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Best External Hard Drive for music storage.


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Hmmmm. EE's in the AudioStream comments section are taking the interview to task. Gordon Rankin among them.

 

Gee, I wonder where else I have seen other EE's take issue...

 

PLEASE keep providing me with links.

 

Gordon's comment is well worth reading. I'll leave it to others to assess whether the characterization of Gordon "taking the interview to task" rings true to them.

 

Gordon also says FLAC sounds better than WAV in that comment. I didn't know you believed in that stuff. ;)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Computer Audiophile

One never knows, do one? - Fats Waller

The fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science. - Einstein

Computer, Audirvana -> optical Ethernet to Fitlet3 -> Fibbr Alpha Optical USB -> iFi NEO iDSD DAC -> Apollon Audio 1ET400A Mini (Purifi based) -> Vandersteen 3A Signature.

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Gordon's comment is well worth reading. I'll leave it to others to assess whether the characterization of Gordon "taking the interview to task" rings true to them.

 

Gordon also says FLAC sounds better than WAV in that comment. I didn't know you believed in that stuff. ;)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Computer Audiophile

 

Here is a part of one of his comments:

 

"I sent a email to John Atkinson and Charlie Hansen saying I give up what's making the applications sound different or for that matter file type sound different. To me my research showed that more processing made for worse sound. That is why an ALAC or FLAC file will not sound as good as a flat PCM file like AIFF/WAV does."

 

So he didn't actually say what you think he said.

 

While you have others like JRiver and Foobar creators saying bit streamed audio will sound the same. I personally have never heard one bit stream sound any different than the same bit stream from one application to another. Storage is also cheap so I store all my content in it's native format. I personally have never experienced an audible difference on modern hardware when it comes to the unpackaging of wav out of a flac container.

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So I read the 3 part interview. Where does Swenson provide a point that supports your unsubstantiated claim?

 

Read more carefully.

Dedicated Line DSD/DXD | Audirvana+ | iFi iDSD Nano | SET Tube Amp | Totem Mites

Surround: VLC | M-Audio FastTrack Pro | Mac Opt | Panasonic SA-HE100 | Logitech Z623

DIY: SET Tube Amp | Low-Noise Linear Regulated Power Supply | USB, Power, Speaker Cables | Speaker Stands | Acoustic Panels

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Here is a part of one of his comments:

 

"I sent a email to John Atkinson and Charlie Hansen saying I give up what's making the applications sound different or for that matter file type sound different. To me my research showed that more processing made for worse sound. That is why an ALAC or FLAC file will not sound as good as a flat PCM file like AIFF/WAV does."

 

So he didn't actually say what you think he said.

 

While you have others like JRiver and Foobar creators saying bit streamed audio will sound the same. I personally have never heard one bit stream sound any different than the same bit stream from one application to another. Storage is also cheap so I store all my content in it's native format. I personally have never experienced an audible difference on modern hardware when it comes to the unpackaging of wav out of a flac container.

 

You're right, I typed the exact opposite of what I intended to say.

One never knows, do one? - Fats Waller

The fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science. - Einstein

Computer, Audirvana -> optical Ethernet to Fitlet3 -> Fibbr Alpha Optical USB -> iFi NEO iDSD DAC -> Apollon Audio 1ET400A Mini (Purifi based) -> Vandersteen 3A Signature.

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Either you can support your point or you can't.

Either you can understand John Swenson or you can't.

Dedicated Line DSD/DXD | Audirvana+ | iFi iDSD Nano | SET Tube Amp | Totem Mites

Surround: VLC | M-Audio FastTrack Pro | Mac Opt | Panasonic SA-HE100 | Logitech Z623

DIY: SET Tube Amp | Low-Noise Linear Regulated Power Supply | USB, Power, Speaker Cables | Speaker Stands | Acoustic Panels

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Either you can understand John Swenson or you can't.

 

Oh, I understand what he's saying. It's just I don't think he's 100% correct in his assessment. In another thread here he's brought up the variable voltage that Ethernet PHY's can work at. This principal is applied in 'Green' Ethernet switches where they can apply variable voltage to each port based on the length of cable each port drives.

 

He is postulating that these differences could be existent in different cables in various ways depending on that cables properties and therefore possibly, somehow, matriculate to a DAC. Ergo different cables could have a 'signature'.

 

It's something that I discount 99.9% because the driving voltage, using his #, is 50ma max. What ever induced current this places on the Mainboard ground plane is going to get swamped out by so many other, much higher speed and current draw busses.

 

And it's super easy to test.

