Olive 4HD...and alternatives?

[Bodfish]

My venerable Meridian Transport is starting to give way and while I'm sure Meridian could service it, the situation has got me thinking about a more 'modern' approach to my system.

I like the concept of the Olive 4HD but what else is worth considering? I don't have a huge library of ripped software on any PC in the house so I don't necessarily need connectivity between the two (and if there was, it would have to be wireless) but it probably makes sense to build this in. Are there products that could sit in my listening room and then 'search' the desktop in another for music files and present them at the front end for selection?

Thoughts and suggestions most welcome!

 

[matengawhat]

have a look at the logitech touch and xiva nas drive currently on sale - look in the hot deals section - will cost you less than £900 for both

this is the setup i have just decided to go for instead of the olive - also works out at less that half the price - the thing you won't have is a cdp but if you get all your music stored you shouldn't need it - the logitech is wireless so can go in your lounge the xiva needs connecting to your router so will go in which ever room you have that in out of the way

there are cheaper alternatives especially on the nas drive front you can get a 2tb and blu ray drive for £250 but the good thing about the xiva is that once set up and you decide on the format FLAC you don't need the comp also comes preloaded with all software you need for everything (logitech, sonos, wii, xbox, ps3 and many more) - the drive just automatically rips your cd logs on and downloads all artwork ect and just works without any messing about so if your not very computer savi is worth the extra

 

[AL13N]

Looking at your current setup the 4HD would be overkill.

Just purchase the Squeezebox Touch and hook it up to your Naim DAC. You can then stream from your PC or NAS or even connect an external HDD to the Touch.

A lot of the money for the 4HD is down to the high quality DAC and analogue section. You already have a high quality DAC and preamp. The Touch would simply add the touchscreen/streaming element to your setup.

 

[Dan Turner]

Yep multi-room/streaming solutions from Logitech/Sonos look like the best option in my opinion, given what you already have in terms of the rest of your system.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

AL13N:Looking at your current setup the 4HD would be overkill.

Just purchase the Squeezebox Touch and hook it up to your Naim DAC. You can then stream from your PC or NAS or even connect an external HDD to the Touch.

A lot of the money for the 4HD is down to the high quality DAC and analogue section. You already have a high quality DAC and preamp. The Touch would simply add the touchscreen/streaming element to your setup.

I agree. There are a multitude of media players that will do the trick. The OP should look at the Western Digital Live and add a NAS.

 

[manicm]

Disagree with all the suggestions here. The OP has a Naim DAC which is a pretty high-end piece of kit, and things like the Squeezebox Touch et al are not going to do it any justice at all.

I would reckon the Olive 4HD will do it justice completely. Or a good companion to the Naim DAC would maybe one of Naim's own Uniti products i.e. NaimUniti, UniQute or UnitiServe.

Or if you need good multiroom convenience then Sonos would be very good choice as well.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

manicm:
Disagree with all the suggestions here. The OP has a Naim DAC which is a pretty high-end piece of kit, and things like the Squeezebox Touch et al are not going to do it any justice at all.

I would reckon the Olive 4HD will do it justice completely. Or a good companion to the Naim DAC would maybe one of Naim's own Uniti products i.e. NaimUniti, UniQute or UnitiServe.

Or if you need good multiroom convenience then Sonos would be very good choice as well.

Please explain your theory? If the OP gets a bit perfect feed to his Naim DAC, it will sound fantastic. The Olive will not add anything to the sound. Basically, if the Naim DAC is better than the Olive's, which I would imagine, the OP would not hear any difference between the Western Digital Live and the Olive HD with his sound running through the Naim.

 

[AlmaataKZ]

Squeezebox touch should give digital out to the dac as good as any, at 24/96. it also has good control and integration.

get one from amazon (you can return it if you do not like it), try it for yourself and I think you will be pleased.

it may leave you a lot of spare money for music and e.g. a nice universal remote (fi you do not have one already).

 

[manicm]

The Naim DAC is a device that costs all of 2k. And the Olive, along with the Uniti players and Linn DS are the only players that provide up to true 24/192 playback. And I imagine the OP would want to exploit this choice at some point.

Otherwise he may well have got an exponentially cheaper Beresford or DACMagic et al.

Why then bother? I stand by my opinion.

 

[Audioholic]

Because the Naim DAC has superior analogue conversion regardless of whether the music's 24 bit rate or 16 bit rate!

 

[manicm]

At 2k it should.

And likewise Linn DS would always sound better than any Squeezebox. And likewise I would expect the OliveHD too. They would be simply better sources.

Oh sorry, I've just offended the bit-perfect flat-earth society.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

manicm:
At 2k it should.

And likewise Linn DS would always sound better than any Squeezebox. And likewise I would expect the OliveHD too. They would be simply better sources.

Oh sorry, I've just offended the bit-perfect flat-earth society.

I don't think you have offended anyone - I just don't think you are right.

If the OP wants to use the Naim DAC (which would make sense to me), then there is no point in having a source that has a very good (but not as good) DAC also, as he wouldn't be utilising it. Unless, money was no object. Even then though, a media player offers video playback which the Olive HD doesn't. The Olive is expensive because of it's DAC capabilities as much as for it's storage capacity.

 

[matengawhat]

not sure the dac in the olive is that great - but your right the naim dac will be better so all he needs is a way to get the digital feed to that dac - i suggested the logitech touch cause its a good piece of kit with a very nice interface that is really easy to use - has some issues with artwork from itunes but apart from that pretty easy to setup.

