USB memory stick alternatives?

[the_doc735]

USB memory stick alternatives?

 

I use a USB v3 memory stick for music file storage.

Are there better alternatives?

Suggestions?

 

Thanks!

[sandyk]

1 hour ago, the_doc735 said:

USB memory stick alternatives?

 

I use a USB v3 memory stick for music file storage.

Are there better alternatives?

Suggestions?

 

Thanks!

 

 A  USB memory stick, (they have an internal 3.3V regulator) can work very well for saving music, especially if you also use  a USB Regen powered by an external low noise PSU  (Battery or linear) and plugged directly into an electrically  quieter USB  2.0 port.

However due to their small storage capacity they are best reserved for your highest quality music files.

[the_doc735]

People have said that file server is superior to USB memory stick!

 

How about this: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Intel-J1900-4LAN-Network-Firewall-bridge-router-VPN-devices-Mini-pc-Mini-Server/401299275879?hash=item5d6f4d0067:g:qK0AAOSwfVpYraOp

 

...reasons for?

...reasons against?

 

...how does it compare to a USB memory stick?

[sandyk]

26 minutes ago, the_doc735 said:

People have said that file server is superior to USB memory stick!

 

 So what ?

 When using a USB memory stick as I described , you  also get away without the need for a USB cable, and in addition you don't need the noisy +5V supply from the PC , and can also disconnect the shield at the USB port to prevent earth loops .

 I have done this with my DIY USB-A to USB-B adaptor that the Regen plugs into.

 The USB 2.0 front ports that I use also have additional 100uF capacitors across the +5V to the  ports, as well as the shields not connected through. This is how it is supplied.

 

As you seem to think  that you already know all the answers, then I won't waste my time bothering to  reply in future, just like several others members have apparently decided to do already.

[the_doc735]

19 hours ago, sandyk said:

 

 So what ?

 When using a USB memory stick as I described , you  also get away without the need for a USB cable, and in addition you don't need the noisy +5V supply from the PC , and can also disconnect the shield at the USB port to prevent earth loops .

 I have done this with my DIY USB-A to USB-B adaptor that the Regen plugs into.

 The USB 2.0 front ports that I use also have additional 100uF capacitors across the +5V to the  ports, as well as the shields not connected through. This is how it is supplied.

 

As you seem to think  that you already know all the answers, then I won't waste my time bothering to  reply in future, just like several others members have apparently decided to do already.

Know I don't know all the answers!!! That is why I post questions in the hope of generating several impartial responses as to what is available out there, in this case to find out what playback methods are offered. As in your case. i.e. USB stick is best? I didn't mean to offend you - Sorry! I didn't realise you are so biased in favour of one particular solution, but other people have opinions too and they have as much right as you to answer my question! I can't see why you have a problem with that? You maybe don't have the right temperament to be on here, if you can't handle other people giving their thoughts on a subject, perhaps you should consider retiring from C.A.? No offence intended.

 

When I receive replies like this one from ‘billg’ it makes sense to me to open a new thread regarding file playback methods: (options)…

 

@billg “It's probably a good idea to read the thread I posted earlier. You'd discover why a file server is a good approach, such as isolating the player from potential digital jitter and electrical noise contamination from the HDD (using wired ethernet connections). It hosts Minimserver which serves up the music library and performs any format conversions and dsp, thereby offloading these tasks from the player pc. Being on the home network, the music library is available to both my systems and to any mobile device, and externally if I wanted to open a port in the firewall. I have mounted the hdd inside the music /file server pc. The music file/server pc makes sense to me and IMO it sounds the best. I did some A/B comparisons but they can give false results and I don't rely on them. I prefer to listen over a period of time. You've (the_doc735) obviously given a lot of thought on the hardware for a single pc player, but that's only half of the solution (the file server is the other half). The "dedicated network file server" is the music/file server pc I built. It's a Lenovo M92p i5 with ssd for the OS, 8tb hdd with sotm noise filter for music files, 16GB ram, onboard network adapter. Wired ethernet to the router and player pcs. Software is windows server 2016, audiophileoptimizer, Minimserver, avconv (for transcoding). There are several hardware improvements I could make (psu, fanless) but there's more to  do on the player pcs first. I run the music server and player pcs headless (no screen, keyboard or mouse) and use remote desktop for software upgrades/diagnostics.”

