Media Server

Back in November Olive generated quite a bit of buzz about their new O6HD music server by giving the first 20 customers who pre-order the device a trip to Olive's headquarters in San Francisco for a VIP experience.

The O6HD has officially been released after over five years of design, and - as Olive says - is "an audiophile's dream." Olive's most advanced offering to date, the O6HD matches recording engineers' standard of 24-bit studio recording sound and up to 192 kHz sample rate – that's more than 250 times the resolution of CDs!

The 06HD features a pair of Texas Instrument's 24-bit/192 kHz DAC modules (Burr-Brown PCM1792), a temperature-compensated crystal oscillator to eliminate jitter, a high performance sample rate converter to up-sample lower quality audio files to 24-bit/ 384 kHz, and dedicated power supplies for the analog and digital components. The O6HD also features a separate 24-bit/192 kHz PCM1792 DAC and TPA6120A2 High Performance Audio Amplifier for headphone use. Read more

This is it! Olive just released the third and final sneak peek before the official O6HD announcement. Earlier this week Olive filled us in on the 06HD's audiophile performance. Today, we get a peek at the iconic design. Olive made design choices that maximize performance while at the same time fulfill a high aesthetic.

Performance-driven design features include:

• A wide-aspect 10.1" glass-on-glass color touch-screen with high resolution (800 x 480 pixels), which fuses simplicity and useability in the user interface.
• A solid anodized fine-grade aluminum shell, which reduces vibrations, resonances and operational noise while retaining simplicity.
• A distinctive angled front for optimal access to buttons and screen, which allows easy viewing from a distance and subtly hides connectors.
• The smallest details have been engineered to functional and design excellence, right down to the Anti-Vibration Feet which protect sound performance and circuitry
• Measurements: Width 17.38", Height 2.63", Depth 12.25", Weight 13.2 lb
• Color: Silver or Black

Last week Olive started teasing us with a few details of the new 06HD Music Server, which officially launches later this month. Today Olive revealed a few more details the O6HD, these relating to the audiophile performance.

The O6HD will feature:

• Upsampling to 384 khz: Using the latest TI SRC4194 Asynchronous Sample Rate Converter, the O6HD up-samples any lower audio standard to 24-bit/192 kHz, and later in the process to 384 kHz. That's why you get an incredible purity in high frequencies and low-level detail. In short, you hear it precisely the way it was recorded!
• Dedicated linear power supply for the analog output stage w/ custom built toroidal transformer: To eliminate undesirable interference, the O6HD strictly separates the power supplies for its digital and analog sections. This separation ensures that the sensitive analog stages are isolated from all power supply artifacts, and that each stage within the O6HD is supplied independently with clean power.
• Fanless cooling/total silence. Interference equals loss of quality. Fans generate interference. Olive designed the 06HD from the ground up so that it doesn't require fan cooling. So it's quiet inside, and perfectly clear outside.
• Aluminum. The solid aluminum shell dramatically reduces resonances and operational noises as the patent-pending feet design eliminate vibrations.

Olive's high-end HD music servers are some of the best in the business. Later this month the company will be unveiling its most advanced offering to date, the 06HD Music Server. While that is big news in itself, check out what Olive is doing to promote the 06HD!

The first 20 customers to pre-order the 06HD will be brought to Olive's headquarters in San Francisco for a VIP experience. These lucky 20 will be flown in and hosted by Olive as they pick up their 06HD Music Server.

Details for this promotion include:

• Two round-trip tickets from anywhere in the US to San Francisco
• Pick up and drop off at SFO airport
• A free night in a local hotel, double occupancy
• Dinner for two
• Free shipping for the 06HD
• A tour of Olive's facilities, where the product is designed and built to order, including a meeting with the Olive team
• Tickets to a special music event in San Francisco

Last week WD unveiled the WD TV Live Hub media center, a Full-HD 1080p media player featuring a 1TB network hard drive. The device allows you to rent movies through Blockbuster On Demand, as well as offers Netflix streaming, Pandora, YouTube, Flickr photo sharing, AccuWeather.com, and MediaFly video podcasts from CNN, NBC, MTV and ESPN. You can also upload photos and videos to Facebook, share your status, view your wall and read newsfeeds from your friends - all on your TV.

In addition, HD video, music and photos can be streamed from the hard drive to any DLNA/UPnP-compatible TV or multimedia device on the home network, including the WD TV Live Plus HD media player, connected TVs, Blu-ray players, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 game consoles. You also can stream content from your WD TV Live Hub media center to iPads, iPhones or Android smartphones (using third-party apps). Read more

Olive is a company well known for their high-end HD music servers. We were just told about their latest, the Olive O3HD, which is the company's first HD music server priced under $1,000. A bargain, considering other Olive systems cost at least twice as much.

The Olive O3HD is based on the Olive O4HD, but by coming in at a lower price point, music lovers who couldn't afford a higher priced Olive system now have the opportunity to experience the superior sound quality that Olive offers. The O3HD is a standalone solution with 500GB dedicated storage, color touchscreen navigation, and it requires no software installation, networking setup or virus protection. Olive designed this to be as hassle-free as possible. Read more

Olive Media today announced the new 4HD Hi-Fi Music Server for home stereo systems. The 4HD not only plays your music, but can rip and store your media onto its two terabyte hard drive. Music can also be copied to the Olive 4HD via your computer through its wireless or wired network connection. The music reproduction is handled through Olive's DAC, and is said to match the 24-bit sound and 192 kHz sample rate used in recording studios.

To use, connect the Olive 4HD directly to a stereo receiver. Music libraries are then navigated through the touchscreen or on a TV via HDMI. A free iPhone/iPod touch app is also available so you can control the 4HD from your iPhone.

The 4HD Hi-Fi Music Server is available from Olive for $1,999. It includes 12 of Chesky Records' best HD tracks for free.

The Syabas Popcorn C-200, a next-generation Internet settop box, streams digital content from the Internet or its internal hard drive to your television set and home stereo. Unlike competing Internet settop boxes that support a limited number of Internet audio and video file types, the C-200 supports more than 30! Some of these formats are MPEG 1, 2, 4, AVI, H.264, MKV – sweet, Windows Media and Xvid.

The C-200 streams news and entertainment content from a number video partner sites such as YouTube, Vuze, Revision 3, CNET TV, Veoh, Blip.tv, NBC, CBS, CNN and BBC and Internet radio sites, such as Radio box and Live365 Radio. Additionally, the C-200 can stream still image content from Flickr, Pikeo and Picasa.Read more

The Okoro Media Systems OMS-AX100 is an ergonomically designed digital media server equipped with a 5-channel, 100 watt per channel, amp. It is designed with HDMI support and low power consumption.

Other specs include:

• 45watt Dual Core AMD Processor
• 5.1-channel Intersil D2Audio Audio Amplifier
• 4GB 800Mhz RAM
• 500GB low power HD storage
• DVD Burner
• HDMI, VGA, Component video outputs
• Windows Vista Home Premium
• Choice of ATI Digital Cable Tuner or NTSC/ATSC/QAM tuner
• Custom AX100 versions available including with 7.1 Channel Pre-Amp
• Signal to Noise Ratio of >105dB with a Frequency Response of ± 0.5dB (20Hz to 20kHz)
• For an additional $190, you can get a Blu-ray drive installed

Orders are shipping now at $1,650. Read the full press release here.