SSD?

[PaulC]

Hi all,

 

I'm looking to purchase a new computer primarily for use as a music server. I have the external storage covered but would be interested to learn if anybody has experienced any discernable sonic benefit from an SSD based front end over convential internal drives. My other equipment comprises Benchmark DAC1 USB, Red Wine Audio Sig 30.2 amp and ProAC studio 110 speakers. My budget would stretch to a Macbook pro or a windows based machine with SSD such as recent releases from Samsung and Lenovo. Any advice/comments will be much appreciated.

 

 

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi Paul - This is a tough call. I know people in both camps.

 

Maybe Gordon Rankin from wavelength audio can jump in. I know he out in an ssd recently.

 

[jtwrace]

What are the recommended SSD's? Need a big one.

 

[audioengr]

I am currently configuring a Mac Mini with SSD. The access speed of this alone makes a difference, particularly if you are going USB or Firewire. My customers have reported better sound quality. Not sure why, but it works.

 

Steve N.

Empirical Audio

 

[jtwrace]

What size drive? I need a 1 TB.

 

[audioengr]

Just put the OS on it and use an external disk for music files. This is better anyway. You should have RAID1 with removable drives for your music. Otherwise, you risk losing everything. If you do an OS update, it erases the entire SSD, so you dont want your music there.

 

Steve N.

Empirical Audio

 

[jtwrace]

currently I have my music on a 1TB iomega and then have another 1 TB iomega that is partioned and I backup the Mac Mini OS and Music files using SuperDuper!. That works great IMO!

 

I was just thinking that I could try a SSD for my music files but I'll still need a 1 TB SSD

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

This is the place to get great SSDs http://www.rocketdisk.com/

 

Rocket Disk has great SLC SSD drives and very good people to work with. Very fast shipping as well.

 

[Purite Audio]

Chris Hi, which SSD type should I get there are two aren't there? BTW heard a proper Amarra dem at Munich and you are right! Very Best Keith.

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi Keith - Yes there are a couple types of SSDs. The two are MLC and SLC. I believe the SLC drives are much better almost any way you look at it. All the stats point to SLC drives. Rocket Disk sells MTron disks and they are really good.

 

[Wavelength]

Paul,

 

I have these suckers in every computer I own now. The speed increase and sound is so much better using these.

 

As a systems programmer the only thing I can think of is that the operating system is not stalling processes as much when the SSD are in use. I really see very little processor usage on any of my computers. But I do see a ton of virtual memory usage and when ever any of that is activated the operating system will swap that data from the hard drive to available memory. If there is little to no time then I think this frees up the main processor and therefore the applications which makes everything sound better.

 

64GB to 128GB is a good idea... you don't really need this for music storage only for the system disk.

 

Memory is another thing... 4GB is really best, 8GB even better.

 

Big 2 thumbs up!

Gordon

 

[Purite Audio]

Thanks Chris, I had a brief chat with Andrew Jones of TAD in Munich , and he told me that he thought SSD's produced less jitter, I did ask him to qualify and he confirmed, possible? Keith.

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi Keith - Andrew is such a nice guy! I was supposed to help him tweak his PC the day before he shipped it to Munich but I got caught up in Symposium stuff :~(

 

 

 

[Purite Audio]

Mr C, you were responsible for that particular PC? Perhaps you might make the trip yourself another time?

It's a good show, Computer Audiophile wise I suspect European manufacturers are slightly lagging behind their US counterparts, But Alan Wolf, Andrew Jones and a handful of others were playing hi-res files quite a few macs and itouch's, I managed to meet up with Jonathan from Sonic, what a charming chap, be great to see you there , very best Keith.

 

[Wavelength]

Guys,

 

Thanks Chris, I had a brief chat with Andrew Jones of TAD in Munich , and he told me that he thought SSD's produced less jitter, I did ask him to qualify and he confirmed, possible? Keith.

