SSD = Solid State Drive, which is best..?

if my music could fit on a 1 tera ssd ,because its likely to run cool/no noise and   last longer I would fit one.  MY HDDs have been running for at least 6 years without failure and cant be heard when playing music.   lets hope the cost of high capacity sdd falls .

Innocent Bystander posted:

flammenwerfer posted:

Simon-in-Suffolk posted:

flammenwerfer posted:

Well Martin Colloms prefers HDD over SSD in his Uniti Core review.

Said it sounded more dynamic and tightly focussed.

Well Simon-in-Suffolk prefers it when the natural Humidity is  greater than approx > 75% when critically listening to his Naim 552 based system. He says the sound is more organic and natural compared to lower Humidity.. He hasn't  quite gone to the extent of getting a humidifier for his listening room yet - but I understand he is considering it. Any view from the forum on which Humidifiers create the best sound?

Who is Simon in Suffolk?

Martin Colloms is a well respected reviewer.

He just reported his findings and may have not been able to explain why.

Don’t kill the messenger.

 

MC is a reviewer, and unlike some othersquoted on the forum I have been aware of his writing o er a period of many years. Some people agree with his views, other do not. I don’t know how respected he may or may not be, but that has nothing to do with whether people agree with his views.  Simon-on-Suffolk is a forum member, well known to regular readers as someone who combines scientific understanding and assessment with subjective assessment, generally trying to fit the former to the latter in the intrests of greater understanding (my interpretation). Some people agree with his views, and I imagine others do not. I get the impression that he is generally well respected within this community, but that indeed does not mean you have to agree with him  - though as he tends to present reasoned arguments, if you disagree it would be appropriate to consider what aspect of his argument you find faulty.

So far the Colloms review of the Naim Core is the most comprehensive one out there.

Most people, myself included, found it hard to believe that MC prefers HDD over SSD in this application.

It would be good to discuss why this may be so rather than just ridicule it offhand as some are wont to do.

FLAMMENWERFER  posted:

So far the Colloms review of the Naim Core is the most comprehensive one out there.

Most people, myself included, found it hard to believe that MC prefers HDD over SSD in this application.

???? It would be good to discuss why this may be so rather than just ridicule it offhand as some are wont to do.

 

???? Flammenwerfer,.....I agree with you,..there seems to be a tendency on all forums to ridicule,or be rude to it,or those things you do not understand,are familiar with,or do not believe in....whether you have self-tested,have knowledge or not.

You,they,...can write incredibly sarcastic messages without being familiar with the question,...just because you,they THINK otherwise.
See an example below from the......"LP12-Radikal Problem"-thread...

⚪ A member Post: ◾I think I know what President T would call this arrant nonsense◾

It's probably a bit embarrassing for him,and some other members,who expressed themselves rude in that thread......when it turned out I was constantly right.
I knew that too,otherwise I had not started the thread.

But,...it is still much,much better here than on other forums.There are only a few that stand out,and they only lose respect against us other members.
 
So,..back to SSD against HDD... it had,as you say been interesting to discuss it more. Especially since some here in Sweden have constructed their own Nas.
It is very much rewritten on Lejonklou's forum.... and is used in many top systems there.

/Peder ????

I use a Qnap HS 251+ using Samsung SSD 850 EVO 2TB backed up to a Synology with WD reds, I can access both via ND5XS + n-DAC and frankly I can not tell the diffenece but my ears are 58 years old! But I can hear the Synology working while I canot hear the Qnap.

I have ssd and standard hard drives available for the Core. One day I did a tedious experiment to hear the relative merits of each. So I installed one or the other drives inside the Core itself and ripped some cd's that I especially liked for sound comparison. Then I removed the drive and re-ripped the same discs onto the other drive. Equall playing field in my mind.

I listened to the music on the standard drive first, as I remember, for about about an hour. Then I took that drive out and installed the ssd drive, and found the music to be noticeably faster, cleaner, more tactile (in the good sense) and for me 'better'. The same music on the standard drive came across as being rounded/softer, less responsive. This was all done on a Saturday, I believe.

