Audiophiles - Review of different hard drives affecting the sound...

bingefeller

I rip all my CDs to flac, then convert that to 32kbps mp3 for retro soundscape experiences.

imalone

bingefeller said:

I rip all my CDs to flac, then convert that to 32kbps mp3 for retro soundscape experiences.

I have some early mp3s with awful artefacts here and there, and now I sort of expect them in those tracks. Bit like records which always click at a certain place until you think it belongs there.

scrumhalf said:

If you listen very closely to music played on HDDs you can hear, very softly, in the background, "1010100011111100011111" etc.

If I listen carefully I can hear the HDD in the background, and the system fan, and...
There are a few things you'd want to take into account if you were building a system for audiophile listening, even power requirements and noise on the bus from a particular drive might make a difference to playback. Unless of course you have the discs on a NAS connected by ethernet in another room.

Rocker

beed84 said:

Legend has it that audiophiles are a actually a covert group of dry witted humorists.  They love it when you don't know whether they're being serious or not.  

.

People in glasshouses should not throw stones. On this very forum I read reports on the differences of various brands of STRINGS for guitars. Likewise guitar cables, pots, pickups, Strat tremolo springs 'shapes' etc. However the language used in the excerpt selected by the OP is amusing..........

ESchap

Rocker said:

beed84 said:

Legend has it that audiophiles are a actually a covert group of dry witted humorists.  They love it when you don't know whether they're being serious or not.  

.

People in glasshouses should not throw stones. On this very forum I read reports on the differences of various brands of STRINGS for guitars. Likewise guitar cables, pots, pickups, Strat tremolo springs 'shapes' etc.

Heretic!

digitalscream

Rocker said:

People in glasshouses should not throw stones. On this very forum I read reports on the differences of various brands of STRINGS for guitars. Likewise guitar cables, pots, pickups, Strat tremolo springs 'shapes' etc. However the language used in the excerpt selected by the OP is amusing..........

There's a significant difference there - string composition does make a measurable difference to the output. Guitar cables have different capacitance (not to mention durability), and that affects the sound significantly. Pots...not convinced there. Pickups...again, measurable differences. Springs...I'm with you on that one, but then I don't use trems.

Here's the difference - it's not possible for different storage media alone to make a difference to the sound that comes out of the speakers. That would mean that what was written to the drives isn't what was read from them - in which case, there wouldn't be a single working computer in the entire world.

Danny1969

Well I prefer SSD's for audio myself over mechanical drives, when listening at very low levels I can hear the difference 

imalone

Rocker said:

beed84 said:

Legend has it that audiophiles are a actually a covert group of dry witted humorists.  They love it when you don't know whether they're being serious or not.  

.

People in glasshouses should not throw stones. On this very forum I read reports on the differences of various brands of STRINGS for guitars. Likewise guitar cables, pots, pickups, Strat tremolo springs 'shapes' etc. However the language used in the excerpt selected by the OP is amusing..........

Remind me again which bit is the string? ISTR it's the one that's actually generating signal?

ICBM

Rocker said:

People in glasshouses should not throw stones. On this very forum I read reports on the differences of various brands of STRINGS for guitars. Likewise guitar cables, pots, pickups, Strat tremolo springs 'shapes' etc. However the language used in the excerpt selected by the OP is amusing..........

The problem with this logic is that you're essentially saying that because some things make a difference, completely unrelated things in another field must also make a difference - or conversely, if something makes no difference, that nothing else in any field can.

I know that's taking it to extremes, but since both of these things are clearly untrue, it's important to approach each case where there could be a difference separately and be willing to test if necessary, or to look at physical reasons why there might or might not be a difference.

It's typical of audiophiles to try to deliberately confuse things like this, and/or make no attempt to understand what could cause, or prove that there cannot be, a difference.

Anyone who says that a digital storage device can affect the sound of the music that comes out of the playback system is either totally ignorant, an idiot or having a laugh. I'm not convinced it's not the last either...

Clarky

Rocker said:

beed84 said:

Legend has it that audiophiles are a actually a covert group of dry witted humorists.  They love it when you don't know whether they're being serious or not.  

.

People in glasshouses should not throw stones. On this very forum I read reports on the differences of various brands of STRINGS for guitars. Likewise guitar cables, pots, pickups, Strat tremolo springs 'shapes' etc. However the language used in the excerpt selected by the OP is amusing..........

different strings make quite a difference.. not only tone but also feel..

personally I find D'Ad's a little darker and looser that the equivalent Ernie Ball.. the difference was noticeable enough to make me want them off of the guitar within a day of putting them on..

guitarfishbay

Danny1969 said:

Well I prefer SSD's for audio myself over mechanical drives, when listening at very low levels I can hear the difference 

Yeah, no fan noise!

