Need Advice. Olive Opus Music Server

[jaxwired]

I'm thinking of purchasing the Olive Opus Music Server No4 ($1500). The idea is that I can box up all my cds once they are loaded on to this simple machine. It will sit on top of my amp just like a cd player and serve up full cd quality music for at least 500 cds.

Does anyone have any experience with this? Pros and Cons? Thoughts?

One concern I have is that it uses a mechanical hard drive which are notorious for failures. And I figure we are probably just a year or 2 away from moving to flash hard drives which will be near bullet proof. But I can always buy a new one in 2 years and dump this one on ebay...

I also think the product needs a remote with an IPOD like lcd screen so you can scan your music from a distance. But nope...

Here's the link to the product:
http://www.olive.us/home.html

[noddin0ff]

I haven't used one, or even seen one working. My impression is that there's nothing they do that can't be accomplished with a mediocre home computer and some hard drives. (You can post in the computer audio forum if you want to get serious about considering a computer based server.)

The downside of doing it yourself on a computer is that you have to rip your CDs and set it up. This is not hard but takes some thought before you act. The up side is that you are completely flexible. I personally, keep backup hard drives of my music; one lives at home, one gets listened to in my office, the other at my spouse's office. At home I stream wireless to the stereo. The home computer is an 8 year old laptop, the point being you don't need much computing power to do this. Budget works.

I don't have a remote system. It would be nice. However, check out Slimdevices for a nice interface for a computer based server. www.slimdevices.com

[Feanor]

I haven't used one, or even seen one working. My impression is that there's nothing they do that can't be accomplished with a mediocre home computer and some hard drives. (You can post in the computer audio forum if you want to get serious about considering a computer based server.)
...

I wouldn't be interested. I use a dedicated music computer which is an old P4; it's attached via USB to an M-Audio external sound card. Almost all my music is from ripped CDs but I have a handful of downloads. I rip to Apple lossless (ALAC) format using iTunes with error correction. I playback with either iTunes or Foobar2000, both of which have a better user interface that Olive and which can be upgraded or enhanced, especially Foobar.

My music files are on an external, USB hard drive, and backed up on a second external hard drive. Soon I will be implementing a Windows Home Server to handle all backups on our five computers at home. (I back up key files, offsite via Mozy Online Backup, but "key files" don't include my music files).

[mlsstl]

I think the Opus is a good solution for someone who is looking for a single, simple to operate device. I gather they sound reasonably good, but are not the last word in audiophilia. They apparently do have a USB port that is suitable for making a music backup to an external hard drive.

However, I think they'd get a bit messier to use if someone is doing anything other than ripping CDs directly to the unit. Downloading music could get complicated as would converting music from LP and tape sources into digital formal. You'd pretty much be back to needing a computer for that.

I've got a Slim Devices Squeezebox 3 that I use with an external computer and DAC as my music source. I'm very pleased with it, but I also note that a lot of my music on the server is from non-CD sources. I doubt the Olive would work well for me.

[Ajani]

There are quite a few music server options available now, so you may want to consider as many of them as possible before buying the Olive.

For around the price of the Olive (or just a few hundred less) you could get the Cambridge Audio 640H...

OR

Use a computer to store and something such as the Squeezebox Duet/Transporter to stream the music to your stereo... (I'd opt for the duet because of the new remote - has an LCD screen so you can use it much like an i-pod).

OR

if you have your audio system as part of a HT, then I'd probably suggest using the AppleTV. Not as TV product but solely as a music server... it will let you store your files on it's internal hard-drive + you get to use your tv as the screen for selecting songs...

[Mike Anderson]

Unless you are completely computer illiterate or really, really don't want to take the time to set it up, I'd highly recommend the Squeezebox (for much less money) or Transporter (if you insist on spending big bucks).

[pixelthis]

I'm thinking of purchasing the Olive Opus Music Server No4 ($1500). The idea is that I can box up all my cds once they are loaded on to this simple machine. It will sit on top of my amp just like a cd player and serve up full cd quality music for at least 500 cds.

Does anyone have any experience with this? Pros and Cons? Thoughts?

