Throwing my thanks out to LydMekk and those who paid attention to the version change.


This is the reason I never got around to trying the W version.  One, I was just too happy with my new system running V7 and after Peter mentioned there might be SQ differences I wanted to wait until it was a good time for me to evaluate.  Glad you all did it for me... call me lazy bones.

Morning Peter,
I trust your ears implicitly by this point.  You heard what you heard and reported back instead of covering up like some in the music industry do.  You just needed to find out what was going on.  When you read through your posts you see you were spot on ... you basically said, there was something good going on, but also something bad, and you couldn't put your finger on it yet ... like two things had changed at once.  I'm pretty happy now to really know that this SSD is a large part of why everything sounds especially good.  And btw everyone, I couldn't really tell a difference in speed with the VelociRaptor HDD (boot up/gallery search), and it wasn't that far behind the SSD SQ wise, but ... which is hard for me to say though, cause once you hear the difference type of thing... I am now even more appreciative of the SSD I guess after picking things apart. 

edit.  Come to think of it, I kinda do think it's a big difference SQ wise.  I've spent a lot more in audiophool stuff and gotten a lot less back... so, well, an inch is a mile in audiophooldom.  I wouldn't want to go back to a spinning drive now.

I haven't put the music on SDD... with only 128 GB of space on the SSD and TBs of music... I don't want to know... heh.  It really wouldn't make any sense at all that it would sound better...  Especially my whole album wav/cue file ... but maybe I'll give it a whirl some time.

I'll try no scheme sometime; have you tried scheme 1 extensively?  When I tried 3 it makes things more laid back, but maybe more diffuse also... still ok with it.  1 seems to bring the music forward and more solid...with the schemes it is a feeling type of thing though too.

aarrrgggggggg you dog heheh
ima havta keel u now.

but important hyperbole none the less...
Western digital VelociRaptor HDD http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136296
vs
SSD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227345

K, this was a tough back and forth.  Been doing it most the late afternoon and into this 2am region.  I'm reasonably sure all variables were the same except for the hdd/ssd,  (I can't believe I listened to scheme 3 on hdd vs scheme 1 on ssd for the first hour... hehe; for both the ssd&hdd I've ended this evening on scheme 1, but some of the evening I did scheme 3... another discussion...).  Each drive received the same windows tweaks following Peter's guide.  In the end, it is clear that the SSD presents better SQ than the HDD, and even though it took time to get a handle on it, I'd say the SSD is something I'm really glad to have.

ok, when all is said and done, there is not much to say.
The difference is the added distortion I hear riding on top of the music with the HDD compared to the SSD.  The only question to answer was the SSD striping music to get this more clear see through live view of the music, and that answer is, no.  Distortion came in the way of glare/sibilance/added noise surrounding the music... veiling the music...all very subtle stuff.  The SSD just doesn't do that to the music.... just needed to make sure it wasn't part of the recordings.  The SSD better presents the music without this distortion, and still keeps it whole and round.

In back and forth play were:
Keith Jarrett - At the Bluenote II
Beethoven - Lindsay Quartet - #7
Punch Brothers - Punch
Miracle Fortress - Five Roses
Miles Davis & John Coletrane - Complete Columbia Recordings
Ella Fitzgerald - Clap Hands...
Bebo Valdes & Diego El Cigala -Lagrimas Negras
Richie Vitaleo -Live at Smalls (ya, your wife can be right... lotta noodleling, some songs are ok, recording ok)
Chet Baker - Lerner & Loewe
Poncho Sanchez - Out of Sight
Negativland - Free
Spooky Ruben - Modes of Transportation

... and others, this was a long session, good night

edit
Be careful about jumping into a SSD and do your homework.... some people have had really bad experiences with them not working well with their computers.

Nothing has also worked for me SQ wise... go figure?

Hi,
Since I'm going to be working on going back and forth on SSD vs HDD, could you give v6a vs v7 a whirl... just to make sure there are no differences there.  I'm using v7 at the moment and have v6a, but don't want to change anthing but harddrives till I get a handle on things.  Still no listening until tonight peter, but making sure everything set up like on my SSD right now.

Hi LydMekk,
I hear what you're saying, but just to be clear, I haven't even loaded up any W versions yet.  Last version I've tried and am still using is V7.  I'm in the process of readying the HDD right today.  I'm really curious though, if the SSD that I have isn't fundamentally a different SSD than Peters, even though the same manufacturer.

Here is my SSD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227345
dunno, says sata II... but who cares... since it has seemed to work well in my system. (see link in my sig for complete system)  Other people have had horrendous problems with this SSD, to the point of not even able to do a Windows install without errors.

I think this is the reason why I've been lucky; my MB has this:
South Bridge Intel ICH10R as a controller  (... do I remember something about the R designation being important in SSD working well ...?)
Others have said they see no problems.
Do you remember I posted spec numbers from that program "HD Tunes" someone told me about here?  Have you seen what numbers it gives you and compared?... I don't know what that means,,, but thought it might give some insight... 


From Peter
"My chipset is the ICH8 ... "
I know I've read somewhere that this chipset is a problem area for the OCZ MLC... people are really pissed.
edit
now I've read some posts that say ICH8 worked fine for people... dunno

In any case, I really hope to do a back to back with the VelociRaptor HDD and the OCZ SSD drive this weekend.  Once I set up, (no small thing trying to remember all the tweaks), I'll use the same sata cable & power cable and just switch back and forth between reboots.... The VelociRaptor HDD is about as fast as the spinning drives come, so, may give some interesting insight this weekend.

... and in any case, glad your systems back to sounding good... and who knows, maybe mine will sound even better with the VelociRaptor HDD installed.

