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+--- Thread: Changing Hard Drive in a Melco (/showthread.php?tid=5250)
RE: Changing Hard Drive in a Melco - Yazsan55 - 23-08-2022 08:30
Hi there,
I have Melco N1A and am considering replacing its HDD to two 4tb SSD.
For those who have done it, would you please recommend the best ssd available at present in terms of performance and sound quality in your opinion?
Thank you very much!
RE: Changing Hard Drive in a Melco - Donuk - 02-09-2022 00:05
I changed the HDDs in my N1A a while back for Crucial 2Tbs.
I did not prefer the new sound and changed back.
Easy to do though.... But keep your original drives with all the data in case you do not like the new sound.
Donuk
RE: Changing Hard Drive in a Melco - lyapounov - 02-09-2022 06:46
(02-09-2022 00:05)Donuk Wrote: I changed the HDDs in my N1A a while back for Crucial 2Tbs.
I did not prefer the new sound and changed back.
Easy to do though.... But keep your original drives with all the data in case you do not like the new sound.
Donuk
Funny; Simon says changing to SSD Crucial on his Melco improved the sound, and you say the reverse.
That proves, if needed, that all statements about "sound was improved" are pure fantasy and should never be considered.
My son, when he was student at the best sound engineering school in France, told me that his professor showed one day the improvement of the sound quality by changing some filters. All students agreed that the sound was better. All of them. Then the professor said "oups, I am sorry, I did not apply the filter". It was exactly the same file...
RE: Changing Hard Drive in a Melco - simoncn - 02-09-2022 07:57
If you look at the whole thread of discussion, you will see that the Crucial SSDs I used are no longer available and Donuk used a different model of Crucial SSDs. This shows that not all SSDs (even from the same manufacturer) are equal in terms of sound quality. Also, the comparison between HDD and SSD depends on the sound quality of both the HDD and the SSD, so if the user starts with a better HDD they are less likely to hear an improvement with an SSD.
Also, if all SQ improvements are caused by expectation bias, Donuk would not have found his new sound worse (because he was expecting it to be better). I am not denying that expectation bias exists but this does not exclude the possibility of real SQ improvements.
RE: Changing Hard Drive in a Melco - Donuk - 03-09-2022 14:33
Well said Simon.
In fact I swapped the SSDs in twice to confirm my finding, and had a second opinion.
In fact I would have been less surprised if I could not have heard any difference between HDD and SDD.
Donuk
RE: Changing Hard Drive in a Melco - lyapounov - 05-09-2022 16:41
(02-09-2022 07:57)simoncn Wrote: Also, if all SQ improvements are caused by expectation bias, Donuk would not have found his new sound worse (because he was expecting it to be better). I am not denying that expectation bias exists but this does not exclude the possibility of real SQ improvements.
Expectation bias is not always one way. You expect a lot better, and there is no change. So you find it worse than your expectation.
Also, if Sound Quality can be put in math, and therefore becomes universal, Sound Perception is not. Your ear get used to, and I bet you can have different outcome whether you test A first then B, or the reverse.
Finally, let us not forget the electronic.
Unless I am wrong, the server sends some bunch of music via TCP, and the receiver gets the data, which owing to TCP protocol, is perfectly identical to what the original file is. Then it is up to the receiver and above all its DAC to recreate a waveform out of this.
I bet that if you look at the data that arrives at the DAC, it is exactly the same whether it comes from SSD or HDD. If it were not, then the sound distortion would be obvious, and would not be what people call "less clarity" or "bass less present", the usual statement of SQ, but rather something like cracks or pings, horrible glitch noises.
So if there is a difference, can someone explain where it comes from ? Is it that the disk in the server corrupts the electronic up to the DAC to the point of rendering two different analog signal from the same data ?
Just a genuine question.
RE: Changing Hard Drive in a Melco - simoncn - 05-09-2022 18:36
Disclaimer: I am not an electronics engineer but I know some clever people who are. The following is based on what they have told me and the results of my own experiments over many years.
All electronic equipment produces noise. A TCP datastream is not sent as a sequence of 1 and 0 bits but as a very high-frequency analogue waveform that encodes the digital 1 and 0 bits. Encoding this waveform in the server produces noise, sending it though a swtich produces noise and decoding it in the renderer produces noise. Some of the noise in the server and switch is transmitted to the renderer through the network connection. In addiition, reading the file from disk in the server (either HDD or SSD) produces noise, some of which is transmitted via the network to the renderer.
This noise does not cause a 1 bit to be changed to 0 or vice versa but it does interfere with the sound quality that the DAC in the renderer is able to produce.
Every system has a different combination of noise-producing components and any change that is made can make the sound quality either better or worse. In some cases, a change makes no audible difference because its effect is small compared with other sources of noise in the system.
RE: Changing Hard Drive in a Melco - GreenMtnGringo - 08-09-2022 13:54
This link discusses the differences between the Crucial BX100 SSD's that Simon installed in his Melco and other Crucial SSD models:
https://www.custompcguide.net/the-differences-between-crucial-mx100-vs-m500-and-m550-ssd/
These two paragraphs in particular caught my eye:
"Now first thing you need to know is that unlike the rest of the Crucial Mxxx SSD family, BX100 isn’t paired with a Marvell controller.
Instead we have a relatively new, less familiar 4-channel SM2246EN controller manufactured by Silicon Motion at the heart of the drive. If anyone knows, this controller has presented itself before in ADATA SP610 solid state drive and so far it has shown to be the better alternate option of the older Sandforce-2281. Specs wise: the SM2246EN has higher IOPS, smaller packaging and better optimization for an array of different NAND technologies from different manufacturers."
Perhaps the Silicon Motion SM2246EN controller is the 'secret sauce' that makes the Crucial BX100 sound superior to other Crucial SSD's. I wonder if there are any current SSD models from any manufacturer which use the SM2246EN or its lineal descendants?
RE: Changing Hard Drive in a Melco - janlarsson - 13-11-2022 16:06
(08-09-2022 13:54)GreenMtnGringo Wrote: This link discusses the differences between the Crucial BX100 SSD's that Simon installed in his Melco and other Crucial SSD models:
https://www.custompcguide.net/the-differences-between-crucial-mx100-vs-m500-and-m550-ssd/
These two paragraphs in particular caught my eye:
"Now first thing you need to know is that unlike the rest of the Crucial Mxxx SSD family, BX100 isn’t paired with a Marvell controller."
There is nothing wrong with the above just note the M500 and MX500 are different.
BX100: SM2246EN
BX500: SM2258XT
MX500: SM2258
M500: Marvell 88SS9187
M550: Marvell 88SS9189
/Jan L.
RE: Changing Hard Drive in a Melco - orange55 - 06-12-2022 11:15
(02-09-2022 00:05)Donuk Wrote: I changed the HDDs in my N1A a while back for Crucial 2Tbs.
I did not prefer the new sound and changed back.
Easy to do though.... But keep your original drives with all the data in case you do not like the new sound.
Donuk
Hi @donuk
Are you able to advise the model number of the SSD you tried in your Melco?
Thanks.