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AUDIO FORUMS >> General Discussion and Support >> External HD storage to DAC
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Message started by piezoman on 11/11/21 at 05:44:12

Title: External HD storage to DAC
Post by piezoman on 11/11/21 at 05:44:12

Do you house it in a HDD enclosure such as this:

https://www.amazon.com/Enclosure-Aluminum-External-Feature-Included/dp/B011PNIVHO/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?crid=3LEF70FRO6AWS&keywords=rosewill+hdd+enclosure&qid=1636609220&sprefix=rosewill+hd+%2Caps%2C146&sr=8-5

Or do you sit your hard drive on your audio rack without it being housed?

Title: Re: External HD storage to DAC
Post by Tal on 11/11/21 at 22:20:53

Piezoman - Sorry for hijacking your post. I looking at getting an external SSD for my music files that will contact to a Blusound stream > DAC. I'm considering Samsung and Scandisk. Is this type of drive recommended for music files. Or is HDD the better choice?

Title: Re: External HD storage to DAC
Post by piezoman on 11/11/21 at 23:31:32

Tai, I am sorry to say I'm not qualified to answer your question as I dont have experience with SSD's.

Maybe this will help? https://www.crucial.com/articles/about-ssd/ssd-vs-hdd

Brad

Title: Re: External HD storage to DAC
Post by JBzen on 11/12/21 at 11:27:37

Brad,
I had a harddrive in an enclosure connected via USB cable to the Cambridge CXNv2 until it died. I vicariously used a hammer and drill bit on the drive(and enclosure) [smiley=tunes51.gif]
Using a USB adapter it was replaced with a SD card plugged into the CXN2.
The noise from the harddrive was distracting from the music for the most part. The SD card eliminates noise and USB cable. Win-win!

John

Title: Re: External HD storage to DAC
Post by Geno on 11/12/21 at 16:08:03

Hi John and Brad.

I did some experimenting with external drives with a cable, plugged in to the USB port on my CXN, and found that the SQ was better streaming via WiFi from my NAS (also better than hardwired with Ethernet cable, which surprised me)

But, I had not considered trying a usb drive with an SD card, eliminating the cable. I’ll have to try that. JB, what size card are you using, and do you know the maximum size the CXN would read?

Best,

Geno

Title: Re: External HD storage to DAC
Post by GroovySauce on 11/12/21 at 16:18:40

If you are going to have a drive connected to your streamer I would suggest a SSD. SSD have significantly less mechanical noise. I use a SAMSUNG T5 Portable SSD for my backups for my server, I unplug it when not backing up. If you are going to have it plugged into the streamer all the time having a drive powered off the USB might be better as it might have less noise.

Having a NAS as Geno suggests might be better.

I really don't know about the optimal way to have storage connected to a streamer. Unfortunately, my hunch is that both methods need to be tried to see which is better. Different networks and systems will have different results.

Title: Re: External HD storage to DAC
Post by JBzen on 11/12/21 at 17:17:34

Geno,
I had a 128GB card laying around and loaded it full with select flac files. Seems to work well. No noticable loss in quality as compared to CD. The old hard drive was 500gb so most likely a 512gb card will work. Will be getting 512gb card soon...just waiting for a good BF deal.

Cambridge don't recommend using usb drives as a permanent server because of limited search capabilities which does not bother me.

John

Title: Re: External HD storage to DAC
Post by piezoman on 11/12/21 at 19:15:32

Gentlemen,

You all have raised outstanding points. Thank you!!!

I have decided to oust my 8TB HDD and sell my Curious USB cable in favor of a straightforward thumb drive.

I have about 6.5 TB of music. So I will move the files to several 2TB thumb drives, according the genre of music.

My Bryston BDP-2 media player has an extra 2 USB ports at the front panel, so I can just insert it there. Bryston has a nice interface for very practical access to the music via their ftp server, which I have used all along to access the HDD.

Now for the obvious question: Why am I so damned dumb that I took over a year to do this right? I should have intuitively known this from the beginning. Duh! Somebody please hit me alongside the head with a baseball bat!

Title: Re: External HD storage to DAC
Post by DancingSea on 11/12/21 at 19:38:45

Interesting discussion. While I’m a Roon lifetime license person, I’ve not had great success connecting my Mac mini to the network over WiFi in terms of Roon dropping out. With an Ethernet connection it works fine but in my room topography, it would require the Mac mini being on the HiFi rack, which I don’t want.

And I prefer to remove the computer from the entire chain, even if it means no Roon.

My Marantz SACD 30n, among other things, allows for a hard drive to be directly connected, per the subject of this discussion.

