Olive Releases OPUS No4 and MELODY No2

[admin]

Olive Media today introduced the new line of OPUS No4 digital music server, storing up to 3,000 CDs in original CD quality, and delivering them in breathtaking sound. Music stored on the OPUS No4 can now be accessed and played anywhere in the home with Olive's new MELODY No2, wirelessly and in up to ten different rooms simultaneously. Both the OPUS and the MELODY come with a high-resolution color touch-screen and an innovative new interface to allow users to quickly and conveniently find the right music.

Discuss "Olive Releases OPUS No4 and MELODY No2" here. Read the article.

 

[maggie]

Comparision

Any idea how the Olive would compare to the Cambridge unit in terms of ease of use and sound quality?
MAggie

 

[stratman]

$2200.00 for both units ($1800 for storage unit $600 for interface /player) less than Escient's bigger units, more than a SONOS, more than a PC based system with 1 Terabyte. I guess convinience? I remember about a year or so back some of the members here had comments on Olive's reliability?

 

[davidtwotrees]

Music Servers are Awse.

I think this Olive sounds like a kick *** product. Price wise, I paid almost a grand for my entry level Escient SE80 that holds 500 discs at a highest bit rate of 320.
The new Olive holds up to 3000 cds in cd quality......and it will support HD audio at 96khz/24bit?! That's huge, imho. To get that quality of music on a server would be awsome. And the $1800 price tag for the terabyte server doesn't sound at all over priced to me..........yeah yeah, here's where all the geeks jump in and say they can run this with that on their pc for a lot less...
well, I can't. And my server is the best investment I have ever made audiowise. I did a lot of reading on Olive, and I didn't get a sense of a reliability problem from posters around the net....my research all pointed to Audio ReQuest being the best name in servers, but they were out of my price range.........interesting to note was Mac's server was built on an Escient platform........
My Escient has done everything they said it would. I love it...

 

[MUDSHARK]

I wonder if the static electricity shutdown problems of earlier units has been solved? Also, I would hope the Dac has been improved substantially for those connecting to an analog pre-amp rather than a HT type receiver/ Pre-Pro. Otherwise provision for a stand alone DAC will be necessary.

 

[t246]

May be I missed some details

I just wondering what is the target population of this device ?
Rich (but not very rich) audiophile with NO knowledge of computers at all, but willing to go digital ?

How many of them exists ?

A cheap used desktop or an old laptop which run Linux or HP and can be put in closet, D-link DNS-323 NAS ,couple of 500G hard drives and Slim devices Squeeze Box - 1 for each room provides much better and much more flrxible solution for less then half a price !

And it has full control of how you rip it, support every format - Flac, Ogg , Apple lossless etc,etc, provides full control of tagging, it's possible to keep everything in FlAC and convert on demand to MP3 to download on mobile player, you can see text on the screen even if you few feet away and much much more. (I use my 10 years old Dell Laptop and I don't hear it despite the fact it's on my table 1 feet from me)

I find this screen useless since you need to sit really close to the unit to see the art and text (I don't think it has a video output to hook it to TV).

It may be a fine unit in terms of sound quality but if you are really reach you go to one of those combined audio/video servers which are installed by professionals and if not - the solution I described above.

Again, nothing against the product or the company, just can't figure business rationale behind it (Obviously, I am wrong since they exists for some time. don't know if they are making any profits though

 

[MUDSHARK]

Not all of us want a computer in our music system. My den has no closets, all the bookshelfs are utilized and I like the on screen display on the 30 inch Tv. One remote control handles the on screen menus with little interruption while I'm working at my desk. Different strokes.

 

[stratman]

I think this Olive sounds like a kick *** product. Price wise, I paid almost a grand for my entry level Escient SE80 that holds 500 discs at a highest bit rate of 320.
The new Olive holds up to 3000 cds in cd quality......and it will support HD audio at 96khz/24bit?! That's huge, imho. To get that quality of music on a server would be awsome. And the $1800 price tag for the terabyte server doesn't sound at all over priced to me..........yeah yeah, here's where all the geeks jump in and say they can run this with that on their pc for a lot less...
well, I can't. And my server is the best investment I have ever made audiowise. I did a lot of reading on Olive, and I didn't get a sense of a reliability problem from posters around the net....my research all pointed to Audio ReQuest being the best name in servers, but they were out of my price range.........interesting to note was Mac's server was built on an Escient platform........
My Escient has done everything they said it would. I love it...

If I was going to ever go the server way, I'd go with Escient before Olive, I remember now, there were comments on Olive's reliability on this site about a year ago, I was reasearching servers and Escient always came up on top, while I distinctly remember some people having issues with Olive.

 

[MUDSHARK]

I read much the same. The Cambridge unit cost $1400 when it came out but had better DAC and reliability. Not to beat my drum but a used Yamaha with a harddrive upgrade and an outboard DAC (unless a digital connection is possible) is more cost-effective for the serious music listener. Mine set me back $800 a couple of years back and I could not be more satisfied.