Nope I have one high res record I play over and over 
Audiophile m.2? wow 
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Unbelievable… Is this legal to state? I know, marketing etc. but anyway, misguiding people.
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Thank you Philippe. Can you please post the thread?
I’m pretty sure there are EU Laws against this sort of false Advertising, but I doubt anyone wants to take up the case especially given some Audiophiles (on the usual forums) actually claim to hear a difference! 
There’s a further interesting twist; the JCAT folks claim that this M.2 flash is designed for system drive use rather than for storing music files. In other words, install your Computer OS on this M.2 drive in order to have the best sonic results.
Which is even more absurd than I could have possibly imagined 
Hi Keiserrg, as I said, I don’t need to upgrade my own Roon Nucleus Plus memory at this time and I have no experience in that matter, but if you decide to do so you have to follow what is indicated in these threads of the Roon Community.
For example :
HI Anup,
Actually I noticed this morning that it was cheaper for me to buy a 2TB 2.5" SATA SSD than it was for me to buy a 2TB SATA HDD!!! 
Of course if you’re using SATA instead of m.2 then there’s always this…
I particularly like the “Four years old but hasn’t been used for the last year so will need burning in again” comment on the listing screenshot.
Phil
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thats absolutely insane!
Now now Anup - the difference between insanity and genius can often be just a little bit of success.
(…at least that what I keep trying to convince my therapist. :-D)
P
Not to derail this thread, but I did a google search for “Audiophile SATA”, turns out there are a few more whack jobs around 
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Hi Anup,
I’d assumed that the original discussion was now done and dusted - if the Nucleus storage can be upgraded then backing up, swapping in an 8TB 2.5" Samsung QVO drive and restoring seems like a no-brainer … (and quite possibly an ideal use case for a QLC drive too as the number of actual write cycles will be as near as dammit zero.)
Back it up regularly to an external USB drive and you should be golden.
When it comes to NASs and NAS backups then there are two ways to do it, the right way which we all know and preach and the “consumer” real world way which covers a more restricted set of eventualities depending on how risk averse you are.
Regular backup to a USB drive with the USB drive then being stuck in a drawer or cupboard is a basic “protect me from hardware failure of the Nucleus” option but doesn’t protect you from a house fire.
If you have a shed or garage with power then a NAS in the shed (or garage) connected to your network via WiFi or via Ethernet Over Mains (much as I loathe those things) is certainly a workable solution too.
I recently was prompted that I have a QNAP here in my loft at home that replicates itself to another identical QNAP three hours drive away in Guildford in the roof of my best mates garage - it’s been running for years and I had totally forgotten about it but was reminded as he is just about to knock down and rebuild his garage and so had to take it offline to move it … we have a reciprocal arrangement that we have half the storage each for stuff that we consider “important”…
So, many ways to skin the proverbial cat … just depends how far down the rabbit hole of data backup you want to go!
…and that JCAT cable gives me the twitches … I wonder just how many inherently fragile SATA connectors get ripped off motherboards?
I’ve seen enough RJ45 sockets (which of course are much more rugged) either pulled apart internally or ripped off of circuit boards by stiff and heavy audiophile Ethernet cables with massive Ethernet connectors that apply loads of leverage on the connector for that one to send me hiding in the nearest dark corner!
P
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Another aspect that should be considered with RAID and with reference to sound quality is the choice between hardware based RAID configurations and primarily software orientated. I know I have configured hardware based (RAID 1) for my PC’s secondary HDDs and believe that my Synology NAS also has a primarily hardware based implementation. Is there a sound difference caused by the type of implementation, particularly with respect to the NAS?
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Brian, from a purely Computing and Networking performance perspective there would be differences between the RAID levels and whether it’s hardware or software based RAID implementation.
This is especially true for RAID Writes, not so much for Reads where the various RAID levels have very little impact because the CPUs are not busy doing parity math. The raw Read performance of even basic 4-bay consumer NASes in RAID 5 configuration can be in the 100 MB/s range (that’s mega-Bytes) i.e. 800Mbps! Better NASes can easily start to fill multiple Gigabit Ethernet ports, and even approach 10GbE throughputs.
Regardless of RAID levels and hardware/software, data integrity is obviously never compromised.
