A novel way to massively improve the SQ of computer audio streaming

[jean-michel6]

5 hours ago, seeteeyou said:

On 4/26/2018 at 10:25 AM, nvitorino said:

1. ATX only (using a Pico-PSU with a clean 12V input)

2. 12V only

3. ATX + 12V

 

1. and 2. sound similar in our tests. 3 sounds significantly better.

 

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/30376-a-novel-way-to-massively-improve-the-sq-of-computer-audio-streaming/?page=361&tab=comments#comment-860642

On 8/10/2018 at 9:01 AM, romaz said:

Regarding power supplies for this NUC board, yes, it scales extremely well to power supplies and better than my DFI board.  This board can accept 12-19V.  During my testing with my SR7s, 19V sounds a little better than 12V but DR (double regulated) 12V sounds considerably better than 19V.  The ideal SR7 for this board would likely be a DR 19V which I do not have.

 

Not to mention there's something "unique" about Supermicro

 

On 4/26/2018 at 10:25 AM, nvitorino said:

If you connect the ATX supply, the board will not use it's own switching regulators to convert to 5V and 3.3V from 12V. The interesting part is that it still uses the 12V rail on both the ATX and the 12V input separately if the 12V input is available.

 

BTW, they also made something that's fairly similar to how X10SBA-L would work in terms of accepting power

 

https://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/atom/A2SDi-2C-HLN4F.cfm

http://www.acmemicro.com/Product/15834/Supermicro-A2SDi-2C-HLN4F-MotherBoard-Intel-Atom-UP-C3338-2-Core-DDR4-SATA3-4x-1GbE-1x-PCI-E-Mini-ITX

 

If you look at a picture of the zenith SE , there is in fact a pico psu feeding the atx connector and this pico psu is fed himself by the 12v coming from the Sean Jacobs designed PSU .

Therefore yes it may not use the DC-DC converter of the super micro board but it use the DC-DC converter of the pico psu .

 

I am using those super micro board in my dual pc but i never try as of today to use the atx to power it , i use only the 4 pin connector .

Before going to the super micro board , i had an other more power hungry board and was powering it with both the atx and 4 pin connector and it was much better than using only the ATX .

 

 

 

[jean-michel6]

1 hour ago, rickca said:

NUC7PJYH (quad core J5005 CPU) is available at B&H for $172.

NUC7CJYH (dual core J4005 CPU) for $117.98 B&H says more on the way in 2-4 weeks.  This model seems to be sold out most places.

Interesting info. 

I discovered however that those nuc are not fanless. Question ? Is the fan an issue as it will create both electrical and audible noise ?

Is there fanless solutions for those nuc PCs ?

Does anybody has tested quad core vs dual core for endpoint ?

 

[jean-michel6]

On 11/23/2018 at 9:50 PM, Dev said:

Roon Core/Roon Bridge vs LMS/Squeezelite vs Roon Core/Squeezelite:

 

With the bigger buffer size (I can only set to 1Gb since my NUC is fitted with 4Gb at the moment), the LMS/Squeezelite just sounds so much better than the Roon Core/Bridge combo. Bigger soundstage, more air around vocals, more of everything. This is without up-sampling anything. Just native resolution directly to the DAC. In all the test the server was NUC8i7BEH and NUC7CJYH as the streamer all running AL.

 

Later moving to RoonCore/Squeezelite combo (thanks to @austinpop), it sounds about the same as LMS/Squeezelite combo. With much better user interface of Roon and far better SQ of the squeezelite, you have the best of both the world but keep in mind PCM is limited to 192KHz and DSD to 64. Also, as @austinpop has noted earlier, sometime it skips to the next song. It didn't happen with LMS/Squeezelite combo.

 

I am yet to throw in HQP in the mix. My earlier experiment with HQP vs Roon, Roon again fell short, even without employing up-sampling but as far a audio memory serves, the LMS(or Roon)/Squeezelite is the best combo so far I have heard in my system.

 

Thank you , very interesting results which confirm the results of Rajiv but in a dual pc setup. 

Were are located the music file library in your system ?

[jean-michel6]

2 hours ago, elan120 said:

NUC NUC here I come...my early stage of NUC impression.

 

After seeing many successful NUC setup in the past weeks, I decided to give NUC a try also, and with the help from Larry, I have mine up and running few days ago, and can say my WOW moment came soon after setup was completed and started listening few of my favorite tracks.

