Audiophile Music Servers and a perspective from one publication.

[jdandy2]

Let me be the first to say that I am one jealous bastard.

Youngbloods, Janis, and the Airplane on the same night?

I was born in the 68 and I have a very special connection with 60s rock.

Please don't tell me you saw Jimi and the Doors.

Andre.......Never got to see the Doors live, although I wore a few of their albums totally out. I saw Jimi Hendrix at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. He played so loud it practically made my ears bleed. He was great, but I left the concert early because I couldn't stand the volume level.

In the late 60's Filmore West was the place to see live music, not to mention amazing light shows. I saw Santana, Moby Grape, Country Joe and the Fish, Crosby Stills and Nash, Grateful Dead, Quicksilver, Joan Baez and many other great 60's bands in San Francisco, either at Filmore West, Winterland, Avalon Ballroom or free concerts in Golden Gate park. Those were the days, and from what I can remember really great times.

[garylkoh]

No. We do not recommend buying commodity hard drives from high end audio companies. Olive, in our view, brings nothing to the table that cannot be done with the conventional computer gear you may already have.

This struck me as quite bold and matter of fact. Maybe they are right, maybe not. What's your take on this?

I don't agree with them. There are many audiophiles who would absolutely not want to build a music server, any music server, for various valid reasons. They want something that they can get off the shelf, would work, and not have to worry about Foobar not playing nice with the ASIO installation of a 3rd party DAC. It's not a matter of SQ, it's a matter of user friendliness and peace of mind.

Disclaimer: I have not had the Olive in my own system - although I helped a friend evaluate one.

[jdandy2]

I can say that the Olive 04HD DAC sounds very good through its own DAC, but I still route the digital out to the ESS 32Bit dual quad DAC's in my McIntosh MCD1100. This turns a very good music server into an exceptional server. One thing to note, the 04HD provides one coaxial digital input to its DAC, the 06HD does not. I think it was foolish of Olive to eliminate the DAC input from the 06HD.

[Phelonious Ponk]

No. We do not recommend buying commodity hard drives from high end audio companies. Olive, in our view, brings nothing to the table that cannot be done with the conventional computer gear you may already have.

This statement is absolutely accurate. There is nothing a dedicated Audiophile server does that cannot be accomplished, and with a much more elegant and intuitive interface, with computer, software and components. Do you want to make the decisions, install the software, connect the components...do you want to do it? That is another question. And do you want to look at another "audio" component in your rack? Yet another question. Do you want to avoid the look of a computer in your listening room? Not an issue. You can easily reduce the visual impact to an iPod Touch on the arm of your chair.

Tim

[Bulldogger]

This statement is absolutely accurate. There is nothing a dedicated Audiophile server does that cannot be accomplished, and with a much more elegant and intuitive interface, with computer, software and components. Do you want to make the decisions, install the software, connect the components...do you want to do it? That is another question. And do you want to look at another "audio" component in your rack? Yet another question. Do you want to avoid the look of a computer in your listening room? Not an issue. You can easily reduce the visual impact to an iPod Touch on the arm of your chair.

Tim

I agree. Some of the cases that I have seen make it possible to have a very nice looking computer in your rack. After investigation, this for the last couple of months, I see no reason not to just use a computer.

[John72953]

So, yes, I think UHF is a tad preoccupied with their chosen media, and do their readers a disservice by refusing to report on alternatives outside their anointed choices.

Regardless on which side of the fence one sits, this last sentence in your post I can fully agree with.

[Phelonious Ponk]

I agree. Some of the cases that I have seen make it possible to have a very nice looking computer in your rack. After investigation, this for the last couple of months, I see no reason not to just use a computer.

I see no reason for the computer to be in the room.

Tim

[audioguy]

There are many audiophiles who would absolutely not want to build a music server, any music server, for various valid reasons. They want something that they can get off the shelf, would work, and not have to worry about Foobar not playing nice with the ASIO installation of a 3rd party DAC. It's not a matter of SQ, it's a matter of user friendliness and peace of mind.

I'm one of those. While I am confident I could have "built" a server, I had other things I choose to do with my time so I purchased one that I heard at a friends home, compared to the very best players, DAC's etc. Probably paid twice what I could have put one together for and have never doubted my decision.

Along those same lines assembling a PC is now very doable. You can buy the boards, drives, DVD drives, cases, processors, video cards etc and get a screaming machine for less than from a more traditional source. Wouldn't do that either.

[Andre Marc]

Wow.

Well, the closet I get is hundreds and hundreds of recordings of those shows.

Jimi Hendrix recorded Electric Ladyland 10 blocks from where I was born and
lived as infant. I definitely have some mystical connection. I looked up concert
calenders and The Doors, Janis, and many other iconic 60's bands played New York
Shows in when I was less than one years old, and my parents lived on 1st Ave in
New York.

Did you ever take pictures?

Andre.......Never got to see the Doors live, although I wore a few of their albums totally out. I saw Jimi Hendrix at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. He played so loud it practically made my ears bleed. He was great, but I left the concert early because I couldn't stand the volume level.

In the late 60's Filmore West was the place to see live music, not to mention amazing light shows. I saw Santana, Moby Grape, Country Joe and the Fish, Crosby Stills and Nash, Grateful Dead, Quicksilver, Joan Baez and many other great 60's bands in San Francisco, either at Filmore West, Winterland, Avalon Ballroom or free concerts in Golden Gate park. Those were the days, and from what I can remember really great times.

[Andre Marc]

I see no reason for the computer to be in the room.

Tim

agree totally. but the Apple disciples like fondling their expensive Cupertino trophies.