Olive 4HD makes the audiophile's music server more audiophilic
By Darren Murph 
posted Nov 19th 2009 9:54AM
posted Nov 19th 2009 9:54AM
Olive Creates New Audio Category, the HD Hi-Fi Music Server
Olive 4HD Sets a New Digital Audio Standard, Fueled with 96khz/24-bit Content from Chesky Records
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - November 19, 2009
Leading music server manufacturer Olive Media Inc. today announced the introduction of its first HD Hi-Fi Music Server for home stereo systems. Creating the HD category for digitally recorded music, the Olive 4HD matches recording engineers' golden standard of 24-bit sound and 192 kHz sample rate, offering listeners music at more than 250 times the resolution of CDs.
"Most digital music solutions severely compromise the quality of the music experience," said Dr. Oliver Bergmann, founder and CEO of Olive. "Our new HD music server delivers a new listening experience that allows music lovers to enjoy the best of both worlds-the convenience of digital music management and the quality of HD sound. This is the way music sounds as it is recorded."
Easy to set up, configure and navigate, the new Olive 4HD serves as a control center that can access any digitized music library. A two terabyte hard drive stores up to 6,000 CDs, or 20,000 high resolution 24-bit tracks. Music can easily be copied to the Olive 4HD via the built-in CD mechanism, or from a PC or Mac through its wireless or wired network connection. The breathtaking music reproduction is handled through Olive's proprietary high-resolution Digital-Analog-Converter (DAC), featuring Texas Instrument's best-of-breed 192khz/24-bit Burr-Brown PCM1792A.
Olive enforces its commitment to HD by partnering with Grammy Award-winning Chesky Records, producer of high-resolution audio recordings. Twelve tracks from Chesky artists are included free with the Olive 4HD, providing over an hour of audiophile-grade music.
"To achieve the highest quality audio means recording at 24-bit," said Chesky Records founder David Chesky. "CDs cannot reproduce what we capture from musicians during a recording session, and MP3 files degrade the quality even further. But with the Olive 4HD it is now possible to replicate the experience of that golden master recording at home, in full 24-bit."
As part of your home entertainment system the Olive 4HD connects directly to a stereo receiver. Music libraries are easy to navigate through the integrated touchscreen, or, using the unit's built-in HDMI interface, on a TV. Olive also offers a free iPhone/iPod Touch application that allows users to control the HD Hi-Fi Music Server from anywhere within the home network. Beyond standard music information such as artist, album, track title and cover art, the Olive delivers extended metadata, describing music more accurately and tailored to its specific genre. This allows users to find the right music, quickly.
The Olive 4HD can be integrated into a home network with its Gigabit Ethernet and 802.11n connection, which also allows for direct download of music. Adding the Olive 2 Hi-Fi Player allows users to access their music anywhere within their home.
Pricing and availability
The Olive 4HD Hi-Fi Music Server is available in the US directly from Olive (www.olive.us;1.877.296.5483): $1,999 (2TB). It includes 12 of Chesky Records' best HD tracks for free. Olive is available world-wide through a network of authorized distributors.
More information on product specifications, features, pricing, images and other multimedia assets are available at www.olive.us.
AWWWSOME. How many Monster cables will THIS puppy need?
@solarbuddy Dude, you're so funny....ha...ha
A true audiophile wouldn't use Monster Cables. Go ahead and pop those ipod ear buds back in and keep rockin out to your mp3s at 128 kbit/s.
@solarbuddy Monster cables? haha, you wish, this needs TITIAN cables.
ps Rick James, everyone knows that true audiophiles don't listen to anything digital, if its not recorded to light waves, it doesn't sound good enough.
@Grammar Delinquent SayWhat? Unless you're talking about one of those LP players which uses a series of analog lasers to read the Vinyl, I think you're mistaken.
@solarbuddy I believe some coat hangers will do the trick.
all i can say is thankfully i subscribe to engadget via their RSS feed. i mean the previous site design was bad... and now we've gone and clustered it up even more.