 

My system prior to setting up NUC as an endpoint consist of a recent build PC with AMD Threadripper 1950X to run HQPlayer, upsample all music files to DSD512 with non-2s filters.  This system is clock centric, where a sCLK-OCX10 connected sCLK-EX clock board inside the PC provide clocking signals to MOBO, ethernet ports, JCAT Net Card, and tX-USBexp.  Signal output from tX-USBexp is connected to txUSBUltra directly that is sCLK-OCX10 connected as well, and the output from txUSBUltra goes into Singxer SU-1 that is also clocked by sCLK-EX inside of txUSBUltra, finally, SU-1 is connected to Holo Spring L3 DAC.  I have spent considerable amount of efforts tweaking this system such as different power supplies, cables, isolation...etc., and was very pleased with the result to the point that I feel the end of tweaking is near.  However, after having many posts from well respected CAers about the NUC setup, I contacted Larry to help improve my learning curve since I am quite green in Linux.  It didn't take Larry long to get the NUC going in my system, and compare to my prior setup, I can say comfortably that this IS easily the best and most realistic sound I have extracted from my system to date, and this is still early in testing different setup configurations, which I can only imaging what it will be like after more tweaks are done.

 

As many have said it before, try it!  This is quite a breakthrough discovery that based on the relatively low entry cost, it should be quite an easy decision to make.  I am very glad I did, and I will be busy over the year end holidays enjoy my system.

Thank you for this interesting report. 

If i understand well you went from a very optimized single pc set up to a dual pc set up the endpoint becoming the nuc , correct ?

If my understanding is right you did benefit from 2 improvement 

- going to dual pc set  up which is always a significant boost in sq 

- using an NUC under al as endpoint . 

Did you still use the txUSB ultra or tx usb ultra or did you went from nuc usb directly to singxer su-1 ?

 

I am already in dual pc set up with two supermicro x10sba board . I intend soon to test also the impact of running a NUC under al as an endpoint since there is so many good feedback.  

 

Which NUC did you try the dual core or the four core as @lmitchesays  i think that the four core is better with more body especially in the mid I think. 

[jean-michel6]

17 hours ago, austinpop said:

Do note, that I am not talking about RAM caching on the server side. Who knows what we would hear if the music server also implemented large memory buffers. Unlike squeezelite, where a buffering application exists, I don't know of an existing server, Roon or LMS that does this.

Rajiv ,

 

I was at a friend’s home yesterday’to Play with AudioLinux. 

My friend is using a dual pc set up using Daphile which is using les and sqeezlite.

There is an option in daphile lms to buffer music in ram on the server side. 

Sq wise it is excellent. You may test that ?

the daphile sqeezlite is running fully in ram. 

[jean-michel6]

6 hours ago, austinpop said:

 

What is the option?

My understanding is that you need to have Daphile lms installed on the server side. 

Then on the lms screen ,once you have selected the songs you want to play there is a small icon on the bottom right side of the screen to load your playlist to ram. 

 

My my friend has 8gb and he can load full albums .

I will try to get screenshot from him. 

[jean-michel6]

13 hours ago, austinpop said:

My NUC Impressions

 

Roy graciously lent me his NUC7CJYH encased in the Akasa Newton JC case, and I have been putting it through its paces. I am just amazed at the SQ out of this wee tyke. But let's step back and start at the top to set expectations. My expectations with this NUC were unclear. First of all, while many have found the SQ improvement astounding, they were not starting from the baseline of a Zenith SE, which is no slouch in its own right! On the other hand, Roy had found this NUC coupled with his SR-7 to be so good that he sold his SE? That gave me food for thought.

 

I've previously reported my findings with just the OS changed. AudioLinux headless in RAM raised the SQ of my SE by a notable amount, both running as a standalone Roon player, as well as a Roon Bridge. Here are my key observations. Unless noted, everything is running AL in RAM.