Early the next week, I decided to finally set up everything the way I would end up most likely using the Core. So the ssd went inside the Core and the standard was outside connected via usb.

On listening an interesting thing happened. The cd's ripped to the standard hard drive now sounded virtually identical to the same cd ripped to the ssd (I could see both versions on the app now and could do quick comparisons as well). 

Great thing for me to know, as the presence of an ssd dive inside the Core raises (for me) another drive that may have lesser performance capabilities.

But now that I think of it, wasn't this the concept behind the Unity Serve SSD? Small ssd inside, not meant for music storage as such, but influencing the quality of the nas music storage ahead of it? 

Quads posted:

I have ssd and standard hard drives available for the Core. One day I did a tedious experiment to hear the relative merits of each. So I installed one or the other drives inside the Core itself and ripped some cd's that I especially liked for sound comparison. Then I removed the drive and re-ripped the same discs onto the other drive. Equall playing field in my mind.

I listened to the music on the standard drive first, as I remember, for about about an hour. Then I took that drive out and installed the ssd drive, and found the music to be noticeably faster, cleaner, more tactile (in the good sense) and for me 'better'. The same music on the standard drive came across as being rounded/softer, less responsive. This was all done on a Saturday, I believe.

Early the next week, I decided to finally set up everything the way I would end up most likely using the Core. So the ssd went inside the Core and the standard was outside connected via usb.

On listening an interesting thing happened. The cd's ripped to the standard hard drive now sounded virtually identical to the same cd ripped to the ssd (I could see both versions on the app now and could do quick comparisons as well). 

Great thing for me to know, as the presence of an ssd dive inside the Core raises (for me) another drive that may have lesser performance capabilities.

But now that I think of it, wasn't this the concept behind the Unity Serve SSD? Small ssd inside, not meant for music storage as such, but influencing the quality of the nas music storage ahead of it? 

 

 

 

I don't think that was the concept behind the US SSD. Surely the point was that you avoided storing the "firmware" on a hard disc drive with the associated risk of failure entailing a trip back to Salisbury and you weren't stuck with the 2TB limit of the internal hard disc because you used a NAS for storage instead.

Anyway you can use the Core in whichever way works for you, which is one of the more obvious advantages of it.

best

David

???? QUADS,....Very interesting experiment, discovered.
Thank you for sharing your experience.

Those who switched from HDD to SSD in,for example,a Mac Mini,also say they are experiencing it positively to SSD's advantage.

The SSD generates less heat and internal-vibrations,it may possibly be part of the explanation.
Some HDD's are rubber-suspended to reduce internal-vibrations.

However,optimizing a digital music reproduction chain,is significantly more complicated than an analog (turntable).
Just test, try, test, try......just relying on technical reasoning usually doesn't always lead forward.

Ps: Love your avatar-picture of the Isobarik ????????.

/Peder ????

I have talked to the Swedish distributor of Melco.
He says you can't use a Melco SSD Audio Grade,anywhere else than in a Melco.

This is because they are designed in a special way,to work together for the best performance.

It was boring,I had a hope of being able to test Melco's SSD,but it goes as I said not.
Below are links to a picture of Melco's Audio Grade SSD,as well as Tonym's image on he's Melco NIZ.
-------------------------------------------------------

???? Melco have always promoted their use of Audio Grade SSD drives...Melco Audio Grade SSD,picture below....???????????????? 

https://i.imgur.com/J4eJdYm.jpg

???? Melco NIZ, Tonym's picture of he's Melco below....???????????????? 

https://i.imgur.com/jltxtvo.jpg

-----------------------------------------------------

/Peder???? 

Thanks David, good point on the SSD/NAS.

Peder, I have found much less heat and vibration with the SDD vs HDD as well. This could be a big part of the reason for its sonic superiority over HDD for many.