Digital NAS storage

[Jimbo]

Found this interesting article on NAS storage and HDD influence on Digital SQ. Seems that not only DACs, software and ethernet cables influence end result.:eek:

Nearly more complicated than putting together a vinyl/analogue system:lol:

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/hificritic/vol5_no3/listening_to_storage.htm

[Marco]

Lol - most interesting, and just the thing to set your OCD/tweaking sensor on overdrive! :eyebrows:

I was aware that a NAS storage drive is superior to a USB drive, for various reasons, but hadn't considered that there may be sonic differences between NAS storage units. Intriguing, but I doubt I'll be going there - for the moment anyway....

Marco.

[RichB]

Yes, and some hard drives have better bearings than others and then SSDs have no bearings at all which reduces rumble in the sound....

I'm a gullible one at the best of times but even I'm not buying that one.:lol:

For me if its not wireless its not worth the bother.

[Tim]

Ha, somebody had to do it didn't they - audiophiles :rolleyes:

SSDs are the way to go and that's about all you need to worry about IMHO.

[Marco]

And an SSD is? :)

Marco.

[walpurgis]

I like a good old mechanical hard drive. I use a mere 80gb and wipe old data regularly, nice and quick! But there again, I don't use it for audio.

If you want 'wireless' get a wind-up gramophone. ;)

[Jimbo]

And an SSD is? :)

Marco.
SSD - Solid State Drive - no moving parts.

[Marco]

Ah, that's what I have... Can you get valve ones? :eyebrows:

Marco.

[NRG]

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/hificri...to_storage.htm

tis bollux of the first order ;)

[StanleyB]

Ah, that's what I have... Can you get valve ones? :eyebrows:

Marco.
There is one at Bletchley Park


https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e0/ColossusRebuild_11.jpg/800px-ColossusRebuild_11.jpg

[brucew268]

A shame they never got very far with isolating variables. But then the article starts out like an interesting exploration and ends merely as a teaser with highly inconsistent controls in their method. After noticing differences which could be related to processing circuits, specific drives, or types of drives, they then tested striped RAID but using a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT BRAND of NAS and circuit and then gave conclusions that it was based on the storage format?! At least keep something the same from an earlier test! If the article had been posted last month rather than 4 years ago, I'd have a lot's of challenging questions for them... and that is from someone who is not a digital objectivist (skeptic on the whole concept of difference).

When I tried switching from a USB hard drive to my Synology NAS, the sound was not as good in my initial test. Just for grins I changed to a different ethernet cable between them and found the sound was different. Couldn't imagine why but there it was, easily repeatable and heard by others. I suspect it had more to do with the differences in noise being passed along the cable into the HiFi circuitry generally rather than the transmission and reading of the digital info. It didn't really merit my further exporation as it all sounded worse than the slim external hard drive (WD) I had connected to my PC by USB cable. YMWMLV (your mileage will most likely vary)!

[Clive197]

The trouble with the one at Bletchley Park is it won't fit under the stairs at Clive Mansions! :D

[brucew268]

The trouble with the one at Bletchley Park is it won't fit under the stairs at Clive Mansions! :D

It would fit if you fitted an underground bunker beneath the stairs -- more in keeping with the spirit of the thing, don't you think ;)

[Audio Advent]

A shame they never got very far with isolating variables. But then the article starts out like an interesting exploration and ends merely as a teaser with highly inconsistent controls in their method. After noticing differences which could be related to processing circuits, specific drives, or types of drives, they then tested striped RAID but using a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT BRAND of NAS and circuit and then gave conclusions that it was based on the storage format?! At least keep something the same from an earlier test! If the article had been posted last month rather than 4 years ago, I'd have a lot's of challenging questions for them... and that is from someone who is not a digital objectivist (skeptic on the whole concept of difference).

When I tried switching from a USB hard drive to my Synology NAS, the sound was not as good in my initial test. Just for grins I changed to a different ethernet cable between them and found the sound was different. Couldn't imagine why but there it was, easily repeatable and heard by others. I suspect it had more to do with the differences in noise being passed along the cable into the HiFi circuitry generally rather than the transmission and reading of the digital info. It didn't really merit my further exporation as it all sounded worse than the slim external hard drive (WD) I had connected to my PC by USB cable. YMWMLV (your mileage will most likely vary)!

I hate those kind of "tests" - it's people who normally reject the need for epirical evidence to support a theory, playing at science and then believing that they've conducted a valid experiment and so have proved the theory. If you're going to be subjective, then just be subjective - there's no need to do a half-way ballsup of an experiment which does nothing than show yourself to be a bit lacking in the scientific mindset. Sadly it's the same pseudo science which is used to proove real quackery with diet pills and such.

It also doesn't appear to try to understand what might be going on and therefore be able to work out how to get the best sound. It could be nothing more than how their OS is intereacting with each device and therefore down to their system, not the external drives.

[User211]

The world is full of twats, lies and mis-truths, unfortunately.

It is your job, as a human, to decipher the BS from the truth. It is also your job to monitor yourself and make sure that you are not injecting more feed into the BS stream. Harder to do in practise than you might think. In other words, you think you understand things when you don't. You think you hear differences when you don't.

Tis the way of things:);)