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fastest cables for NAS


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Me again, Thanks for the the GREAT  response to my previous query about advantages of a NAS.

So I bought one,  Seagate 3 TB. all set up with a LAN cable.

Working fine, but I just want to make sure of the fastest or faster cable info transfer speeds USB I believe its 3.0 or a LAN cable. for music files and videos (decent videos) thanks in advance. joe

Seagate-3TB-Personal-Cloud-1-Bay-Network-Attached-NAS-Storage_2300747_36c2ef124e4da519303a7fde08a5f391.jpg

0016509_usb-30-superspeed-cable-a-to-b-mm-6-ft.jpeg

LAN.jpg

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It’s not a question of speed, both are fast enough. Use whichever works best/sounds best to you. 

Main listening (small home office):

Main setup: Surge protector +>Isol-8 Mini sub Axis Power Strip/Isolation>QuietPC Low Noise Server>Roon (Audiolense DRC)>Stack Audio Link II>Kii Control>Kii Three (on their own electric circuit) >GIK Room Treatments.

Secondary Path: Server with Audiolense RC>RPi4 or analog>Cayin iDAC6 MKII (tube mode) (XLR)>Kii Three .

Bedroom: SBTouch to Cambridge Soundworks Desktop Setup.
Living Room/Kitchen: Ropieee (RPi3b+ with touchscreen) + Schiit Modi3E to a pair of Morel Hogtalare. 

All absolute statements about audio are false :)

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The limiting factor for speed here is the drive itself. Both GbE and USB 3.0 are faster than a single spinning disk can keep up with. For audio playback, that's still far more bandwidth than necessary. As firedog says, use whichever interface is more convenient for you.

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1 hour ago, davide256 said:

I'm confused... when you say USB3, do you mean USB3 to a router?

You mean there's yet another box I have to - or should buy?


Right now I have my NAS directly connected to my computer with a no name LAN cable.  I'm presently using it as an extra hard drive (many video files).

 

I do have 2 other sockets for usb on the NAS. One black and the other blue. I intend to connect my DAC/ cd drive to my NAS for audio files with the either USB sockets,  but without a router.

 

I was just wondering if there's any difference in speed of video files mp4 downloads.

 

 

But just for the"purity" of sound bypassing the computer and connecting a router will affect the sound that much?

 

 

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5 hours ago, joes1234 said:

I was under the impression that digital audio cables are free from the  " sound effects " of analog cables.

That's an argument I'm not getting into. 

I was just suggesting that either should work and you should just try it and see whatever is best for you. 

Main listening (small home office):

Main setup: Surge protector +>Isol-8 Mini sub Axis Power Strip/Isolation>QuietPC Low Noise Server>Roon (Audiolense DRC)>Stack Audio Link II>Kii Control>Kii Three (on their own electric circuit) >GIK Room Treatments.

Secondary Path: Server with Audiolense RC>RPi4 or analog>Cayin iDAC6 MKII (tube mode) (XLR)>Kii Three .

Bedroom: SBTouch to Cambridge Soundworks Desktop Setup.
Living Room/Kitchen: Ropieee (RPi3b+ with touchscreen) + Schiit Modi3E to a pair of Morel Hogtalare. 

All absolute statements about audio are false :)

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13 hours ago, joes1234 said:

You mean there's yet another box I have to - or should buy?


Right now I have my NAS directly connected to my computer with a no name LAN cable.  I'm presently using it as an extra hard drive (many video files).

 

I do have 2 other sockets for usb on the NAS. One black and the other blue. I intend to connect my DAC/ cd drive to my NAS for audio files with the either USB sockets,  but without a router.

 

I was just wondering if there's any difference in speed of video files mp4 downloads.

 

 

But just for the"purity" of sound bypassing the computer and connecting a router will affect the sound that much?

 

 

At one point I had a Verizon router that allowed you to connect an external USB3 drive to it as a file server... but I think you have clarified that you do have a NAS, not just an external drive.

The chief virtue of a NAS is network isolation, it allows you to stream music over Ethernet to a renderer that has low electrical noise level in order to achieve best possible sound quality. A file server has inherent electrical noise levels and a consumer NAS/PC is not engineered to address those issues for a direct (USB3) connection to DAC.

Regards,

Dave

 

Audio system

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not a complete forum, no - comments are scattered about

 

I am paraphrasing & summarizing some things, but think I can give you the gist:

transmission of electrical noise to the DAC can be an SQ problem; some can happen via RFI, but a lot is transmitted along the wiring - one term to search for is "galvanic isolation"

 

ethernet involves transformers which greatly reduces such transmission; however, some may still get thru via parasitic capacitance in the transformer

 

opto-isolation is a sure fire way to eliminate it completely @jabbr has posted some low cost opto-isolators that can be used

 

I use WiFi & don't have that problem, so have not paid a lot of attention to it.

 

You also want to think about eliminating ground loops and using an isolation transformer on the AC feeds; speaker placement, room treatments, etc.

 

cable speed is not an issue, so get any decent cable (e.g. monoprice) then work on any of the above (and more!) that you think is worthwhile

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It all depends on what you want to do.

 

If you have a home network and your PC is connected to it, it makes far far far far more sense to connect your NAS to your network i.e. the switch, than directly to your PC.

 

If you only want to use your external disc with your PC and don't have a home network, then connect via USB 3.1

 

Any USB 3 or LAN cable will work fine (assuming it meets minimum standards) -- I wouldn't give any worry at all that the cable you use to connect an external drive could make an SQ difference, nor is there a particular need to isolate the external disc.

 

Yes my NAS is connected to my network by 10 Gbe fiber but that's purely because my NAS has 64 Gb of RAM cache for an aggregate bandwidth of mirrored SAS drives, and because I have a 10 Gbe fiberoptic (SFP+) switch.

 

If you have a wireless router you can connect your disc to this router. Don't worry about cables or power supplies for this external disc.

Custom room treatments for headphone users.

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On 7/12/2018 at 8:00 PM, Ralf11 said:

 

 

 

I am paraphrasing & summarizing some things, but think I can give you the gist:

transmission of electrical noise to the DAC can be an SQ problem; some can happen via RFI, but a lot is transmitted along the wiring - one term to search for is "galvanic isolation"

 

ethernet involves transformers which greatly reduces such transmission; however, some may still get thru via parasitic capacitance in the transformer

 

 

 

 

Galvanic isolation is for current isolation (no direct current path) not noise, it can help but the term is being misused in audio as a panacea for noise...

The Ethernet interface is galvanicly isolated...

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On 7/16/2018 at 4:25 PM, Ralf11 said:

marce, do you think the ethernet transformers have such low parasitic leakage that any noise is nil?

Not speaking for @marce but we are talking about NAS to PC here so not as issue.

 

Leakage currents are talked about as if the mere presence of a few picoAmps is the cause of a bad audio crisis. 

 

USB which has a continuous non galvanically isolated ground ie much lower impedance path — is much worse in this regard. 

Custom room treatments for headphone users.

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