Your experience & thoughts on SSDs for MacMini

Perrew,

I have tried a linear power supply, and I have done A/B between SSD external drives and regular hard drives. But, I did not A/B between SSD external drives and Regular hard drives while using the linear power supply.

Darrell
www.mach2music.com

Tbg,

Are you assuming that SSD drives do not help when using Memory Play, or did you test it? If you tested it, it would be great to hear your impressions.

We have specifically tested this and found that using an SSD drive helps the sound, even when using Memory Play. I can't explain why, but the results were clear.

Now SSD drives are much more expensive than a regular hard drives so most people will decide it is not cost effective to use for external drives (although I use one and some of our customers do too.) I can't blame them, but our A/B tests showed a noticable difference.

Darrell
www.mach2music.com

Perrew,

No, I did not comment on the linear power sound quality at all. I simple said I did not do A/B tests between SSD and regular hard drives, when using the linear power supply.

When we did A/B tests between SSD external hard drives and regular hard drives, we used stock Mac Minis and our Mach2 units.

In the A/B tests, we used the same cabling, external HD enclosure, Mac, software and music. We simply swapped out the hard drive in the external enclosure. We used Memory Play in these tests since this is always a big debate.

We normally use a Firewire enclosure that has the Oxford chipset. When using a regular hard drive, we get a nice sounds stage, good detail, low background noise, good dynamics. It is way better than USB set ups we tried in the past.

When we swapped the SSD in for the regular hard drive, the noise floor was quieter. The dynamics improved, the width of the soundstage got better and the depth of the soundstage was much better. The sound was tighter too (i.e. cymbals had more definition).

I'm not saying everyone should run out and buy external SSD drives. They do sound better, but the price increase is significant. You may have other things in your system that need addressing.

The internal drive is a no-brainer, although you must be careful in doing the swap. The cost to replace the internal drive is reasonable and the gains are very noticeable.

Darrell
www.mach2music.com

Perrew,

You killing me man. Please read what I wrote and quit "extrapolating". Take my words as they are written. There is no hidden meanings... I never mentioned any preference for either power supply. I never said we didn't A/B test internal drives.

We have A/B tested internal SSD vs. regular HD. We build Mach2 servers every day. It is easy for use to listen to a Mac, swap the drive and listen to it again. We also have plenty of Mach2 servers around to compare to stock.

Internal drives are typically small compared to folks 1-2 terabyte libraries. If have a small library you can store it internally.

Happy Listening,
www.mach2music.com

Perrew,

An internal SSD is way better than a regular hard drive, sonically. The only thing to decide is how big you need (or can afford).

I hope my comments regarding the value of SSD vs a regular hard drive have been helpful. I'm sure others will chime in.

I'll skip the power supply questions so we don't derail the thread.

Darrell
www.mach2music.com

Alex,

Have you, yourself actually tested for this? Are your friends testing this with thier ears or making assumptions?

If you and your friends actually tested this, then I guess we have very different experiences.

In my tests, tests of other I know and trust, and people who where there for some of my tests, ALL heard a definite improvement when going from an internal regular drive to an SSD.

I've done the tests several times for friends and audio nuts, after all, I have modded and stock machines here every day of the week.

The audio systems I have done tests in have all been very good so maybe it comes down to how well the systems resolve fine details. Maybe you are using external USB drive instead of Firewire drives with good controllers?

I don't have time to sort out the differences in our results, but after hearing a clear difference in our numerous tests, I am surprised you don't hear any. TO each thier own I guess.

Darrell
www.mach2music.com

OR the SSD draws less power thus reducing EMI, or the SSD is faster thus making the CPU work less and interrupt the CPU less from playing music.

Just because we don't have the technology or understanding of what to measure, doesn't mean there aren't sonic differences.

THIS IS A HOBBY OF LISTENING. How can you discount what you hear and other hear, just because we can't explain the science yet???

Have you done any A/B tests in this area yet?