 

Take Care and I hope you can see it from my point of view? Thank you for all the helpful posts you have provided in the past, as you say: "I won't waste my time bothering to  reply in the future". Sorry to hear that, but I'm sure I'll live/survive anyway.

[sandyk]

1 hour ago, the_doc735 said:

You maybe don't have the right temperament to be on here, if you can't handle other people giving their thoughts on a subject, perhaps you should consider retiring from C.A.? No offence intended.

 

Haven't you noticed several other members telling you the same thing recently in the original thread where you posted the link to this thread ? On  page 2 of that thread alone, you have 6 consecutive posts, followed by another 2, then another 3.

 

Replies like this aren't helping you either.

Quote

      On ‎8‎/‎27‎/‎2018 at 2:49 PM, the_doc735 said:

If you say you have a good solution, you are obliged to explain why it is 'good'. (Obviously).

 

Reply

and you are obliged to explain why we have to explain every thing for you

 

 

[Ralf11]

doc735, he is trying to help you (but is old, crank, and australian - so you'll need to take those into account)

 

a purpose made server is usually compared to a general purpose computer (often connected via a USB cable) so that may be where you are finding the quote you posted

 

but a general purpose computer generates a certain level of EM noise, which the USB cable can conduct to your DAC;  a purpose made server is claimed to have much less EM noise

 

EM noise should not be as large with a USB key

[sandyk]

1 hour ago, Ralf11 said:

doc735, he is trying to help you (but is old, crank, and australian - so you'll need to take those into account)

 

 Comments like this are NOT acceptable in ANY International forum and will be reported to Admin.

[Ralf11]

sorry meant to say cranky

[sandyk]

5 minutes ago, Ralf11 said:

sorry meant to say cranky

 

Neither are your slurs on Aussies acceptable, and will be reported to Admin.

[kumakuma]

10 minutes ago, sandyk said:

 

Neither are your slurs on Aussies acceptable, and will be reported to Admin.

 

whinger

[the_doc735]

16 hours ago, Ralf11 said:

doc735, he is trying to help you (but is old, crank, and australian - so you'll need to take those into account)

 

a purpose made server is usually compared to a general purpose computer (often connected via a USB cable) so that may be where you are finding the quote you posted

 

but a general purpose computer generates a certain level of EM noise, which the USB cable can conduct to your DAC;  a purpose made server is claimed to have much less EM noise

 

EM noise should not be as large with a USB key

I was thinking of using tiny PC, NAS, NUC etc. were the device only uses about 10W for server. Interconnected with ethernet RJ45 > TP LINK MC220L > FCoE > TP LINK MC220L > ethernet RJ45 > (player PC (already building). No USB. + the fibre optic means that no noise is transmitted to the player PC by the server. The other possibility is a secondhand xeon server. I will be running this setup headless with laptop control.

 

 

MSI Z370i GAMING PRO CARBON AC mini-ITX + Intel® HD Integrated Graphics 630.

Intel Core i7 Coffee Lake 8700 SE Gen.8 2.9GHz LGA1151 TDP 35W CPU.

Pink Faun i2s Bridge PCI-e (expansion/riser) Card.

Samsung (only 250GB) 960 M.2 (2280) Evo PCIe 3.0 (x4) NVMe 3D V-NAND SSD MZ-V6E250BW (x1).

Patriot Viper 4 16GB Dual Ch. DDR4 3000MHz PC4-24000 DIMM PV416G300C6K.

Streacom st-fc9b-opt-alpha PC Fanless Chassis.

Paul Hynes/Teddy Pardo LPSU’s [12 nV ripple].

 

I don’t need anything related to USB because I use i2s.

I don’t need anything related to networking because I don’t use the PC for this purpose.

I don’t need SATA cables because the NVMe SSD M.2. plugs direct to mobo.