• NUC vs. SE as an endpoint, Dell as server: 
  • With SE running AL/RAM: the NUC is a small but subtle improvement. This is with the NUC powered by the SR-4. The NUC is more dynamic, and open sounding. What is astounding is this from a < 300 box!!!
  • With SE running the original InnuOS, the difference is larger. This is consistent with the fact that running AL/RAM on the SE raised the SQ, closing the gap somewhat.
• NUC endpoint+Dell server vs. standalone SE: 
  • The gap widens. The Dell as a server sounds more dynamic. I still feel this config is somewhat harsher (this purely a comparative statement - both configs sound gorgeous) than the all-in-one SE (not by much), but I think there are many paths now to tune that out, which I can explore.
• PSUs for the NUC:
  • I ran the following: sPS-500, LPS-1.2, SR-4, and finally SR-7 DRXL.
  • The sPS-500 quickly was superseded by the LPS-1.2, which sounds wonderful. On careful listen, the SR-4 is subtly better. This is actually closer than when I ran these PSUs on my tX-U. With the NUC, the SR-4 provides an inky blackness and tames a bit of the harshness I alluded to earlier. The LPS-1.2 is more expansive, but just a smidge more fatiguing. Again - please remember, these are comparative statements only. The LPS-1.2 is by no means fatiguing.
  • Then came the SR-7 DRXL. Man - I am astounded every time I hear this PSU! How is it possible to improve on such excellence as the LPS-1.2 and SR-4?! But it is! With the SR-7, I finally understood what Roy has been hearing. There is clear daylight now between the NUC+SR-7 and my SE. The SR-7 adds even more dynamics, but along with it a refinement and ease, that is hard to describe, but easy to hear.
• Whither clocks? tX-USBultra - in or out?
  • Until now, for the last 18 months, the tX-USBultra, powered by the SR-4 and disciplined by the Ref-10 has been the one component that has been "old reliable, old faithful" in my chain. What about with the NUC as endpoint?
  • With the NUC, powered by the LPS-1.2, I compared with and without the tX-U, wow - the tX-USBultra is now a bottleneck! I could not believe this when i heard it, but sure enough Roy and @Johnseye are spot on. The tX-U sapped the dynamics a little, and imparted a thinness to the sound! This is the complete opposite of what it has done in the past. Amazing.
  • But wait, there's more! With the NUC powered by the SR-7, AND the tX-USBultra powered by the SR-7 (both rails are DR), the situation reversed again! With SR-7 power, the tX-USBultra again adds SQ to the path! I've discussed this with Roy, and the main difference we have in our setups is that he has only one DR rail, which he applies to the NUC. We (Eric and I) had the luxury of 2 DR rails at our disposal.
  • Verdict: at the very least, the effect of the tX-USBultra is much smaller with this NUC than it has been with all my previous endpoints. Depending on power supplies, it could be either a benefit or a hindrance. If you have one already, try it and decide for yourself. If you don't, no FOMO here!

Conclusions

 

There really is something special about this 7th generation of NUCs. Whether this is a happy accident, or Intel actually focused on audio quality, the end result is something special. However, let's give credit - a lot of credit - to the SQ improvements due to AudioLinux. It's the combination that is truly spectacular. As always, PSU quality remains a critical requirement.

 

What I've heard has convinced me to try out this solution. I've sold my ZENith SE Mk II Std., and now have a NUC7i7DNBE and Plato X7D winging its way to me. Over time, I will also look at improvements on the server end, and the network.

 

But let me end on a note of appreciation for the Zenith SE. My decision to sell the SE (btw - demand is through the roof!) was highly personal, and based on my own urge to experiment. Not everybody likes to dabble and tweak. If you own one of these, don't feel you are missing out a lot with all this NUC euphoria. This is a seriously good piece of kit, and Innuos is an innovative company. Trust me, they are watching this space closely, and will very likely offer some of these improvements in their own way. And you can always dip your toes into the pool, like I initially did, by booting up your box with an AL/SE USB stick - the original config is just a reboot away - or by adding a NUC downstream of the SE.

 

There are many path to nirvana!

Rajiv ,

 

Again a very interesting and balanced report from you. Thank’s a lot. 

 

One  comment about psu for the NUC. I have both lps 1.2 and sps 500.  In my system I am using the sps 500 to power the lps  1.2. This improves very significantly the sq provided by the lps 1.2 running with the stock smps unit. 

I will be very interested if you can run this set up powering the NUC and compared to sr4 and sr7dr

 

How much ram there was in Roy’s nuc ? Did you use AL in extrem boot mode ? If yes no problem to have lps 1.2 power it and also heat built up ?

 

why did you order the NUC7i7DNBE ?

 

Thank’s

[jean-michel6]

On the  NUC7PJYH  is it possible to deactivate the wifi and bluetooth either through the bios or physically ?