ALSO
this is what drives me bonkers...
this is the OCZ manufacturer response to  someone complaining about an OCZ SSD drive:

"Manufacturer Response:Hello, we appreciate your input. These drives use MLC technology and are priced much lower (about 1/2 the price) than the faster SLC drives. We encourage customers to research these drives based on their application before purchasing. If your application includes writing large amounts of data, or you do allot of multitasking,
 
the OCZ SATA II drives for sale here on Newegg are a better choice. They use SLC technology

and have both extremely fast read and write performance. We will be glad to answer any questions potential customers may have on our support forums at the link below.
Thank you

External Link(s):
OCZ Support Forums|"

So??? do I have the new SLC because my drive is labled OCZ SATA II or MLC ???

Lots of confusing info.  Anyways, no more time for this tonight
http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/index.php

Found this:
http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/staff/ryderocz/ssd/ssd_config.pdf
Says you need to install Vista service pack 1 ??

I'll set up my spinning disc as soon as possible... well, with the hope of even better SQ.  Exactly what SSD do you have? (Wasn't it the exact same as mine OCZ 128 GB sata II?).  Could it be possible it is a "radiating bad stuff" thing?; have you tried moving it away from "sensitive" stuff? (mine is pretty far removed from the MB)  Do check on your MB controller type just to see Peter, thanks.

This is probably unrelated... read above posts first Peter.
But just curious, a lot of people have had problems with their slightly older PCs and SSD using MLC mem as opposed to the SLC.  My OCZ SSD is MLC but I have had no problems at all ... blazingly fast install of Vista.  People have suggested that this:

"One thing I remember, if you don't have the right controller on the motherboard it may not work well for you... look for this chipset:
South Bridge Intel ICH10R"

Does your MB use this chipset?  just curious.... Sounds like you haven't had any real problems with your SSD, so like I said, unrelated curiosity.

ack
I have the means Peter, but I don't know about the time.  Would have to be this weekend.  Would have to install Vista 64 prem on a Western digital VelociRaptor HDD http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136296 I have sitting here to go into a machine I'm building for my daughter.  Mainly the tweaking of Vista for a music transport .... takes me a long time.  Let me give it some thought and maybe I can do it this weekend.  It sounds important to you, so I'll work on it... Gordon of Wavelength Audio is swearing by these SSD as being very much superior to spinning drives for the OS... but I know, you need to know for yourself, so I'll try to help.  I think too, I'm pretty biased in my mind right now that it, SSD, should be the best way to go, but... k, I'm curious now too.  I'll stick with XXHE V7 for compare sake ...yes?

Aren't you saying in your posts that you're happy, that it is a better SQ... or you're not sure because it has changed the SQ so much.... something about everything sounding the same...ok.

It's funny you've mentioned trumpet, I've been listening to lots of jazz trumpet lately, today was a marathon of Miles davis, and I told you about that other guy I was listening to.... I like it.  So much detail yes.  On the new system Q1 changes are very evident.... I've gone from -2 to 0 to 2 to 4 and back all over... -2 very detailed/clear...too much? is that possible... but 4 bringing back the warmth/color..dunno.. sooo hmmm.  My friend, who is just barely familiar with the new system is very excited, and thinks it's heads and tails above the laptop, (not a hard feat since Andy's core2duo laptop beat it handily too), but even he could hear changes easily on Q1 settings.... not so easy to hear on the laptop.

Hmmm

Could this be a W change?  You know I've got V7 still running just because I've been busy and only wanted to listen to music for a while here.  My whole system is new and far superior to the laptop I was using ,,, new system as you know has a SSD for the gallery/Vista only, music files are on external spinning HDDs... that's what you have going on right?  I would have thought, faster access for Vista was the good thing about SSD and possible  better SQ.  Anyway, I'm closer to the music than ever before as far as I'm concerned here.  I'll try to get to W3 this weekend, but I've been busy and digging what I have going on with V to be to concerned about new versions... sorry.  But, make sure you're not hearing version differences?  Try going back to V7? for a bit.

hehe sorry again Peter, Seems like when I make changes here it's almost a whole system overhaul at a time... but I think I've been lucky so far.

My friend has been coming over for listens and now can't wait to put something together.  He has a nice system with a good turntable setup and a Sony SCD-1 like I used (I need to sell that nice thing before everyone discovers XXHE ) He's picked up external HDDs, we're looking at laptops (core2duo, 4gb ram stuff...), and now has been bouncing around trying to pick a dac.  Some have said the FF800 by itself is very good, I haven't tried it cause I'm unfamiliar with the analog outputs the FF800 has... He has a BAT preamp with rca/balanced inputs,,, but I have never seen/used the "balanced" analog outputs I see on the FF800 and wouldn't know what type of cable to use?  Anyway, at the moment, the piece of gear I'm leaning toward him getting is this:
http://www.weiss.ch/dac2/dac2.htm
If I was in the position to buy and hadn't bought my Stello dac/stereovox dig. cable/FF800, I think this is what I'd have tried.
Rumor? has it the Pro version I linked to is the same insides as the Highend version Edward linked to, and is $2500 less !!! ... anyone have any insights about this?  Any other suggestions in the $2000 range?  It seems fairly future proof being able to do 24/192...
I'm still very happy with what I've got going on (understatement of the year), and he's almost ready just to duplicate that... but I want him to try the Weiss... so I can try it hehehe. 

arrggg.. more waiting
Someone busted his cantilever on his cartridge and he has to pay 1300 bucks for repair... now he wants to go cheaper and get a scott nixon usb dac... I'm going to try and hold him off from that hehe I want to hear the Weiss...