AudioCircle
Industry Circles => Bryston Limited => Topic started by: DarqueKnight on 20 Jan 2019, 12:47 am
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Introduction
(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=189302)
iPower DC power supply by iFi audio.
This review is the first addendum to my review of the Bryston BDP-3 digital player:
https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=161770
The Bryston BDP-3 digital player in my two channel stereo system is served music files from a Western Digital Black 6 TB hard disk drive that is placed in a Rosewill Armer RX304-APU3-35B fanned aluminum hard drive enclosure. The enclosure is powered by a generic wall wart type 12 volt/2 amp switch mode power supply AC-to-DC adapter.
Switch mode power supply (SMPS) AC-to-DC adapters are known for producing large amounts of electrical noise. This noise is generally of little concern for computer applications. I wondered if a lower noise SMPS adapter designed for computer audio applications would provide better audible performance...and it did.
Noisy SMPS notwithstanding, I was doubtful, and skeptical, that a lower noise power supply would provide any audible benefit due to the extensive electrical noise abatement measures employed in my two channel stereo system. However, prior to this study, I really didn't have a good understanding of just how much noise switch mode power supplies generate.
(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=189303)
Figure 1. Two channel stereo system power plan.
(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=189304)
Figure 2. Power quality statistics from the PS Audio P10 AC regenerator.
The electric power serving my home is exceptionally clean and stable, with total harmonic distortion in the range of 0.8% to 1.5% and voltage in the range of 121 volts to 123 volts. The AC regenerator feeds significantly cleaner power and constant voltage to the preamplifier, source components, and accessory components. The monoblock power amplifiers draw too much current (nearly 5 amps continuous each, at idle) for the AC regenerator to handle, therefore, the power amplifiers are plugged into the wall. However, each power amplifier has its own dedicated 20 amp AC circuit and the wall outlet of each AC circuit was replaced with a PS Audio in-wall passive power conditioner. Additionally, the two AC circuits for the power amplifiers are on different legs of the electric service.
(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=189305)
Figure 3. The iPower AC-to-DC adapter is manufactured by iFi audio. It is marketed as an audiophile-standard DC power supply.
(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=189306)
Figure 4. Left: iPower 12 volt/1.8 amps AC-to-DC adapter. Right: stock Flypower AC-to-DC adapter, model number PS30D120K2000UD, 12 volts/2.0 amps.
(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=189307)
Figure 5. Label sides of iPower and Flypower AC-to-DC adapters.
Listening Evaluations
The song used in the BDP-3 review, Jeanette Harris' "Saxy", was again used for the iPower's
listening evaluation. Sound images were mapped and characterized during ten repetitions of the song.
(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=189308)
Figure 6. Sound stage maps with stock Flypower hard drive enclosure power supply.
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Figure 7. Sound stage maps with iPower hard drive enclosure power supply.
The size and placement of instrumental and vocal images with the iPower AC-to-DC adapter was the same as with the stock AC-to-DC adapter. The clarity and detail of those images, particularly in the bass frequencies, was improved. There were some percussion instruments that were previously masked that were clearly and cleanly presented with the iPower. Those unmasked images are shown in purple in figure 7. Although the sound stage maps in figure 7 look busy and cluttered, the sound was not busy and cluttered since the sounds occurred at different points in time. In particular, some percussion instrument images and ambient sound images, which were previously masked, only occurred infrequently.
Toward the end of the song, the vinyl surface noise sound effect can be heard faintly at the rear center of the sound stage. This sound was previous masked by the synthesized electric bass and synthesized kick drum. The triangle was previously masked by the bell tree, wood sticks. soprano saxophone, and vinyl surface noise sound effect at the front of the sound stage. The wood block was previously masked by finger snaps, electric bass, and kick drum. The metallic sticks were very close to, and previously masked by, the leftmost finger snaps image. The wood sticks image to the left of the soprano saxophone was now rendered as two images, with the stick strikes alternating locations on successive bass beats. New echoes of the high hat and piano were also resolved.
In addition to the above, there was more tongue, throat, and chest articulation and sharper transients in the male vocal, more fluidity in piano notes, and more detail in the reverb around the vocal and soprano saxophone.