[jean-michel6]

1 hour ago, austinpop said:

My NUC Impressions - Part 2

 

Shortly after I posted my initial NUC impressions yesterday, FedEx and DHL dropped off the last of the parts for my own NUC. Let me back up. The day after I received Roy's loaner NUC, which happened to be Cyber Monday, and having heard it in my system, I decided to go ahead and order my own. Since the NUC7CJYH was sold out everywhere, and since Roy (and then Larry) has mentioned how they found the NUC7i7DNBE to sound even better, I went ahead and ordered the NUC7i7DNBE with the classy looking Akasa Plato X7D case. I'm glad I did, as it seems to be backordered now.

 

First - I must tell you the Plato X7D case is stunning in its look and feel. I have to admit I had some trepidation about how the build would go. I'm not a system builder, and although I was comfortable about the general process, having seen the video @Middy posted a few days ago on this thread, I was paranoid I'd get the thermal paste application wrong. Larry and Roy were helpful in their advice, and in the end, the build was fairly easy, even for a first timer. Even after a whole day of running AL Extreme, CPU temp is stable around 40ºC, so I guess the paste went on properly! Plus, I think this case is outstanding for heat dissipation. I suppose it helps that I have absolutely no additional devices other than what's on the original mobo. I tuned the BIOS as described in the tuning thread.

 

So how does it sound? Wow, this i7 NUC is quite a nice step up in SQ! Roy and Larry were spot on, as usual. Even cold - I'm sure even NUCs need some breaking in - it sounds stunning.

 

Holding everything else constant, and powering both NUCs (CJYH and i7DNBE) with a 12V SR7 DR rail, I was not expecting as big a difference as I heard. These are just initial impressions, but here's what I'm hearing on the i7 compared to the Celeron:

• A hint more dynamic, but dynamics are not the biggest difference
• Richer, creamier sound
• More coherent, better texture and timbre
• fuller and denser
• a bit more authority on the low end
• double bass lines better articulated
• a larger image.

In short, even more of the good stuff. I am so pleased with this purchase! My Zenith SE is on its way to its proud new owner, and now this handsome Plato X7D-encased NUC is a worthy replacement and improvement, at a fraction of the cost.

 

At this point, I just can't stop listening to the music, and so will take a break from all the tweaking and tuning. Eventually, I will dabble with a different/better server than my generic Dell desktop, and of course, I look forward to the "clash of the switches!" 

 

But until then, this truly is approaching endgame for the digital transport chain. And I don't say that lightly.

That clarifies the choice ... i was hesitating between te PJYH and the I7DNBE .

Can you buy only the board ? Where did you buy it  .

Here in Europe the I7NDBE is quite expensive , i have seen nothing for less than 650 Euros ...

 

I guess it is impossible to power this I7 NUC with the LPS1.2 . Hopefully i also have the best sean jacobs PSU in a 12 V set up . I have never been able to compare it to a paul hynes .

[jean-michel6]

Here in Europe the I7DNHE is much more easy to find than the I7NDBE  ... they seem to me to be almost the same according to the intel data's

 

Any opinion ?

[jean-michel6]

3 hours ago, BigAlMc said:

 

I think the main difference is the DNBE doesn't have built in WiFi which is a potential source of noise.

 

On paper its better suited but the difference might be small.

Thank for the answer. 

According to previous posts it seems that the WiFi can be deactivated in the bios and may be for this board physically removed. 

[jean-michel6]

17 hours ago, austinpop said:

My NUC Impressions - Part 2

 

Shortly after I posted my initial NUC impressions yesterday, FedEx and DHL dropped off the last of the parts for my own NUC. Let me back up. The day after I received Roy's loaner NUC, which happened to be Cyber Monday, and having heard it in my system, I decided to go ahead and order my own. Since the NUC7CJYH was sold out everywhere, and since Roy (and then Larry) has mentioned how they found the NUC7i7DNBE to sound even better, I went ahead and ordered the NUC7i7DNBE with the classy looking Akasa Plato X7D case. I'm glad I did, as it seems to be backordered now.

