NVMe SSD designed for audiophiles

[Exocer]

I

5 hours ago, ASRMichael said:

Wow! Love it! Especially having external psu input! Looking forward to hearing about it & price point. 

Ditto! Very cool idea!

 

I would not mind being a tester!

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Hi all,

My Femto NVME drive arrived yesterday and I installed it this evening. Immediately, I hear more texture, detail from vocals, more depth, and separation. I will refrain from sharing more until sufficient break-in but this is an immediate improvement over the Optane for me. 

 

Using Euphony OS, I have disabled buffering and caching. I have posted my system specs below.

 

For now, I will be using the motherboard for power, then I will switch to my DIY ALS-HPULN dual rail 5v LPS, tricked out with Mundorf Silver/Gold 15.5AWG wire/Furutech FI-09 rhodium NCF IEC inlet, Toroidy Supreme Transformer, etc.

 

LPS:

 

Here is a pic for evidence:

 

 

Setup is as follows:

 

DIY Music Server Details

Case: HDPlex H5 Gen2 Case

Motherboard: Gigabyte Designare Z390 (Previously Asus Strix Z390-I)

CPU: i9 9900K @ 4.5ghz

Storage: Optane SSD58gb CPU direct via PCI-E adapter for OS and 1TB 670P SSD for Music Storage

RAM: Apacer DDR4 2666 32GB ECC @ 2800

USB Controller: Motherboard DAC-UP2 or Startech PCI-E USB-A w/ ASM3142 chipset - i mostly use the better sounding Startech USB card although the DAC-UP2 ports are possibly the best sounding motherboard USB ports i've heard.

USB Cables: Sablon 2020 USB Cable (Previously Lush^2)

Network card: Xilinx SFN8522 Onload Fiber NIC (Previously Startech PEX1000SFP2)

SFP Module: Finisar 3121 SFP 

DC Cables: DIY Mundorf Silver/Gold 24-Pin ATX

DC-ATX: Taiko Audio DC-ATX V2

Paul Hynes SR7T Dual rail 12v and 19v(Mundorf Silver/Gold 15.5awg on 19V output)

 

Software

Euphony Stylus OS- Ram Rooted or Daphile RT

 

Network

Spectrum > Arris SB8200 > Ghent JSSG360 Linkway Cat 8> Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X SFP > Custom Cat 8 Silver/Copper > Buffalo BS-GS2016P > Custom Cat 8 Silver/Copper > A-Side Uptone Etherregen > 10M OS2 Corning Fiber > Music server (Also A-side, my preference).

 

Will post an update in the next few days!

-Rob

 

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Brief update:

First of all, thanks @ASRMichael for the tag! I totally would have missed this thread otherwise.

 

I am now providing external power to the Femto NVME and this has taken it to new heights. As I told @darkforce, all of my cables were built using Oyaide 2.5mm/5.5mm straight barrel DC outputs. With the location of this card in my machine, the barrel connector did not fit, nor was it the proper size. So, I went ahead and ordered a 90 degree Oyaide in 2.1/5.5m size and modified one of my cables to use it.

 

I thought about going with an adapter but my OCD didn't let me do so although that would have been a much easier approach.

 

Summary:

• There is great improvement in transparency and realness to the sound. The improvement is shockingly large. There will be no going back to the regular Optane at this point.
• The sound is more transparent and detailed without fatigue.
• The presentation is even more effortless
• Noise floor has dropped to some degree
• Timing and PRAT are fantastic and a bit more "real" sounding
• Greater sense of being there for the performance.
• Decay of notes, especially in some Jazz piano recordings, is so much more realistic sounding than before
• Larger and more precise soundstage

I'll just conclude this by saying the drive was an improvement to my system across the board. Without the external power, there were no notable negatives to the sound (although the sound was a bit subdued and polite at first), and obvious improvements to vocal detail. With external power it really is something special. This bodes well for the power supply and the drive itself I suppose.

 

Context:

The above feedback pertains to the Femto NVME drive vs my memory of the Optane. Many of the above benefits were obtained by simply switching to the Femto NVME without dedicated power, but, to a lesser degree.  The major benefits came after adding external power.

 

My listening spans across multiple genres but I really enjoy Jazz pianists. My playlists usually contain a lot of live Jazz performances. Other genres also displayed improvements I did not expect. For example, I stumbled upon Madonna's "Vogue" and was gobsmacked by the soundstage. I had not listened to this song since he earlier part of my computer audiophile journey and it sounded like an entirely different song this time around, in a good way.

 

Cheers,

-Rob

 

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1 minute ago, ASRMichael said:

Wow! Great review! Did you compare to Ramroot? 

Did you mean buffering?

 

If so, yes. When buffering, the files are run from RAM as opposed to OS disk.

 

Caching to OS disk sounds better than Buffering for playback.

 

Either way, I have still decided to ramroot the OS to keep some separation between OS and music files.

 

I will be sticking with Ramroot enabled and caching of files before playback.

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Just now, ASRMichael said:

Would this do the job? 
 

https://www.mcru.co.uk/product/oyaide-gold-plated-dc-plug-90-degree/

 

This is exactly what I use.

 

 

[Exocer]

On 8/21/2021 at 3:50 AM, Smaragdhk said:

Any suggestions on which LPS that matches the FEMTO drive best?

Its recommended power is 5V 2.5A …

I've had very good results with this:

https://www.mpaudio.net/product-page/als-hpuln-ps

 

I will not be able to tell you if its "best" though as I have not done a comparison.

 My build is rather simple too:

 

IEC Inlet > Transformer of 150VA > ALS-HPULN > Outputs.

 

The are the usual options discussed here as well:

Uptone JS-2

JCAT Optimo or Initio

Farad Super3

 

All of the above options will do a swell job.

