SQ of a Memory stick v's NAS drive?

Oh!

OK, it all depends...

Sorry I cant give a single clear distinct answer:  It depends on a lot of factors including:

the cables you use

the streamer you use (I don't have experience of the UQ2)

the amount and type of RFI you have in your environment

the RFI protection you use

and possibly even the downstream amplification

In my system there may be a very small difference (with the sound sourced via the NAS possibly having very slightly less resolution).  The difference is so small that I'm not sure whether it's real or an artefact of the way I did the test.

I can't hear a difference. Many can. What you hear will be what you hear, not what everybody else hears. So it goes.

I have ONLY been using SDHC Memory sticks to feed my Unitiqute2 and very happy. Mind you I use Sandisk Extreme Pro 95MB/s via. a Sandisk Micromate (about £8 online) as the speed of the card makes a difference SQ wise and use uncompressed FLAC files, as could never be bothered rewiring the house with ethernet cables etc. I have about 700 songs on a 64Gb card and the whole of my Beatles collection on a 16Gb card. I play this through my Unitiqute2/252/300 obelisks (still use CDS3 as main source) and would challenge anyone to tell the difference between the SDHC Extreme Pro/Unitiqute2 and CDS3 sources..

It works extremely well, you just have to organize your music around SDHC cards as a 64Gb card probably has a limit of around 1000 songs per card. But thats easily enough for me

Thanks for the tip on the Sandisk Micromate. I didn't know you could convert SD to USB this way.

Jan

I use both in my NDX - files are FLAC losses, not have a DAC so prefer the NAS Ethernet into the NDX

results are just what I wanted (moving from CDX2 to NDX) plenty of options on NAS, I was recommended QNAP HS 210 by my dealer - currently have over 1.5GB on NAS - uses UPnP (twonky) which some guys don't like but certainly works for me

I use a Seagate 500 GB "slim-drive". Formatted it in Fat32 using a partitionmanager and now I have a 500GB usb-stick which I can plug in the front USB input of my Superuniti.

Sounds very, very good.

Btw: FAT32 supports up to 2 TB.

Best regards

I have noticed the same when playing HQ 24/96k wav files and a few mp3 files from a 64Gb USB flash drive. SQ via USB appears to have more gain or slightly more 'depth' against when streamed via hardwired network. No idea what could be the reason behind this.

I once tried an iPod via the USB front port on the Superuniti but I tought this was not as good as a NAS

It's not just bits of data, is it...... I have similar USB >> network experiences.

On my Unitiserve SSD I found USB stick source (esp with network disconnected) was so significantly better than NAS it felt like a completely different system. In my case this feeds a DAC/XPSDR, but the principles are similar. So I've put quite a lot of effort into equalising the two sources with USB setting the benchmark.

On the network I've installed a second local switch, c-stream cables, swapped netgear gs108v3 for 605v4, and installed a TP Unitiserve PSU on my remote Synology NAS. The 'game-changer' musicality improvement finally came from the TP PSU on the NAS, after the network improvements. So significant and fundamental 'shift towards analogue' quality, I wouldn't have believed without experiencing it. My wife said 'it sounds silky now'. Before this the gs108v3 was introducing a distinct 'digital' edge to all instruments and voices, and the c-stream brought a lower noise floor, general 'clean-up' and open window over cat6.  Both my switches are also on TP PSUs, and the network is on a separate spur from the hifi.

The 'CD555 vs NDS' thread had posts from Chris Bell and Murray Harden who have optimised systems with linear PSUs on their storage and have pimped their networks into their NDS, and are experiencing better results than their former CD555. Others see the CD555 as still ahead. So IMO it's not all bits are equal in the digital domain.....

Just prior I also tried a 2G LaCie USB disk drive (FAT 32 format) with TP PSU into my Unitiserve, as Murray successfully employs USB -connected storage and recommended by my experienced retailer. The Unitiserve recognises the album structure just like the rips on the NAS. In my limited trial I found it cleaned up unnatural hash similar to the local USB stick, but also in my case was extremely microphonic, lost control of the bass and squashed the dynamics. My wife said 'what have you done - it sounds sick'. However after the NAS power upgrade gave me the fundamental shift I was looking for, I haven't persevered further with this approach for now.

