physical-musicfile-source-info

Physical Musicfiles Source

Bit weird that title, isn't it? But I can't better describe it. What I mean is the physical medium on which your music files are stored. This can be a NAS, a USB-connected hard drive or your internal hard drive. My point: they all sound different.

When comparing my Windows PC to the Macbook Pro and a NAS, all in combination with the PS Audio PWD streamer/DAC, I noticed large differences between these different sources of music. During the writing of the PWD review I figured that this was to do with the way that the server program (re)acted with the hardware but later I noticed that these differences hold true, no matter what playback method is used.

I should note here that I am comparing the very same music files (aiff/wav/flac/mp3), copied in one go to the NAS via the network, without conversion of any kind. Also, when playing back from the NAS, this is in "native" form: again there is no conversion of any kind going on. Incidentally, the disk inside the NAS is the same brand (Samsung), same format (3,5 inch) and almost the same type as the one in the PC.

As it turns out, the NAS source sounds lighter, airier and tighter than the PC's built-in drives. It is also slightly more upfront. The PC's internal drive sounds more mellow, smoother, more relaxed and a bit fuller in the bass. It is less forward but all the less aggressive for it. Indeed, these differences were exactly the same as noted when comparing the PWD with a NAS vs the libraries on the PC.

This was all comparing a NAS to the PC's inbuilt hard disk. But what about USB-connected drives? Or USB sticks? I didn't have a free USB disk drive available but still wanted to test how a USB stick would hold up. To test this, I copied the same track to it and just compared playback through Winamp 5. Again there were differences but this time less large. The USB stick sounds a lot like the NAS, which is fast, open and airy. It has the tiniest amount less bloom than the NAS but otherwise sounds very much like it and more different from the PC's built in drive. It seems that the "native" internal SATA connection (or PATA, which has the same characteristics, as noted during earlier tests) sounds fullest, most sweet and most relaxed. Still, there is a lot to say for the external options that all manage to sound more upfront and lively.

The characteristics of built-in drives as described above were also already heard (in retrospect) with various other brands of hard disks so I don't think that the brand itself matters a lot; it is probably more the connection method that makes the "sound".

Just why these differences exist is something I cannot comprehend. I can tell you however that these differences are easily heard, even when listening off-axis with one ear. Which is better depends on taste and the synergy with the rest of the system but I am here to tell you that these differences are very real. Don't you just wish that the digital world really was only about ones and noughts?