Olive 06HD Music Server First Look

[admin]

No expense was spared on the Olive 06HD so you shouldn't be surprised at the $5000 price tag. Olive is currently taking pre-orders on their website. While the 06HD is surely a niche product for those that are concerned by the minutia of high fidelity without being deluded that vinyl was somehow the pinnacle and want to have all their content in once place, it is surely a showpiece. With all the ways to control it including an iPod app and a 10.1" touch screen installed in the top, it's surely a unique device. Add to that an absolute focus on audio fidelity incorporating some of the best components on the market, and you can see where all your money is going.

Discuss "Olive 06HD Music Server First Look" here. Read the article.

 

[jinjuku]

So what does this unit do for me vs a nice laptop and external USB DAC?

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

So what does this unit do for me vs a [STRIKE]nice laptop[/STRIKE] cheap netbook and external USB DAC?

Nice Gui ? Gotta be worth 5k by iself

ps. Fixed. See above

 

[gliz]

once again I marvel at the price of these things vs. what one can build one for is insane. I low end PC will do the trick

 

[theaudioguy]

O6hd

I think the nice thing about this solution is that it takes the need for a PC out of the equation for those making the transition from CDs to a digital music library. Not to mention the outstanding audio capabilities of the balanced XLR outputs. You'd have to get some serious components together (on your own) if you were gonna build your own server that would compete sonically with the O6

 

[jinjuku]

I think the nice thing about this solution is that it takes the need for a PC out of the equation for those making the transition from CDs to a digital music library. Not to mention the outstanding audio capabilities of the balanced XLR outputs. You'd have to get some serious components together (on your own) if you were gonna build your own server that would compete sonically with the O6

XLR does not Equal SQ. XLR isn't sonically better than RCA even. Just better at noise rejection and long runs.

I could see a $500 laptop and nice DAC (easily under $1K) competing SQ wise. Not trying to rain on their parade and maybe Olive has id'd a market for $5K standalone digital players. I guess they are the $5K version of the Logitech Squeezebox touch.