TAIKO OLYMPUS Server + OLYMPUS I/O XDMI system

The Taiko Extreme music server has made it to the top of audio streaming technologies right after its launch five years ago and has managed to stay there since then. Taiko continues improving and updating the Extreme platform, but simultaneously they have launched the new Olympus platform which completely rewrites what the Extreme is capable of.

 

FRONT Taiko Olympus

 

The philosophy of Taiko Audio has always been subtractive rather than additive, following the Zen principle of if the unnecessary is removed (the operating system, drivers, and circuitry complexities) the pure data is only what remains. In other words, the Taiko system is meticulously fine-tuned not to step in the way of sound. For Taiko, the streaming device is a sort of unskippable evil between the program material and an amplifier. Find the cleanest and the least cluttered way of moving zeroes and ones from the source file to the binding posts of speakers, and you are there. The Olympus is the Taiko’s last take on this.

 

The Olympus ecosystem

The Olympus does not look less complicated though – the reviewed configuration was a two-box solution. It is because the Olympus system can be had either as a standalone Olympus server with an XDMI Interface, a 4TB solid-state drive (extendable to 64TB), 2 linear power supplies and 3 battery power supplies, or in a combination with the Olympus I/O upgrade, which is an Olympus-branded add-on unit that externalizes input/output modules and uses the XDMI technology too. Alike the Olympus server, the I/O unit is powered by 1 LPS and 2 battery supplies. The set will set you back of 103k€ and that was the package I reviewed. If, for compatibility reason, a customer prefers USB protocol, the Olympus + Olympus I/O are available in USB versions instead of the XDMI. I must say the latter solution is for die-hard fans of the USB only, as the XDMI interface trumps the USB by a large margin. So, the visual complexity (two boxes instead of one) owes to thorough I/O systems and dedicated clean power supplies, rather than to cluttering the device with circuitries and features.

The XDMI digital outputs support up to DSD64 via DoP, the XDMI analog outputs support up to DSD512 and PCM 32bit/768kHz. The USB connection supports up to DSD512 in combination with Roon (if supported by your DAC), which is Taiko´s preferred platform.

 

Taiko Olympus isolation feet

Taiko Olympus isolation feet

 

Now, what is the XDMI? The acronym stands for Extreme Direct Music Interface, and it has been developed as a proprietary system solution (motherboard, daughterboards, interconnect system, and software) to address high-speed data transfer without USB deficiencies (like conversion latencies) and digital ‘noise’. Taiko Audio mentions that developing the software and firmware for the XDMI was an even larger effort then designing the hardware part and, without it, the XDMI would not be performing the way it is. Think about books – although two may look alike (the hardware) it is the content (the hardware) which sends one to the top of readers’ lists and the other to oblivion. As Taiko puts it, the sonic impact of the code can be as huge as upgrading an audio component.

The XDMI is a solution that integrates the Olympus server with DACs too, provided that a DAC manufacturer embraces the XDMI too. And they happily do for the XDMI catapults the playback to completely new levels. The Lampizator Horizon that was used throughout the review was accepting XDMI delivered through a 5-pin XLR connector; the same compatibility is offered for Lampizator Poseidon, and Lampizator offers retrofitting of the XDMI for the Horizon/Poseidon. Taiko Audio also works on dedicated connection with MSB for their Pro ISL equipped DACs. And more is coming, Aries Cerat is one of the first in the queue.

 

Taiko Olympus rear view

Taiko Olympus rear view

 

Batteries, batteries, and more batteries

I am not going to elaborate on the internal architecture of the Olympus units – Audiodrom is not a PC mag, and I do not feel competent to discuss motherboards, memory boards, and other bits and pieces that are needed for building a high-performance ‘computer’ that decodes the data streams into music. What I find intriguing though, is the power management where multiple Lithium-Titanate battery power supplies take all the important duties and are good to go for a listening session of any duration, unless you wish not to sleep for two and more days. Taiko Audio reports that the LTO battery packs provide faster charging and have a 30-year shelf-life for a drop to 95% of their initial charge capacity.

Before you ask why so many battery supplies and not just one – the answer lies in the Taiko Audio research. They had experimented with different layouts and had found that separately powering individual peripherals had provided some very considerable benefits, as these peripherals consume vastly less power and do not need an overbuilt battery pack. The battery supplies are not used here as an alternative source of power, rather they are a reservoir from which the Olympus takes juice for the clean playback. As a result, it is possible to disconnect the Olympus from the power grid only for 15 minutes or so. The battery supplies are automatically recharged during listening at a low-wattage mode, and at set periods when they draw max watts - the recharging hours and time are configurable in the Olympus app, as well as many other things. The app also monitors the Olympus’ internal state.

