External HD VS Flash Drive Sound Quality Question

I can try to give it a try today (my wife is out of the house for a bit :) ), but I don't expect much difference. The SSD is basically a large flash drive, with some subtle differences. It is powered by the USB directly just as the flash drive (not even requiring the extra USB pigtail that can be used to power spinning disks). If I were to predict any differences from different sources, I would suspect they would come from big spinning HD and power differences there (besides...I really do hear the clicks and spinning of some disks. Some are quieter, but some annoy me). Also, some other comments:

* I am using hdmi out of the Oppo (it is the 103 not 105, so I don't gain a lot by going analog out). So my expectation is the same bits are streamed to the DAC and any interference introduced would actually need to be in another component a foot away.
* Speakers are B & W CM9 powered by Emotiva XPA-5 and a Denon receiver, so not the highest-fi, but not too bad.

BTW, most of my comments earlier about the drive transfer stuff is in agreement with Almarg that comparing this to CD players digital connections are not appropriate. Thus, whether the files are in the root or a sub-folder are really irrelevant unless Oppo has totally screwed something up. The files either transfer off the disk fast enough or they don't. Oppo also doesn't know if they are SSD or HDD connected. To quote Almarg's key point: "None of those factors have any relevance to transmission of digital data from a USB hard drive to your Oppo, as long as nothing involved is defective. The technical considerations are completely different, and vastly less critical with respect to their potential effect on sonics."

While i'm doing this test, I may try to compare to a hard wired network cable too instead of the free wifi connector that Oppo provided. My SSD is starting to get full. I just added some Stanley Clarke after seeing him live last night. I've got room for about 8 more albums before I need another bigger SSD. I'd rather stream it if I can since the server is in another room and has a lot more storage.

hmmm... OK. So I put Beck's Sea Change on a usb drive. I then compared the USB drive to the SSD for Stereo mix. Nothing obviously different. I then compared it to a wired network connection to the same file on my server. Also, nothing obviously different. Then I tried the 5.1 mix from my server over the network. No choppy buffering issues. I switched back to Wi-Fi. I tried the same 5.1 mix, and no issues! So maybe the wi-fi issue was transient, but i'm not reproducing the issue. However, when I compared my 5.1 mix to stereo mix, I was surprised at how much more detailed it was in 5.1. This makes a little bit of sense (more information if done right), but more than expected. So I pulled out the actual DVD-A and tried the Stereo mix. It is harder to switch back and forth on the oppo, but I think the DVD-A stereo version is better than the ripped one. So now I will have to try ripping it again and make sure I didn't screw something up. It reports as 88khz, but maybe I accidentally set it to 16 bit or something.

This drives me crazy. I re-ripped about 300 CD's because I did screw something up on some of them (something didn't sound "right"), but couldn't easily tell which few I screwed it up on. :( Luckily, I don't have too many DVD-A.

Regarding the A/B test, it probably wasn't super fair given to switch back and forth, the SSD was always plugged in, so any weird side effects may exist even if playing off of the flash drive. Also, if it isn't my imagination and I did screw up the rip of the stereo mix, maybe I can't sense any differences between flash and SSD because it starts off with somewhat less than ideal music for the test.

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.

Hi Moomoo, How is your hard drive into the Oppo 95 experiment going? Are you happy with the sound?

I don't have many further opinions yet. I also spend time paying discs, & work. I continue to lean towards the USB wired/powered hd seems to cause a slight drop in sound quality & adds a ton of convenience but I don't feel that I have formed a definitive (for me at least!) opinion yet.

Commons sense would seem to say that an SSD with a male USB plug built in shouldn't have any disadvantages to a flash.
That's an interesting idea.

I'd appreciate an explanation I can understand as to why Power cords & digital cables make a dramatic difference with transports, but not with an hd.

I also know there is a big market for audiophile US cables. It could be a scam, but I can sat with 100% certainty that
digital cables make a HUGE difference from transport to D/A.

I do apologize that I haven;t had much time for my experiment. Other then yet another redundant backup, it almost feels like it was a waste of money.

The only other a/b I've had time for was Joni's Court & Spark in 192/24. I didn't hear as much difference as with the Jarrett, but there seemed to be a better sense of ease with the Flash. I'll be the first to admit I am developing a bias & what I hard on the Joni COULD be psychological.

I also agree with a previous poster that factory pressed discs seem to out perform both files & iso's sonically.