NVMe SSD designed for audiophiles

[MarcelNL]

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..

[MarcelNL]

basically, a PCIe riser card like this one should work, allowing external Power: 

https://www.amazon.nl/ADT-Link-Gen3-0-sleutel-Pci-Express-verlenging/dp/B07Z4RCDKZ

[MarcelNL]

I should have read this thread another time....now I have a sample Femto NVME storage card waiting for some barrel connectors that I SHOULD have ordered right away///O well, it will give me the opportunity to change the wiring for another LPSU at the same time.

 

shame is that the Oyaide connectors  will need to arrive from France first, audiophonics is quick but it'll take a couple of days.

 

Can anyone tell me what the jumper on the card is for, and if it indeed is a power input selector if it is set for external power off factory?

 

[MarcelNL]

thanks!

 

why will a straight connector not work? (can only find those from Oyaide) the NVME slots sit in between the PCIe slots and CPU, so staight should work (open case so access is good)

 

[MarcelNL]

I'm waiting for the connectors so I can use the LPS, but so far it sounds better than Optane that outperformed SSD on an LPS, and the NVME Evo plus . Still breaking in but I love it!, More organic, more depth and texture, less noise.

[MarcelNL]

7 minutes ago, davide256 said:

Straight connector works fine if you have the space

I know, yet I did not have a spare connector...

[MarcelNL]

Mine now has only a few hundred hours but it is still improving (like it a LOT), I will report more in depth at a later stage...a week of repeating songs played from the disk while I'm away will help :-)

 

[MarcelNL]

I returned after being away for 9 days, let's call it a break from breaking in ;-) as the femto drive was busy transferring data all that time.

 

Installing the drive was the breeze you expect with NVME on a current MoBo and once the Oyaide connectors came in the external LPS was attached using some 18AWG UP-OCC in a twisted pair (not yet shielded).

 

The femto drive now has between 500 and 600 hours under its belt, I THINK breaking in is about done but experience tells me breaking in takes forever in the digital domain....

 

The femto drive does a great job when compared to my current regular NVME SSD (1Tb Samsung Evo plus) which is powered through the MoBo, which in turn sounds better than the previous 1Gb SATA SSD on an external LPSU.

( as a next step; SATA controllers switched off in Bios off brought a tiny improvement too,)

 

Music coming from the femto drive is simply cleaner and more precise, both leading and trailing edges of sound waves seem to be preserved better, it offers more detail... overtones and acoustics have more 'colors' if you know what I mean, low end control is better.

My initial overall impression is that music appears louder (in fact I did dial the volume knob a click back, which is 1 dB on the Khozmo shunt I'm using). Music definitely has more weight when coming from the femto drive!

 

The "duck quack" effect I dread so much but which is so common in digital systems (and in many wires using teflon insulation, many horns, etc) is vastly decreased or even non-existent, making long and loud listening to recordings susceptible for this effect possible..., eeerrr, no... the femto drive is making listening to these recordings a joy!

 

For example, my fave Schubert Lieder by Bernarda Fink can sound pretty harsh in the upper mid range, the Evo plus was a nice improvement that in comparison (from memory as the current MoBo does not digest Optane) is almost (?) on par with the 32 Gb Optane NVME stick I had in use for a while. The femto drive takes this to the next level and at the same time opens up the low end of the piano with the full spectrum of overtones and decay.

 

The fabulous recording of Arcadi Volodos playing in Vienna is suddenly showing a startling high level of interfering noise from the audience, but more importantly; what makes him (IMO) such a great pianist is now much more clear, his capability of playing with the overtones of the notes he plays is much more clear listening to the femto drive.

 

The best is; the advantage remains when playing track copied from SSD to RAM, on my system (Daphile) I can opt to convert a FLAC to WAV format and play that from RAM, this somehow lowers the perceived noise flow and makes music sound more organic and detailed. Comparing a track stored to RAM originating from the three options mentioned learned me that I prefer the track played from RAM coming from the femto drive.

 

my final verdict is ; highly recommended! ( to the point that I suspect that whoever does not hear a marked improvement should investigate the rest of the chain)

 

@darkforce IMO this is a great improvement for us Audio PC enthusiasts, I plan to bring my gig to the Berlin Audio Meet IF I can get the case work and passive cooling done before next month.

 

EDIT: I am unable to comment on stereo imaging since I can only squeeze in one of the two 220cm by 220cm monster speakers in the house we currently live in...though I'm expecting that the femto has the advantage in that domain too.

