Digital Audio Player to Go With Your Cigars and Brandy

By: Grahm Skee on July 29, 2005 12:02 AM

The Olive "Symphony" is a home digital audio player for audiophiles. Designed especially for classical music, it will rip and name your collection to its 80GB noiseless 2.5” hard drive in your choice of codecs: AIFF, WAV, MP3, MP3 VBR or FLAC. In addition it will playback OGG, PCM, and AAC. This refined player can be accesses through your computer via your WiFi network and can be streamed to five different rooms simultaneously to its accompanying “Sonata” device, which is small screened portable receiver. The player also has digital input and output along with the ability to encode on the fly.

So far the only portable device it will connect to is the iPod via a USB cable. Which is backwards, since the iPod obviously does not come close to audiophile standards. Hey guys at Olive Inc.! Are you blinded by the shiny side of your iPods? Hopefully there will be more devices supported by the time it launches in August at a price tag of $899 for the Symphony and $199 for the Sonata accessory.

[Press Release]

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