I understand USB storage can be made to work very well, and would retry with a 3m Chord USB silver plus cable to get the storage in an adjacent room.

This may sound like a lot of work, but I decided not to consider an NDS upgrade until my current configuration was working to its best potential without degradation. Then I'd really appreciate the step up....

hope this his gives you some ideas on possible approaches to consider.

That is very interesting. Thank you for taking the trouble. One thing of particular interest to me is buying a quality PS to replace the brick that QNAP supplied with my TS410. From what you post it sounds like TP do just such a thing. Does it include a cable from PS to NAS for yours (not mains power cable)?

Thanks.

Hi Harry, thanks for your appreciative comment.  I enjoy the perceptive wisdom of your posts, so I'm pleased you have gained something from this.

The Synology DS213j uses a standard 5.5/2.5mm barrel connector, which fortunately is supplied standard with the TP psu.  However TP will provide custom connector cables to specification.  I checked the DS213j consumption as being ~22 watts (<2A at 12V) full draw, so felt the 4.5A TP PSU would cover any peak draw comfortably.  It does run considerably cooler on NAS, than the same device on my Userve. 

One thing I carefully checked.  Both the Synology brick and Naim's Userve brick link their -ve rail (ie device chassis) back to mains earth.  TP's psus do not, having fully floating outputs.  I therefore run a separate ground wire connection from device chassis to earth, similar to turntable days.  This had a huge benefit on the Userve, bringing back the whole body and intent to the music rather than a lighter but more hifi presentation.  However this may be less material with UPnP rather than SPDIF output.

The c-stream metal Ethernet connectors/shields also connect end-to-end, therefore any switch in the c-stream chain is held to the same earth plane.  Unfortunately I have a mid-section of CAT6 presently remaining as 5m lengths of c-stream have to be ordered in internationally, down under!  The Userve has a plastic female and so should be isolated from the final c-stream link .  I run all my "data" devices from one spur, and all the "audio" from another. 

One thing I note.  All the switches seem to have miniature internal SMPS to produce the lower internal logic and Ethernet voltage rails, which part-negates the external linear supplies.  I'm guessing this accounts for some noise generation, and the benefits of ferrites even with shielded cables.  A further possibility for improvement?

Harry, took a quick look at the TS-410 and it appears to utilise a 12V 10A rated supply, which is double TP's rating so not suitable.

I considered a Hynes which can come in high capacities and perceive these to be very well done.  This provides a premium option you might consider, also I'm sure there are standard market (ie MCrU) options you could explore.  For me a Hynes would have been 3x the price and a significant wait; while tempted I let pragmatism, impatience and a known quantity rule.

Shocked that this could be the case. But as they say, "you hear what it is that you hear".

Just compared a WAV file on a USB stick vs streaming said file transcoded into WAV from Vortexbox, into UQ1>DAC V1> 110. Slight sound quality increase with stick, but not enough to justify losing the ease of streaming over 1000 albums. I compared awhile back as well and the stick did sound better before I installed a few tweaks such as AQ Cinnamon through the whole chain from modem to switch to UQ to VB, plus a linear psu on the modem and switch. Waiting on a psu for the Vortexbox now. 

Again, I'm very grateful for your input. Much appreciated.

I use a Seagate 500 GB "slim-drive". Formatted it in Fat32 using a partitionmanager and now I have a 500GB usb-stick which I can plug in the front USB input of my Superuniti.

Sounds very, very good.

Btw: FAT32 supports up to 2 TB.

Best regards

...that's interesting, but are you sure the indexing can handle it? I note that as I approach 64Gb on the memory stick that it takes longer to index the songs on the SDHC card, I presume there must me a limit whereby at some point it will fall over? With songs on the 16Gb card indexing is instant.