2. digital
  3. 155323-90127

Aurender N100 internal hard drive or USB external drive?

I own one of the rare breeds of Aurender N100 variants that did NOT come from the factory with any internal hard drive storage, it is the same as the N100H in every other aspect.
Right now I have a 4tb WD HDD connected in the rear of it by USB which is fully accessible from the Conductor app.

I guess two questions really....

1/ Would I truly notice any difference in SQ if I went ahead and installed an internal hard drive vs my present usage of an external USB hard drive.

2/ If I went ahead and installed an internal hard drive, what model of hard drive is fully compatible with the N100, or does it really not matter? Or are there levels of HDD drives? Is SSD better than HDD? Are there levels of SSD?

Guess thats more than two questions but you get my quandary.
Seriously this stuff keeps me awake at night.........
uberwaltz
uberwaltz's avatar
uberwaltz OP
13,381 posts
 
Heard back from Ari at Aurender customer support.

You pays your money and takes your choice apparently.

Any brand off HDD or SSD was his reply although he did say he preferred Samsung for SSD and Seagate for HDD.


djones51
4,947 posts
 
I’ve had good luck with Samsung, crucial and WD ssds, according to their website it needs to be a SATA SSD 2.5/ 7mm. There’s 3 speeds I, II , III get the III it will run at whatever your streamer accepts and that’s the fastest and most common now. If you decide on a HHD same deal 2.5/7mm need to watch those some laptop drives are 9mm.
uberwaltz's avatar
uberwaltz OP
13,381 posts
 
Djones
Thanks for the additional information of speed of drives.
If going to do it probably not worth skimping so do it right first time.

djones51
4,947 posts
 
The speed would be dictated by the streamer connection most likely it's either SATA II or SATA III either one would be plenty fast for audio. Main thing is the interface of SATA 2.5/7mm there are a lot of different ones. 
almarg's avatar
almarg
9,670 posts
 
Good comments by @Djones51.

I believe that a 4 TB HDD in a 2.5 inch/7 mm form factor is something that probably doesn’t exist, at least from a quality manufacturer.

Although I have no experience with Aurender products I don’t think you could go wrong with a 4 TB Samsung SSD, especially the "EVO" version. The somewhat less expensive "QVO" version just comes with a 3 year warranty, as opposed to the 5 year warranty of the EVO. Also, while it may not matter the QVO is rated for considerably fewer lifetime writes than the EVO (1440 TB vs. 2400 TB).

Unfortunately, though, the Samsung 4 TB EVO SSD costs $600 at B&H or Newegg, my go-to places for such things.

Best regards,
-- Al

More to discover