 

First - I must tell you the Plato X7D case is stunning in its look and feel. I have to admit I had some trepidation about how the build would go. I'm not a system builder, and although I was comfortable about the general process, having seen the video @Middy posted a few days ago on this thread, I was paranoid I'd get the thermal paste application wrong. Larry and Roy were helpful in their advice, and in the end, the build was fairly easy, even for a first timer. Even after a whole day of running AL Extreme, CPU temp is stable around 40ºC, so I guess the paste went on properly! Plus, I think this case is outstanding for heat dissipation. I suppose it helps that I have absolutely no additional devices other than what's on the original mobo. I tuned the BIOS as described in the tuning thread.

 

So how does it sound? Wow, this i7 NUC is quite a nice step up in SQ! Roy and Larry were spot on, as usual. Even cold - I'm sure even NUCs need some breaking in - it sounds stunning.

 

Holding everything else constant, and powering both NUCs (CJYH and i7DNBE) with a 12V SR7 DR rail, I was not expecting as big a difference as I heard. These are just initial impressions, but here's what I'm hearing on the i7 compared to the Celeron:

• A hint more dynamic, but dynamics are not the biggest difference
• Richer, creamier sound
• More coherent, better texture and timbre
• fuller and denser
• a bit more authority on the low end
• double bass lines better articulated
• a larger image.

In short, even more of the good stuff. I am so pleased with this purchase! My Zenith SE is on its way to its proud new owner, and now this handsome Plato X7D-encased NUC is a worthy replacement and improvement, at a fraction of the cost.

 

At this point, I just can't stop listening to the music, and so will take a break from all the tweaking and tuning. Eventually, I will dabble with a different/better server than my generic Dell desktop, and of course, I look forward to the "clash of the switches!" 

 

But until then, this truly is approaching endgame for the digital transport chain. And I don't say that lightly.

I did see that you have order 8GB ram for your intel nuc as endpoint .

Does the possibility to have a larger buffer in squeezelite when compared to a 4GB ram  has a noticable increase of SQ or does 4GB will be sufficient for endpoint .

[jean-michel6]

6 hours ago, lmitche said:

Didn't, I have both, actually all three models, i7 quad too, here.

 

Great, better and best!

Since you have all three , a tricky question

 

It is fun to experiment in this hobby but at the end it is costly .

I am hesitating between the pentium and the i7. Cost wise the gap is very significant. But sq wise how you will qualify the gap between Celeron, pentium an then i7 ?

 

I told you it was a tricky question

 

[jean-michel6]

12 hours ago, LTG2010 said:

Yes it's a custom multi rail build based on DC3. 

I also own a custom  2x12v (up to 5A on each rail )custom DC3 Sean Jacobs psu .

Have you had any chance to compare it to a Paul Hynes ?

[jean-michel6]

3 hours ago, limniscate said:

@austinpop and I tested his NUC versus my ZENith SE.  In blind testing, he picked the ZENith.  However, the NUC was not on the Synergistic Research Tranquility UEF base.

Does it was in dual pc set-up ?

If yes , does it was with AL in ram ? How was powered the NUC ?

what was the server ?

[jean-michel6]

1 hour ago, limniscate said:

 

Server was the ZENith SE.  NUC was powered by the SR7MR2DRXL.

Thank for your answer . Yet I do not fully understand what was the preferred configuration in this blind test :

Zenith SE alone ( server and endpoint )

compared to ZenithSE ( server ) - NUC endpoint   ?

[jean-michel6]

4 hours ago, limniscate said:

Correct 

Wow , I am impressed by this result . This new firmware must be something  to make the innuos se (server-player) prefered to a dual pc set up ( innuos - NUC )

 

I think it will be important to confirm these results .

[jean-michel6]

Merry Christmas and Happy holiday season .

 

Thank's to all to make this thread a really fun place to learn and experiment on computer audio !

 

A special thank to @austinpopfor his great contributions and talented moderation of this thread 

[jean-michel6]

19 hours ago, Iving said:

molex on mobo inc PCIe (I have 2 CPU-direct PCIe AICs - Intel Optane SSD 900P 280Gb AIC in CPU-direct slot PCIEX16_1 and Intel Converged Network Adapter X540-T2 in no-switch slot PCIEX16_3 )

I don't know about power usage/consumption for Optane PCIe AIC. It is a non-issue for me because I don't subscribe to low-power-religion/dogma in the PC/CPU. Optane PCIe AIC is one reason I don't have a NUC/AL (case size). Second reason is I hate USB/use RedNet/Dante and AL doesn't support Dante. Third reason is, whilst I'm very interested in Larry's experiments and views, I'm not sure that it's NUC per se that's accounting for your SQ advantages. Fourth reason is I am happy with what I've got and wouldn't upscale everything without some kind of paradigm shift.

