Opinions? Oyen MiniPro or OWC Mercury Elite

[mfaoro]

Did a search, looked through the last 10 or more pages...

 

I am looking to buy an external bus-powered Firewire 800 SSD (~120gb) to hook up to my Mac Mini. The external SSD will house my music library.

 

In these pages and others I have found two options that seem to rise to the top:

 

1. Oyen Digital's MiniPro

2. OWCs Mercury Elite-AL Pro

 

Both seem to have similar read/write speeds (though the OWC seems like it might have a slight edge if I read the stats correctly).

 

The only difference I can find is the version of the 'Oxford chipset.' The Oyen uses '943SE' versus the OWC's '934DSB.'

 

In your opinion, should I care about this chipset difference? If so, which drive has the better chipset.

 

Any other Firewire 800 drive I should look at? I have an USB DAC hence my desire to put the music on Firewire.

 

I know I am splitting hairs...but, if I am going to do something I may as well do it right.

 

Michael

 

 

[twist222]

Yes I am with you on this question.

 

Firstly I assume you mean the "OWC Mercury Elite AL-Pro mini" and not the 3.25inch OWC Mercury Elite AL-Pro ?

 

I am also looking at a buying a pair of 2.5inch cases and fitting 5400 rpm 1Tb drives as external music storage for my mac mini.

 

The reason I am looking at 2 separate drives is that the computer I rip to is separate from the mini. I have a 3.5 inch Raid 1 drive on the ripping computer to store the rips and then transfer to one of the 2.5 inch drives. With 2 drives I can have one with the mini whilst the other is waiting for any new rips. The 2 separate 2.5 inch drives plus the 3.5 inch raid drive will also give me a couple of extra levels of redundancy. Just need one more portable drive to keep off site.

 

One other item for me is if one case has better heat transfer to keep the drive cooler ?

 

Because 2.5 inch drives draw a lot less power than 3.5 inch drives I am also hoping that even with there small form factor they run a bit cooler. Remember only passive cooling with these cases.

 

But as for which 2.5 inch case is best ?

 

Unfortunately I only have more questions no answers !!

 

But hopefully someone will have had experience with one or both.

 

Regards

 

Mark

 

[blueixus]

There was some chat on this forum about the Oxford 924 Chipset being 'the business' for audio which this has.

 

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/How-my-new-hard-drive-makes-my-sound-better

 

Can't comment myself as I use the G drive Mini which uses the Oxford 934 which I am extremely happy with.

 

 

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

In this case where the choices are 934 or 943 I would go with the 943 given the circumstances.

 

The 943 is more suited for single drive enclosures whereas the 934 was created for dual drive enclosures.

 

Additional Info

 

 

 

 

[mfaoro]

Thanks everyone.

 

Believe it or not, I had actually been to both of the pages that you linked above. I try not to post a new question unless I have exhausted all other avenues.

 

I assumed that the 943 was the continued evolution of the 924 and the 934.

 

I will probably go ahead and get the OWC. It happens to be cheaper and silver (go figure, I am a designer by trade) and have the 943 chipset.

 

This will be a single enclosure connected to a headless mac mini. This is all about sound quality, quiet operation and not size. I have a 6TB drobo on my network if I want more music .

 

Michael

 

 

[pianoguy]

Michael - oyen uses patriot inferno ssd, the prices of which have just dropped, but oyen hasn't yet reflected that in their external drive prices. You can, however, purchase their case (which uses the 943 chipset per Chris' reco) for $65 and buy the 129 gb patriort ssd at amazon or buy dig or newegg, for around $240 and actually come out cheaper than the OWC unit!

 

[mfaoro]

That's a good idea. Hadn't thought of that. I guess I could also put a Owc in it as well. Perhaps a 240gb drive since they are on sale tomorrow .

 

 

[mfaoro]

I ended up going with the Oyen enclosure and an OCZ Vertex2. Both on Amazon Prime and cheaper then OWC.

 

Edit: Now that I have got everything setup I am very pleased. The speed of this system is REMARKABLE. Sound quality seems stellar as well.