I think we are just scratching the surface on the impact of different storage media, digital connections and power supplies on the sound of this new medium. Hi-rez digital files, played through highly resolving systems, are allowing the "active listener" to appreciate fairly significant differences between these support devices that traditionally had been considered inconsequential. The differences between different flash drives, as noted here, is a prime example. Who knows what makes the Corsair drive sound "warmer" than your previous drives. Why does my SSD drive sound different than my external WD spin drive? Intuitively, one would think that "noise", in the vaguest but most ubiquitous sense, is at play. Solid state drives generate electronic noise whereas spin discs generate mechanical noise. Is one worse than the other in destroying those micro-acoustical cues we associate with high fidelity?
I read Karl Schuster's somewhat vexing recent review in TAS on the BDP-2 with IAD last month. After singing the praises of the player, he stated that the only storage interface that sounded really good was a now-discontinued hard drive (the Seagate GoFlex Free Agent Portable), all contemporary drives that he tried sounded "thin" or "flat" or "constricted". What's going on?
I really doubt we are hearing the full quality of our hi-rez files. It would be fun to identify flash drives/HDD that cater to audiophile concerns and not simply boasting super fast write and read speeds. There's so many choices out there, its a crap-shot. Heck, I see a good marketing opportunity!
