Olive O3HD Music Server | US$999 | www.olivehifi.com
when Olive O4HD was introduced last year, it was a range topping music server that was beyond the reach of many. now Olive introduces the O3HD, basically its an entry level music server for audiophiles who don’t have such a deep pocket to dig in. folks who are less technically incline will be glad to know that O3HD is a ‘plug and play’ music server. no complicated configurations. if you know how to hook up a standard CD player, you will know how to hook up this machine.
operations of the O3HD is via a 4.3-inch wide-aspect ratio touchscreen which we should be all-so familiar, thanks to Apple. the O3HD features a 500GB hard drive which should be good for 1,500 CDs or 5,000 HD Tracks. the hard drive incorporates a 4-layer noise-canceling padding and the whole system is fan-less, thus giving a virtually noiseless operation.
input department comes in a form of TEAC CDRW which imports and plays music CDs and also burn music, MP3 and data CDs. the O3HD features 24-bit/192Khz High Resolution Cirrus Logic Digital-to-Analog-Converter (DAC) that handles up-sampling so audiophiles can experience higher quality music than the original CDs.
with the O3HD, there is only one audio out – which is the RCA connector. there is no video out or any digital audio outputs. however, it has a USB 1.1/2.0 port and gigabit Ethernet connectivity. connecting to the Internet via the gigabit Ethernet port, allows you to access a myriad of Internet Radio stations carefully compiled by Olive. the O3HD also support simultaneous streaming to multiple rooms. supported audio formats include WAV, FLAC, MP3 and AAC.
design and concept wise, the Olive O3HD is definitely up on the chart of cool-factor but browsing through the thousands of music via a tiny touchscreen can be rather tedious. just think about searching for an artist without keyboards.
