Olive

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

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

At CES, Olive and THIEL announced that they have teamed up on a new networked HD music system, the Olive+THIEL HD Music System. The multi-room system combines the Olive 4HD music server with THIEL's SCS4 IP-based loudspeakers for high-resolution audio anywhere in your home network.

The Olive+THIEL system streams music over Ethernet in HD quality directly into THIEL's IP-based SCS4D speakers. The system features a built-in touch-screen LCD to easily find and play music, and a free iPhone app is available to allow an iPhone or iPod touch to act as a remote. Music can be copied to the hard drive via the built-in CDRW drive (which can also burn playlists for the car), or from a networked computer. The system can also connect to your TV via HDMI. Did I mention that this system can store a whopping 6,000 CDs or 20,000 24-bit HD music tracks in lossless quality?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.

Owners of the Olive Opus Hi-Fi Digital Stereo now have a new way to control their stereo. The company just introduced the free iMaestro application for the iPhone and iPod Touch, giving iPhone users the ability to control the Opus Hi-Fi Digital Stereo from anywhere in the home.

iMaestro application features:

• Control the Olive Opus from anywhere in the home with access to their complete music collection.
• Control the Olive Melody multi-room players for easy wireless access to play music throughout the home.
• Find music in their collection easily with the full-color touchscreen. Select by artist, album, track or genre or tap a few letters to do a quick search.
• See album artwork and detailed information, including artist, album, release date, record label, instruments, soloists and more about the music currently playing on the Opus.
• Control music currently playing by adjusting the volume, repeating or shuffling tracks or rating a track to personalize their music collection.
• Create playlists to set the mood for any occasion. Songs can even be added to playlists while listening.
• Choose from thousands of free, pre-set internet radio stations or add personal favorites.

The Olive Opus No. 4 is the latest offering in Olive's Opus Hi-Fi Digital Stereo line. This high-end music server has 2TB of internal storage, giving you room for around 6,000 CDs worth of lossless digital quality music.

Targeted at the home entertainment enthusiast, the Opus lets you easily digitize and consolidate music in high fidelity through the built-in CD drive - music is automatically imported and categorized. Simply insert your CD, push the record button, and a few minutes later the CD is in your music library, tagged and categorized. Have music on your computer? Transfer it with a simple drag-and-drop to your Opus.Read more