[Jay S]

Hi, I've been lurking here for a few months as my RWA Musica broke in.  Well, about a month ago it finally broke in.  Music is relaxed, coherent, clear and dynamic, with a bit of warmth (which I like).  While presenting the music as a coherent whole, it is easy to follow individual voices or instruments.  What pleasantly surprised me is the quickness and tautness of bass, esp kick drums.  So far, I've got 800+ songs loaded (I've culled a lot of tracks) and even on FLAC the hard drive is still mostly empty. 

Vinnie:   

[Vinnie R.]

Hi Jay S,

Thanks for the follow-up comments.

The modded Olive does take a while to burn-in, and I'm glad your there now and are hearing what it does so well:

Music is relaxed, coherent, clear and dynamic, with a bit of warmth (which I like). 

I get a lot of calls/emails asking about what dac do I use or recommend with the modded Olive.  I do NOT use an external dac and don't have the desire to so with the modded Olive.  I just connect it directly into the Signature 30 or 70s and it sounds fantastic!  Keep it simple, keep it pure 

Thanks again,

Vinnie

[jrebman]

I get a lot of calls/emails asking about what dac do I use or recommend with the modded Olive.  I do NOT use an external dac and don't have the desire to so with the modded Olive.  I just connect it directly into the Signature 30 or 70s and it sounds fantastic!  Keep it simple, keep it pure 

Vinnie, I had another question related to this:  Wayne at Boulder Cable says that the Olive's volume control doesn't go all the way down to zero and if I get one for my office system, I'm going to want to either leave the Sig 70s gain set in a fixed position, or I may use it with my C.I.A. VMB-1s, which have no gain control (and lots of gain).  I wonder if this has been addressed in recent software releases?  Wayne says he's not familiar with the recent updates.

Does anybody out there see this as a problem? ZLS -- since you are using it with  the fixed gain dual-mono Clari-T?

Thanks,

Jim

[Jay S]

I get a lot of calls/emails asking about what dac do I use or recommend with the modded Olive.  I do NOT use an external dac and don't have the desire to so with the modded Olive.  I just connect it directly into the Signature 30 or 70s and it sounds fantastic!  Keep it simple, keep it pure 

I agree.  I don't have a desire to add a dac as the modded Olive sounds fine on its own and I don't care to deal with extra complexity and clutter (in addition to the component, 1 more analog IC, 1 digital cable, 1 more power cord, 1 more set of isolation or coupling footers, etc).  I had 2 modded DACs in the past and the modded Olive combines many of their strengths. 

Question: will the Olive "remember" the last volume setting (e.g. very low volume) even if it is off the battery for a couple of weeks?  I have not yet connected the Olive direct to my amp and I wouldn't want it to start off at full volume. 

Thanks!

[Vinnie R.]

Does anybody out there see this as a problem? ZLS -- since you are using it with  the fixed gain dual-mono Clari-T?

Hi Jim,

Yes, volume zero is not mute.  If you want no volume, you can press the MUTE button (or just press STOP).

With the Sig 70s, this won't be a problem.  You set the gain of each Sig 70 with the built-in DACT attenuators, and then control the Olive's volume via remote. 

The any other amp w/o gain control, the volume level *should* be low enough at the lowest setting. 

Question: will the Olive "remember" the last volume setting (e.g. very low volume) even if it is off the battery for a couple of weeks?  I have not yet connected the Olive direct to my amp and I wouldn't want it to start off at full volume. 

Yes, it will.  Just to be safe, it doesn't hurt to check the volume setting before you press PLAY. 

Best regards,

Vinnie

[ZLS]

  When playing my Olive Musica through my Dual Mono Clari-T w/o a volume control I never had any problem.  The Musica remembered the previous volume setting, so there was never any fear of the music being too loud. 
    I took a purist approach eliminating the volume control, I did this for the sound.  I felt it was worth any possible inconvenience.  BTW, Vinnie has taken this into account on the Sig 30-He feels it sounds better with the DACT.  Who am I to argue with the Master?

[Jay S]

Thanks!  Will try the direct route and see how it sounds vs. having a tube pre.  My hope to to go all-battery, so a Sig 30 may be in the cards sometime down the road.  But one step at a time (my modded SA14 is now for sale).