Ref this recent review http://www.whathifi.com/review/06hd There is someting I do not get - how is the screen supposed to be used? is it intended to be used only when you are next to the unit i.e. to look at it as you touch-contorl the Olive? if so it seems a lost opportunity. the screen seems to be angled so you would not see it if you are across the room. Such a big screen is an asset and can and should be used to display info as the Olive plays and also to show and navigate with remote the control menu from across the room. What was WHF experience in this regard?
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Do you stream hi-res music or download hi-res tracks? We want your opinions!
Olive O6HD review - question
- Thread starter AlmaataKZ
- Start date
I can see what you're saying but in the main we found the design makes a lot of sense. When you're interacting with it (ie touching it) it falls to hand naturally, particularly if it's on top of your kit rack and you're standing up. True, if you're sitting down it's far less of an asset – but that's where the iPhone/Touch control app comes into its own.
Out of interest: I've tested – several times – the Sooloos system, which is the Olive's obvious rival. It features a larger display screen which is tilted more directly towards you when you're seated and yes, that looks great – but I didn't find it that much more useful than the Olive's system. At any decent distance from your seat to the screen, the text is hard to read, although I'll concede you can readily make out the album art.
Out of interest: I've tested – several times – the Sooloos system, which is the Olive's obvious rival. It features a larger display screen which is tilted more directly towards you when you're seated and yes, that looks great – but I didn't find it that much more useful than the Olive's system. At any decent distance from your seat to the screen, the text is hard to read, although I'll concede you can readily make out the album art.
Thank you. Looks like it is indeed intended to be on top of the rest of the kit and the screen is mainly for 'touch' operation rather than 'see and navigate'.
I had an Olive 4hd (NOTE past tense "Had"), which had a similar screen, same idea but smaller. You can of course feed the image to a TV via an HDMI cable if you want to. Much as I admire the ingenuity of these devices like Olive and Sooloos I can't help but notice how expensive they are for what you get. Sure its targeted marketing but at some price. The Olive is basically a CD ripper, hard disc, LCD display and some DAC's. The HDD is superquiet and fanless (my NAS drive is same size, has a fan and also superquiet, can't hear it), the software is a bit clunky, its Linux based and the problem comes with the backups as they output to Linux archive files which you cannot manually unzip so you just have to trust that it has backed up evrything. I back my files up track by track, somehow I like that idea better as I can see my backed up tracks and access them easily.
Yes these gadgets look nice for sure, are very well made but in the end I put together a system to rip and store tracks to 24/96 quality for less than £500.
So why no more Olive 4HD? The cd ripper packed up after 4 weeks, the software frequently crashed despite my having all the upgrades and the lack of control over backups saw said device going via ebay. I suppose I was looking for a one box solution which Olive et al do offer but I ended up thinking it left me with too little control and too vulnerable as I went 100% digital, which means security of backups were a priority. Yes these systems probably have a place but so many of them seem flawed in some way or another due to their own proprietary quirks which disengages the user from being able to exercise full control.
However my good lady loved the look of it!
Yes these gadgets look nice for sure, are very well made but in the end I put together a system to rip and store tracks to 24/96 quality for less than £500.
So why no more Olive 4HD? The cd ripper packed up after 4 weeks, the software frequently crashed despite my having all the upgrades and the lack of control over backups saw said device going via ebay. I suppose I was looking for a one box solution which Olive et al do offer but I ended up thinking it left me with too little control and too vulnerable as I went 100% digital, which means security of backups were a priority. Yes these systems probably have a place but so many of them seem flawed in some way or another due to their own proprietary quirks which disengages the user from being able to exercise full control.
However my good lady loved the look of it!
Ha Ha Chebby. Actually to put the record straight I took it back to the dealer who got a brand new replacement from Olive so I have to mention that in the area of customer service they were excellent.
nick8858 said:
Good to hear their customer service is good, and so it should be considering they have over priced the unit by a couple of grand.
The Limey said:
Or had that extra couple of grand been spent on a flashy case and a tiny badly positioned screen.
Good to hear their customer service is good, and so it should be considering they have over priced the unit by a couple of grand.
I have to say after my experience (with 04HD) that I agree with you. Lifestyle product marketing often equals premium price.
I have to say after my experience (with 04HD) that I agree with you. Lifestyle product marketing often equals premium price.
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