Group Buy for OLIVE Media players for VMPS'ers

John Casler · « **Reply #20 on:** 22 May 2006, 02:48 pm »

In the interest of not dragging this out, so everyone can get their units, I think we will look at the following.

The group will remain open until Friday, at which time I will need "firm" commitments as to who is purchasing.

I will privately e-mail all of you Thursday with the Group Pricing based on who has committed.

So far the savings is quite nice, and if everyone who has expressed interest commits, we will be another $50-$100 less than I originally posted.

So please let me know your e-mail, (if you haven't already) and your commitment (if you haven't already) and I will post all this week end with instructions on ordering.

John Casler · « **Reply #21 on:** 22 May 2006, 10:05 pm »

Hi All,

Well the response is picking up and I think I can safely say we will have another small price drop, (if not two) before we order.

I just sent a GROUP e-mail out so if you didn't get it let me know.

I have talked with OLIVE and have been told that the units "will" support DVD-A

See message I received below.

Quote

Right now, just DVD-A is supported by our units. I have heard that SACD shold be supported with one of the next software updates, but not yet. No word on the DTS..I'll look into it.

That's all for now.

Can't wait to hear this unit on the RM30s

John Casler · « **Reply #22 on:** 24 May 2006, 01:16 am »

While I early on mentioned that this group would be basically the MUSICA, it has been expanded to include the OPUS, and the price benefits on the OPUS are "E-X-T-R-E-M-E"

That means the pricing break on the OPUS is better.

The 500 Gig OPUS lists for $3499, but please e-mail me for the GROUP price.

The OPUS should be availble soon (and has an "upraded" DAC and Hard DRIVE)

brj · « **Reply #23 on:** 24 May 2006, 03:06 am »

Hi John.

Quote from: John Casler

The OPUS should be availble soon (and has an "upraded" DAC and Hard DRIVE)

Do you mean "upgraded" with respect to the original 400 GB Opus, or upgraded with respect to the Musica (Burr Brown vs. Analog Devices)?

Can you tell us the different DAC's used in the different models? (I've never seen a complete list.)

Thanks!

John Casler · « **Reply #24 on:** 24 May 2006, 04:08 am »

Quote from: brj

Hi John.

Quote from: John Casler
The OPUS should be availble soon (and has an "upraded" DAC and Hard DRIVE)

Do you mean "upgraded" with respect to the original 400 GB Opus, or upgraded with respect to the Musica (Burr Brown vs. Analog Devices)?

Can you tell us the different DAC's used in the different models? (I've never seen a complete list.)

Thanks!

As far as the HD the upgrade was from 400 to 500 Gigs.

Since the OPUS hasn't shipped yet the only thing I have to go on is the info on the site.

It states

Code: [Select]

The breathtaking audio fidelity is courtesy of a customized audio board with four 24-bit DACs and temperature-compensated crystal oscillator.

I know that these are Burr Brown DACs, but don't have the chip numbers.

The MUSICA has an excellent DAC and John Atkinson of Stereophile said he had to go to an almost $1K Outboard (BenchMark and Musical Fidelity) to better it.

He also (in his review) stated that for a time he thought he was listening to the "outboards" and really was listening to the internal DAC without knowing so.

So the internal on the MUSICA is of very "high quality".

The OPUS is even better and obviously it should be.

John Casler · « **Reply #25 on:** 26 May 2006, 02:55 pm »

Hi Group Members,

Thanks to those who have already placed your orders.

Please remember to select the color you want with your order.

I forgot about the Holiday and people being out of town today through Monday, so I will wrap this up Wed.

I have just sent out an updated e-mail to all group members. If you don't receive yours please let me know.

Have a nice Holiday

mr_bill · « **Reply #26 on:** 28 May 2006, 09:26 pm »

John or anyone else,

Do the Olive's - Musica or Opus have volume controls and are they digital and or analog volume controls?

For me, this has a bearing on whether or not to order one.

Thanks!
Bill

Berndt · « **Reply #27 on:** 30 May 2006, 05:21 pm »

Justa fyi, I called olive before this began inquiring about bstock specials.
As I am in SF as is Olive it seemed a no brainer to pick it up there.
Bstock scratch and dents are available, btw, at a savings of 50$ off of retail.
I ordered my musica from John instead.
Also, the teck answering the phone at Olive was very knowledgable and friendly, you might want to contact them direct for any questions John or anyone else cannot answer.

John Casler · « **Reply #28 on:** 30 May 2006, 10:50 pm »

Quote from: mr_bill

John or anyone else,

Do the Olive's - Musica or Opus have volume controls and are they digital and or analog volume controls?

For me, this has a bearing on whether or not to order one.

Thanks!
Bill

Hi Bill,

I do have a call into OLIVE regarding the gain control, but they are rather busy fielding calls today.

Vinnie R. · « **Reply #29 on:** 30 May 2006, 11:27 pm »

Quote from: mr_bill

John or anyone else,

Do the Olive's - Musica or Opus have volume controls and are they digital and or analog volume controls?