@willow_twf
You can fix part of it by going to
http://www.danielgary.net/engadget.user.js
with the latest version of Google Chrome. That replaces Times New Roman with Calibri and increases font size for the comments.
@willow_twf
Couldn't agree more. Design-wise it's a complete mess. Even the most inexperienced designer show know that you can't use a dozen different fonts in the same page, all types and sizes, most of them too small and unintelligible.
I used to scan the site but now I'm switching to the RSS: best of all I'll [hopefully] avoid the blockhead's quote of the minute.
@willow_twf The worst part of the new Engadget is that I have to listen to people complaining about it in EVERY article. You guys are worse than the Apple fanboys.
@Shaun
Told like a true Engadget fanboi.
I can comment here, but not on the HD page. WTF?
@The Fuzz 53
Same for me...on classic i log in and it works. but when i click the HD button on title bar im not logged in anymore and I can log in to comment.
I believe the correct usage is, "audiophallic".
test
I only use fiber optics for my music. something about transmitting music as light just SOUNDS awesome.
How much audio is available in better-than-CD quality?
@Yem more then you think, but still not to much. Also 90% of recent music is Mastered with the 24-bit 48kHz (or 44kHz) standard in mind...so even if you get the "orginal digital master" (which are usually at 24/32-bit 98kHz or something like that) the amount of quality gained will be minuscule. The only recordings I have ever found to "sound better" on high quality media are Classical music and some (not all) 70s rock.
@Grammar Delinquent what is this
@Yem
Besides that, one should also ask:
- How many audio setups are able to reproduce better-than-CD quality?
and
- How many people are able to hear better-than-CD quality?
Unless all three requirements are met, you won't be able to enjoy the better-than-CD quality. In practical terms, better-than-CD quality is relevant to about 0.01% of the population, if that. (Yes, I'm being realistic here. I actually happen to know what bit depth and sample rate do in terms of sound.)
@Yem There are actually quite a few media outlets now that sell high resolution tracks online. I think Chesky's site probably has the most comprehensive collection so far, but I'm sure it'll stay a niche thing since most people are fine with lossy tracks.
@rickjamess04 I think Linn records sell the High sample rate studio masters etc for some of their stuff.
@Yem
Any popular music mastered since the mid '90s is destroyed by dynamic compression anyway.
The sad fact is that there is no reason to buy high-quality equipment for commercially recorded music anymore. The record companies have ruined every popular-music recording for well over a decade, and they're going through their archives and destroying generations of classics with "remastering".
@Yem: I work with Olive, and while we share your pain when it comes to insufficiently mastered music, there is quite a bit out there to enjoy. Rick James (commenting in this thread) is correct about Chesky; we’ve partnered with Chesky Records to include 12 24-bit, 192 kHz tracks on the Olive 4HD.
It’s a symbiotic relationship -- if you’re as blown away with the quality as we were when we listened to their recordings on our in-house system (the Olive 4HD paired with Thiel CS1.6 speakers and a $300 Denon DRA-397 receiver) -- you’ll not only gain appreciation for the significant difference between 24-bit sound and 16-bit Red book CD sound, but you’ll likely head back to Chesky for more of the same.
We certainly did. Thanks for checking in.
-Jason
Audiophilic, I like that word. Let's make it real.
250 times the resolution of a CD... because our ears know better.
I'm waiting for the Logitech Squeezebox Touch which will be $250 a month after release...
Are those the Beatles on the LCD? I think so.
Could an editor explain here how the RSS feeds will work now?
I see how's there's only one copy of the story that lives where it best lives and is merely linked to on the other sites, but how does that affect RSS feeds? I subscribed to all three feeds, but haven't seen this story on the HD feed. Is that because it wasn't officially posted on the HD site, but linked to from the main site?
Great! How do I rip my SACD collection to this thing?
Oh, right.
Can I record my 8-tracks on to this?