One concern I have is that it uses a mechanical hard drive which are notorious for failures. And I figure we are probably just a year or 2 away from moving to flash hard drives which will be near bullet proof. But I can always buy a new one in 2 years and dump this one on ebay...

I also think the product needs a remote with an IPOD like lcd screen so you can scan your music from a distance. But nope...

Here's the link to the product:
http://www.olive.us/home.html

Circuit city has something called a "media server", looks like a computer (which is what it is) cost: 500 bucks
A DEDICATED server looks cool, and that is about it.
All they are are computer servers.
YOU SAY YOU CAN PUT "500" CD's ON the olive?
I have over 300, plus another 400 or so I downloaded in flac format (lossless) on
a 320 gig USB harddrive that cost 99 bucks, and I have 179 gigs left over!
I use a cheap external soundcard, had it for several years but it sounds decent still, about to upgrade to a USB DAC .
None of this is rocket science, that olive you are looking at probably has 300$
worth of parts, if that, a MB, hard drive, memory, and a cheap CDROM drive to load the discs with.
YOU WANT TO WASTE 1500 bucks fine.
Or you can get an EMACHINE from circuit city for 300 bucks and do pretty much the same thing

[tomproulx]

["I'm thinking of purchasing the Olive Opus Music Server No4 ($1500). The idea is that I can box up all my cds once they are loaded on to this simple machine. It will sit on top of my amp just like a cd player and serve up full cd quality music for at least 500 cds.

Does anyone have any experience with this? Pros and Cons? Thoughts?"

I recently bought a used Olive Symphony to try out a music server and I love it. I bought a 80GB which I knew was too small but at $499 the price was right.

I'm using it with an Audio Refinement Complete integrated amp, and Green Mountain Callisto speakers. The Symphony has replaced my Jolida 100A, modded CD player.

I've had the Symphony for about a month.

Pros:
Very easy set up, easy to perform all cd functions - upload, burn, play
Very easy to navigate through the sub categories, Library, Music Server, Internet Radio, Analog Recording and Settings. Also easy to perform functions, change functions in each of these categories.

The music reproduction is almost as good as my Jolida. Certainly as detailed, to my ear, as the Jolida but it is ss not tube and that is apparent.

Tech support has been great. I called to get information on how to connect to my wireless computer network so that I could stream radio, they spent 10 minutes on the phone and walked me through the whole process, they also walked me through the set up to add analog recordings to my Library.

With a little work I will start to have all my music (digital and analog) readily accessible.

Cons (May be very different with newer models):
If the recognition software doesn't recognize or miscategorizes your music it is tedious to enter the correct information by hand.

My unit is sensitive to static electricity and has twice turned itself off when I touched it.

The "Random" play feature doesn't turn itself off when the server is turned off so, if I forget to turn it off then my next listening session starts off with random play until I remember to go turn off the function.

It's outlandishly expensive to get Olive to add memory.

However, none of the cons are really difficult to deal with except the lack of memory. I am a convert to this music server; I listen to more music with more pleasure. And I'm in the market for a used 750GB Olive now that I've tried it out.

Hope this helps-
Tom

[basite]

Circuit city has something called a "media server", looks like a computer (which is what it is) cost: 500 bucks
A DEDICATED server looks cool, and that is about it.
All they are are computer servers.
YOU SAY YOU CAN PUT "500" CD's ON the olive?
I have over 300, plus another 400 or so I downloaded in flac format (lossless) on
a 320 gig USB harddrive that cost 99 bucks, and I have 179 gigs left over!
I use a cheap external soundcard, had it for several years but it sounds decent still, about to upgrade to a USB DAC .
None of this is rocket science, that olive you are looking at probably has 300$
worth of parts, if that, a MB, hard drive, memory, and a cheap CDROM drive to load the discs with.
YOU WANT TO WASTE 1500 bucks fine.
Or you can get an EMACHINE from circuit city for 300 bucks and do pretty much the same thing

good point

or you could build your own media server pc for even less, and get more quality out of it.
you can get a nice case too then, instead of the pc like exterior from the emachine from cc...

the olive might be slighty more convenient (standard wireless and all, although you can get a squeezebox too for your pc), but that's not worth the price difference...