 

Cheers,

-Rob

 

[Exocer]

21 minutes ago, Dev said:

 

I see but looks like @Exoceris already using one with the FEMTO drive. See the post above yours. It might be worth to see what adapter he is using.

I used the Rivo M2 to PCIE adapter. Zero issues:

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Brief update on the Revelation SSD:

I have switched from the DIY Oyaide 12AWG JSSG360 cable to a NeoTech UP-OCC cable, also JSSG360 treated (shorter in length).

 

The latter sounded a bit more full, resolving and fleshed out than the former. The cable you use with the Revelation SSD has an impact on what you hear to some degree. I have another cable in my system that will need to be shortened (once I get the new HDPlex H5 chassis) and with the remaining wire I plan to build a new Mundorf SG DC lead for the Revelation SSD. Will report back on if the difference between this wire and the NeoTech are worthwhile here (YMMV of course).

 

I briefly swapped out the Revelation SSD and started listening with my old Optane again for about a week. This was around the time I had performed a bunch of other system changes that were significant audible improvements, and, were still settling in. I was still happy with what I was hearing without the Revelation SSD (my mind had adjusted to adapt).

 

Upon re-installing the Revelation SSD I was reminded of what what it brings to the table. More detail, more musicality, more PRAT, much better bass articulation and control.

 

This drive is really special.

 

Thanks again @ASRMichael for the tag and thanks @darkforce for the good conversation and support.

 

Cheers,

-Rob 

[Exocer]

On 11/10/2021 at 1:26 PM, Exocer said:

DIY Oyaide 12AWG

Huge typo here. I meant 16awg.

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46 minutes ago, Smaragdhk said:

Can you share a photos of this cable and some details on the model number?

NeoTech seems tonnage different iterations of the UP-OCC.

It's a DIY cable. Currently installed and would rather not remove it to take a photo. It looks like a simple short cable with female GX-16 on one end and a right angle Oyaide 2.1/5.5mm barrel connector. It is made of 16awg Neotech UP-OCC Solid core copper wire. In this duty it works better than the previous wire I was using. Not a fair comparison due to the fact that one is less than half the length of the other.

[Exocer]

6 hours ago, Smaragdhk said:

Thanks, no worries, can you share a link to the actual raw cable on the NeoTech website?

and what exactly is the JSSG360 treatment you’re referring to?

First line of the up-occ copper hookup wire section here: https://wp.neotechcable.com/up-occ-hook-up-wire/

[Exocer]

On 12/12/2021 at 1:38 AM, Smaragdhk said:

Can you share a photos of this cable and some details on the model number?

NeoTech seems tonnage different iterations of the UP-OCC.

Found a pic:

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33 minutes ago, Rsmaximasr said:

Just because somebody says doing X will boost your sq, doesn’t mean it’s true. You have to judge the change yourself. I did a test between 2 servers a few years ago: mac vs. enterprise server costing high 6 digits with 256G ram, ecc memory, many Intel procs, over a dozen enterprise ssd/nvme/m.2/pcie sss, using Ubuntu with Roon, the sq wasn’t any different. The enterprise server sounds like an airplane taking off because of all the fans going full throttle, but since both servers were located in a different part of the house, you couldn’t hear any of the noise. Plus, all of the noise coming from the enterprise server didn’t have any impact on the sound coming out of the Ethernet port going to my dac.

 

After reading part of this building a diy server, I stopped when I saw 1 statement: using usb! Here is someone spending time and some decent money on a server trying to eke out the most sq from a custom server, and he is using the worst interface to a dac: usb. How many tweaks is this guy going to apply to usb to try to get better performance out of usb? Most of the audiophile community use usb because their cheaper dacs is all they have. So they buy a usb dac then spend hundreds or more $$$ on reclockers, ifi cables, separate boxes, whatever they can get to improve the sound. I was there many years ago and sold all that crap. Now, some of the better dacs aren’t even including usb and if you’ve seen many reviews of dacs over the last few years, the reviewers have preferred the sq using the non-usb inputs.

So if I see someone with ideas on how to improve sq of a music system but they also use usb, I stop reading at that point.

😎 hey man, to each their own. FWIW the guidance in that thread has improved the sq in my system beyond my wildest dreams. The Femto NVME also adds its magic with and without external power. 
 

I suggest you not assume those of us using USB haven’t tried other modes of transport. The thread is very open and transparent in general. Many of us have tried the tweaks/enhancements there and have reported back with positive feedback. 
 

We are not simply taking someone else’s word for it. Many of us have taken matter’s into our own hands and are enjoying what we hear as a result. Much of the guidance there is impactful regardless of if USB is used or not.

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3 hours ago, MarcelNL said:

you know that dogma's are mostly bogus too? It's kondof sad that you seem to be able to decide about something without any trying or testing. There is a more appropriate thread for your kind of discussion; something with 'objectivist' in it 

@MarcelNL not worth the effort. Let them do what they’ll do to appease themselves 😎 while we sit back and enjoy…

[Exocer]

18 hours ago, Ghmi said:

Exocer : don't worry too much about us. I'll be able to enjoy quite a lot of true analog live music with 600$ not spent on 2 caps on a SSD, or 1250$ not spent on a fancy 20 MHz clock with extremely low jitter measured at 10Hz.

 

Oh so you've followed some of my posts (or checked my profile)? Awesome 😎. There are ways to try some of what i've listed there. A lot of it doesn't cost an arm and a leg either. But admittedly, some of it is very expensive. Definitely up to the listener(s) to buy into these sorts of things. 

 

As for the Femto NVME - count me in as a naysayer who ended up experimenting with it, and, ended up liking it VS some other really popular options. I just wish it didn't cost so much 😁.