For me, this has a bearing on whether or not to order one.

Thanks!
Bill

Hi Bill,

The Olive units have volume control for their analog outputs. The volume control is done digitally before the D to A conversion takes place (similar to the Squeezeboxes volume control feature). The quality of the volume control is very, very good IMHO. It can also be adjusted via the remote control. You can connect your Olive directly into a power amp and forget about the preamp

Best regards,

John Casler · « **Reply #30 on:** 31 May 2006, 03:53 am »

Hi Vinnie,

Thanks for the info, and for those who don't know Vinnie is offering a great after market Mod to the OLIVE products.

Wayne from Bolder is also exploring a mod that will be offered from both Mike at Tweak Geek, and straight from Wayne himself.

Be sure to check out both if you are thinking of modding the units.

John Casler · « **Reply #31 on:** 3 Jun 2006, 11:05 pm »

I want to thank everyone for joining the OLIVE group, and I have to cut this off, in order to get the order(s) placed.

The Group responded very favorably, and "shifted" more than half the respondents to the OPUS, which caused a rather large price drop on that unit.

I will be sending in the orders early next week, but have permission from OLIVE to allow additional orders (under the same price structure) to be placed until Friday 6/9/06.

So if you're considering one of these units, I doubt the price will be lower than this for some time.

For those who are still interested, please contact me for the prices via "E-MAIL" (not PM please, since I don't get notified)

Berndt · « **Reply #32 on:** 4 Jun 2006, 02:02 am »

Re. the ordered few
When can we expect the preordered units to arrive?
Dropshipping from olive?
TIA, Bill

John Casler · « **Reply #33 on:** 4 Jun 2006, 03:25 pm »

Quote from: Berndt

Re. the ordered few
When can we expect the preordered units to arrive?
Dropshipping from olive?
TIA, Bill

Hi Bill,

The Main order should go in Mon or Tue. OLIVE has given me permission to keep it open till the end of the week,

As I understand it MUSICA stock is there ready to ship and OPUS should be available to ship between June 15 and July 15th

brj · « **Reply #34 on:** 4 Jun 2006, 04:24 pm »

John, did you ever find out which Burr-Brown DAC chip they were using? (I think someone posted that it was the PCM1704 chip, but there was no indication whether it was the K model or not.)

I've emailed them twice now, but have yet to get a response...

John Casler · « **Reply #35 on:** 5 Jun 2006, 01:34 am »

Quote from: brj

John, did you ever find out which Burr-Brown DAC chip they were using? (I think someone posted that it was the PCM1704 chip, but there was no indication whether it was the K model or not.)

I've emailed them twice now, but have yet to get a response...

I don't know the chip, but the 1704 would be a good one.

I am not "educated" on the various chips, but in doing a little investigating, I was able to see that this chip seems to be pretty highly regarded.

All the listed parameters of the OPUS seem to fit within the abilities of the 1704.

If it is not the 1704, it seems to still have a high degree of capabilites.

John Casler · « **Reply #36 on:** 7 Jun 2006, 01:27 am »

Hi All,

And thanks for the response to the group buy on the OLIVE Media Server.

The first orders (those who have ordered and I have received the order) have been processed and have been sent to OLIVE for fullfillment.

With a little luck, I would guess you would receive units in 14 days or so, depending on shipping. (and hopefully no SNAFU's)

I have expanded the "Group Buy" to include non-VMPS customers. See this post for info:

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=28566.msg254887#254887

John Casler · « **Reply #37 on:** 12 Jun 2006, 02:40 pm »

Just a reminder, those who are considering the OLIVE Media Server group deal have only 5 more days.

I have opened this up to Non-VMPS'ers too so e-mail me if you want in, and I'll give you instructions.

To those who have already sent in their MUSICA orders, they were sent to OLIVE last week, so I assume they will be released and shipped late this week.

OPUS orders are still a couple weeks away.

I will keep you posted.

John Casler · « **Reply #38 on:** 18 Jun 2006, 06:12 pm »

The Group Buy has closed and I wanted to thank all who joined, and made it "VERY" worthwhile

I would expect the first "wave" of early joiners to have their MUSICA units shipped next week. The OPUS will be available (according to OLIVE) in 2 weeks.

I will get more info Monday as a place the remaining orders.

If I can get tracking numbers, I will forward them to you each (these are shipped directly from OLIVE), and for the Will CALL members, I will contact you as to when and where to pick up your units.

Again,

THANKS, and I hope you enjoy your units.

PS: I see that there are now at least 3 groups doing mods to the units, and I will probably offer a "mod credit" to those who couldn't take advantage of the GROUP buy, for future units.

I can also offer a great Power Cord to use with the OLIVE units, at a great price for all who purchased the OLIVE unit.

DavidDG · « **Reply #39 on:** 26 Jun 2006, 11:14 pm »

Hi John,

Any updates on when the Musica's will ship?

Regards,

David Graham