Clarky

you can sort the fan noise if you have Dobble.. or Dobbley or whatever ya call it

strumjoughlamps

Clarky said:

you can sort the fan noise if you have Dobble.. or Dobbley or whatever ya call it

Rocker

It is important to point out the fact that I am not defending the claims made by the writer of the review of the hard drives. But I am pointing out that guitarists are quick to highlight the apparent foolishness of audiophiles yet are themselves guilty of the very same foolishness re: guitars, guitar parts, strings etc. The fact that the audiophiles so called 'foolishness' costs more than the guitar equivalent is usually the main thrust of the argument. And is the punch line in the joke. Remember the joke works both ways. And remember too that the general public see guitar players on stage. Most of them do not know the difference between lead guitar, bass guitar or rhythm guitar. Or that you can play the same chords on an acoustic guitar. They are guitars. Full stop. As I wrote earlier: people in glasshouses............

Danny1969

Clarky said:

you can sort the fan noise if you have Dobble.. or Dobbley or whatever ya call it

imalone

Rocker said:

It is important to point out the fact that I am not defending the claims made by the writer of the review of the hard drives. But I am pointing out that guitarists are quick to highlight the apparent foolishness of audiophiles yet are themselves guilty of the very same foolishness re: guitars, guitar parts, strings etc. The fact that the audiophiles so called 'foolishness' costs more than the guitar equivalent is usually the main thrust of the argument. And is the punch line in the joke. Remember the joke works both ways. And remember too that the general public see guitar players on stage. Most of them do not know the difference between lead guitar, bass guitar or rhythm guitar. Or that you can play the same chords on an acoustic guitar. They are guitars. Full stop. As I wrote earlier: people in glasshouses............

No, the difference is that strings and other things actually make a difference to the end product (the sound, and possibly the look if it matters to you).
Whereas which hard disc you have in a NAS box makes no difference so long as it works.
Discussing how much difference pots make is cork sniffing, you may be looking at tiny differences that no-one else will notice. Having long discussions about how the hard drive affects playback sound when it can't possibly is in homeopathy territory,

ICBM

Rocker said:

It is important to point out the fact that I am not defending the claims made by the writer of the review of the hard drives. But I am pointing out that guitarists are quick to highlight the apparent foolishness of audiophiles yet are themselves guilty of the very same foolishness re: guitars, guitar parts, strings etc. The fact that the audiophiles so called 'foolishness' costs more than the guitar equivalent is usually the main thrust of the argument. And is the punch line in the joke. Remember the joke works both ways. And remember too that the general public see guitar players on stage. Most of them do not know the difference between lead guitar, bass guitar or rhythm guitar. Or that you can play the same chords on an acoustic guitar. They are guitars. Full stop. As I wrote earlier: people in glasshouses.........…

But you are also quick to use one as a justification for the other when it comes to things like a spurious claim which you are not willing to test scientifically or explain theoretically, and try to bend other people's statements about *similar* - but not equivalent - matters to suit your own opinion… which is very much what audiophiles do.

Sorry!

chrispy108

Rocker said:

It is important to point out the fact that I am not defending the claims made by the writer of the review of the hard drives. But I am pointing out that guitarists are quick to highlight the apparent foolishness of audiophiles yet are themselves guilty of the very same foolishness re: guitars, guitar parts, strings etc. The fact that the audiophiles so called 'foolishness' costs more than the guitar equivalent is usually the main thrust of the argument. And is the punch line in the joke. Remember the joke works both ways. And remember too that the general public see guitar players on stage. Most of them do not know the difference between lead guitar, bass guitar or rhythm guitar. Or that you can play the same chords on an acoustic guitar. They are guitars. Full stop. As I wrote earlier: people in glasshouses............

The difference is that people can explain a mechanism for the guitar parts to affect the sound, however minor, whereas when hi-fi reaches these levels the only explanation is "use your ears".

beed84

Rocker said:

beed84 said:

Legend has it that audiophiles are a actually a covert group of dry witted humorists.  They love it when you don't know whether they're being serious or not.  

.

People in glasshouses should not throw stones. On this very forum I read reports on the differences of various brands of STRINGS for guitars. Likewise guitar cables, pots, pickups, Strat tremolo springs 'shapes' etc. However the language used in the excerpt selected by the OP is amusing..........

It was light-hearted mockery, that's all (I don't really think they're comedians in disguise).  However, I don't see how something used to store data can affect sound, especially, hence my innocently wry post, the way the tested hard drives were unusually described (since when has a hard drive been considered to be as "ethereal" FFS?).  Strings etc on the other hand are predisposed to influence the overall sound in some way or other.

GuyBoden

SSD's for me too.

FX_Munkee

FFS it's digital audio!
0100001001100101011001010111010001101000011011110111011001100101011011100101110000100110001000110011000000110011001110010011101101110011001000000110111001101001011011100111010001101000001000000111001101111001011011010111000001101000011011110110111001111001
= Beethoven's ninth symphony
It does not, and can not ever = Bethovns' nnth syphonyyyy