View Full Version : How does your HD sound?
Never mind the bitrate palaver :rolleyes:
... looking into NAS drives I came across this article:
http://www.enjoythemusic.com/hificritic/vol5_no3/listening_to_storage.htm
If you haven't already come across it, basically the writers argue that different brands of hard drives can have significantly different sound signatures.... as if cable debates weren't enough already :eek:
Never mind the bitrate palaver :rolleyes:
... looking into NAS drives I came across this article:
http://www.enjoythemusic.com/hificritic/vol5_no3/listening_to_storage.htm
If you haven't already come across it, basically the writers argue that different brands of hard drives can have significantly different sound signatures.... as if cable debates weren't enough already :eek:
I don’t know about different hard drives, but I recently upgraded from a HDD to an SSD on my Macmini and the sound quality I’m getting from my digital music library has certainly gone up a peg imho.
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Lower power usage may be a reason.
It's certainly possible. Noise can get everywhere
I don’t know about different hard drives, but I recently upgraded from a HDD to an SSD on my Macmini and the sound quality I’m getting from my digital music library has certainly gone up a peg imho.
Did that a good while back - mainly for the speed increase and general performance boost...
The articles also considers the difference between HDD and SSD (not always favourably for the latter in their, albeit limited, tests)
Did that a good while back - mainly for the speed increase and general performance boost...
I did it for exactly the same reasons and the speed improvement was pretty massive, the SQ improvement to the music was incidental.
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Hibster_2000
04-11-2019, 05:09
That could also be down to a lack of mechanical noise at the source.
If you are running say a laptop directly into a DAC then I can believe it makes a difference. I did some tests years ago looking at how the USB power supply was modulated when the HDD was performing head seeks and ways to eliminate that modulation. The only way was to separate the 5v line completely. As for a NAS I’m highly sceptical especially if there is no ground connection between end points.
Inclined to agree. The ifi silencer does a good job with attached drives in reducing noise, for a small outlay. Typically £50.
Ive 2 and they have made a difference to me anyway.
Their usb purifier goes a step further. But is a fair bit pricier. I've one of those too.
Interesting stuff ... but USB and/or drive noise issues isn't really the question.
What these guys are claiming is that they noted improved SQ results using different brands of drives solely in the context of NAS usage over ethernet.
Seems like a bit of a wild claim but perhaps someone else has experienced similar improvements just by using a different brand (i.e. Samsung v Corsair, etc...)
Might have helped if they had done their initial comparison blind, but they don't and then they jump straight to the conclusion that something else must be going on.
Having established early on that these two NAS units did indeed sound quite different,
They've not established that in any way.
Might have helped if they had done their initial comparison blind,
Why would they do that? They weren't conducting a scientific analysis under laboratory conditions, just putting together their subjective impressions.
Either way, so called 'Blind Testing' is heavily over-rated - doubt many punters would insist on it when choosing a hifi at Richer Sounds :lol:
Still begs the question of whether anyone here has noted differences when using different brands for hifi purposes ....
Why would they do that? They weren't conducting a scientific analysis under laboratory conditions, just putting together their subjective impressions.
....
They're writing an article telling people that hard drives sound different. Maybe it's just me but I'd expect a little more rigour in that situation.
They're writing an article telling people that hard drives sound different. Maybe it's just me but I'd expect a little more rigour in that situation.
I can see your point, however on that basis they are on a par with other ‘group test’ articles featured in hifi publications and often cited when looking for bits of kit.
I have since tried out a range of 2.5 inch drives (Crucial and Samsung SSD, Seagate and Hitachi HDD) in my recently acquired NAS with special attention to any inherent sound characteristics.
Bearing in mind that I had no way of setting up 'side-by-side' comparisons (let alone blind testing..) and thus the time lapse between listening sessions was quite considerable...
.... I found no audible differences whatsoever.
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