I'm posting pictures so you can see the molex arrangement - and also that I manage mains noise from the front end via Isotek Titan with independent outlets feeding digits via small Topaz IT and analogue via larger Topaz IT. (And also downstream - I have a lot of Isotek in the whole system and find that through trial and error I can find an optimal permutation of isolation and shunts that gives me excellent results.)

 

You have those fabulous Peter Snell designed speakers which I owned back in the eighties !j

[jean-michel6]

3 hours ago, andervt said:

feet

 

2 hours ago, andervt said:

Thank you Superdad, I was not aware that there was a rule for telling that I was a member of the trade, but this seems like a good rule.

 

There have been other comparisons with opposite results regarding Sotm and LPS powersupplyes, and that is the reason for me writing this. I have tested the LPS-1 one time and the LPS-1.2 two times. And the SPS-500 has been the better power without doubt in my tests. My friend who own the LPS power I tested also agree in what i wrote. I think it would be wrong of me to not enlighten auphile that there are different experiences, and in this way encourage to test themselves.

 I have 2 SOTM SPS500 and 2 lps 1.2 in my system .The sps500 is a nice lps in term of flexibility voltage and amp. 

However in term of sq the lps 1.2 is clearly superior. 

[jean-michel6]

23 hours ago, Geir-T said:

Did you use any filtering on the SPS500 reducing the amount of noise this SMPS supply to the mains possibly "polluting" other (unfiltered?) components in your system? 

No I don’t use any filter and I have never observed that it does pollute other components. 

[jean-michel6]

Internal SSD vs HDD to store your music. 

 

I am in dual pc set up highly optimized and until now I had been storing my music on two Samsung 1tb SSD with some expensive pachanko sata cable. 

I was needing more space for my music and I ordered a 3tb Toshiba 2’5” hdd that I connected in usb. 

I was in for several good surprise. I am using Daphile and you can preload in ram the music played by the server. 

I did compare the same file loaded from the SSD and the HDD. Even though it is played from ram , the file loaded from the HDD always sound better. 

Then i disconnect the power to the SSD and I got an other nice sq increase. 

I then deactivated the sata in the bios and got an other nice sq increase. 

I have now a very organic and analogically sound in my system , there is no way back. 

 

Several conclusions , SSD are very noisy and you should definitely not used them in your system. 

Eventhough that I had in ram exactly the same file coming from the SSD or the HDD , since the HDD file sounded consistently better , it means that the noise coming from the SSD is somewhat stored also in the ram. 

 

 

[jean-michel6]

21 hours ago, tboooe said:

So you are now storing your music on an external 2.5" HDD connected to your PC via USB?  That's it?  Nothing extra in between like fancy usb cable or decrapifiers? 

Nothing extras , it is just connected on the pc server. 

[jean-michel6]

17 hours ago, sandyk said:

 That's why it is best to avoid using SSDs powered from the motherboard. It's far better to power internal SSDs from an additional low noise +5V voltage regulator using the +12V rail for it's input, for improved isolation from each other and other sensitive areas via the power supply. Internal SSDs are then able to readily outperform HDDs for SQ..

 I use a dual Low noise Voltage regulator PCB with 2 separate +5V outputs via John Linsley Hood designed <4uV noise PSU add-ons.

 Unfortunately, this is DIY.

Nothing is powered by the motherboard on my dual pc set up except now the HDD. 

My two SSD have been powered by a Michael Stammheim excellent LT3045 psu boards.  

 

Unfortunately ssd are generating noise. 

[jean-michel6]

1 hour ago, numlog said:

@jean-michel6 what about for your OS?

 

I have noticed the same thing, HDD (if you can manage the mechanical noise) is superior as storage...  better resolution (''plankton'') and more smooth/natural at the same time, SSD only advantage might be faster sound (timing) but with the noise/glare dynamics are poor so the benefit is lost.

 

HDD for OS is not somthing that has been discussed much if at all, do we really know if SSDs are better for OS aside from practical reasons (load speed, easier to power)?

For the Daphile OS both on the player side and server side , it is a USB key ( a tiny SSD ... ).

On the player side , the os is fully loaded in ram . You can after start up remove the USB key with an improvement in sound quality. 

On the server side I am experimenting now with SD card with slc type memory.