While I’m not sure how it fits into the equation, one idea is this $35 product from Uptone. It’s an adapter that purports to be far more pure than a USB cable. Just a thought.

https://uptoneaudio.com/products/uspcb-a-b-adapter

Title: Re: External HD storage to DAC
Post by JBzen on 11/25/21 at 12:39:49

Black Friday deals abound for anyone interested in memory cards. I find that Samsung cards are reliable and specs are accurate.

https://www.google.com/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwivhOn4wLP0AhUNiIYKHSanDgcYABAIGgJ2dQ&ae=2&sig=AOD64_3gLtsQ9P7PVY6uGalp8e-okcpeCQ&ctype=5&q=&ved=2ahUKEwjA5t74wLP0AhUFRTABHUrgBt8Qwg96BAgCECA&dct=1&adurl=

I would not recommend any card other than mainstream offerings because, if you read the reviews, most center on labeling cards depicting a larger size storage on a smaller size card. Also some use mainstream labels on generic cards.

John

Title: Re: External HD storage to DAC
Post by Tal on 11/25/21 at 15:36:07

Update. I ended up buying a Samsung T7 1TB external SSD. Transferred my files from my laptop server to the SSD, and have it plugged directly to a BluSound streamer. I don't notice any deterioration in SQ, and I'm able to access all files through the BluSound app on my phone. Prior to the SSD, my music files were stored on a laptop server connected to the stream via ethernet. Periodically, the streamer wouldn't recognize the laptop. Thus my reason for buying the SSD.

Title: Re: External HD storage to DAC
Post by Dominick on 11/25/21 at 16:15:39

SSD are definitely the way to go and do inject less noise into the equation. Ethernet cabling has its own issues and I have found that of I use a really good USB cable combined with an AQ jitterbug, I get better sound.

When running Roon, I upgraded my laptop to a Samsung SSD drive to run the core, and I get by far the best sound.

Dom

Title: Re: External HD storage to DAC
Post by metropolis7 on 12/02/21 at 19:15:38

This is a timely thread for me. I am currently struggling with my 4 TB HDD hard drive connected via USB to a Cambridge CXN V2. The Cambridge can only read about 50% of the files. The other albums show the tracklisting as "empty"
This HD is full, containing 4 TB of hi rez music. I am wondering the best method for storage and connection to the CXN V2. I know just enough to be dangerous :)

Title: Re: External HD storage to DAC
Post by piezoman on 12/02/21 at 19:36:19

metro, Im glad you asked that question, as I am considering a CXN V2 for my secondary system and plan on an external drive. I have a ton of music about 7 TB worth in an 8 TB drive at the moment. But I will scale down to about 4-5 TB in a new SSD drive [if I find one large enough] for the second system.

So now my question echoes yours, since the same DAC is under consideration.

Title: Re: External HD storage to DAC
Post by metropolis7 on 12/04/21 at 23:44:45

Piezo, I am thinking of 2 SSD drives, 2TB ea, connected to the 2 USB inputs on the CXN, one in front, one in back. For me, it's a good safeguard, because with all this accessing of my 4TB HDD drive, it's sure to break down eventually.
Also, I don't know if this is an issue for you, but I found out that the CXN cannot read ISO files, which are used for SACDs.
I have my CXN going straight into an SE 84, sounds outta this world.

Title: Re: External HD storage to DAC
Post by Geno on 12/05/21 at 03:46:25

What are you CXN owners using external drives using as a music controller?

I’ve been using a NAS as my library connected via WiFi to my CXN, with the Plex app as my player on my iPhone, but I like the idea of using flash drives with no cable involved as another option, as JB suggested a while back.

Thanks,

Geno

Title: Re: External HD storage to DAC
Post by JBzen on 12/05/21 at 04:33:12

My CXN can search a SD memory card, add music to a queue, and show the art in the folders while playing a selection. It can not store a playlist for future access. I did get a 512gb card and use a little over half with flac files. The sound is just as good as CD.

I have my CD player connected to the CXN with Beldon coax and CXN connected to the DAC with coax. The sound is just a smidge different than a direct connection to the DAC from CD player. Not so much to keep me changing connections...but verry happy with what I am hearing as is.

With my droid phone and/or Ipad using Cambridge's apps the CXN can control the SD card or Tidal selections, plus volume level. It also can switch to CD but not control volume.

I use the unbalanced outputs from the CXN to supply signal to a system in my shop and the system for the entire house.

I can literally pick/hear and/or create a playlist from anywhere on my property but nothing sounds better than a center seat in the Chariot. CXNv2 is a very versatile performer stock!

John

Title: Re: External HD storage to DAC
Post by Dana on 12/06/21 at 22:11:53

The housing provides the interface from SATA to USB and powers the drive.

As side note you can get a 2 TB flash drive for $20 it's quiet and cheaper than the enclosure.
https://www.amazon.com/Drives-Keyring-Memory-2000GB-Storage/dp/B09K7N3ZPB/ref=dp_prsubs_2?pd_rd_i=B09K7N3ZPB&psc=1

What a world