Although I’ve carefully read through the technical papers that Taiko Audio had provided, I cannot claim that I’ve fully understand all the configurations that are available for the Olympus system. That’s why we have Dreamaudio, the European distributor, who is where to reach for an expert advice in case you consider integrating the server into your playback chain. Customers are buying a Rolls-Royce and they receive a Rolls-Royce level of support.

 

Taiko Olympus inside

Taiko Olympus inside

 

The way the Taiko Olympus is made is a prime example of modern engineering. The images do not do justice to how immaculate the Olympus look in person. It is easy to fall in love with delicate and smooth transitions of its casework. It is clean and understated design, no matter whether in silver or black anodized finish. In this category, the chasses tend to be milled from one piece of metal and the Olympus chassis is not different: it starts its life as a 72kg heavy aluminium ingot. And as nice as the Olympus is from the outside, it continues to impress by its rational internal layout. For aesthetic reasons, the case does not have any cooling fins and is vented through the slots in the bottom of the unit. The heat dissipation is further supported by sizable copper blocks that host critical components of the device.

 

Taiko Olympus copper charger

The massive copper panel for the AC-DC power supply also serves as a battery charger.

 

Taiko Olympus grounding

The left grounding post grounds the chassis which floats by default. The right binding post connects to the charger AC-DC power supply, which is grounded through the IEC inlet ground pin as well, which is a safety requirement, but the entire AC/DC charger supply does not connect to the rest of the Olympus chassis, it floats.

 

Although there are 2 binding posts for grounding purposes, Taiko Audio mentions that they have never heard an audible benefit from using them. Quite contrary, when the Olympus was grounded, it sounded grainy and veiled. Taiko explains it by the fact that the Olympus is operating in battery supplies, so it actually does not connect to common ground of the system. However, they included the grounding posts for your own experiments. I must admit that I have never heard any benefits by star-grounding my own Stromtank battery supply through its grounding post. Yet I can shape and improve the sound by using the virtual grounding units, like Diamond Sound. It is worthwhile to check what they do for you.

 

No weak spot

We Don’t Care was the very first track I heard through the Olympus. And it instantly gave me goosebumps. It was not a instrumentally complicated track, a duel of two acoustic guitars played by Eric Bibb and Habib Koité on Brothers in Bamako album that were accompanied by shakers and bass. My goosebumps were not induced by music as such; it was phenomenal separation of the sounds that left me speechless for a moment. Each faintest sound, the vibrations of strings, the resonances of guitar bodies, steel and wood, the voices born in chests… As if Sherlock Holmes’ magnifying glass was replaced by electron microscope imaging. Well, another audiophile device that overly accentuates details, you may think. Not at all. The Olympus was far from throwing needles at me. Yes, it was incredibly nuanced and microscopic, yet all the extra information and separation was fluid, colourful, delicate and superbly musical, it served the music and made it more alive and more there. The music glowed with rhythm, the grains in the shaker were almost trackable in their journey through the instrument, the voices were palpably articulated and velvety smooth, and they radiated intimate warmth.  Those were the rare moments when you inhaled and forgot to exhale.

Apparently, the Olympus had no problem to have a full grip on music, as heard in the bass spectrum. The bass was deep and controlled, it was tight and full, with no accent on its lower, middle, or upper part, it was wholesome and complete. Surely I identified the extra portion of warmth and flavour that was introduced by the Lampizator Horizon DAC, yet the Horizon was responsible for only a small part of the sonic bliss that I was hearing, as I found out.

Next to the Olympus server system, the Extreme was sitting in the rack so I could compare these two easily under completely identical conditions. When Audiodrom reviewed the Extreme 2 years ago, it was granted the highest performance score available, the one I thought would never be used for any component. Why? It deserved it. [For the record: I do not use Taiko nor any other streaming tech, so no bias from my side]. Being aware of the law of diminishing returns, with the Olympus I was expecting some marginal improvements, evolutions not revolutions. Oh my, I was wrong. The gap that opened between the two is quite significant. It is like a major amplifier upgrade, not less.

The Olympus vs the Extreme

Although there are superb streamers out there, like Antipodes and Pink Faun, the Extreme sounded always more complete to my ears. Therefore, it was quite unsettling to listen to the Olympus and finding out that the Extreme was less complete. The initial excitement usually cools down in time as I am able to isolate one or two parameters that are responsible for it. So, I really tried hard to identify which attributes in the sound of the Olympus made it attractive. However, no matter which area of the performance I focused on, the Olympus was always better, without trade-offs. And better sounding did not mean more discriminating as far as the recording quality was concerned. One example. ZZ Top issued Blue Jeans Blues fifty years ago (!) on their Fandango album and it has reappeared on several reeditions and remasters since then. I played the original ´75 version and the 2006 digital remaster through the Olympus system and was surprised how different they were, but at the same time I was surprised how good they were, each in its own way. The ’75 original had definitely more dynamic headroom and breathed more, but it was also thinner and less cohesive, and the Taiko let me hear how the individual tracks were layered one atop the other without much thinking about it. Especially the vocal track sat on top of the music, rather than in the music. The ’06 remaster was audibly more compressed and a big part of the air in the track was lost. However, Bob Ludwig who was responsible for the remastering job, made the track more balanced. Suddenly, the bass line jumped in, and the track felt much more organic, cohesive, gritty, and pumping. Although the Olympus highlighted the mastering differences to me clearly, the server did not discriminate none and both were enjoyable and fun to listen to. It corresponds with my own learnings. I could listen virtually to anything when I started my audio journey with (by today’s standards) a low-fi system. As my components improved, I started to sort the recordings into the good-sounding and bad-sounding. This pretty much continued through the whole high-end part of my life. But then, with a really good gear, almost all recordings have become listenable again, just in a different way. This is the Olympus way of playback – totally transparent and true to source, yet so balanced that instead of flaws I could enjoy the subtleties of textures in a non-conflicting and a very fluid fashion.

