cyclocross12

The firewire HDD was the Oyen Digital mini pro. The Thunderbolt drive was from Buffalo. Both were bus powered. Nothing else was changed.

I hear ya DigiPete thanks for sharing! I tried the Belkin Express Dock in my system. Short version of the story is I returned it. With it in the chain, the sound quality in my system went away, no matter how or what I connected. It is just like you say everything sound the same and, in my case - bad.

Thanks for the welcome flatmap; Yes, I do get the sense of less noise during quiet passages. The background also seems blacker too.

Recently switched from FW800 to a Thunderbolt drive (my dac is usb connected) - big improvement. Has anyone found these same?