Is this the future of the next CD player

JA gave the Olive high praise in the April issue of Stereophile.

"NOTHING beats the graphic interface of a mouse and monitor for navigating your vast library of music."

Some people don't want a a noisy PC/monitor in their listening room.

The Olives and Cambridge(it can handle external HDs or network to your PC's library of music) are just the start of these in the room devises. All those DVD recorders with HDs from the big name companies are music servers waiting to happen.

Glitch947- A "silent PC" and LCD monitor both have power
supplies that are far from noise free. Have fun.

Glitch947- I guess you're unware of ripple noise, e.m.i. and r.f.i. from PC/monitor PSUs. Have fun.

"Also, does anyone know what the USB ports are used for? External DAC? External hard drives to expand storage? External HDs to backup the internals?"

USB are for External HD or memory stick. You'd run an external DAC off it's digital outputs.

Works just like connecting a USB hard drive or memory stick to your PC, You can use it for expansion or backup. You can also access music files via it's network connections.

You might want to also take a look at the:

http://www.cambridgeaudio.com/summary.php?PID=39&Title=Azur%20640H%20Music%20Server%20-%20with%20AudioFile%20technology

"Does it come with a phono input?"

The Opus has a line level input for converting analog sources
to digital. Suggest you give Olive a call on 1-877-296-5483,
if you need more info.