Olive 4 HD

[darkvisions]

Anyone have this yet or know anyone that does. Or maybe the other Olive products.

I am intrigued by the HD one as I would love to have all my CD's in lossless that I can play while cleaning the house, having parties and cookouts without having to change CD's. Just turn it on and let it play.

I would still use my ERC-1 for critical listening when I am listening alone of with just a few people listening to music.

Forget a computer based system. I am looking at a computer monitor on an average 10-12 hrs. a day Monday through Friday and don't want to look at a computer screen to listen to tunes.

Thinking about maybe getting this or something similar with this years tax refund.

www.olive.us/products/olive4hd_overview.html

[jlafrenz]

It seems to be just and integrated music server with a higher end DAC. Easily something you could attain with a regular old PC and a DAC of your choice, all at a lower cost. It looks cool, but there are lots of awesome PC cases out there.

[DYohn]

Ooo, a new product from Olive. Very interesting. I used to own one of their early products (the Symphony) and while it worked well and sounded really good, and it was a very convenient way to rip CDs (just insert) I quickly filled the hard drive and wanted more, and found that a media server PC with a good DAC sounds just as good and is far more expandable and usable. YMMV of course, and again I say Olive products are very good.

[darkvisions]

I am looking for something that fits in with my other equipment. I do not want a PC solution. No room for a PC and monitor in or near my setup. And as I stated I am staring at a PC monitor all the time. My home PC is upstairs on the other side of my house from my system and don't want to run wires and go up and down the stairs to play music.

The 4HD has a two terabyte drive that can store 6000 cd's in FLAC. I probably have close to a thousand CD's so I don't see myself running out of space any time soon if I decide to go this route.

It won't be until at least March/April anyways so I have plenty of time to read reviews or look for other options. Who knows I might just scrap the whole idea by then.

Just exploring options to make things easier when having to play music for extended periods.

[jlafrenz]

Is this for a dedicated 2 channel system? If not then just use your TV as a monitor and run the cables with all your other ones going to the TV and preamp. You can find PC cases that fit on a rack or are even rack mountable. In this case, what I am suggesting is that you build or buy a separate PC for you setup, not use your current one.

[Deleted]

Looks pretty cool but pretty expensive. You'd need at least a TB if your ripping in flac.

[GreenKiwi]

Yeah, though the prices are reasonably high. It seems like you buy convenience & that nice little display.

You can get a mac mini and a benchmark DAC-1 for about the same. (Or a lot less when emo releases their DAC ) Would have to figure out the display option... or a little PC with a small touch screen.

It does look very very cool though.

I will add, this looks cooler than the Sonos modules I've seen.

[darkvisions]

jlafrenz, yes this for two channel music only. With a PC I still will have to deal with an operating system, booting it up etc.

N8dogg, this comes with a 2TB drive installed, which is plenty big enough for my cd collection, with plenty of room for a lot more.

I am looking for simplicity and ease of use and this seems to be both but I will wait for user and pro reviews before I make up my mind.

Thanks for the responses!!

[jlafrenz]

If your looking for a turn key solution, then this seems like a pretty nice unit to fit your needs.

[lwt-bo]

Darkvisions on on board with you here. I inquired about the Olive a while back. I think dyohn mentioned it was a quality product.
Then I noticed they come out with this HD version just a few months ago.
I'm not sure it gets any simpler then this.
I can't spring for the $2k though.

You're timing for this thread is perfect.
I was just logging into the Emotiva page to request they build server modeled off the Olive4HD.
I don't want to steal your post though so I'll put that request in the green room.

[edmondwolfman]

Darkvisions, thanks for the link. May have to wait until I save up the money but this looks like what I've been searching for.

I currently use 2 NASs and also 2 computers to stream my music. The problem is, I want to move to the highest resolution music I can deliver to my processor and my current setup just won't do that.

I have some 96k files and a few 192k files and I can't get them to my processor from either of my NAS devices or my computers at that resolution. They always get downsampled to 44k/48k. I can stream through my PS3 but it won't pass 96k or 192k files, it resamples to 88k or 172k. I don't want my PS3 to resample my high res files.

Since the olive will store as well as send either the 192k files coverted to analog or send the 192k file directly to my processor this takes my downsampling computer out of the equation.

I have a Cambridge Audion DACMagic that I really enjoy but not only will it only accept up to 96k files I can't get anything to it that hasn't been resampled to 88k or less, just can't get my 96k files to it without them being downsampled. I use sp/dif from 1 computer and USB from another (of course the USB only does 44k) as well as toslink from my PS3 to the DACMagic.

If my wife and I both keep our jobs throught this danged economy I will definately think about adding this unit for under $2000. I've looked at some other units that will accept highres files up to 192k as input but they seem to all start around $4000.

Since the olive has onboard storage that eliminates the problem of getting the files out of my computer without them being downsampled.

[Deleted]

I'd be interested in what you think if you decide to get this unit.

[drobusto]

Darkvisions
Have you checked out the Fireball MX?
Also the Sonos is modular and wireless - able to transmit high resolution files.

The Olive is high on my list also. But I wish the price would come down. I would rather use my TV (as a monitor) so I would like it if someone would offer something similar to the olive without the screen - might be a bit cheaper too.

I have also wondered, my Pre/Pro has a good DAC. Can these units be used only to output the digital file to my integrated DAC and let the Pre/Pro handle the conversion? Would there be a problem handling the FLAC files? If that would work, that would also keep the cost down and avoid redundancy.

I first became interested in this concept when I saw the Sooloos system. Have you seen it? VERY costly but nice GUI.

[darkvisions]

I am not looking for wireless or modular I want something that hooks up to my existing system. My whole house audio is my volume control. I am only interested in music only not in streaming my DVD's.

I live by myself with my dog so there is no wife factor involved. I just want something simple of high quality to burn my CD collection into lossless to enjoy during parties, bbq's and when I am working around the house.

I still have every intention of keeping my ERC-1 for listening to CD's. I just want another option for convenience. The Olive is pricey but it seems to be exactly what I am looking for.

[elwicksto]

my solution for this has been my apple tv with my lossless encoded audio (i rarely use it for video - only occasional youtube viewing with company). it also syncs to my photo library so it is great to have on when friends are over to listen to music & have photos as screen saver.