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External HD VS Flash Drive Sound Quality Question

Hi have an Oppo BDP-95. I am up to around 25 Flash drives which is getting ridiculous.

2 questions (hoping for folks who know the definitive answers; I have my own guesses, bu that's all they are.)

1. HD Tracks has written that the Flash drives sound better than any spinning disc or drive due to lack of jitter from lack of a spinning disc. Is that accurate?

2. I have noticed a new generation of external hd's that get all there power through the USB port, & do not require an out board power supply.

A. Would there be any detectable sonic difference either way? If so, which is better: the cheap wall wort power supplies or getting power solely through the USB line?

B. The Western Digital USB drives with no power supply have a proprietary cable that looks quite cheap. Would the lack of an audiophile USB cable be sonically problematic?

I'm basically trying to decide whether to ditch the lash drives or a USB hard drive; & if so whether to go with a powered or unpowered drive. A couple +'s re the new WD's: they are teeny & they run cooler than the Seagates I've used.
moomoo

Showing 10 responses by tomcy6

tomcy6's avatar
tomcy6
2,612 posts
 
Moomoo, Please keep us posted about how your experiment turns out. I'd like to listen to more high res downloads but don't think the server systems are at my price/ease of setup and use point yet, so I'm really interested in what you're doing.
tomcy6's avatar
tomcy6
2,612 posts
 
Thanks for the update Moomoo. I hope you can get those high res files sounding like they should. I'm looking forward to hearing more on your findings.
tomcy6's avatar
tomcy6
2,612 posts
 
Hi Moomoo, As I'm sure you know, you're not under any obligation to come to any conclusions quickly or even add anything more to this thread. I do appreciate your keeping us informed about your research though.

From what you have posted it seems to me that the differences between thumb drives and hard drives are subtle and one could come to different conclusions in different systems. Would you agree?
tomcy6's avatar
tomcy6
2,612 posts
 
Thanks for your viewpoint Krikdf, but it has turned out pretty often that things that shouldn't affect sound quality do, at least for some people. Have you compared high res files on flash drives to the same files on your your SSD into your Oppo?
tomcy6's avatar
tomcy6
2,612 posts
 
Hi Moomoo, my question was for Kriskdf. I hope he will compare flash drives to his SSD and tell us what he hears.
tomcy6's avatar
tomcy6
2,612 posts
 
Thanks for doing the test Kriskdf, I hope we didn't take up your whole Saturday. At least you got the wifi working.

Let us know if you come to a firm conclusion that there is or is not any difference in sound quality between flash and SSD.
tomcy6's avatar
tomcy6
2,612 posts
 
Hi Moomoo, How is your hard drive into the Oppo 95 experiment going? Are you happy with the sound?
tomcy6's avatar
tomcy6
2,612 posts
 
Thanks Moomoo. Please keep us informed as you come to any conclusions.
tomcy6's avatar
tomcy6
2,612 posts
 
I can sympathize Moomoo. Doing these kind of comparisons is a pain in the butt. I do appreciate your sharing your findings with us.
tomcy6's avatar
tomcy6
2,612 posts
 
I have read a number of times people saying that the difference between 96 and 192 is subtle in most cases. Some people say that 96 sounds better than 192.

I think that for many people the differences between 96 and 192 or between thumb drive and HD are not significant. Sometimes these differences are different but not better or worse. I think that we would often be better off just enjoying what we have rather than trying to chase down a small improvement in sound quality.

If eventually you come to the conclusion that hard drives sound better than thumb drives or vice versa, then great, start using hard drives or thumb drives exclusively.

So don't worry about this thread and let us know if you do come to a conclusion one day. Then be ready for someone to disagree with you.

By the way, Sony is gearing up to sell DSD downloads and gear to play them starting in November. I'll be interested to see what becomes of that. I do like the sound of SACDs. Check out their website:

http://discover.store.sony.com/High-Resolution-Audio/
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