 

Remember the song by Joe Jackson... Everything gives you cancer... man I just can't believe what competent engineers are saying....

 

NO SSD don't have less jitter. COME ON!!!!!!

 

Again for like the bizillionth time... THERE IS NO JITTER INSIDE THE COMPUTER.

 

Remember only SPDIF can have jitter and all other interfaces have NO JITTER (USB, Firewire, PCI etc..). The only jitter that there can be in the end device is when it converts from DATA to I2S (or left/right/dsp) serial audio. This is called intrinsic jitter.

 

The reason SSD sound better than rotational is many fold. Less current required makes less power supply noise therefore less radiation. Faster speed means less time delays in swaping of virtual memory. Faster task switching everything...

 

Thanks

Gordon

 

[jtwrace]

Gordon,

 

What is your exact SSD drive setup?

 

[Wavelength]

Gang,

 

Here are a list of my SSD machines... yea i know it works too well.

 

MacBook Pro 15/2.66 Vertex OCZ 120GB

MacBook 2.4GHz OCZ SLC 128GB (white used at RMAF by JA)

MacMini 2GHz 4G, Samsung 64GB SLC SSD

SuperMini 2.6GHz OCZ SLC 128GB 4G Memory

 

All but the superMini are dual boot either XP Pro or Vista

 

Linux OCZ IDE ATA MLC 64GB 2G Memory

XP Pro Samsung 64GB 4G Memory

XP Home 64GB MLC S101 ASUS EEE

 

I have a Mini and MacBook as well as 7 Linux and two Monster Windows machines that don't run SSD... yet!

 

Anyone have a good disk cloaning tool for XP/Vista?

Thanks

Gordon

 

 

[jtwrace]

How does one put the OS system from my mini onto the SSD? I have the OS backed up so I could do it that way but how does the Mini run from it? I'm slightly confused..

 

[jtwrace]

wait a second....do you replace the drive in the Mini?

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

I would replace the drive in the Mini and reinstall the OS.

 

[Wavelength]

Gang,

 

What I do if the drive is already has valuable data on it is get one of these USB to SATA/IDE interface cables (make sure it comes with power supply). I then format the drive to MAC Journeled then I partition it to GUID boot for Intel processors.

 

Then using Super Duper I dup the new SSD drive and then swap it. It will have everything there and SuperDuper makes sure it is boot ready.

 

There are a ton of video's on how to swap the drive. I think I have it down to like 15 minutes now.

 

Thanks

Gordon

 

[proftournesol]

Why does putting the OS on a SSD improve the sound quality? Surely if you have enough RAM, the music playing software (Amarra, iTunes in my case) are memory resident anyway? My understanding is that the music file is loaded into a memory buffer too, so if this is the case how does it make a difference?

 

[Andrew S.]

Hi Micheal

I cannot tell you why ( I summize less power draw, lower emi, faster load times) but in every system I have placed a SSD there was a clear and distinct improvement in SQ cf a spinning HDD. Not sure about iTunes being run out of RAM. Amarra is certain to be.

Besides there are other things going on in the background than just playing music - the "quieter" (in an electrical sense) the pc the less power draw = less EMI. I'm guessing.

SSD's? Well worth the price of admission. Perhaps that is why I found Amarra better than regular iTunes for sure but not a religious experience - as I said a different flavour. Perhaps the SSD by itself made up some ground on the standard HDD plus Amarra. Dunno...

Why don't you try one?

 

[machinehead]

http://www.amazon.com/OCZ-Technology-OCZSSD2-1AGT30G-Agility-2-5-Inch/dp/B002C1B9HI/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1253196701&sr=8-3#moreAboutThisProduct

 

These are really coming down in price.

 

[Wavelength]

Gang,

 

Better to look at Newegg:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=ocz+ssd&x=0&y=0

 

Remember just like audio not all of these are created equal. Some only are as good as their rotating counterparts.

 

On Newegg they show the read/write speed... the more da better!

 

Thanks

Gordon