NVMe SSD designed for audiophiles

[Lukasluis]

On 5/9/2021 at 10:11 AM, davide256 said:

FEMTO NVMe Drive review

=======================

     Drives are an essential part of an audio server. They hold the OS and they are needed for music storage.

Ideally they should be transparent, not affect playback of music. But in my experience that ideal is difficult

to achieve. Media storage drives in the USB audio out server seem particularly difficult to solve for the DIY builder...

I've tried internal NVMe, SSD,HD,SDXC and USB3 attached variations, in the end NAS solution prevailed

for cleaner, better sound.

     But the OS can't be outsourced, has to be physically attached/bootable. OS drives do affect sound,

in particular (a) media player speed,(b) transient attack and (c) digital irritants. With Euphony I've traveled

the usual path of first using USB3 boot, then SSD, and for some time now Ive used Optane M.2 memory

as the best drive option for OS storage. My recent attempt to better Optane using a Samsung 970 Plus NVMe

drive didn't pan out for me as (c) got worse with no appreciable benefits vs Optane.

    Enter the FEMTO NVMe drive as something different to try; I was intrigued as my recent purchase of

a Denafrips IRIS DDC with FEMTO clocking had been a success, perhaps FEMTO clocking on board would matter

for a drive also? The ability to power the drive externally was also promising given how NUC audio output

improved with better main-board power supply. The FEMTO NVMe drive has a nice set of features,

feel free to check the features posted earlier and there is anticipated addition of a heat sink option

 

 

    My installation was in an 8i7BEH NUC with 16GB Crucial RAM, powered by an Uptone Audio JS-2.
The NVMe board horizontal dimension is standard for M.2 but the DC power jack and added capacitors  make it taller.

I had to remove the SATA cage to be able to close the case  and using the DC in jack on the board required

leaving the case bottom off as I had no right angle DC jack adaptors that would allow closing the bottom.  
Digital out was Lush 2 USB to Denafrips IRIS over AQ Eagle Eye coax to Metrum Octave DAC

 

 

 

 

     For some reason this drive changes hardware signature with Euphony, did not experience this with

the Samsung drive. So a period of waiting for license transfer before one can transfer OS from boot
stick to new NVMe drive.

    First impressions of sound using main-board power is that this is something different. It's quite soft for sound using

the  Metrum Octave.  Worries start, is this damping transients? A quick swap to a Chord Mojo says no, plenty of transients

here and criticism of the Metrum has been its softer transient response

    Over longer period of time what sinks in is that this is headed in a better direction; the sound I was used to before with

Optane was exaggerating transients. But more importantly the digital irritants have been greatly reduced, listening gets closer

to the analog experience of even if its wrong, it doesn't irritate.

    A system deficit I recognized over the last several months was choral music, couldn't enjoy it when played as I was hearing

wrong harmonics, kind of a glaze on the sound with poor word intelligibility regardless of whether the OS resided on Optane or

in RAM. Had me agonizing over what could fix it...problem solved using the FEMTO NVMe drive

    Have always been on the fence about running OS in RAM vs off the Optane drive... RAM was more incisive
but Optane was smoother. But neither in my testing is as easy to live with as running the OS on the FEMTO NVMe drive.

What surprises me is that 44.1/48k rates in my setup benefit more than 96k and above rates for digital irritant reduction

    The DC power jack is an interesting feature, sound character seemed more solid when I switched to using an iFi 5V power

supply, switching to the second JS-2 output helps further smooth out irritants. But it kept nagging at me that the JS-2 was

also driving the NUC so this was less than perfect electrical isolation.
    The seller has advised that 5v/2.5A is recommended PS but I was able to get this working with an Uptone Audio
LPS 1.2's lower amperage with even cleaner sound and better transient attack on a 96/24 recording, probably
because native Stylus doesn't demand much. So it looks like the DC jack is helpful/necessary for best sound
with a separate good quality isolated supply.

Overall, I'd recommend this to the DIY crowd who use a NUC or PC server capable of M.2 boot if you are struggling

with digital artifacts, and edgy sound.YMMV if you lack a good quality power supply.

 

Per Darkforce they are finalizing channel arrangements at this time, including sale w/wo heatsink,
small batch availability only at the moment. Expected price somewhere in ~ $700

PM @darkforce if interested in early purchase

Transfer your NUC board to a fanless case and your digital irritants may go away. 

