Digitalmeisters - Thoughts on Olive.....

it still seems that the music server model is still very much in the pioneering stage as far as most audiophiles.

You are correct. From what I have seen the Olive and Soolos products are very expensive, but I have never heard them and cannot comment on the SQ. I second the idea of talking to Neal @ SoundScience. Depending on how you want it set up, one of his models will fill the bill. If you have a good DAC or if your EMM can accept a digital input, there would be one solution; if you want to use the DAC in a Touch or Transporter there would be a slightly different one. If you want to use a high end sound card to do the DAC, then there is still a different one, but he can customize a hardware solution for you. Most of his newer products use a very quiet power supply and CPU cooling solution so you could position if w the rest of your gear and use a wired connection if you want, or you could do like I did and connect wirelessly w the Music Server in a remote location. His music servers integrate ripping and playback software along with the storage and data transmission needs. He is a high end audio dealer so he will understand your language and goals to develop a one, two or three box solution, based on your needs. Or he will also act as a consultant to help you design and assemble the right software and hardware at an hourly rate.

When someone makes a server for a decent price, easy for even dummies to use, and has sound that doesn't degrade the original disc / file quality after burning / download with compatibility to high rez downloads, they will corner the market. Sounds like no one has done it yet. So many hoops to jump !

Struggling with these issues. Tried to start another thread (Primer request) asking the following question with no success. Good info here. Is there a single voice which compares/contrasts the various approaches - Linn DS vs Sooloos vs Sonos vs Squeezebox vs Olive vs Bryson vs PS Audio vs ...? A true apples-to-apples comparison?

Nonpoint -

Pkubica said it far better than I could have. Other than his reasons, wireless isn't perfect - there's dropouts, lag, noise from it, etc.

The best I've heard is thumb drives connected to DACs that can play them directly, or through a player than accepts them. Naim's DAC sounded far better tis way than any other way, yet the inputs were all bit perfect. One or two others were the same way, but I can't recall what they were.

I have not heard the Bryston BDP-1, so I can't say this is the case with it. I'd be very surprised if it were not though.

I just cannot get over how much it costs to get a high level of performance (converting computer data to digital music). However, I assume the R&D and manufacturing can not be cheap when you are dealing with smaller audio firms.

Thanks.