High-end CD Player with 400GB hard drive
coryknx -- Thu, 03/02/2006 - 15:37
does anyone have experience with Olive products? They just announced a high-end version of their music center line
does anyone have experience with Olive products? They just announced a high-end version of their music center line
In the latest TAS (April/May 2006), Alan Taffel gives the Olive Opus his "most significant New Product" award, not because of features (though it has plenty) but because of sound quality. Since it is a show report, he probably hasn't heard it under ideal conditions, but he seemed impressed.
I also have the impression that services like Music Giants are part of the reason the Olive product might be useful. But I can't really tell if Music Giants offers anything better than uncompressed CD files. Anyone with experience with Music Giants?
Watch for Barry Willis' review of the Olive Musica CD player/music server, which is slated to appear in issue 68 of The Perfect Vision.
It makes for very interesting reading.
Best,
Chris Martens
Audio Editor, The Perfect Vision
Senior Writer, The Absolute Sound
Chris Martens
Editor, Avguide.com/Playback/The Perfect Vision
I haven't read much about the opus but user reviews on the Musica have been decidedly mixed. While the sound quality of uncompressed has been described as reasonably good many have complained about software bugs. The 80 Hdd will also permit on about 125cd's uncompressed. Also, static electricity appears to cause the unit to freeze. Therefore, I have taken this server off my list. I would be interested in hearing of anyone's experiences with the Cambridge Azur H64, however. The hdd is 160 while the price is 1399 us as opposed to 3K for the Opus.
Bryston 2BLP Parasound Halo p-3
Infinity Kappa 400 M&K MX-70
NAD T-533 Yamaha MCX-1000
Thorens TD-185 Monarchy 33
My only experience with the Cambridge Azur server was at a show, but from the demo, it looked most impressive. They seem to have spent a lot of effort on the user interface. The digital-to-analog section and analog output stage appeared to use high-end parts and design techniques.
Barry Willis' review of the Musical is in the upcoming issue of The Perfect Vision, which will be posted soon.
Robert Harley
I recently purchased a Yamaha MCX-1000 on ebay for less than $400 delivered. The software appears to work well with no encountered glitches. The hard drive is only 80Gb so it will only hold approximately 100 cds at PCM or 500 at MP3 320 or a combination of the two.
The Bad: I have the unit connected via the rca analog connections to my Parasound Halo P-3 Preamp and the sound quality is extremely disappointing. The cd player in the unit sounds no better so I'm guessing the weakness of the unit is in the analog connectors or the DACs. I guess that is why this crucial part of the unit was mentioned in the discussion of the Cambridge. Yamaha must think that all users of the unit ($2,200 new) wil connect to a AV receiver with digital connections. A fine unit to create your own personal radio station but unfortunately the dynamic range is much like a moderate quality 1980's cassette deck. The difference between my NAD and this Yamaha is like night and day. Glad I didn't pay much for it. I'll wait for your reviews and replace in a couple of years when these units become more common.
Bryston 2BLP Parasound Halo p-3
Infinity Kappa 400 M&K MX-70
NAD T-533 Yamaha MCX-1000
Thorens TD-185 Monarchy 33
I don't want to get this post off track, but you can increase the hard disk size on the MusicCast. You are correct in the music quality. If you want to sell your unit or upgrade the drive, please contact me.
Welcome to the forum, Setter. I have just purchased a used Monarchy 33 DAC (also has a pretty fair line pre-amp) which I intend to connect via optical from the Yamaha. I hope this will improve the sound quality on the songs stored digitally on the Yamaha. Note that songs stored from the turntable via the analog recording are actually quite tolerable.
My plan is to connect the dac to the Halo pre-amp. I will report on my success or lack of it when the Monarchy arrives. Thanks for your interest.
Bryston 2BLP Parasound Halo p-3
Infinity Kappa 400 M&K MX-70
NAD T-533 Yamaha MCX-1000
Thorens TD-185 Monarchy 33
Your plan sound like it should be an improvement. When you are complete, if you want to increase your hard disk drive size, please contact me. I can backup the data cheaper than the Yamaha dealer using the same tools and hard drives. It'll save you many days of reloaded your entire CD collection.
We have full reviews of five music servers in Issue 70 of The Perfect Vision (September cover date, August 15 mail date) along with a Buyer's Guide Plus feature on the category. The five servers are the Audio ReQuest, Escient Fireball, McIntosh, Cambridge Azur, and the Yamaha.
Robert Harley
Editor-in-Chief
The Perfect Vision
The Absolute Sound
I recently took the Olive Musica for an extended test run and liked it quite a bit. The operating system is somewhat arcane, but when the Musical is linked to a notebook computer running iTunes, it's a breeze to use. The Olive Opus should be a significant step up, both in performance and storage capacity.
Barry Willis
Let me second Barry Willis' comment on the Olive Opus. That particular music server not only offers a relatively large 400 GB drive, but also appears to take a credible run at offering audiophile-grade sound quality. Highlights include:
* Quad 24-bit/192 kHz Burr Brown DACs
* An ultra-low-jitter clock
* A special "anti-imaging" filter
* A very high quality analog output stage
* A beefy linear power supply with separate sections to power analog and digital circuits in the server/player.
* Special high-precision hard drive bearings.
Watch for an upcoming Music Server Buyers' Guide + feature in The Perfect Vision Issue 70 (as I write this, my colleague Chris Jones, TPV Convergence Editor, is auditioning a couple of music servers in the Absolute Multimedia Audio Lab that adjoins my office).
Best,
Chris Martens
Audio Editor, The Perfect Vision
Senior Writer, The Absolute Sound
Chris Martens
Editor, Avguide.com/Playback/The Perfect Vision
Here is a on hand report of the OPUS.
Full of JITTER.
Does not have 4 dacs only 2 dacs (lie)
Analog stage was made for a laptop.
gets VERY hot.
The hard drive bearings , are rubber bushings. nothing special or high precision.
Sounds terible.
nasty customer support.
Regards.
Anthony
Aberdeen
Your take on the OPUS seems to be the exact opposite of what we might expect based on the list of specs Chris Martens offers. Where did you see a review?
Barry Willis
Oh I am sorry, Was this a private reveiwers thread?
This was my first post here, sorry if I stepped on any toes.
I picked up a few Olive Opus's for testing and Review..
I had very high expectations, but when I listened to them,
they sounded awefull.
Then I popped the cover, it was a modified Musica unit
I did some measurments the jitter was so high..
I was suprise it played music.
The sound quality was like , Pa speaker pionted at my head in a telephone booth..
I did more research.. and found the specs was false.
We just found out, the "ultra-low-jitter clock" was suppose to be temperture compenstated.
well it's not..... its just a cheap crystal.
I have a few 500gig OPUS's if anybody would like one $2100 (list$3500)
free ship silver or black.
Aberdeen,
Thus far, we have not seen a sample of the Olive Opus in house, so that my post was purely to relay Olive's original description of the unit.
I gather your findings suggest the server has few if any of the special features that Olive claims the Opus has. Is that correct?
Note: Here's a link to the current Olive specifications page. http://www.olive.us/downloads/opus_datasheet.pdf
Best,
Chris Martens
TPV/TAS
Chris Martens
Editor, Avguide.com/Playback/The Perfect Vision
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