If a file server can provide 250x CD quality sound, imagine what it could do if I store my Excel and Word docs on there!
$1999.00? I can get a turntable and vinyl records that have a much richer, MUCH WARMER sound for way cheaper!!! This is an OUTRAGE!!!! :-{~~~~~
@Lectronsect: I work with Olive (see my above reply to Yemble), and have to admit that there’s probably no way to respond to your post in any way that you’ll find satisfactory. The analog-vs.-digital debate is a fierce one, and I in no way want to disparage the vinyl experience. I will say, however, that 24-bit, 192 kHz digital reproduction draws the two camps ever closer for those who come down on the side of analog.
You say that you can get a richer, warmer sound for far less money from a turntable, but one doesn’t have to look far to find analog adherents who would argue that it takes a turntable-cartridge combination that costs far more than an Olive 4HD to give vinyl the treatment it deserves.
Ultimately, of course, what any music experience comes down to is how it sounds to the listener. If you’ve hit on your perfect setup for a few hundred dollars, you’re set. There’s no question, no matter how you feel about it, that your system will sound vastly different from an Olive. Which is better is entirely subjective, but we’re putting our money (and reputation) on the digital system. Our goal is to give the deepest digital experience to the broadest array of people possible, at a price point below most audiophile-grade components.
Thanks for taking the time to comment.
-Jason
@Lectronsect: I work with Olive (see my above reply to Yemble), and have to admit that there’s probably no way to respond to your post in any way that you’ll find satisfactory. The analog-vs.-digital debate is a fierce one, and I in no way want to disparage the vinyl experience. I will say, however, that 24-bit, 192 kHz digital reproduction draws the two camps ever closer for those who come down on the side of analog.
You say that you can get a richer, warmer sound for far less money from a turntable, but one doesn’t have to look far to find analog adherents who would argue that it takes a turntable-cartridge combination that costs far more than an Olive 4HD to give vinyl the treatment it deserves.
Ultimately, of course, what any music experience comes down to is how it sounds to the listener. If you’ve hit on your perfect setup for a few hundred dollars, you’re set. Love it or hate it, there’s no question that your system will sound vastly different from an Olive. Which is better is entirely subjective, but we’re putting our money (and reputation) on the digital system. Our goal is to give the deepest digital experience to the broadest array of people possible at a price point below most audiophile-grade components.
Thanks for taking the time to comment.
-Jason
Some of the best gadget money I've ever spent was $200 on my Turtle Beach AudioTron back in the day. It's still kicking out the tunes from the network. The web interface is great. The small client serves up the modified web interface to my Windows Mobile phone and iPod Touch. For $200 it was a awesome value and the firmware updates that rolled out over the years were truly remarkable. It's too bad it was just a little ahead of the masses and their soon to spring up home networks.
Just get Musical Fidelity V-DAC for 200$, and hook it up to your PC. It features the same burr-browns, and you will get the same sound quality for a fraction of the cost! Plus you get to use your favourite music software, and can type in your searches!
Needs Spotify support
If I remember correctly, the unique thing about Olive was it's support for Classical music, something I can not find mentioned on their website anymore.
The problem with most Media Players/Server is that they attempt to shoehorn all music into the Pop category which is cataloged by Artist/Album/Song and Genre. This absolutely does not work for accurately cataloging Classical music which has works and composers and movements and performers and a lot of other classical stuff I have no clue about. If I recall, Olive was the first hard drive based system to do classical right. The next server was Kaleidescape who had a classical music mode that was developed while I was still working there.
To many Classical music is meaningless but to the people who know and care about it (I am not one of them) traditional Media Servers and players drive them crazy with the poor indexing and cross referencing of their favorite classical pieces. Those classical enthusiasts would gladly pay $2k to have something that respects how classical music is indexed, especially if it offers the convenience and quality of a hard drive based digital system.
Hey Olive employee guy from above, what happened to the Olive Symphony, do the current products embrace Classical like that one did?