Other music:
"Isunova Pi" - E. S. Posthumus - "Cartographer" album - this song begins with four thunderous drum beats at the 1, 7, 13, and 19 second marks. The decaying rumble and tactile sensation of the drum beats lasted 4, 4, 3, and 3 seconds respectively with the stock Flypower adapter. The decaying rumble and tactile sensation of the drumbeats lasted 5, 5, 4, and 4 seconds respectively with the iPower adapter. Drum beats were timed with a digital stopwatch.
"Healing Song" - Gregg Karukas - "Heatwave" album - With the iPower, there was more rumble and growl in electric bass and drums, more reed sound in the tenor saxophone, more "gravel" and overtone texture in the organ notes, more clarity and detail in the piano notes.
Open Circuit Time Domain Voltage Signal Measurements
Time domain measurements were taken with a Tektronix TDS 2012 oscilloscope.
(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=189310)
Figure 8. Voltage signal from wall receptacle. Notice the flattened sine wave peaks compared to the more pointed peaks from the AC regenerator shown in figure 10.
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Figure 9. Closeup of voltage signal from wall. The flattened sine wave peaks are due to harmonic distortion and other electrical noise.
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Figure 10. Voltage signal taken from the output of the PS Audio PowerBase that the hard drive enclosure power supplies were plugged into. This voltage was supplied from the AC regenerator.
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Figure 11. Closeup of voltage signal from AC regenerator/PowerBase.
(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=189314)
Figure 12. AC voltage at output of stock Flypower AC-to-DC adapter. This asymmetrical waveform is typical of cheap switch mode power supplies with very high harmonic distortion (see figure 18).
(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=189315)
Figure 13. AC voltage at output of iPower AC-to-DC adapter. A smooth symmetrical waveform with significantly lower harmonic distortion content (see figure 19).
The high AC voltages shown in figures 12 and 13 originate from the capacitance between the primary and secondary of the step down transformer. In a cheaply made AC-to-DC adapter, this AC voltage can be as high as half the wall voltage. However, the currents created are very low, on the order of microamps. In the case of the Flypower adapter, the peak to peak AC voltage corresponds to 60 volts rms, which is close to half the wall voltage of 122 volts rms. The AC rms voltage at the output of the iPower adapter is drastically lower, at 36 volts.
(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=189316)
Figure 14. DC voltage at output of stock Flypower AC-to-DC adapter.
(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=189317)
Figure 15. DC voltage at output of iPower AC-to-DC adapter.
Open Circuit Frequency Domain (Noise Spectrum) Voltage Signal Measurements
Frequency domain (Fast Fourier Transform) measurements were taken with a Tektronix TDS 2012 oscilloscope. Each vertical dot represents 2 dB of voltage amplitude. Each horizontal dot represents 10 hertz of frequency.
(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=189318)
Figure 16. Noise spectrum plot of AC voltage signal from wall.
(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=189319)
Figure 17. Noise spectrum plot of AC voltage signal from AC regenerator/PowerBase.
The odd order harmonics at 180 Hz (3rd), 300 Hz (5th), and 420 Hz (7th) shown in the wall voltage in figure 16 are significantly reduced in the output from the AC regenerator/PowerBase. The power company's signaling tone at 470 Hz is also significantly reduced. This reduction in noise (everything except the 60 Hz power signal is noise) results in the near perfect sine wave shape of the time domain power signal shown in figure 11.
(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=189320)
Figure 18. Noise spectrum plot of AC voltage signal from stock Flypower adapter. This abomination generates high levels of even order harmonics (120 Hz, 240 Hz, and 360 Hz) which are not present in the incoming power signal. Nasty!
(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=189321)
Figure 19. Noise spectrum plot of AC voltage signal from iPower adapter. Much better than the Flypower adapter...and no large amplitude even order harmonics. iFi audio claims to use an active noise cancellation circuit, along with a 12-element noise suppression circuit. Wonderful!!
Further Study
An alternative to the switch mode power supply is the linear regulated power supply. For audio applications, a linear regulated DC power supply would provide the best low noise performance. However, high performance linear DC power supplies are significantly larger, significantly more expensive, significantly less efficient, and some have acoustic noise issue (fans). The iPower power supply offers some of the low noise benefits of a linear power supply along with the low cost and small size benefits of a switch mode power supply. Based on the results of this study, it would be worthwhile to look at some linear power supplies that might be suitable for this audio application.
The next addendum report will evaluate upgrade USB 3.0 cables for the hard drive enclosure.
Associated Equipment
Bryston BDP-3 digital player
PS Audio PowerBase isolation platforms for DAC, BDP-3, and U-Clock
22 pound granite slabs to couple source components to isolation platforms
Black Diamond Racing Isolation Mini Pits and Mk IV Cones
dCS Puccini U-Clock word clock
dCS Debussy DAC
Rosewill Armer RX304-APU3-35B hard drive enclosure with 6 TB WD Black hard drive
Pass Labs XP-30 line level preamplifier
Pass Labs X600.5 monoblock power amplifiers
AudioQuest Sky XLR interconnects
AudioQuest Everest speaker cables
Revelation Audio Labs Prophecy CryoSilver digital coaxial cable - RCA connectors
Revelation Audio Labs Prophecy CryoSilver digital coaxial cable - BNC connectors
Revelation Audio Labs Prophecy CryoSilver USB 2.0 dual leg cable
PS Audio PerfectWave AC-12 power cords
PS Audio PerfectWave P-10 AC regenerator
Polk Audio SDA SRS 1.2TL loudspeakers (heavily modified)
Salamander Synergy Triple 30 audio credenza
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That's a lot of effort spent on a $49 ifi evaluation :D However, I must say I am STILL using the iFi ipower on my Chord Qutest DAC even with a really nice Lithium battery PS and Linear PS around the house...
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The cumulative value of these little tweaks adds up. :D
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Have you compared external full sized powered hard drives to using a portable hard drive powered directly from the USB bus power? The biggest Western Digital ones are 4TB as of now. Although, I think I remember seeing Seagate with 6TB in portable form factor.
Teradak makes 5V and 12V linear power supplies suitable for use with BDP in different locations such as for network switch, external hard drives, USB hubs.
You can further try putting things like an Audioquest Jitterbug on the USB devices. I've had mixed results depending on the attached device.
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Have you compared external full sized powered hard drives to using a portable hard drive powered directly from the USB bus power? The biggest Western Digital ones are 4TB as of now. Although, I think I remember seeing Seagate with 6TB in portable form factor.
Teradak makes 5V and 12V linear power supplies suitable for use with BDP in different locations such as for network switch, external hard drives, USB hubs.
You can further try putting things like an Audioquest Jitterbug on the USB devices. I've had mixed results depending on the attached device.
With my BDP-1, I compared a 500 GB Samsung SSD in both a USB bus powered Sabrent enclosure and in a self-powered Vantec enclosure. I preferred the sound with the Vantec enclosure. This is something I should revisit with the BDP-3.
Thanks for the suggestions on the Teradak PSUs and AQ Jitterbug. iFi Audio also makes a USB noise cancellation device called the iSilencer3.0 USB Audio Noise Eliminator.
I have ordered a Teradak Musical Fidelity V90-DAC HiFi linear power supply.
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That is one of the best reviews I've seen on AC - very well done!
Excellent set of measurements with concise explanations. Drawing the soundstage differences makes what is typically a more subjective assessment infinitely more concrete, especially when anchored by the laudable insistence on 10 repetitions per song.
Kudos!
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I think you
must should read the thread: < or = $700 Linear Power Supply Comparisons (https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=155847.0)
And my last posts: https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=155847.msg1720315#msg1720315
Do not waste the money with the Jitterbug.
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That is one of the best reviews I've seen on AC - very well done!
Excellent set of measurements with concise explanations. Drawing the soundstage differences makes what is typically a more subjective assessment infinitely more concrete, especially when anchored by the laudable insistence on 10 repetitions per song.
Kudos!
Let me echo what brj said. You have nicely harmonized both subjective and objective methods of reviewing! All too often, the reviews are one sided (overly subjective in my experience). I think it would be also useful for readers to show a picture of your system specifically speaker setup, etc...
Thanks and very well done!
Best,
Anand.
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Another kudo, that is excellent. Last time I measured an SMPS I didn't have a DSO with FFT, I do now but have not looked at this. Really nice to see the data. Noise is the enemy. :)
Let me echo what brj said. You have nicely harmonized both subjective and objective methods of reviewing! All too often, the reviews are one sided (overly subjective in my experience). I think it would be also useful for readers to show a pucture of your system specifically speaker setup, etc...
Thanks and very well done!
Best,
Anand.
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I think it would be also useful for readers to show a pucture of your system specifically speaker setup, etc...
This thread is an addendum to my review of the BDP-3 digital player. I have pictures of my system and room, and list of associated equipment, in the BDP-3 review thread here:
https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=161770
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With my BDP-1, I compared a 500 GB Samsung SSD in both a USB bus powered Sabrent enclosure and in a self-powered Vantec enclosure. I preferred the sound with the Vantec enclosure. This is something I should revisit with the BDP-3.
Thanks for the suggestions on the Teradak PSUs and AQ Jitterbug. iFi Audio also makes a USB noise cancellation device called the iSilencer3.0 USB Audio Noise Eliminator.
I have ordered a Teradak Musical Fidelity V90-DAC HiFi linear power supply.
The Teradaks are good for the money. I have their big 12V13A which can be used with majority of audio appliances like NAS, DAC power supply, router/switch. I also have their X1/X2 that comes with two voltage output. I got it exclusively for its USB port. I've used USB to USB micro and USB to DC cables to power all kinds of things.
Going back to drives, have you used a portable spinning hard drive plugged directly into the BDP? I have the BDP-1 so I am limited to external USB options, USB wireless adapter, and ethernet. No internal options for me.
I've compared flash drives, external full sized hard drives, portable WD hard drives, USB hubs, linear power supplies at various locations, with or without Jitterbug. The one I keep coming back to is the portable spinning Western Digital USB hard drive plugged directly into the BDP without any Jitterbug or hubs. Direct connection. No external power supplies involved. This is the most involving for me. At first, the flash storage options sound more detailed, but there is a loss in rhythm and the music loses its flow. The portable hard drive also does the ambience and air better than the other options which sound deader.
There is also FLAC and WAV to consider, which has been a toss up for me in the past. This time I'm sticking with FLAC which is also convenient tagging and space wise, but is turning out to be more agreeable sonically. WAV sounds slightly more explosive but a bit loose and washed, while FLAC sounds more well put together and controlled.
Karl Schuster of The Absolute Sound came to similar conclusions with regards to (portable) hard drives over SSDs, flash drives, and other flash devices like SDHC card with adapters. He reviewed both BDP-1 and BDP-2 with focus on the subjects above regarding file formats (CPU processing and I/O) and storage/network connections.
http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/bryston-bdp-1-digital-player-tas-215/
http://www.bryston.com/PDF/reviews/2015_12_Review_BDP-2_Absolute.pdf
On the BDP-2 and BDP-3, James recommends (or strongly hints :D) at using internal spinning hard drives for the best SQ. Internal to bypass unnecessary USB processing and hard drive instead of SSD for electrical noise reasons. Other Bryston team members have also hinted at the electrical SSD noise. Acoustically, the portable hard drives I have are practically silent. Far quieter than their 3.5 desktop counterparts. If I was going to get a BDP-2 or BDP-3, I'd probably go for the largest spinning hard drive internal option with FLAC.
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Going back to drives, have you used a portable spinning hard drive plugged directly into the BDP? I have the BDP-1 so I am limited to external USB options, USB wireless adapter, and ethernet. No internal options for me.
I have not tried a portable HDD with any of my BDP players.
I've compared flash drives, external full sized hard drives, portable WD hard drives, USB hubs, linear power supplies at various locations, with or without Jitterbug. The one I keep coming back to is the portable spinning Western Digital USB hard drive plugged directly into the BDP without any Jitterbug or hubs. Direct connection. No external power supplies involved. This is the most involving for me. At first, the flash storage options sound more detailed, but there is a loss in rhythm and the music loses its flow. The portable hard drive also does the ambience and air better than the other options which sound deader.
I can understand why this might be a better performing option...taking the external drive's power supply noise out of the system.
There is also FLAC and WAV to consider, which has been a toss up for me in the past. This time I'm sticking with FLAC which is also convenient tagging and space wise, but is turning out to be more agreeable sonically. WAV sounds slightly more explosive but a bit loose and washed, while FLAC sounds more well put together and controlled.
I had ripped all my CDs to lossless FLAC and all my SACDs to dsf. I eventually converted all my FLAC files to dsf.
On the BDP-2 and BDP-3, James recommends (or strongly hints :D) at using internal spinning hard drives for the best SQ. Internal to bypass unnecessary USB processing and hard drive instead of SSD for electrical noise reasons. Other Bryston team members have also hinted at the electrical SSD noise. Acoustically, the portable hard drives I have are practically silent. Far quieter than their 3.5 desktop counterparts. If I was going to get a BDP-2 or BDP-3, I'd probably go for the largest spinning hard drive internal option with FLAC.
I have not had good experiences with SSDs over 1 TB. I tried a 2 TB Crucial SSD and a 2 TB Samsung 850 EVO SSD in my BDP-2 and music sounded veiled compared to the 500 GB and 1 TB Samsung SSDs. The Crucial 2 TB was unlistenable. I have a Samsung 850 EVO 1 TB SSD in my BDP-2.
In order for SSD drives to fit in laptops, they can't increase the size of the chassis. That means the storage cells get smaller as they go up in storage capacity. The smaller the cells, the more a particular cell is affected by the electrical noise in adjacent cells.
I have not tried a HDD inside either the BDP-2 or BDP-3...yet. I have been reluctant to do so because it would add another step to upgrading the HDD. I prefer not to do upgrades over the network. With the external HDD, I just disconnect it from the BDP-3, connect it to my PC for the updates, then reconnect to the BDP-3. With an internal HDD, I would have to transfer music files from my PC to an external HDD, then connect the external HDD to the BDP-3 and transfer files to the internal HDD. Plus I like the fact that the Rosewill enclosure is fanned and spins down the disc after 20 minutes of inactivity. Some HDDs have power conservation firmware that will spin down the drive. The BDP players do not offer settings for spinning down drives. Therefore, if you use a drive such as the WD Black series in the BDP-2 or BDP-3, they will spin 24/7.
Over a year ago (December 2017) I asked a question regarding heat buildup inside a BDP-3 with a large HDD, but I received no answer. Seems I'll just have to try it myself. I'll report the results in this thread:
https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=154364.msg1650379#msg1650379
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I did some experimenting with internal hard disk drives with the BDP-3.
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Above: The 6 TB HDD was removed from its Rosewill enclosure and placed on a plastic
platform made from gluing four plastic pillars to a slim CD jewel case.
(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=189441)
Above: The 6 TB HDD tried to get in where it didn't fit in.
This was a sonic disaster. Crushed sound stage. Crushed dynamics. Cold, steely piano sound.
Droning, muddy bass. I suspect this full size 3.5" HDD was starved for power. It requires
9.1 watts for read/write operation. The BDP-3 is designed for 2.5" form factor internal drives,
which typically require power in the area of 2 watts. The fact that the 6 TB drive was unsecured
and more prone to environmental vibration could have played a part also. Because of the drive's size,
it was unavoidable to place it within 1/2" of the power supply transformer. the transformer's magnetic
field could have also been a contributing factor to the poor sound quality.
(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=189442)
Above: A 2.5" HDD that I use for data transfers worked fine and sounded fine.
I reformatted the 2.5" HDD to FAT32 and transferred the following songs in DSD format:
"Saxy" - "Saxified" album - Jeanette Harris
"Undun" - "Moonlight" album - Steve Cole
"Healing Song" - "Heatwave" - Gregg Karukas
"Selisoni Pi" - "Cartographer Remixes" - E. S. Posthumus
"Isunova Pi" - "Cartographer Remixes" - E. S. Posthumus
The 6 TB HDD was returned to its enclosure and the same five songs were pulled from it and compared to the songs from the internal HDD.
I didn't need to do a lot of trials. No more than five per song. I didn't hear any differences from midrange up. Nor did I hear differences in sound
stage size and position of images. The differences were in the lower frequencies, overall apparent sound level, tactile sensation, and image weight. The songs from the external hard drive
sounded a little louder, produced more tactile sensation, had more articulate rumble and growl from bass instruments, and more sustained and detailed decay of bass notes. These weren't
large differences, but they weren't subtle either.
(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=189444)
Above: For these trials, the Rosewill enclosure was not used with its stock USB 3 data cable. I used a better constructed and noise filtering USB 3 cable made by iFi audio, the Mercury3.0.
When I switched back to the Rosewill enclosure's stock cable (which sounded very good), I could not distinguish between songs from the internal HDD and those from the external HDD.
When I switched back to the Rosewill enclosure's stock power adapter (which sounded very good), songs from the internal HDD had a little more image weight, sounded a little louder, produced
more tactile sensation, and had more bass detail and articulation.
Be aware that if you install an internal hard disk drive, with no power conservation feature, such as the WD Black drives, it is going to spin 24/7. The external hard drive enclosure that I use (Rosewill Armer 304X-APU3-35B) spins down the drive after 20 minutes of inactivity. My PC's power settings also spin down my WD Black drives.
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Thanks for your impressions. With your recent hard drive power changes and internal HDD, where are the SSD implementations fitting in?
For convenience (not that I have an internal option to begin with), like you I prefer being able to take out the USB drives and connect them to the computer directly for fast transfer and replug them to the BDP. Still, for the internal option, isn't it possible to send the music files/folders from your computer to the BDP-1 directly via the network? What kind of speeds can we expect on a gigabit system with the internal options of BDP-2/3?
All the WD portable hard drives I use are 5400 RPM. When connected to the BDP-1, they spin down after a period of inactivity by themselves. No problem there. My 2TB that I use with the BDP-1 is FAT32. The 4TB portable for backup is NTFS. I remember being told that FAT32 is preferred if given the option (2TB or less) over NTFS due to less overhead with FAT32. I'm not implying that there is a difference in SQ due to that because I have never tested for that. Just mentioning it for information sake.
In the past 2 days, I also broke out the various flash drives and XLD to do the comparison again. It's been several months since I've done any comparison. Put FLAC and WAV of few albums on both the hard drive and flash drives. The flash drive always seems darker and cleaner right off the bat, but as you listen more and more, I just lose interest in it. I prefer the portable hard drive over all the flash drives regardless of FLAC/WAV. On the hard drive, I still hear FLAC and WAV as I've always heard it in the past 3+ years with the BDP-1. From a space and tagging standpoint, FLAC already wins so will be sticking with it. If only Roon could sound like this...I still use it from time to time for headphone use with Audeze plugin. However, for bit-perfect playback, I stick with MPD with everything turned off including database.
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Thanks for your impressions. With your recent hard drive power changes and internal HDD, where are the SSD implementations fitting in?
I tried the internal SSD out of curiosity. The external drive with the power upgrades sounded better than the internal drive.
My music library spans over 3TB. The only options I know of for internal 2.5" drives are:
1. Seagate 4 TB HDD ($120).
2. Seagate 5 TB HDD ($160).
3. Samsung 4 TB SSD 860 EVO ($698).
4. Samsung 4 TB SSD 860 PRO ($998).
5. Samsung 4 TB SSD 850 EVO ($990).
The Samsung SSDs are not attractive options because of their cost and because I have not had good experiences with the sound quality of SSDs over 1TB in music storage applications.
The Seagate 5 TB 2.5" HDD might be a good candidate, but I stopped using Seagate drives many years ago due to multiple incidents with drive failures. Although, from
reading recent reviews of those drives, it seems that they are much better than they used to be.
For convenience (not that I have an internal option to begin with), like you I prefer being able to take out the USB drives and connect them to the computer directly for fast transfer and replug them to the BDP. Still, for the internal option, isn't it possible to send the music files/folders from your computer to the BDP-1 directly via the network? What kind of speeds can we expect on a gigabit system with the internal options of BDP-2/3?
It is possible to send music files/folders directly to the BDP players over a network connection, but it is much slower than just connecting the external drive to my PC. With my BDP-3, I experienced the following speeds over a wireless-AC 5 GHz network with nominal speed of 2.53 Gbps, while transferring a 830 MB DSD music file:
1. PC to BDP-3-external WD Black 6 TB 7200 rpm HDD in Rosewill enclosure, connected with USB 3 cable: 83 seconds, average transfer speed of 10.7 MB/s.
2. PC to BDP-3-internal WD Black 750 GB 5400 rpm HDD, connected with SATA 3 cable: 87 seconds, average transfer speed of 11 MB/s.
In contrast, connecting the Rosewill enclosure directly to my PC with a USB 3 cable took less than 1 second to transfer the file.
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FWIW I've not had any issues with the Seagate 4TB 2.5" drive I use in my little server. (But that's just one sample.)
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FWIW I've not had any issues with the Seagate 4TB 2.5" drive I use in my little server. (But that's just one sample.)
That's good to know. How long have you had the Seagate 4TB and how, and how much, is it used?
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I have been using usb docks. I have one attached to bdp-2 and one hooked up to my computer. I use a bare drive and transfer between the 2 docks. I have been using solid state drive for the last 3 year since the transfer rate is so much faster. I don't have my bdp-2 powered on all the time since i my go a week or more between listening sessions. The ifi ipower outputs 12v 1.8amp but the wall wart for my docks are 12 volts 3a. I wonder if the ipower would be enough for my dock.
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The ifi ipower outputs 12v 1.8amp but the wall wart for my docks are 12 volts 3a. I wonder if the ipower would be enough for my dock.
The iPower will give you 40% less max current and 40% less max power than your dock wall warts. The only way this would work is if the dock wall warts are built to accommodate a large number of accessories on the dock and you are only using one or two which do not exceed the power output of the iPower.
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As i mentioned , i have 2 docks. I just looked at the wallwart for the other dock and it is 12v 2ooo ma. It also has dual slots for 2 hard drives. I will only be using 1 hard drive in it. Also are ssd more power efficient than standard hard drives? I am going the purchase one to see how it works.
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That's good to know. How long have you had the Seagate 4TB and how, and how much, is it used?
Oh, just on a year. Same sort of use as you would be seeing (music files).
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Quite the write-up on the iPower. I have a few of these, myself.
However, if you are *that* worried about electrical noise from HDDs, a network attached storage (NAS) device is the ultimate solution.
They are relatively cheap now, with large, redundant storage capacity that may be aggressively cached by internal M.2 SSDs that will provide lag-free performance for any application (though I haven't found the need to use SDD-caching for audio, which has trivial latency and bandwidth demands compared with video or database applications).
And by redundant, not only will it protect your local copy from physical disk failure(s), but will "scrub" volumes in the background to detect and correct from "bit-rot" (i.e. random bit errors from software and/or physical media failure). These units are a little more expensive - look at Drobo for an example.
A NAS will *completely* isolate your sensitive electronics from heat, vibration, and electrical noise, as well as allow you to locate your nerd equipment away from your elegant stereo system (the pictures of your setup are epic!).
Ethernet, by design, is galvanically isolated to support massive concentration of ports in server farms without subsequent EMI/RFI from interfering with signal integrity (i.e. frequent retransmits from detected packet errors). If you still aren't convinced, and need to spend more money, you can also buy low-cost switches with SFPs to optically isolate the last segment from the switch to your BDP.
What do I use? I have a WD MyCloud EX2 Ultra (NAS) with a pair of 7200 rpm, 8TB disks in RAID 1 mode (mirrored), which are periodically backed-up to a direct attached Drobo RAID 5 array using software that enforces a CRC check on each sync, to detect bit errors on the source and copy.
The NAS is accessed via SMB 3 with wired Ethernet by a Mac Mini running Roon Server (1 Gigabit Ethernet), all located away from my audio gear (see photo attached). The Mac Mini w/ Roon Server connects to my remote BDP-1 via a wireless bridge (Apple Airport Express), which is itself connected to the BDP via 100Mb wired Ethernet. This is another way to achieve isolation between the BDP-1 and the remaining devices on my network.
I have my BDP-1 connected to the wireless bridge via a 3 meter Ethernet cable, so the wireless bridge (which itself emits a fair amount of EMI/RFI) is far away from my audio gear.
I find that even with 192 kHz / 24-bit audio tracks (Roon uses my AIFF lossless iTunes library and playlists), the 100 Mb wireless connection to the BDP-1 is *plenty* fast for lag free playback (i.e. tracks start instantly when I click on the play button, without any stutter, even skipping around my library as fast as the Roon user interface will allow). The Bryston RAAT implementation on the BDP-1 is quite good, compared to other devices I have auditioned (which *do* struggle with lag-free playback).
(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=189609)
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I had received my ipower and have found that it had made a positive effect on the sound. To me, it seems to have made the background a bit quieter so that the details are more apparent. This is not a night and day effect but was noticeable never the less. I strange thing happened when i 1st used the ipower which may be just a coincidence. I could not find the bdp on the web browser ( i use the max interface). I could play song by using the buttons on the bdp to navigate the hard drive so the hard drive is recognized by the bdp. The internet was active since my computer and phone could access it. I tried to find the ip address by scrolling down on the bdp but got the message that i was not connected . Rebooted the bdp but no effect. I rebooted my google wifi and it seemed to have fixed the problem. I hope the ipower was not the cause of this problem.
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What do I use? I have a WD MyCloud EX2 Ultra (NAS) with a pair of 7200 rpm, 8TB disks in RAID 1 mode (mirrored), which are periodically backed-up to a direct attached Drobo RAID 5 array using software that enforces a CRC check on each sync, to detect bit errors on the source and copy.
The NAS is accessed via SMB 3 with wired Ethernet by a Mac Mini running Roon Server (1 Gigabit Ethernet), all located away from my audio gear (see photo attached). The Mac Mini w/ Roon Server connects to my remote BDP-1 via a wireless bridge (Apple Airport Express), which is itself connected to the BDP via 100Mb wired Ethernet. This is another way to achieve isolation between the BDP-1 and the remaining devices on my network.
I use a Synology 918+ NAS in my home theater system with four 8 TB WD Red drives in JBOD configuration for my video collection (ripped DVD and Blu-ray). I use 8 TB WD Red drives in external enclosures for back ups.
(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=189935)
An older picture of my home theater setup. The only thing different now is the Pioneer Kuro 60" plasma has been replaced with a 65" LG OLED television.
The entire system is controlled by a combination of a Harmony universal remote and the docked tablet computer on the coffee table.
(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=189936)
The Synology DS918+ NAS is on the center right middle shelf.
However, if you are *that* worried about electrical noise from HDDs, a network attached storage (NAS) device is the ultimate solution.
The picture quality of my movies from the NAS is sharper and clearer than playing them from physical media. I realized a similar benefit when I ripped all my CDs and SACDs to digital files and abandoned physical media playback. I have wondered if there would be further audio quality improvement by serving music files from a NAS. It is definitely on my list of things to try...after I finish all my experiments with external drives, internal drives, external enclosures and enclosure power supplies. I like to try different approaches to see and hear what works best in a particular room and system.
I have added the WD MyCloud EX2 Ultra to the list of prospective NAS units for my stereo system.
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I use a Synology 918+ NAS in my home theater system with four 8 TB WD Red drives in JBOD configuration for my video collection (ripped DVD and Blu-ray). I use 8 TB WD Red drives in external enclosures for back ups.
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The picture quality of my movies from the NAS is sharper and clearer than playing them from physical media. I realized a similar benefit when I ripped all my CDs and SACDs to digital files and abandoned physical media playback. I have wondered if there would be further audio quality improvement by serving music files from a NAS. It is definitely on my list of things to try...after I finish all my experiments with external drives, internal drives, external enclosures and enclosure power supplies. I like to try different approaches to see and hear what works best in a particular room and system.
Impressive system. I am in the same camp. I am constantly changing out gear and trying new things.
FWIW, for my ripped movies, I settled on Apple TV. The same MyCloud EXT2 Ultra is storing about 1,000 1080p movies, with storage to spare. The Apple TV appliances (I have 2 of the 4K versions and one of the 4th gen models) buffer aggressively, so Wi-Fi is all I need to smoothly feed my TVs.
I am curious, though, why is your NAS is configured as JBOD? You are losing the performance and redundancy benefits of RAID.
In your case, JBOD produces 4 separate 8TB volumes, for 32 TB of total storage, but requires you to manages content across separate volumes. With RAID 5, you can have a single volume with 24 TB of usable space, but protected against single disc failure and with better storage performance. Most people aren't aware of the performance benefits of multi-disc RAID configurations (especially with the nicer appliances, like your Synology).
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I am curious, though, why is your NAS is configured as JBOD? You are losing the performance and redundancy benefits of RAID.
In your case, JBOD produces 4 separate 8TB volumes, for 32 TB of total storage, but requires you to manages content across separate volumes. With RAID 5, you can have a single volume with 24 TB of usable space, but protected against single disc failure and with better storage performance. Most people aren't aware of the performance benefits of multi-disc RAID configurations (especially with the nicer appliances, like your Synology).
My video library spans 22 TB and is arranged in alphabetical order, with each of the four 8 TB drives assigned a particular range in the alphabet. This makes backup management easier since each of the NAS drives has corresponding backup drives in external enclosures.
My music library spans 3 TB and is contained on one 6 TB drive with multiple 6 TB backup drives. When I set up the music NAS, I will use a mirrored configuration.