[Lukasluis]

On 5/7/2021 at 10:59 AM, kelvinwsy said:

Super NVME M2 drive in my main rig

Gigabyte Aorus Z490 Ultra / 10700k

Pins in 2,3 position to take power injection from external 5v source - min 2.5amp needed

 

Running Windows Server 2019 GUI version with Hqplayer 3.25 and 4.10.3

 

initial impressions very favorable..

Tests will be as below:

One vs the following:

1, Samsung 860 Pro 256gb on 1.5amp LT3045 running Win Server 2019 Core / AO3 

This is the reigning Champion

2. Optane 64gb NVME Express  -Win Server 2019 GUI on MOBO power

3. Samsung 970 Evo Plus 512gb WonServer 2019 GUI on Mobo power

4. Intel SLC 64gb SSD 1st Gen  - Windows LTSC on LT 3045 

5. Sandisk SSD 120gb - Win 10 Pro on LT3045

6. Toshiba 2TB with 12v and 5v external power injection running Win Server 2019 Core 

as Base case

 

My main rig is pretty much optimized with full external fan power and PWM bypass using half speed resistors.. Fully damped chassis and fans are flexible mounted. Case and 860 Evo and Samsung Music SSD earthed and Mumetal shielded outside PC case

3 ATX psu's all Corsairs.. RM550 powering fans AIO  and fan controller. RM650 poweing 12v EPS to 10700k CPU.. HX850 on 24 pin ATX Connector

2 units of Elfidelity PCie power filters on PCie slots.

All fans are on Elfidelity fan filters

 

I am lucky as the Power Company 440v 3 phase supply line comes into my house then 220v single phase enters my house DB.

I had my electriciisn run 2 dedicated lines from my DB into my music room

1 dedicated circiut 30 amp to HP amps and tube preamp, tube monobloc power amps.

DAC is SMSL VMS D1 and Gustard A22 and iFi Micro BL 

Main HP amps 2 x 30 watt pure Class A direct Resistor equipped speaker tap connection. to Abyss AB-1266Phi/CC

 

Spkr System - 45 Tube / 6n1p Double C Transformer equipped Preamp driving 2 Audionote Quest Silver 300b Monoblocks on 2 x LOTH-X Aura Back Loaded Horns with Tannoy ST-50 supertweeters

 

Happy testing ahead

 

 

 

 

 

 

I compared my 16GB and 32GB Optane drives and the 16GB sounded much better in my system (more digititis with the larger drive) . I assume the 64GB Optane would be worst. BTW, I also have the Samsung Evo 860 Pro but is now relegated for Laptop use. 

[Lukasluis]

6 hours ago, kelvinwsy said:

Trying out Euphony now. Strange that it sounds 'not good' = checking my settings and trying basic 44.1 khz CD Wave files to check. Hires 705.6 sounded "not good".

 

I too have a Euphony license but I find Windows to be more musical and involving. Euphony sounds euphonic but muffled (low fidelity) and very hard to understand music lyrics. It seems to me that notes are truncated (decays are shorter). The music is so vidid and intonation and singer inflection is easily rendered with Window. I use the same hardware (swapping same capacity Optane drive to do the comparison.)

[Lukasluis]

27 minutes ago, davide256 said:

 

What OS/player are you using now? With 300gb on boot drive I can entertain revisiting  Server 20xx although the license cost after trial is pretty steep.

Windows Server 2019 Core, AO 3.0, Fidelizer Pro 8.0, Minority Clean, Jplay Femto. Controller is Bubble Upnp. Local music is on Usb-attached HDD with external LPS. I also turn off Hyperthreading and Turbo when using Windows. Also cap the Frequency to 1.2Ghz.

[Lukasluis]

4 hours ago, billg said:

The best disk drive is no disk drive ;-)

Agree! No controller is the best controller so I turned off the Sata and M.2 controllers too! 

[Lukasluis]

On 7/19/2021 at 3:38 PM, MarcelNL said:

Is it feasible to hack a PCIe to NVME adaptor to accept external power? Barring upgrading elements on an NVME SSD that might be a doable upgrade, just thinking out loud..

Not PCIE to NVME but I have very good results with USB to NVME adapter with external power and cleaner. PCIE is turned off in Mobo. OS is running in RAM. Optane in adapter is only accessed for music library purposes.