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A really good resource is BackBlazes quarterly releases of how their arrays with consumer hard drives are doing.

 

https://www.backblaze.com/blog/hard-drive-reliability-q3-2015/

 

A Weibull distribution reliability curve use over time:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxBp8Vkho2pIejNTM2JWU0hpdEk/view?pref=2&pli=1

 

Wow it sure looks like those WD Reds that lots of people rave about aren't doing too well.

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Wow it sure looks like those WD Reds that lots of people rave about aren't doing too well.
I've been using WD Reds in both a mac pro and a fanless OWC enclosure (the latter with my music mini). Super silent, cool, and no issues at all.

 

PS: Obviously I am going to get back home to burning drives now that I've said this!

NUC10i7 + Roon ROCK > dCS Rossini APEX DAC + dCS Rossini Master Clock 

SME 20/3 + SME V + Dynavector XV-1s or ANUK IO Gold > vdH The Grail or Kondo KSL-SFz + ANK L3 Phono 

Audio Note Kondo Ongaku > Avantgarde Duo Mezzo

Signal cables: Kondo Silver, Crystal Cable phono

Power cables: Kondo, Shunyata, van den Hul

system pics

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Read more carefully.

 

 

How about this. Since computer based systems are buffered. I.E. you can pull the plug and the music will still play.

 

I've got $1000 that says you can't hit 9 out of 10 on a system where I can simply put the wireless adapter into airplane mode. You should be able to tell since you seem to have it all figured out.

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I use a small ssd toshiba q300 pro and a pair of x300 5tb drives

 

I'd say the large drives are audible with the spin so I got a SENDA shock proof holders which have isolated them from the chassis

 

One thing to be aware of is I can hear the difference between flac and wav files, others who hear them cannot hear more sound coming from the sky box than my pc when running

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Computer Audiophile

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I use a small ssd toshiba q300 pro and a pair of x300 5tb drives

 

I'd say the large drives are audible with the spin so I got a SENDA shock proof holders which have isolated them from the chassis

 

One thing to be aware of is I can hear the difference between flac and wav files, others who hear them cannot hear more sound coming from the sky box than my pc when running

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Computer Audiophile

 

This is the reason I purchased a NETGEAR ReadyNAS. It takes all those issues and moves them out of the room.

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  • 2 months later...
10 hours ago, pam1975 said:

hi, on the same topic, would an external drive like a Transcend ESD400 (it's a portable external SSD drive) work to store my music outside of my NUC?

 

For $200 you could get the Western Digital 4TB Cloud Drive and a Router and move everything way out side of your listening environment. Use wireless to provide physical isolation. All the benefits of Fiber plus you don't have to worry about potential noise of a Fiber to Copper converter that has it's own noisy SMPS as the wireless will be powered by the NUC itself so it's wireless is as clean as the entire computers. 

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2 hours ago, plissken said:

 

For $200 you could get the Western Digital 4TB Cloud Drive and a Router and move everything way out side of your listening environment. Use wireless to provide physical isolation. All the benefits of Fiber plus you don't have to worry about potential noise of a Fiber to Copper converter that has it's own noisy SMPS as the wireless will be powered by the NUC itself so it's wireless is as clean as the entire computers. 

so my nuc is connected wirelessly to the WD cloud drive, correct? and the performance of data transmission wouldn't cause potential dropouts? I had not heard of such a set-up before. Interesting.

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15 minutes ago, pam1975 said:

so my nuc is connected wirelessly to the WD cloud drive, correct? and the performance of data transmission wouldn't cause potential dropouts? I had not heard of such a set-up before. Interesting.

Yes you are correct, wireless is not good for audio... This is time sensitive and wireless is not designed for time sensitive applications 

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14 minutes ago, Nouchka said:

Yes you are correct, wireless is not good for audio... This is time sensitive and wireless is not designed for time sensitive applications 

 

Wireless is great for audio. Mere playback is not time sensitive as it is for real-time monitoring when you are recording a musician. 

 

I shot a video and posted it hear years ago where I started playback, put the wireless adapter in airplane mode, and it played for 15 seconds after downing the adapter. Very timing insensitive as a matter of proof. 

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33 minutes ago, pam1975 said:

so my nuc is connected wirelessly to the WD cloud drive, correct? and the performance of data transmission wouldn't cause potential dropouts? I had not heard of such a set-up before. Interesting.

 

You haven't heard of people using their laptops, tablet, phones, and desktops with a wireless Ethernet adapter?

 

The WD Cloud Drive would be connected to a network switch and the Router becomes and Access Point also connected to the switch.

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