 

 

 

 

[MarcelNL]

I'd listen to it straight away, and make a comparison now AND later ;-)

 

It's too good to miss out on it until it reaches it's full potential IMO.

[MarcelNL]

it definitely is an amazing SSD, I LOVE how organic it sounds, system is running at max speed 24/7 on passive cooling, and it siunds stupidly good!

[MarcelNL]

great name IMO! 

 

Planning to now finally install the OS (latest Daphile RT beta) on it tonight, and see what that brings.

[MarcelNL]

I'm also using the 16AWG solid core PVC sleeved Neotech for this purpose, quite easy to make as DIY!

 

[MarcelNL]

Once you cut through the weeds of Litze, stranded and solid core, Silver versus Copper, and PTFE versus PVC insulation and forget about the prohibitively expensive silver/gold wire choosing from available selection is not that difficult anymore.

 

I favor solid core copper in PVC (I dislike the sound of PTFE), for critical places I strip the PVC and insulate the bare wire with natural material..

 

[MarcelNL]

Why not shield it while on your MB? I plan to do that when I get to the point where i construct the final case as I basically shield all components whether in the PSU or the rest of my build.

[MarcelNL]

I always switch off when I read stuff like; show me the measurement proving it sounds better...no point in discussing 

[MarcelNL]

4 hours ago, oneguy said:

Anyone have any idea how this NVMe fares vs ramroot for AudioLinux playback quality with the OS loaded on it?

I am using it with Daphile, Daphile loads into RAM, I hear a serious improvement when loading files into RAM before playing them. I've compared loading files into RAM from regular SSD, Optane, Samsung Evo plus NVME, femto NVME and the order of sound quality is left to right, the femto drive wins hands down on blacker background, organic sound, coloratura, acoustics etc.

 

I have yet to l oad the OS onto the femto drive but I am quite certain that will be another improvement, I usually only make one change at a time to be able to assess differences and attribute them properly...makes for slow going as there are quite a few to make and I'm still finishing the PSU. (ordered a Duleund cast bypass to evaluate a bunch of bypass caps in various places etc) 

[MarcelNL]

55 minutes ago, oneguy said:

My plan was to start off with the OS loaded to the NVMe and then try ramroot. Sounds like from what you are saying you would expect the NVMe loading the OS to be better? Awesome! Can’t wait to explore. 

That is indeed what I expect!

 

 

To the other point from @NewOldman: not using an endpoint makes it hard to use the femto drive there ;-)

[MarcelNL]

@oneguy

I finally got around to fight with installing the OS on the femto drive.....NICE! The effect of what I heard for files stored on it now for all and for streaming, the background is blacker and you hear deeper into the music.

[MarcelNL]

the difference is much more pronounced now the server is back to operating temp, wow the difference is not trivial!

 

[MarcelNL]

24 minutes ago, Smaragdhk said:

Now that your processor is running at its optimal temperature, next thing to further tweak is to play around with the min and max CPU frequencies.

YMMV

 

enjoy!

Not sure for who this message is, I have played with CPU freq in Daphile previously and for now it stays at full speed.

[MarcelNL]

I haven't found a setting for it, but there is not a lot of Manual to go with Daphile while many things are taken care of  'in the dark' 

[MarcelNL]

I'm no sure I can follow what you plan to do?  You have a computer and want to use a laptop to install Audio Linux onto the NVME? 

You probably want to install the femto NVME in your computer and copy the installation file onto it and then extract, but then again...it's been a while that I dabbled with Audio Linux so best check the manual. Extraction on the installed NVME should go pretty fast as it has a direct connection to the CPU whereas the USB drive you used goes through the USB controller.

 

 

 

 

[MarcelNL]

So I now upgraded to femto NVME from an Audiophonics low noise LPSU to an Allo Shanti, due to a an upgrade in Switch and FSP (Finisar 1475BTL) and the new switch needs 12V.....the difference is not trivial, not a MAJOR step but it is a clear improvement.

 

The combo is a sure winner (the new FSP and the Shanto on the femto NVME)! 

[MarcelNL]

In my experience the switch has a smaller impact than the SFP modules themselves, the current switch is a zyxel xgs1010-12. 

It's the Finisar SFP+ laser modules in the switch and Solarflare network card that have the most impact (and the Solarflare card as using two switches with fiber inbetween and making the last stretch UTP RJ45 cable does not sound as good as using the Solarflare card) 

[MarcelNL]

^What nonsense