2. digital
  3. 1375401653

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
tomcy6's avatar
tomcy6
2,533 posts
 
Thanks Moomoo. Please keep us informed as you come to any conclusions.
weatherb
11 posts
 
Moomoo,

I found the Seagate external HD's to have noisy fans. Try before you buy.
moomoo OP
81 posts
 
Al, I am using a powered Seagate. I believe I stated that above. My original question did reference underpowered WD's which I would have preferred to avoid the power quality issue); but the price on the Seagate was too good to pass up.

Does anyone know if Robert Harley has written on these issues? In the past I found that I often heard similar to how he did (he also recommended my SUPERB PS Audio SL3 DA during an in store many years ago; which was the only blind mail order purchase II ever made before the Oppo.
moomoo OP
81 posts
 
Weatherb, my Oppo's fan is louder from my listening seat than that of the Seagate!

And in 3 months or so, the central heat will be 5 times louder than the 2 combined............
moomoo OP
81 posts
 
I had my first (non counterfeit) Flash Drive die tonight. It was a 3 week old Lexar, which WAS my go to brand.

It was 64 gb, Anecdotally they seem to die more often than smaller ones do. Fortunately, all files were backed up on 3 separate hard drives, & fortunately Fred Meyer gave me a no hassle exchange with no receipt.

I've had a couple of HP's & a Verbatim get flakey, but this one totally died. Windows couldn't read it, & neither could my Oppo.

The moral of the story: ALWAYS back up ANY music file (burned cdr, dvdr or file) that you can't easily replace.

Hopefully this one will last longer than the three weeks I got from the last one........

I mention counterfeit above as I ordered 2 Sandisks a few months back from I Offer (the net's fav boot auction site) not knowing they were from China. They were worthless. The seller refused to do anything; Pay Pal refunded my money with no requirement to ship back to China
More to discover