to benefit from your experience. Short of buying new footers or platforms, I have four options. A Daiza, a 1" thick block of slate, both together, or directly on the maple. Photos below. Based upon what I've read, im thinking directly on the shelf. But any experiences with stone and/or the Daiza, or anything else that has worked will be greatly appreciated. Thank you all very much!

Unfortunately experimenting is the only way. Every situation is a little or a lot different regarding substrate. I understand the prohibitive nature, I have the bruises to show. The GOOD NEWS it will sound good no matter what you use! I've experimented with several compositions of materials and built several. Just finished 2 amp platforms. I would use the same composition for the Olympus but smaller and less thick. I made a prototype but as you alluded to, moving and lifting, not easy. This one weighs 63 lbs. I'm still not sure what I would use as footers for the Olympus platform yet. I'm taking a break from building shit! I have used the Extreme on a concrete platform that worked "extremely" well. But Too Damn Heavy! Any time I had to move it was a PITA. I haven't tried the Olympus on any stone or concrete platform.

If I may make a suggestion start with the platform you have and if possible try some different footers. This will at least give you a reference...

 

[joet]

Unfortunately experimenting is the only way. Every situation is a little or a lot different regarding substrate. I understand the prohibitive nature, I have the bruises to show. The GOOD NEWS it will sound good no matter what you use! I've experimented with several compositions of materials and built several. Just finished 2 amp platforms. I would use the same composition for the Olympus but smaller and less thick. I made a prototype but as you alluded to, moving and lifting, not easy. This one weighs 63 lbs. I'm still not sure what I would use as footers for the Olympus platform yet. I'm taking a break from building shit! I have used the Extreme on a concrete platform that worked "extremely" well. But Too Damn Heavy! Any time I had to move it was a PITA. I haven't tried the Olympus on any stone or concrete platform.

If I may make a suggestion start with the platform you have and if possible try some different footers. This will at least give you a reference...

Thank you for the very thoughtful and helpful response.

 

[seatrope]

Thank you for the very thoughtful and helpful response.

I have had the same questions. I was in the same position as you a while back and posed it to this forum. Christiaan Punter gave some good advice but I’m sure all here will be shocked to hear that I still have both my Olympus and I/O on cheap Salamander MDF shelves on my Townshend Seismic Rack which has glass shelves.

Been trying to figure out a better solution but have neither the time nor the budget…. The O and I/O still produce sound that’s in a different league from anything else that’s been in my listening room though. Go figure. Let me know how the Daiza works. I know Emile now says the Daiza is less ideal for the composition of the Olympus but curious to see what your results are.

Many said that the Lampi XDMI interface has a shorter break in time.. personally i either recently heard a significant breakthrough/improvement with hundreds of hours played on it, or Roon has taken a step forward with the recent update. The soundstage seems to have expanded even more than before. Rest of the system has been static.

 

[joet]

I have had the same questions. I was in the same position as you a while back and posed it to this forum. Christiaan Punter gave some good advice but I’m sure all here will be shocked to hear that I still have both my Olympus and I/O on cheap Salamander MDF shelves on my Townshend Seismic Rack which has glass shelves.

Been trying to figure out a better solution but have neither the time nor the budget…. The O and I/O still produce sound that’s in a different league from anything else that’s been in my listening room though. Go figure. Let me know how the Daiza works. I know Emile now says the Daiza is less ideal for the composition of the Olympus but curious to see what your results are.

Many said that the Lampi XDMI interface has a shorter break in time.. personally i either recently heard a significant breakthrough/improvement with hundreds of hours played on it, or Roon has taken a step forward with the recent update. The soundstage seems to have expanded even more than before. Rest of the system has been static.

Thank you. I'm going to put it directly on the thick maple shelf, due to Emile's caveat. I'll be using the analogue card for the foreseeable future, which i hear has a long break in time

 

[joet]

Well, after a long wait it's installed and working! I spent an hour trying to figure out why it wouldn't join the network only to realize i hadn't turned it on.

 

[seatrope]

Well, after a long wait it's installed and working! I spent an hour trying to figure out why it wouldn't join the network only to realize i hadn't turned it on.

Big congrats!!!!!!!!