I would much rather have Emile spend his time getting the Taiko waffle maker to market . . .
Steve Z
Introducing Olympus & Olympus I/O - A new perspective on modern music playback
- Thread starter Taiko Audio
- Start date
Steve Z
If that is a concern, then don't order the Olympus with XDMI. Stick with USB until you decide the time is right to add XDMI + a daughterboard. The only downside for you -- it will cost you $5K more to add XDMI later rather than now.
Problem solved.
Steve Z
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But your Vivaldi DAC has dual AES/EBU. So that (with a Taiko dual AES/EBU daughter card for the XDMI mother card) will give you sample-rate functionality to the full capability of your DAC.
I found with all the advancements Taiko has released, and most notably XDMS-NSM, that other than giving my Vivaldi stack remote control via iPad with dCS' Mosaic app on the Upsampler, the core function of the Upsampler (upsampling) has lost a considerable amount of importance to me. So much so that I sold my Upsampler recently. I find I do not miss it in the least -- 16/44.1 content can and often does sound just as good as higher sample rates.
Of course, your mileage may vary.
Steve Z
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Honestly, when you look at what comprises the analog output stages in many DACs, including some very expensive makes and models, one could argue that Taiko is not far off the mark with their current XDMI analog direct daughter card.
And unless a DAC manufacturer is utilizing a custom programmed FPGA as their "DAC" section, then all that might be different is the flavor of off the shelf DAC chipset.
Steve Z
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Hi Steve, Thanks for sharing. That's an Interesting point of view. I will give it a try.
You're welcome, Jeff.
My plan going forward is to wait patiently for my Olympus to arrive and then compare my Vivaldi APEX via single AES/EBU and whatever other digital outputs the XDMI digital daughter card comes with, to the XDMI analog direct daughter card. I think single AES/EBU at 24/192 and DoP DSD64 will be more than sufficient to give a good idea of the sound quality.
I suspect they will sound different to each other. However, if the XDMI analog-direct is good enough for me to enjoy my music with the same or even deeper emotional connection to what I now have, well, the Vivaldi and Vivaldi clock will be looking for a new home.
Steve Z
Thanks for the photos. It's very clear now.
Therefore, the Extreme USB card and Network card will go into Olympus I/O ?
My questions are:
1. If both Extreme USB card and Network card go into Olympus I/O, Extreme server will be a pure Roon core/xdms player with storage ?
2. If Olympus I/O is only for input and output, Extreme Network card will stay in Extreme server ?
Remember that the I/O box is an extension of the computer it is attached to (there is no computer inside the I/O box, the input side and the output side are connected to the PCIe bus on the server via the QSFP links)
The I/O box has support for two modules, usually a single input side (Network) and single output side (USB or XDMI card) You can think of those two modules as being PCIe cards that are outside the main server (with BPS and QSFP isolation, etc)
The Extreme server (or Olympus server) when paired with the I/O box is managing all things going across the PCIe bus. Based on Emile's descriptions, there is a big win going from Extreme+I/O to Olympus+I/O, so that extra speed and the higher performing PCIe bus must be bringing some juice to the party.
To think about it another way, with XDMI, the CPU of the server is directly connected (via PCIe) to the network card and the USB/XDMI/DAC. The server very much matters.
Since retrofitting the Extreme with the BPS and faster PCIe was a non-starter, I/O box is required for the Extreme. For the Olympus server, the I/O box is (apparently) the cherry on top, with the I/O box giving physical (and QSFP) isolation to the "I" and the "O".
Obviously all the above is based on reading here. I am very much looking forward to doing a deep dive comparison of the various configs when Olymp-i's start shipping in 3-4 months and hearing what other Olympus owners are hearing.
The I/O box has support for two modules, usually a single input side (Network) and single output side (USB or XDMI card) You can think of those two modules as being PCIe cards that are outside the main server (with BPS and QSFP isolation, etc)
The Extreme server (or Olympus server) when paired with the I/O box is managing all things going across the PCIe bus. Based on Emile's descriptions, there is a big win going from Extreme+I/O to Olympus+I/O, so that extra speed and the higher performing PCIe bus must be bringing some juice to the party.
To think about it another way, with XDMI, the CPU of the server is directly connected (via PCIe) to the network card and the USB/XDMI/DAC. The server very much matters.
Since retrofitting the Extreme with the BPS and faster PCIe was a non-starter, I/O box is required for the Extreme. For the Olympus server, the I/O box is (apparently) the cherry on top, with the I/O box giving physical (and QSFP) isolation to the "I" and the "O".
Obviously all the above is based on reading here. I am very much looking forward to doing a deep dive comparison of the various configs when Olymp-i's start shipping in 3-4 months and hearing what other Olympus owners are hearing.
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Misunderstanting .
well I will ask it different way than
How the XDMI main board looks in the Olympus XDMI?
How the network card looks in Olympus XDMI ?
Is is identical to the one in extreme or improved ?
I understand the USB card is identical ( or improved ?) to the one we have in extreme .
1. yes
2. no , we consider the network card to be an “Input” though it has bidirectional communication.
That’s actually an interesting topic, we’ve been playing with gain to have something average compared to a range of DACs. We’re currently at ~ 2Vrms out (+6dBv), we’ve been comparing it to other DACs to find a most “compatible” sweetspot but this is really allover the place.
The more useful output stage specs people may be interested in are:
Maximum output voltage swing: 20 V
Output current: 50 mA
Output impedance: 100 Ohm
Hi Emile,
Therefore, the extreme network card will be in Olympus I/O whether we use Extreme Server or Olympus Server? And the network signal will go into Olympus I/O First and then pass through to Extreme Server or Olympus Server By QSFP?
Happy new year and thanks.
Hi there Emile, and a very happy end to your year, the teams, and everyone else on this thread.
can I assume then, Emile, with the Olympus and I/O I’ll be getting that the signal path will be -
satellite router - taiko router - taiko switch - I/O - Olympus - I/O - DAC with aes/ebu or preamp with RCA left and right cables.
thanks much ! Kevin
can I assume then, Emile, with the Olympus and I/O I’ll be getting that the signal path will be -
satellite router - taiko router - taiko switch - I/O - Olympus - I/O - DAC with aes/ebu or preamp with RCA left and right cables.
thanks much ! Kevin
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