AVForums Olive HD discussion thread

amcluesent

Distinguished Member
Joined
Aug 13, 2002
Messages
5,176
Reaction score
1,038
Points
1,030
Location
Glasgow
This thread is for discussion on the product, following an earlier thread on UK sales.
 
Last edited:
One high profile hifi retailer I know is having a serious look at the possibility of adopting the product.
 
Dealers are in the process of being appointed and stocks are due in at the beginning of April. Please bear in mind that most dealers will probably want to hear a unit before buying, it will take a while before the UK is properly covered.

For info, Ripcaster have been supplied a small quantity of units as an interim measure by Olive (with our blessing) and they may be included in the ongoing dealer base.
 
Last edited:
Having seen (but not heard) the Olive 4HD at the Bristol Show, I will be interested to have a proper demo in due course.
 
Has anyone bought or heard one of these yet?

How do they compare to the Squeezebox, Naim HDX, Linn DS etc?

Regards,
S
 
I note that the Olive 4HD has received a favourable review in the latest Hi-Fi Choice (June 2010).
 
I was looking on Computer Audio website and the feedback to the news item on the 4HD seemed to suggest it was not functioning very well due to firmware issues but that it had got better with recent updates. No real indication of how good the SQ actually is though.

Regards,
S
 
I briefly heard this at the Gadget Show Live. I had a quick play and was impressed, it was hooked up to a fatman valve amp. It was way too busy/noisy to audition properly but the general feel and sound was impressive.
 
Have retailers been appointed yet?

I noticed that Sevenoaks Sound & Vision are advertising this product on there website for ÂŁ2199 for the 4HD music server and they have the Olive 2 HiFi player also for ÂŁ699...

But as my local Sevenoaks Sound & Vision closed down last year I couldnt go in a see one any way :confused:

It was listed on this link (about 3/4 of the way down)
ssavoffers.com
 
"my local Sevenoaks Sound & Vision closed down last year"

As far as I know the Guildford shop is still up and running (haven't seen it for a few weeks though) :)
 
But as my local Sevenoaks Sound & Vision closed down last year I couldnt go in a see one any way :confused:[/url]

Actually it was 2008 the Edinburgh store closed down. I should know, I used to work there. :mad:

Thankfully I am still working in the same line of work at The Home Cinema Centre on Morrison Street who are Assured Advertisers on here.

I have had the opportunity to play about with the Olive 4HD so please feel free to get in touch if you would like to discuss it or the alternatives at all.

Regards,

Chris.
 
I have had the opportunity to play about with the Olive 4HD so please feel free to get in touch if you would like to discuss it or the alternatives at all.

Regards,

Chris.

The killer question: How does it sound compared to other HD/streamers?
 
There is a lot to say about the Olive Opus.
I have therefor started a special dedicated FORUM for the OLIVE products. (OPUS 2, 4, 4 HD etc.)
I invite every (potential) buyer of an Olive product to visit this FORUM, and make it into a central Olive-User place.
Olive Forum
You are all welcome!
 
I've been considering this product as a "one box" solution to music storage. Also in the frame is the Brennan JB7.

I currently have a seperates system, consisting of:
Rega Planar 3 turntable
Arcam Alpha 6+ amp
Arcam Alpha 7 CD player
Acoustic Energy AE-509 floorstanders.

I'm very happy with it - sounds great, does what I need.

However, it would be nice to lose 500 CD's and 300 LP's to the loft, and just have one box on the shelf! I'd keep the fabulous AE-509's

The Olive and the Brennan both seem to fit the bill, albeit at different price ranges. The Brennan has the added feature of being able to record from analogue input - so could (with some effort) get all my LP's onto it. The Olive lacks this feature, but makes up for it with HDMI out for on-screen browsing.

Is there any way to get analogue signal into the Olive to record LP's? My Amp dosen't have digital optical in or out.

Or any other products I should be considering? Will the Olive stand up to scrutiny in the quality of sound, compared to the Arcam kit?

Cheers.
 
>Is there any way to get analogue signal into the Olive to record LP's?<

Not that I can see. You'd need to use your PC to record the 'needle drops' then copy files over to the Olive. Digitising LPs is a subject in it's own right but will always be utterly tedious.

>Or any other products I should be considering?<

The only other unit with its own disk I can think of is the Naim HDX which is ÂŁ4K odd. If you were to split the player and disk-storage, there's many options - Sonos, Linn, Squeezebox, Cambridge Audio...
 
Last edited:
The only other unit with its own disk I can think of is the Naim HDX which is ÂŁ4K odd.

And the Brennan. :smashin:

As part of declutter (removal of 500 odd CD's and 300 odd LP's from living space), looking for one-box solution ideally.

Cheers
 
There's also the Naim UnitiServe at ÂŁ2k.
 
As part of declutter (removal of 500 odd CD's and 300 odd LP's from living space), looking for one-box solution ideally.

I'll probably get shot here but why not also consider the Apple TV?

I use one and works great for that purpose that you mention... mine's only has a 250GB internal drive but lots of people have larger (1TB and such). Mine's also has access to 8TB of external storage on the network, all drives hidden in cupboards.

Mine's plays uncompressed Apple Lossless files but many others can be used and it can play movies and stuff also, nice HDMI outs to the TV/Decoder and also I use the optical output to send the audio to an outboard Musical Fidelity DAC/Valve stage so the sound is pretty reasonable also.

Downsides? well apple have just launched a new version of the Apple TV that is a streamer only now, no internal drives just 8GB of flash memory from movie streaming services.

Also to use non standard apple systems like FLAC and XBMC and 1080p movie playback some hacking of the unit is required depending on what you want it to do?

Works for me and is totally silent as there are no fans involved (at worst you might here the odd HDD click but its a well sealed little unit...

Just an alternative thought as they are pretty cheep and cheerful and the user interface is slick :)
 
Cheers for that Brian - I wasn't aware of Apple TV. Sounds OK, but if I'm going to do it, having analogue input (or means to do so) from t/table would be required.

Also sounds a lot of relearning computer whizz... I'm no technophobe, it's just that I spend all day supporting computer crap and releasing software - I just want to come home and forget about having to setup another system! So the one-box Olive / Brennan, with one-touch ripping is what I'm after.

Cheers! :smashin:
 
No problem m8

How I get vinyl into my Apple TV system is fairly easy...

the Turntable is connected to the amp as normal, the amp has a tape loop, the amp also has an optical tape loop for recording, I output via optical (analogue would work too) to my iMac's Audio in that is Optical or Analogue also so when I play any source via the amp the mac can listen in and record.

I use a variety of different software for the actual recording but mainly Audacity (PC also) or Sound Studio and I use Sound Soap to clear up the recording if it is an old crappy record.

the recording is then sent to the Apple TV either as a Apple Lossless file or Flac, either's good as it gets for digital files as both are non compressed.

I think what ever system you choose there will most likely be some form of user input required to get vinyl, CD's are easy but if you want them good then for vinyl imports the more human intervention might well mean the better the outcome... :thumbsup:

Good luck though in your quest :smashin:

PS I have a few serious audiophile friends and they have been pretty stunned at my end results, they normally turn there noses up at all this digital malarky :eek:
 
I use Apple TV with Lossless and sounds very good indeed.

A friend had the Sonos which sounds great also.

I was not bowled over with the Brennan at all but they may have updated it to allow FLAC and/or ALAC files to be played
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom