Let's talk digital!

[ranjeetrain]

Yes, SSD access is faster. Undoubtedly faster than SATA. But for the cost!

It is possible for everyone one to get a laptop with 1TB internal drive. But getting a one TB SSD would be hard.

There is no way to guarantee RAM playback despite what many software claim. Whether a certain piece of data will be read from RAM or from another location is always in the hand of the underlying OS (and I assume we are talking our everyday OSes here such as Windows/Mac/*Ux). But sellers of big-buck media players often hide this.

RAM playback is the best but the OS needs to support it first.

 

[musicbee]

Yes, SSD access is faster. Undoubtedly faster than SATA. But for the cost!

It is possible for everyone one to get a laptop with 1TB internal drive. But getting a one TB SSD would be hard.

Very true, but only a matter of time before prices come down. All the latest laptops (at least in the US) are coming with 1 TB internal SSD.

I bought my first 120GB SSD for 12K, but recently picked up a new 120 GB SSD for $50 on Amazon. 1 TB SSDs are in the range of 30-40K now, but will come down in time. 1 TB for all purposes should suffice... my entire collection of 1500 CDs ripped in FLAC is around 800 GB.

There is no way to guarantee RAM playback despite what many software claim. Whether a certain piece of data will be read from RAM or from another location is always in the hand of the underlying OS (and I assume we are talking our everyday OSes here such as Windows/Mac/*Ux). But sellers of big-buck media players often hide this.

RAM playback is the best but the OS needs to support it first.

Have not played much with RAM discs TBH. I've only used RAM playback in Foobar and JRiver and honestly could not tell a difference in Foobar, but could tell a difference in JRiver. That said I use a RAM disc for my media server Subsonic, again I've not "perceived" any difference, but I still use it... maybe the placebo effect.

 

[ranjeetrain]

Very true, but only a matter of time before prices come down. All the latest laptops (at least in the US) are coming with 1 TB internal SSD.

I bought my first 120GB SSD for 12K, but recently picked up a new 120 GB SSD for $50 on Amazon. 1 TB SSDs are in the range of 30-40K now, but will come down in time. 1 TB for all purposes should suffice... my entire collection of 1500 CDs ripped in FLAC is around 800 GB.

Spot on. The trend of prices is encouraging. My most commonly played music also fits inside 1TB. As of now I have a 2TB internal SATA. But wouldn't mind getting a 1TB SSD next vacation when I will have some time to play.

Have not played much with RAM discs TBH. I've only used RAM playback in Foobar and JRiver and honestly could not tell a difference in Foobar, but could tell a difference in JRiver. That said I use a RAM disc for my media server Subsonic, again I've not "perceived" any difference, but I still use it... maybe the placebo effect.

I think you're honest with that observation. Unless a system is very highly resolving, the differences are too small to make an easily audible difference. But a lot of people swear that they hear a quantum of improvement with 'Memory playback'. It may be the system or the ears, hard to tell.

Also another fact worth keeping in mind is -- very important -- IF true RAM playback has been implemented, the quality of storage (SATA/IDE/External SATA/External USB) becomes irrelevant.

 

[koushik]

Ranjeet,

I am sorry if you have mentioned it earlier but I have not came across. Are you using plain simple SMPS for atom board music server or you have any L-PSU ?

 

[ngd]

Hybrid SSDs are available for quite less nowadays.

 

[ranjeetrain]

Koushik, I run my transport off battery power.

In case you plan on an Atom board based desktop it may be beneficial to invest in a passively cooled cabinet and L-PSU depending on how resolving the system is.

 

[ranjeetrain]

Hybrid SSDs are available for quite less nowadays.

I am not an authority on hybrid SSDs nor am I abreast of all the latest advances in that tech, but from what I know: The advantages of Hybrid SSDs are not applicable for Audio use.

A Hybrid SSD uses a "small SSD cache". The software on the disk determines how that cache will be used, not the OS, not the music playing software.

So any advantages it has in day-to-day computing can't be availed of in Audio-specific use. Consider a 500 MB hi-res/DSD track. Just one track will cause that cache to overflow. So the cache loses it's advantage totally, assuming the software will choose to cache the track in first place.

 

[koushik]

Battery powered rails ? Can you please share bit more about your PSU and present music server hardware?

 

[ranjeetrain]

There seems to be some confusion here. I don't use what can be termed as a "Music Server" in the traditional sense of word. Yes, some consumer audio manufacturers do use this term loosely to refer to their transports products with built in storage. So in that sense yes, Music Server. But no, not like a server that will store, transcode, stream music to a number of devices. What I have is a couple of atom based netbook tweaked for singleton USB output. So there are no specific power requirement other than the battery pack it comes with. If I use it disconnected from power when listening to music, I eliminate the issues caused by impure power supply. KISS formula in execution.

 

[koushik]

Okay that is an atom based "laptop" .. I thought a desktop that is why asked about multi channel rails.