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Advice buying a Music Server? Just Olive 4HD?

Hi All,

I have a custom tube preamp/amp and a Rega Apollo for my CD collection. It is wonderful, but I dream of having my CDs all ripped onto a simple and quiet device, that wirelessly synchronizes music from my macbook when I rip it / download.

I do not want a Squeezebox + DAC [I do not want to have to use a computer with my stereo and I do not want two components, just one simple device].

I do not want a RedWine Audio IPOD, although this represents almost what I need [easy music synching with my library of Apple lossless files, easy UI, improved acoustics, etc.]. Here the sound is not quite what I want, and the storage is limited by the iPod.

It seems like the Olive 4HD is the only thing out there that has plenty of storage, WiFi for easy music synchronization, and high quality DAC componentry. But $2500 seems crazy.

I don't need the Olive CD transport [I can rip on my macbook]. I don't need internet radio. Is there really no $1000 solution to this problem? The Olive 3HD just makes me think that I'll want a better DAC, so please don't point me there.

Thoughts?
thanks,
Keith
kbigelow
edge22
31 posts
 
I have had my Apple TV for a couple of months and love it!

I would recommend getting the 160GB hard drive version that is being phased out. This older version is also capable of streaming, and when I first synced the Apple TV I was initially disappointed with the sound -- it did not sound quite as good as my CD player going to my DAC. However, I realized that what I initially heard was streaming (that is, I began listening before the songs were synced to the Apple TV harddrive). After the songs were synced on the Apple TV hard drive, it sounds every bit as good (and possibily better) as my CD player going to my DAC.
ozzy's avatar
ozzy
7,269 posts
 
Question on the Apple TV. Is there a way to add more storage? 160 GB is very small. I am currently using a Squeezebox Touch with a 1TB external Hard drive.
kbarkamian
647 posts
 
You can't add extra memory to the Apple TV. Once out of space, you can stream to it from your main computer.

I have about 300 or so CDs in Apple Lossless stored on it. It's about 3/8 full. If I ever run out of space, what I'd do is keep my everyday CDs on it, and stream the odd stuff.

I have all my music stored on an external 1TB hard drive in addition to the Apple TV.

There are hacks out there that allow an external hard drive to be connected directly to the Apple TV, and there are a few companies that'll put bigger hard drives in them. Not sure how much I trust altering gear personally.
pdreher's avatar
pdreher
1,196 posts
 
Is the Apple TV better sounding than the Airport Express, and if so, why? I tried streaming AIFF files from my IMAC thru an Airport Express into the DAC of my Audio Aero Capitol cdp and the sound was not close to cd quality. I've since gone back to just playing CD's and sold the airport express.
herman
2,220 posts
 
The software converts the AIFF to Apple lossless before it streams it and the AE coverts it back to 16/44.1. The toslink output of the AE is also much higher in jitter than what your cdp can do. It is not surprising that a $99 multifunction wireless device can't perform as well as the transport in your player but in my experience it performs much better than "not even close to CD quality."

Were all of the signal processors in iTunes turned off and the volume all the way up?

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