On the other hand, the maximum rate at which a streaming DAC can consume data is driven by; the audio bit rate + the wrapper overhead (eg. UPnP) + the TCP overheads (together, could be roughly about 20-25% on top of the raw audio payload rates). If my quick math is right;
CD - 1.4Mbps
DSD128 - 2.8Mbps
DSD256 - 11.2 Mbps
DXD (352.8k/24) - 16.9Mbps
Add the 20-25% overheads, and you’re still at a tiny fraction of the Read throughput capability of a NAS! So, unless there’s some other magic involved, I’d take any claims of RAID levels affecting audio performance with a very big pinch of salt. 
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Anup interesting but is there an error?:
You are sayihg that RAID levels and their technical implementation will provide differences. have you missed a “no”?
Pete, what I stated above is correct.
I meant there are clear objectively measurable differences in performance between RAID levels and Hardware vs. Software RAID when you look at it purely from a Computing and Networking perspective.
But this has no impact on a typical Streaming DAC because the rate at which it consumes streams is so so very low.
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Hi Anup,
As you say, there should be no difference in the “sound” of a file that has been stored on or played from a RAID array between the different “flavours” of RAID (or between being played from a RAID array and a single drive) … especially not when that file is then being played across a network.
If there is then there’s something else in play there and things need to be looked into - and I do honestly mean that because I’d love to delve into all these things that people hear.
I did come across a discussion / debate once where the topic of conversation was how different brands (or models / spindle speeds) of hard discs sounded different when used in a NAS as a UPnP server and there was supposed to be a group test being performed to bottom-out this line of thought … I really wanted to pursue that one and suggested that I’d be happy to prep the NASes and do all the swapout of kit for the blind testing but no-one took me up on it.
This is one of the reasons why it’s frustrating when you see the discussions of needing “better” Ethernet cables (in the way of CAT6a or CAT7 over CAT5e) or insisting on needing to run gigabit or 10gig Ethernet for audio use - just because it’s a “bigger” number so it must be better … 192kHz/24bit is (just) within the capabilities of 10meg Ethernet, a standard that was getting a bit old hat 30 years ago.
High-res audio really isn’t at all data-heavy in the real world.
I often get asked what routers / switches we’re using at shows and events and there’s a definite look of disappointment when we’re using £40 Linksys routers and NetGear GS series switches and not something esoteric…
P
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Not surprising really, especially when even equipment manufacturers put out these kinds of bogus narratives. Take Melco for example, here’s what they claim;
Specially selected HDD and SSD drive for audio performance.
Believable if they meant the drives were selected for lower mechanical noise. Instead, Melco suggests that drive selection affects the sound quality from the connected DAC.
The actual chain of elements involved between the Drive and the DAC - SATA Controller + RAM, RAID Controller + RAM, multiple CPUs, main RAM, Networking stack, etc. - and the very low rate of audio stream consumption on a typical DAC makes such an idea just ludicrous.
In any case, the actual HDD drives Melco uses (at least on the original N1A/N1Z series) is just stock-standard Seagate ST2000VM003 drives designed for 24/7 video surveillance recording. It wasn’t even the best drives for Reads. While the SSDs were stock standard Toshiba MLCs.
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I must admit that my own personal criteria for network and computing gear is that it should be fanless as my comms rack resides in a bedroom.
Hi Brian,
I have a bit of a “thing” for building silent PCs too - have no need for so many of them but I still can’t resist popping them together as they are just so cool (!) to build.
The Akasa Galileo cases have been great for building totally passively cooled Thin-ITX machines and I have a couple of Intel NUCs in Akasa Plato cases but my absolute fave has to have been the “Movies Playback” PC that I built to go in with the HiFi in a black Streacom FC-5 case (without the optical drive slot) … it even has an internal fanless PSU which is lovely!
Cheers
Phil
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Thats the one (Steacom FC-5) I used for my comms rack. No idea why I chose silver though for my all black rack!!!. Not 100% perfect for the rack as I have to run it topless (lidless) as it started overheating after about 12 month.
Hi Brian,
Thanks for the clarification on topless … for a moment there I thought … well … never mind. 
Odd that it started to overheat after a year - what have you got running in it?
Mine is in a partially enclosed sideboard (I hacked out the rear of the other half’s favourite sideboard for cables and whatever convection ventilation came along with it) and I’ve not had an issue with heat … I’m running a 65w Ryzen APU IIRC.
Mine is in our downstairs “cloakroom” (a misnomer that frustrates me every time I hear it used) but the pulsing activity LEDs from the Synology NAS (and expansion units) and the network switch do at least add a semi-psychedelic edge to the evening if you don’t put the light on. 
P
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