SAVE THE SOUND.
1.877.296.5483
By Scott Wasser
Dr. Bergmann's Opus
The Olive Opus is an audio device hard to define but easy to appreciate.
The pursuit of perfection often manifests itself in such deliciously conspicuous products as the Lamborghini Murcielago LP460 or a diamond-encrusted Rolex Daytona wristwatch. Other times it reveals itself in sweet subtleties intended to entice a select group of connoisseurs. This is the case with Olive Media Products' Opus.
Opus is ostensibly an audiophile-quality music server, but its diverse features and functionality make it a device that eludes true classification. For example, it plays, rips, and burns CDs. It has a built-in hard drive with the capacity to store up to 2,100 CDs in lossless quality. It can connect wirelessly to a home network, providing two-way sharing of audio files (playing songs stored on a computer or playing its own contents through that computer) and accessing Internet radio. It can serve as a hub for up to four Ethernet-enabled devices or as a way to connect an iPod or MP3 player to your home audio system. It even has the ability to upload its own songs to or download unprotected songs from an iPod. And if all this sounds too complicated, you can, at extra cost, ship as many as 500 CDs to Olive and the company will load the music from them onto the Opus for you.
And that's just a cursory look at the Opus' capabilities, which are so expansive it would literally require the entire space allotted to this review to cover them. Yet it takes less time to connect and begin using the device than it does to read this article. The Opus is so intuitive to operate that it has only seven controls on its face. Five are rudimentary buttons: One for power and four that perform functions listed on the front LCD display. The button labels, which occupy about one-third of the screen, change in conjunction with the Opus' current operating mode.
The rest of the screen is devoted to artist/album/track information when a selection is being played or to menus that will be familiar to any iPod/MP3 player user. The menus are accessed from the Opus' rather generic, non-backlit remote control or through a pair of cleverly conceived and concentric jog dials that complete the front panel control set. By twisting the spring-loaded outer dial this way or that, and then turning the inner dial, the user can quickly navigate menus to access the Opus' myriad functions, and locate with unexpected speed and ease a single track among thousands. It took us about 5 seconds to get the hang of the jog dial, but we never tired of using it; partly because it provides such quick and easy operation of the Opus and partly because the dials deliver such delightful tactile feedback.
The feel of the interface and exquisite appearance of the Opus (it's available in brushed aluminum or matte black) suggest the meticulous engineering inside. According to Olive co-founder and CEO Dr. Oliver Bergmann, the Opus' housing, components, and internal engineering were specifically designed to achieve two objectives: Deliver audiophile-quality music and eliminate extraneous noise that can detract from the enjoyment of that music.
I noticed the latter before I even had a chance to experience the former. Turning Opus on for the first time results in a silence almost eerie because it is so unexpected in music servers, computers, and even CD players. There is no fan noise because there is no fan; power-efficient components and chassis design eliminate the need for one. There is no whir or chirp of the hard drive because the drives, which range in capacity from 400 to 750GB, are specifically chosen for their hushed performance and affixed to the chassis on 16 acoustically isolated mounting points. Even the mechanical operation of the CD drive is audibly invisible, thanks in part to a robust door that shrouds its loading slot and backlit pushbutton controls.
After coming to grips with the Opus' remarkable ability to eradicate unwanted sonic intrusions, I couldn't wait to see what it sounded like. It didn't disappoint. First we played a couple of CDs from the Monster Music collection, and they sounded absolutely superb. This level of performance is maintained after I ripped some tracks from the CDs to Opus' hard drive and played them back. A few uncompressed digital files that I moved from a computer also sounded great. But what really blew me away was the sound quality Opus delivered after I used it to burn some tracks from a vinyl album to a CD-R (a one-button operation) and captured those same tracks to its hard drive. Both sources sounded every bit as good as the original LP.
That shouldn't have surprised me since Bergmann says the Opus was created to satisfy the audio expectations of music lovers with systems valued at tens of thousands of dollars. Even if you don't have such a system I doubt you will have trouble appreciating Opus' outstanding performance or its incredibly expansive capabilities.
DESCRIPTION
A high-end music server with integrated audiophile-quality CD player/recorder, WiFi connectivity, and storage capacity for up to 2,100 CDs .
SUPPORTED FORMATS
Import: Four bitrates of MP3 CBR, six levels of MP3 VBR, AIFF, WAV, FLAC.
Playback: 64-320 kbit/s MP3, 64-320 kbit/s AAC, 16-bit FLAC, 65-320 kbit/s Ogg/Vorbis, 16-bit AIFF/WAVofers and 8-inch sub-woofers.
CD deck: Reads Audio CD, CD-R, CD-RW up to 12x; burns CD-R up to 24x, CD-RW up to 16x.
CONNECTIONS
Rear: Four 10/100 MBit Ethernet, two USB 2.0, one wireless LAN antenna, one stereo RCA input, one stereo RCA output, one Toslink and one Coaxial digital audio output. Front: One 6.35mm headphone jack.
ACCESSORIES
IR remote control with batteries, recovery CD.
DIMENSIONS
3.5 x 17.5 x 12 inches (hwd).
PRICE/CONTACT
PRICE: $2,999/$3,499/$3,999 for 400GB/500GB/750GB versions.
CONTACT: 1.877.BY.OLIVE, www.olive.us