 

I am told on this forum (C.A.) that I don’t need OCXO for this PC because the master clock is in the DAC, in my setup, and that the Crystek 575 in my DAC is already a very high quality clock which would require ‘a ton of money’ for any significant improvement. Moreover, there are apparently ‘buffers’ between the clocks that negate any errors. So, this means that fitting an OCXO to the PF i2s PCIe card would be pretty pointless as it’s not the master clock in the chain and I am not aware of anyone who has successfully fitted OCXO clocks to a commercial mobo, even paul pang withdrew his product due to incompatibility issues.

[the_doc735]

17 hours ago, Ralf11 said:

doc735, 

a purpose made server is usually compared to a general purpose computer (often connected via a USB cable) so that may be where you are finding the quote you posted

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/49661-linear-regulator-after-pico-or-seperate-power-supply/?page=3

[rando]

USB sticks are designed as temporary storage.  I suspect focus on that has been lost.  Were I choosing a longer term means it would be compact flash or possibly some SD card variant.  There is a reason these are so prevalent among professionals that need exact writing and recovery of media.  The small but potentially important difference here is copying to it from disk instead of recording directly.  

 

I won't even attempt technical explanation of how recording differs in this crowd.  Suffice to say a number of high end audio solutions perform at exceedingly good levels of reproduction using SD as source.  This does limit the amount of files compared to a full blown server (which USB already did).

[the_doc735]

14 minutes ago, rando said:

USB sticks are designed as temporary storage.  I suspect focus on that has been lost.  Were I choosing a longer term means it would be compact flash or possibly some SD card variant.  There is a reason these are so prevalent among professionals that need exact writing and recovery of media.  The small but potentially important difference here is copying to it from disk instead of recording directly.  

 

I won't even attempt technical explanation of how recording differs in this crowd.  Suffice to say a number of high end audio solutions perform at exceedingly good levels of reproduction using SD as source.  This does limit the amount of files compared to a full blown server (which USB already did).

does the compact flash/SD use a card reader that is attached to a PC via USB or something?

[rando]

Again I'll defer to the EE etc among us.  

 

On anything but an audiophile forum I'd say the board direct USB 2 connection normally used should be sufficient.  So technically speaking most do use a USB cable running to the front panel (laptops vary) mount.  My suspicion is comparing the mass produced board and construction to how it is implemented in an audiophile DAC would be enlightening. 

 

It has been awhile since I looked at higher end solutions for photography; PCIe or front panel mount.  Both SD and CF have been used with good results in home audio applications.  I cannot say with any surety how well this would carry over to PC solutions for professional design and media creators.

[the_doc735]

1 hour ago, rando said:

Again I'll defer to the EE etc among us.  

 

On anything but an audiophile forum I'd say the board direct USB 2 connection normally used should be sufficient.  So technically speaking most do use a USB cable running to the front panel (laptops vary) mount.  My suspicion is comparing the mass produced board and construction to how it is implemented in an audiophile DAC would be enlightening. 

 

It has been awhile since I looked at higher end solutions for photography; PCIe or front panel mount.  Both SD and CF have been used with good results in home audio applications.  I cannot say with any surety how well this would carry over to PC solutions for professional design and media creators.

That's what I thought myself with the USB2 SD card reader built into a case and wired internally to the mobo header, not on my case though. My ITX mobo has only one PCIe which is used. There are usb headers but the case has no external bays. So I would need external USB card reader. Had you seen my thread: https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/46365-dedicated-player-or-pc/ ?

Cheers!

[sandyk]

6 hours ago, rando said:

So technically speaking most do use a USB cable running to the front panel

 

That is part of the problem. They use generic USB cables that are typically a couple of feet long, where no attempt has been made to further improve the isolation between the Data and power pairs. This makes it harder for well designed aftermarket cables that do meet the USB specifications to perform at their best.

Some aftermarket USB expansion front panels do however have an additional 100uF low ESR filter capacitor close to the USB output socket though, which as Mansr has pointed out makes them non compliant with the USB specifications, although they may result in worthwhile improvements with audio.

[the_doc735]

4 hours ago, sandyk said:

 

That is part of the problem. They use generic USB cables

Yes, true. Very ordinary "cheap" internal cables. On the other hand, don't fancy paying $600 for an internal cable just because it has a capacitor soldered inline (i.e. JCAT etc.). Must be a better deal out there somewhere?

Cheers!