 

FRONT Taiko Extreme

Taiko Olympus connections

Rear view of the Olympus with the Extreme in the background.

 

The Taiko Olympus DAC

When ordered, the Olympus will be configured exactly according to your preferences. It makes no sense whatsoever to pay for modules that won’t be used anyway, and if your preference changes over time, so can the Olympus’ configuration be changed – it is a modular device. One of the options that is available is very interesting: you can have an internal Taiko DAC module fitted. This way, you can bypass the need for an external DAC. The Taiko Olympus DAC board is mounted on a copper slab, uses Rohm BD34301EKV chipset, and to mount it takes not more than 15 minutes. All you need is to remove the bottom panel of the Olympus, click the DAC board inside and secure it by bolts. This way the rear panel gets enriched by two RCA outs. The balanced XLR outputs are not available for the time being, mostly because Taiko believes that the RCA means less complicated signal path. Thus, the Olumpus system can be routed directly to an integrated amplifier, preamplifier, or power amplifier/monos. As it does not have a volume control, the attenuation happens through the Roon app, yet Taiko has announced they have started to work on an analogue (!) attenuation option for the Olympus.

 

Taiko Olympus output module 3

Taiko Olympus output module 3

Taiko Olympus output module 3

Taiko Olympus internal view

 

How does the Taiko DAC compare to external DACs? Surprisingly well. I do not see it as an emergency solution, quite contrary: it is at the level of the DACs costing 20-25k€. The Lampizator Horizon, which served as a benchmark for it, was better (and it should be), yet there is an interesting financial implication: If I was hard-pressed, I would choose the Olympus with the built-in Taiko DAC over the Extreme with the Horizon, and get both better sound and save 50k€ that can be invested into loudspeakers, for instance. There is also the option to pair the Extreme with the Olympus I/O, which should – according to Taiko – get you “near, though not entirely at, Olympus performance levels”.

 

When the king slays the king

Thinking that money will buy you the best sound is only partially correct. As any other device, the Olympus requires thoughtful implementation. If not integrated properly and up to its full potential, you may get better sound from carefully matched devices of much lesser calibre. On the contrary, if integrated properly, there is nothing that can possibly outperform the Taiko Olympus. Don´t even dare to say a good turntable can. It cannot. More magical? Certainly. More fidelity? Never. Try it, you´ll hear what I mean and what you´re missing.

There is a question that all the Extreme owners have started asking already – should I upgrade to the Olympus?  Usually, my answer would be introduced by phrases such as “It depends…” or “If you have spare money…”. However, I assume that the Extreme owners do have money and if not, they know how to raise extra funds quickly. So, my answer is: Do it, now!

If you know you cannot upgrade for any reason, or if you´ve acquired a new high-end streamer recently, then please stay away from the Olympus and never try to audition it. Such a wise decision will save you some sleepless nights. Still, there is that middle way: the Extreme owners can enhance it by the Olympus I/O unit. This operation will require to change the USB interface too, so it is best to let your dealer do it.  Even without the I/O the Extreme is not a bad thing after all – it is the second-best streamer on the planet.

 

Taiko Olympus 1

 

System:

  • Sources: Taiko Extreme Server, Router a Switch, Lampizator Horizon DAC (modified with Takatsuki TA-274B rectifier valve)
  • Amplifiers: Ypsilon PST 100MkII Silver Edition pre, Ypsilon Hyperion monoblocks
  • Loudspeakers: YG Acoustics Summit
  • Interconnects and speaker cables: Stage III Concepts Cerberus, Stage III Xphynx USB, Taiko XDMI
  • Power conditioning: Telos Power Station Tai Chi Yin a Yang, Telos Grounding Station, Stage III Concepts Leviathan, Proteus, and Kraken

Taiko Olympus server + Olympus I/O XDMI

Price per set as reviewed: 103.440€

 

Distribution: Dreamaudio, Bratislava, Slovakia, +421 907 838 806

 

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