[majid]

I just read about this new product , which is a 80GB hard-drive digital player component targeted towards classical music aficionados. It encodes CDs losslessly using FLAC onto a quiet 80GB hard drive, has a built-in metadata database and Mac OS X management software (not iTunes). The design isn't so shabby either, and they are offering to rip your CD collection and preload it onto the device for you. There is clearly an emphasis on ease of use, i.e. the same kind of people who would get a B&O system.

I can understand why they chose a quiet 2.5" hard drive, but 80GB is probably not enough for serious classical music (the kind who would drop $900 for this device). My own Apple lossless collection already spans 118GB, and I am not even halfway through ripping my CDs. But it still is an interesting concept and the company looks like it's worth watching.

I work close to them, so I will try and find out more.

 

[The Monkey]

Sorry to revive an old thread, but has anyone used this device yet? The NY Times just wrote an article about it. Sounds cool.

 

[Riboge]

There is a 160gb model called the Musica which is much the same but has a fan(Symphony doesn't) they claim is very quiet and has different software less specific to classical music. It like the Symphony will not play Apple Lossless, however. It can play these only via (batch) conversion to FLAC.

 

[Hey_Its_Cole]

Wouldnt a shuttle System with Giant Hard drive be much better and Cheaper? I dont Get the 900$ for that system seems way overpriced, or you could get a squeeze box.

 

[ya8282]

Yes, it is possible, but it depends on your definition of "better" and "cheaper". You could build a more functional Shuttle Pentium-M system from scratch at a similar price point, but it does not really look like a stereo component and would probably be a pain to setup the same way Olive has the Symphony configured. It is also possible that it would be louder/hotter and consume more power. That being said, I am not stating that the current list price is a good deal. But how many of the pre-assembled products with packaged convenience that you purchase actually cost that much to make yourself?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hey_Its_Cole Wouldnt a shuttle System with Giant Hard drive be much better and Cheaper? I dont Get the 900$ for that system seems way overpriced, or you could get a squeeze box.

 

[Sleestack]

Other than the O/S, why not just buy a Yamaha CDRHD1500?

 

[Sleestack]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sleestack Other than the O/S, why not just buy a Yamaha CDRHD1500?

Old thread, but to answer my own question, because the Yamaha just sucked. Couldn't get rid of it fast enough.

Just ordered a fully modded Olive Opus b/c I want its simplicity over a PC based setup. 750 gigs should keep me happy for some time. I'll report back on how it sounds.

 

[bigshot]

A Mac Mini with a companion 500 gig hard drive would cost about the same, and with airport, it could serve music to the entire house. It even has a remote control and 5:1 sound output. You'd need a small monitor with it, but that would be much more functional than a tiny little screen on a stereo component. There was an article on setting up minis as music servers at Macworld... http://www.macworld.com/2006/05/feat...mini/index.php

See ya
Steve

 

[Sleestack]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigshot A Mac Mini with a companion 500 gig hard drive would cost about the same, and with airport, it could serve music to the entire house. It even has a remote control and 5:1 sound output. You'd need a small monitor with it, but that would be much more functional than a tiny little screen on a stereo component. There was an article on setting up minis as music servers at Macworld... http://www.macworld.com/2006/05/feat...mini/index.php See ya Steve

My friend has that setup. It wouuld be much cheaper as the Olive fully moded with a 750 gig drive runs close to $4K. Nevertheless, I don't want all the wires a PC setup will require and prefer a device that is completely self contained.

 

[Snake]

The Symphony was reviewed in the April issue of Stereophile, along with the HeadRoom Desktop. The Symphony was given a great review, and made a class "C" recommended component by Stereophile from that very review. Extremely low jitter, very good (via analog) to excellent (via SPDIF) sound, fantastic ease of use...they really liked the thing.

 

[Sleestack]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snake The Symphony was reviewed in the April issue of Stereophile, along with the HeadRoom Desktop. The Symphony was given a great review, and made a class "C" recommended component by Stereophile from that very review. Extremely low jitter, very good (via analog) to excellent (via SPDIF) sound, fantastic ease of use...they really liked the thing.

Hmm Class C isn't usually what I want, but as a convenience source, I'm sure it will do. I'll only be using the SPDF it should be all good.

 

[The Monkey]

This is the kind of device Apple should have made instead of that iHiFi crap.

 

[tourmaline]

Why do you want to rip your cd's and listen to crap compressed sound!

Use your cd's!

 

[hugz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tourmaline Why do you want to rip your cd's and listen to crap compressed sound! Use your cd's!

It uses FLAC which doesn't affect the SOUND at all

if anything this has a bit of potential to sound better than CD because running off a file on a harddrive probably has less potential for jitter than running off a cd with a laser. Also, audio CDs dont have any error correction, so if there's any dirt or dust on the cd it will slightly affect the sound. If a CD is ripped correctly it will be bit perfect, so every time it gets played it will be the same (perfect)

 

[Sleestack]

I believe you can store in FLAC and WAV. I definitely would not be buying it if it didn't do lossless. It is a bit pricey (at $3,900 fully modded), but PC solutions have just been driving me nuts.