PaulC Posted September 28, 2008 Share Posted September 28, 2008 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. Link to comment
The Computer Audiophile Posted September 29, 2008 Share Posted September 29, 2008 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. Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems Link to comment
jtwrace Posted May 29, 2009 Share Posted May 29, 2009 What are the recommended SSD's? Need a big one. W10 NUC i7 (Gen 10) > Roon (Audiolense FIR) > Motu UltraLite mk5 > (4) Hypex NCore NC502MP > JBL M2 Master Reference +4 subs Watch my Podcast https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXMw_bZWBMtRWNJQfTJ38kA/videos Link to comment
audioengr Posted May 29, 2009 Share Posted May 29, 2009 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 Link to comment
jtwrace Posted May 29, 2009 Share Posted May 29, 2009 What size drive? I need a 1 TB. W10 NUC i7 (Gen 10) > Roon (Audiolense FIR) > Motu UltraLite mk5 > (4) Hypex NCore NC502MP > JBL M2 Master Reference +4 subs Watch my Podcast https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXMw_bZWBMtRWNJQfTJ38kA/videos Link to comment
audioengr Posted May 29, 2009 Share Posted May 29, 2009 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 Link to comment
jtwrace Posted May 29, 2009 Share Posted May 29, 2009 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 W10 NUC i7 (Gen 10) > Roon (Audiolense FIR) > Motu UltraLite mk5 > (4) Hypex NCore NC502MP > JBL M2 Master Reference +4 subs Watch my Podcast https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXMw_bZWBMtRWNJQfTJ38kA/videos Link to comment
The Computer Audiophile Posted May 29, 2009 Share Posted May 29, 2009 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. Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems Link to comment
Purite Audio Posted May 29, 2009 Share Posted May 29, 2009 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. Link to comment
The Computer Audiophile Posted May 29, 2009 Share Posted May 29, 2009 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. Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems Link to comment
Wavelength Posted May 29, 2009 Share Posted May 29, 2009 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 J. Gordon Rankin Wavelength Audio http://www.usbdacs.com/ http://www.wavelengthaudio.com/ http://www.guitar-engines.com/ Link to comment
Purite Audio Posted May 29, 2009 Share Posted May 29, 2009 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. Link to comment
The Computer Audiophile Posted May 29, 2009 Share Posted May 29, 2009 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 :~( Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems Link to comment
Purite Audio Posted May 29, 2009 Share Posted May 29, 2009 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. Link to comment
Wavelength Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 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 J. Gordon Rankin Wavelength Audio http://www.usbdacs.com/ http://www.wavelengthaudio.com/ http://www.guitar-engines.com/ Link to comment
jtwrace Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 Gordon, What is your exact SSD drive setup? W10 NUC i7 (Gen 10) > Roon (Audiolense FIR) > Motu UltraLite mk5 > (4) Hypex NCore NC502MP > JBL M2 Master Reference +4 subs Watch my Podcast https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXMw_bZWBMtRWNJQfTJ38kA/videos Link to comment
Wavelength Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 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 J. Gordon Rankin Wavelength Audio http://www.usbdacs.com/ http://www.wavelengthaudio.com/ http://www.guitar-engines.com/ Link to comment
jtwrace Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 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.. W10 NUC i7 (Gen 10) > Roon (Audiolense FIR) > Motu UltraLite mk5 > (4) Hypex NCore NC502MP > JBL M2 Master Reference +4 subs Watch my Podcast https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXMw_bZWBMtRWNJQfTJ38kA/videos Link to comment
jtwrace Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 wait a second....do you replace the drive in the Mini? W10 NUC i7 (Gen 10) > Roon (Audiolense FIR) > Motu UltraLite mk5 > (4) Hypex NCore NC502MP > JBL M2 Master Reference +4 subs Watch my Podcast https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXMw_bZWBMtRWNJQfTJ38kA/videos Link to comment
The Computer Audiophile Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 I would replace the drive in the Mini and reinstall the OS. Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems Link to comment
Wavelength Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 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 J. Gordon Rankin Wavelength Audio http://www.usbdacs.com/ http://www.wavelengthaudio.com/ http://www.guitar-engines.com/ Link to comment
proftournesol Posted September 17, 2009 Share Posted September 17, 2009 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? regards[br]Michael[br]Mac mini & Amarra 3 | Weiss Minerva | CEC TL-51x | Octave HP500se | ADAM Tensor Delta active speakers. [br]MacBook Pro | V-DAC | Yamamoto HA-02 | ATH-W1000[br]AppleTV | DACMagic2 | Sugden A25 | ADAM HM2 Link to comment
Andrew S. Posted September 17, 2009 Share Posted September 17, 2009 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? Best Wishes Andrew Link to comment
machinehead Posted September 17, 2009 Share Posted September 17, 2009 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. \"It would be a mistake to demonize any particular philosophy. To do so forces people into entrenched positions and encourages the adoption of unhelpful defensive reactions, thus missing the opportunity for constructive dialog\"[br] - Martin Colloms - stereophile.com Link to comment
Wavelength Posted September 18, 2009 Share Posted September 18, 2009 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 J. Gordon Rankin Wavelength Audio http://www.usbdacs.com/ http://www.wavelengthaudio.com/ http://www.guitar-engines.com/ Link to comment
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