Hi Praphan, yes I was totally aware of this. Actually, I've decided to return the SAS drive and stick with SATA. Some SAS controllers are a lot more expensive than others, and it's hard for me to understand exactly what you get for your money. Also, I'm not sure SAS drives would lead to better SQ. Certainly, I wouldn't be able to use my SOtM SATA filter.

But the big difference in SQ between my SSD(s) and HDD(s) does make me curious to try as many different types of drives as possible. But I really don't have the time right now, so this will just have to wait.

Mani.

Paul, do your new cones have a break-in period that we should avoid?

Juan, you're right - beautiful blue sea and white sand ;-)

Mani.

Paul, now that you've got the aesthetics right, I reckon it's time for me to come over to have a look... oh and to hear how it sounds also, of course.

Will PM you with possible dates. If there's somewhere safe for me to park, I might drive down in my 'weekend' car, which happens to be pretty close to the colour of the blue NOS1 too.

Mani.

EDIT: I just couldn't resist attaching a small pic of my pride and joy

Hi Praphan,

I haven't actually had a chance to try this yet. But I will do later this week. I don't even know if my mobo has an SAS port (I doubt it considering it's a mini-ATX board). Worse case, I'll order something like this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Adaptec-3405-SATA-Express-128MB/dp/B000NX1P7G/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1318249914&sr=8-9.

Yeah, maybe my thinking on the financials is a bit flawed!

Mani.

OK, I've managed to solve my issue above by applying a fix that Peter suggested I try a few weeks ago when I first received the USB NOS1. (I'd rather not talk about this fix because it shouldn't really be necessary with the latest versions of XX.)

I think what's relevant here is that I shut down my PC with 'Minimise OS' engaged. I wonder if there's something in the OS that doesn't 'like' being in this state for a period of days/weeks rather than hours...

Mani.

OK, this is totally weird. I came back home from a work trip late last night and just wanted to listen to some music. I switched the PC on and was really surprised to see my LAN still active - my last boot-up/shutdown a week or so ago was with 'Minimise OS' active. Firing up XX, I was really surprised to see the 'Minimise OS' button highlighted. But the OS was definitely not minimised.

Peter, this is with 0.9z-6-0 on my HDD... This was working absolutely fine a week ago. I was playing music with the OS minimised! The only thing I remember changing a week ago was my SFS from 240 to 400 (with SC)... but this was working fine too.

I've quickly tried 0.9z-6-1 with 0.9z-6-1b, but still can't get 'Minimise OS' to work. The computer reboots, the 'Minimise OS' button is highlighted... but the OS is definitely not minimised.

Mani.

Just came across this: http://www.auraliti.com/

Auraliti have some interesting graphs showing that SSDs have higher inherent noise than HDDs!

Both seem to benefit from the SOtM SATA filter.

Mani.

Thanks for this Juan. I think this is a 2.5" drive right? Also, it's quite expensive for a drive first released in 2009. For this reason, I've ordered a Dell Hitachi HUS156030VLS600 300GB drive from Amazon, and saved £40 in the process!

Thanks again.

Mani.

Great, thanks for letting me know. I think the immediate solution would be to use the noisy 3TB HDD for storing music (I mean I have it now and may as well use it, but will set it to spin down after 1 minute), the 90GB SSD for galleries, and a new HDD for the OS & XX. So, can anyone recommend a low-capacity (100GB is enough), ultra-fast and ultra-quite HDD?


Not sure about this option. It just seems too 'messy' somehow.


I like the sound of this. Does anyone know of an easy way to switch a PC on remotely or would I have to physically go down to my basement whenever I want to do this?

Mani.

Hi Quint. No, I don't think I've ever posted anything. You see, the three PCs in question are all built around Zalman TNN300 cases, which are pretty much unobtainable now. These place certain limitations on which mobo can be used that just wouldn't be valid with most other cases. For example, I have to use mini-ATX mobos... PITA.

Mani.

THIS POST IS EXTREMELY PAINFUL FOR ME TO WRITE.

In the past 12 months, I've invested quite a bit of money getting my two music PCs and my work PC 'up to scratch'. Most of the expense can be attributed to my insistence on buying totally silent components with no moving parts. The three PCs in question are all totally silent - no cooling fans anywhere, no water pumps and no spinning disks. You know, it's an absolute pleasure sitting right next to my work PC in total silence - especially when I'm working late at night. And also listening to music late at night in my main room - I really think the background silence adds to the listening experience in some way. Ordinarily, I wouldn't change my 'totally silent' approach for anything.

HOWEVER...

With the introduction of the 'Minimise OS' feature came a new challenge for me - how to get my music files from my NAS to my PCs when the network adaptor has been disabled? Yes, I could disable 'Minimise OS', reboot, load the tracks/albums I want to play, enable 'Minmise OS' and then reboot... but this is a bit of a PITA really. So, I thought I'd 'kill two birds with one stone', get an HDD and fix my 'Minimise OS' problem and take the opportunity to compare the OS loaded onto the HDD vs. the SSD all in one go.

I really, really wanted the OS loaded onto the SSD to sound better than when loaded onto the HDD. This would be perfect for me. All my music could then be stored on the 3TB HDD (only 2TB used of course) and the OS/XX installed on the 90GB SSD. I could then set the HDD to spin down after 1 minute and listen to my music in total silence late at night. No toggling between 'Minimise OS' and rebooting required. Bliss.

BUT, BUT, BUT...

The HDD sounds better than the SSD!!! Period. It's more open-sounding... simply more 'alive'. Peter has commented that SSDs sound as if they're 'filtering' the sound in some way - I now totally agree with this. This is no placebo on my part - remember, I wanted and was hoping for the exact opposite outcome.

So, I now have to put up with the sound of a spinning disk. Late at night, I really can hear this, especially with classical music during quiet parts. I totally hate this, but the improvement in sound more than makes up for it.

Computer audio... what a total pain.

Mani.

Hi Peter. This is of no help to you at all, but I thought I'd share it anyway.

I have a 3TB drive installed and am intending to look into using GUID Partition Tables to utilize the 1TB that I'm currently not using, but just haven't had time to do this yet.

Will let you know how I get on once I get around to trying it.

Mani.

Yes, I have to admit that when I was comparing the two, I would boot the PC up and then unplug the power leg before listening. My understanding was that the power needed to be connected in order for the NOS1 to be recognized, but that after this, the USB power was just not needed. But if you say that it's still important to have it connected (for a gnd connection, or whatever), then I'll make sure I keep it connected.

In any event, I've just had chance to compare with the power leg of my dual-wire USB cable connected, and my findings still stand. Actually, I can't really hear any difference with this power leg connected or not...


Yes, this is exactly how the mobo USB sounds compared to the  SOtM USB!

As I've said above, the more I listen to the SOtM USB, the more I like it.

Mani.

Hi Prahpan. In answer to your Qs:

1. I'm using a Seasonic X460 power supply, which has a couple of IDE outputs. I'm using one of these to feed the SOtM USB board. The X460 is is a SMPS, but my understanding is that it has pretty much the lowest ripple on the market. I haven't tried a linear PS or battery, and really don't think I will.

2. No, no fatigue with prolonged listening... here at least. But I can imagine that if a system leans on the bright side anyway, this may just 'tip it over'. The more I listen to the USB board, the more I like it.

HTH.

Mani.

Hi Nick. This is going to require me to take the board out of the PC to get a good look at it. I'm happy to do this an PM you when I do, but it won't be for a while I'm afraid - travelling for work a lot in the next few weeks.

Mani.