I listed the Xiva (mine despatched today) as would in my opinion give him the best all round solution - he could go for a nas drive far cheaper but if not very computer savi will take some setting up and loading with relevant programs etc - the xiva is as much plug and play as you could ever get and with the touch i imagine pretty faultless (hopeing, will let you know)

 

[AlmaataKZ]

SB touch or not I think opinions and recommendations are offered here 'in addition to each other', not 'instead of each other'. the OP was after thoughts and suggestions and he definately got some. how he wants to play it is up to the OP.

manicm:

Oh sorry, I've just offended the bit-perfect flat-earth society.

I don't think there is any need to turn onto each other

 

[The_Lhc]

I think manic has a point about 24bit/192kHz support, I don't think the SB Touch can handle that (96kHz only I think?), so if that's a consideration for the OP then yes the Olive would be a solid choice. I'd agree it's a very expensive one as well, even allowing for the built-in storage. If the DACs are being bypassed I wouldn't expect much difference in the sound quality from any of them though.

 

[AlmaataKZ]

yes, agreed re 24/192. Sb touch only does up to 24/96.

I think another argument in favour of Olive would be that it has a more advanced cataloguing system - I think they market this point to those who have a lot of classical music (which benefits from numerous additional metadata fields like composer, conductor, performer etc etc)

 

[matengawhat]

guess depends how important that really is to you - all my music comes from CDs so it can't get any better than what it is so this is not very important to me currently as the volume of commercial 24/192 stuff available is currently low (not sure what the time frame is on this going main stream) but I will just buy another device when needed this could be a couple of years or more - i'm sure there will be plenty offered at a lot less by then than paying the premium for the olive for a function the op probably won't use.

The xiva uses loads of placed to look up album art work, track list etc http://www.xiva.com/musicm8/

 

[Gerrardasnails]

matengawhat:
guess depends how important that really is to you - all my music comes from CDs so it can't get any better than what it is so this is not very important to me currently as the volume of commercial 24/192 stuff available is currently low (not sure what the time frame is on this going main stream) but I will just buy another device when needed this could be a couple of years or more - i'm sure there will be plenty offered at a lot less by then than paying the premium for the olive for a function the op probably won't use.

The xiva uses loads of placed to look up album art work, track list etc http://www.xiva.com/musicm8/

My Popcorn Hour plays 24/192 files - although my DacMagic doesn't. However, it costs a 10th of the Olive, offers far more (doesn't look as good but Ive recased mine) functionality and will sound the same through the Naim DAC as the £2k Olive.

 

[matengawhat]

i agree completly with what you say thats why i didn't buy the olive and went for the touch and the Xiva - far less and does everything i need - I could have done even cheaper with the touch and a nas drive but wanted the simplicity of just sticking in discs and waiting for them to be spat out and it automatically downloads artwork and ensure a bit perfect rip - bit lazy that way!

 

[Gerrardasnails]

matengawhat:
i agree completly with what you say thats why i didn't buy the olive and went for the touch and the Xiva - far less and does everything i need - I could have done even cheaper with the touch and a nas drive but wanted the simplicity of just sticking in discs and waiting for them to be spat out and it automatically downloads artwork and ensure a bit perfect rip - bit lazy that way!

Wise not lazy!

 

[TheHomeCinemaCentre]

Something to consider alongside the audio quality is how user friendly the interface is. I would stongly yrge you to try the device before you buy it. Good sound quality is all good and well but if you cannot easily access your tunes you may find it all more hassle than its worth.

 

[TheHomeCinemaCentre]

Meant to add that the Meridian Sooloos is another option. An ensemble and an iPad gives you a very slick high quality set up. At £3.5k it is more expensive than the others but it is very quick to select music and a joy to use.

 

[Bodfish]

Thanks all for taking time to share your opinions and give inputs to my question.

Naturally I want to exploit the Naim DAC as far as possible so a device with a 24/196 output makes sense even if there is a lack of relevant software (at the moment!).

Nick - good point about the interface and the overall look and feel of the thing. The Meridian server is probably a bit OTT cost wise but I don't 'mind' paying for the Olive/Naim option (or indeed paying less if its doable!) as long as the whole package comes together.

So, lots for me to think about! Thanks again.

 

[nopiano]

I heard the Olive 4HD for the first time yesterday. I had been intrigued by the brand and am still learning about all the network possibilities. Meanwhile, I am really only interested in the sound and how it compares with my Krell KAV-300cd (over 13 years old and currently getting the CD drive replaced).

No chance to compare as mine is under repair but heard the 4HD with two ripped CDs of mine, via Devialet amp (seems to be as fabulous as everyone says) and Sonus Fabers (c £7k a pair, can't remember the model.) Very enjoyable sound, no obvious artefacts or problems. Maybe not quite the bottom-end of the Krell CD player, but that is really only speculation with no comparison, and an unfamiliar room.

I did notice glitches when navigating menu, and ejecting CD (also tried listening 'direct' from CD, rather than ripping). And classical music is poorly served by mis-spelt names on the database (not Olive's fault, I suppose) and listing Mozart under M or W (for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) depending on the CD - basic cataloguing errors!

So, inconclusive sound-wise, but lots of potential. Would be frustrated if the interface spoilt the musical enjoyment. And there is a certain joy in putting on a CD, albeit a lesser one than playing an LP - but I've almost forgotten how to do that! The benefit for me is undoubtedly being able to access my whole CD collection, and move the discs to the attic.

It's a big decision to take!

 

[Anonymous]

Why not just use your PC/Mac with a good async USB/spdif converter, 24/192 from your USB port straight into your dac.
Keith.