Keep them spinning,
Bert.

[firedog]

Hi-

I have the Opus 3 which is basically the same thing (no touch screen, has a nav wheel like the ipod).

Superior to PC/Laptop based music server for several reasons:

1. You don't need your PC turned on to listen to music collection
2. Per above, work on PC isn't affected by music playback or encoding
3. Quiet -suitable for living room and good listening environment
4. Software setup to encode multiple formats, including lossless, per user prefs
5. No technical, PC knowledge required
6. You can just stick a CD in and it's encoded and tagged automatically - no user intervention required
6. If you are a geek, it's Linux and can be hacked
7. Looks good along with stereo, fits in standard audio rack ("significant other" acceptance factor)
8. Does internet radio without PC
9. Sound is on the level of typical stereo components, better than most PC's

You may not think any of the above matter, but lots of people want a music server "appliance" that works like a piece of consumer electronics, and not like a PC.

The convenience of the unit is substantial. It changed the way I listen to my music collection. I listen to more and more varied tracks more often, as the entire collection is just a fingertip movement away.

I also have PC based music, and rarely listen to it, as Olive unit sounds better and is more convenient.

[hermanv]

I have an Olive Musica. In spite of good reviews, I found the audio quality below my expectations so I run an external DAC. I've had mine about 2 years, no problems yet.

Mine has a wireless computer link. According to the manual, the user can control songs from a computer screen which would certainly be an improvement over the very limited LCD and single knob data entry device. I assume you can enter titles of newly added CDs from the computer as well.

The existing CD database is surprisingly complete, of course it can not recognize songs published after the machine was built. I upgraded the software by way of an internet download (makes a CD that's then loaded into the machine), but this did not upgrade the CD database.

All in all, I like the device. I use random play a lot, no repeats for days on end.

[Worf101]

I've been "toying" with the idea of a HTPC for the living room and you guys have given me much food for thought. Thanks.

Da Worfster

[Mike Anderson]

Superior to PC/Laptop based music server for several reasons:

1. You don't need your PC turned on to listen to music collection

2. Per above, work on PC isn't affected by music playback or encoding

I've been running Slimserver on my computer while I work, and I've never noticed a slowdown. Also, I leave my computer on most of the time, so music playback is seamless.

3. Quiet -suitable for living room and good listening environment

You don't have to have your computer in your listening room. Squeezeboxes or Transporters work over a wireless connection, or you can string any length of CAT5.

4. Software setup to encode multiple formats, including lossless, per user prefs

Computer-based systems are far more flexible in terms of formats.

6. You can just stick a CD in and it's encoded and tagged automatically - no user intervention required

I'm curious to know how well this works on your set-up.

Computer-based systems can also tag automatically, but I frequently encounter CDs for which tags are unavailable, incorrect or I want to change/customize them for some reason. Seems to me the computer would be superior on this score, but I've never used an Olive so I wouldn't know.

6. If you are a geek, it's Linux and can be hacked

For obvious reasons, this can't possibly be an advantage over a computer!

7. Looks good along with stereo, fits in standard audio rack ("significant other" acceptance factor)

Again, your computer doesn't have to reside in your living room; you can put it wherever you want, as far out of sight as you want.

8. Does internet radio without PC

So does the Squeezebox, Transporter, etc.

9. Sound is on the level of typical stereo components, better than most PC's

I'd be willing to bet that the Transporter blows away the Olive in terms of sound quality. But the broader point is that with the computer, you can go as high-quality as you want, because you can pick the D/A converter and all down-stream components.

You may not think any of the above matter, but lots of people want a music server "appliance" that works like a piece of consumer electronics, and not like a PC.

Personally, the flexibility and power of the PC-based system far outweighs the inconvenience factor to me. Also, I kind of like futzing with computers and setting up innovative/cutting-edge type rigs.

But yeah, I can see how some people like the convenience factor. I'd never get my parents to go with a system like mine.

However, you've left off one very important factor in your comparison: Cost.

If you already have the PC and hard drive space, then dollar-for-dollar the money you spend on something like an Olive will get you a far superior-sounding setup if you take the time and effort to rig it up yourself.