SamMac Posted August 12, 2017 Share Posted August 12, 2017 Now that SSD drives are at a more realistic price, apart from the faster and better reliablilty. How are they for playing audio files? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Eggcup The Daft Posted August 12, 2017 Share Posted August 12, 2017 (edited) The good thing about SSDs is that they are quiet. They still aren't necessarily more reliable than HDDs, especially as you can still mirror large capacity HDDs for the same price as a small SSD. You can happily use anything USB 2 speed or faster for playing music files. Any differences will come down to the design of what you are plugging into. Edited August 12, 2017 by Eggcup The Daft correction Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Sime Posted August 12, 2017 Share Posted August 12, 2017 Get a Samsung SSD and don't ever think about it again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamMac Posted August 13, 2017 Author Share Posted August 13, 2017 Thanks John The same size SSD is still more expensive vs a larger HDD. This notebook of mine is around 2008, so maybe the sometimes cut out briefly is the old HDD. I tend to shut all windows and just run vlc and play my files through my DAC Thanks Simon, Samsung is a good brand also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Eggcup The Daft Posted August 13, 2017 Share Posted August 13, 2017 24 minutes ago, Sime said: Get a Samsung SSD and don't ever think about it again. Unfortunately they fail as well. At least, mine did Still a good recommendation, but you still need a backup... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Eggcup The Daft Posted August 13, 2017 Share Posted August 13, 2017 4 minutes ago, SamMac said: Thanks John The same size SSD is still more expensive vs a larger HDD. This notebook of mine is around 2008, so maybe the sometimes cut out briefly is the old HDD. I tend to shut all windows and just run vlc and play my files through my DAC Thanks Simon, Samsung is a good brand also. If the notebook will take a SATA drive then an SSD is a good replacement. It's rather old though, you would be better off with a newer notebook - even a more recent used one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolster Posted August 13, 2017 Share Posted August 13, 2017 Agree re notebook. A lot has happened in nine years. I also doubt if anyone could hear a difference by changing from a HDD to a SSD but happy to be educated on the subject. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Posted August 13, 2017 Share Posted August 13, 2017 If one was informed that the drive is upgraded to SSD, my bet is about 73% of audiophiles would tell the difference [emoji3]Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundbyte Posted August 13, 2017 Share Posted August 13, 2017 1 hour ago, SamMac said: Now that SSD drives are at a more realistic price, apart from the faster and better reliablilty. How are they for playing audio files? It usually comes down to cost and noise, the SSD would be much quieter both audibly and electrically (SSD no motor noise). In my opinion a backup is mandatory whichever type of drive you choose, buy one, but get another one for data backup. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Addicted to music Posted August 13, 2017 Share Posted August 13, 2017 10 minutes ago, Happy said: If one was informed that the drive is upgraded to SSD, my bet is about 73% of audiophiles would tell the difference Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Except me. OK And @wolster 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Addicted to music Posted August 13, 2017 Share Posted August 13, 2017 1 minute ago, soundbyte said: It usually comes down to cost and noise, the SSD would be much quieter both audibly and electrically (SSD no motor noise). In my opinion a backup is mandatory whichever type of drive you choose, buy one, but get another one for data backup. Id use a cheap mechanical HDD for backup, no need for SSD 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snoopy8 Posted August 13, 2017 Share Posted August 13, 2017 Changed from HDD to Samsung SSD more than a year ago because old laptop with Win10 had occasional interrupt when running Foobar2000. Tried many things to get rid of interrupt but with SSD, problem fixed. Good upgrade which extended life of laptop. Audio wise, no discernible difference with SSD upgrade. There were other things which limited the laptop eg. Foobar2000, usb cable, and when these were changed, gave noticeable audio improvements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rmpfyf Posted August 13, 2017 Share Posted August 13, 2017 3 hours ago, SamMac said: Now that SSD drives are at a more realistic price, apart from the faster and better reliablilty. How are they for playing audio files? Depends how it's connected and how it's powered. In your PC, maybe, in a NAS, no. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SL1200 Posted August 13, 2017 Share Posted August 13, 2017 I have one PC with SSD and one with HDD. Tiny difference with the nod to SSDs. Bear in mind that while files are played 'on the fly' the music files are put into memory first. In terms of reliability my understanding is that SSDs will last a very long time provided they are not full. I don't fully understand why this would be but apparently an 80% full drive will last a good deal longer than a 90% full drive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Sime Posted August 13, 2017 Share Posted August 13, 2017 3 hours ago, Eggcup The Daft said: Unfortunately they fail as well. At least, mine did Still a good recommendation, but you still need a backup... Of course , all drives fail. My main music SSD has 3 HDD backups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PleasantSounds Posted August 13, 2017 Share Posted August 13, 2017 43 minutes ago, SL1200 said: I don't fully understand why this would be but apparently an 80% full drive will last a good deal longer than a 90% full drive. The technology of SSD drives is good for a finite number of writes to each sector. The software responsible for writing to the SSD distributes the writes to the sectors that had the lowest number of writes, but the less sectors are available the more writes happen to the same sectors over and over. The result is a loss of capacity over time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Eggcup The Daft Posted August 13, 2017 Share Posted August 13, 2017 6 hours ago, Happy said: If one was informed that the drive is upgraded to SSD, my bet is about 73% of audiophiles would tell the difference Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk So few? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SL1200 Posted August 13, 2017 Share Posted August 13, 2017 3 hours ago, PleasantSounds said: The technology of SSD drives is good for a finite number of writes to each sector. The software responsible for writing to the SSD distributes the writes to the sectors that had the lowest number of writes, but the less sectors are available the more writes happen to the same sectors over and over. The result is a loss of capacity over time. Yes that was the essence of my research. I was 'researching' - well googling actually - sites like 'Anand' (I remember that name as it has a significant chess connection) for PC purposes. What I recall as curious was that a 100% increase in spare space was said to result in a far greater than 100% lifespan. To the OP. There are several good Computer Websites and you may wish to do your own research / googling. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chigurh Posted August 13, 2017 Share Posted August 13, 2017 All of my music files reside on a cheap 2TB Toshiba USB HDD attached to my router. Mechanical noise is not an issue as it's in a room far away from my HiFi listening room. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunbird Posted August 15, 2017 Share Posted August 15, 2017 All my musics sit on a Synology NAS with conventional server grade HDDs and a backup drive. Recently changed hard drives and ran of a Sony Vaio with SSD in the interim - no discernible difference between the two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hippy Posted September 11, 2017 Share Posted September 11, 2017 I play mine off a Intel SSD and when I was listening off a HDD there was a faint buzzing noise. Not audible with speakers but with the DAC/Perreaux/Senn combo it was there. Disappeared when I moved to SSD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundreference Posted September 13, 2017 Share Posted September 13, 2017 As the first specialty audio store in Australia who was offering advice on how to use a computer as a source and the first to post a list on "where to find high res audio files - on this very site - this topic interests me. Onboard then its SSD obviously. Quiet and less vibration. Vibration is the enemy of good audio. SSD isnt even that $$$ these days. The Evo samsung are the best (someone already said that) But external just get an affordable HDD. The vibration isnt going to effect the computer. Officeworks (not corporate advertising im not affiliated!) have external 2gig HDD for like $100. Dont get the one that needs to be plugged in to a wall socket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batty Posted September 13, 2017 Share Posted September 13, 2017 Taking this a little further, Does an M.2 disk make any difference as it eliminates cables between drive and motherboard? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rmpfyf Posted September 13, 2017 Share Posted September 13, 2017 8 hours ago, Batty said: Taking this a little further, Does an M.2 disk make any difference as it eliminates cables between drive and motherboard? It does, and correctly implemented (NVMe) it cuts OS latency significantly and eliminates the need for SATA chips too, but it also pulls power from the motherboard in an irregular and relatively moderately-powered way. Just as a 'reference' PC will want its SSD powered separately, you'd likely want the same for a M.2 disk. HAven't really been looking for such a product though its likely out there... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundreference Posted September 21, 2017 Share Posted September 21, 2017 rmpfyf interesting. shall look into it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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