The (not so) hard drive
Image by JC Gellidon
7th July 2021
This is an update to the older article below, included as still fascinating, as the progress of digital ripped and served music continues unabated. When putting this new “musing” page together, I was struck by my discussion regarding "download digital" published many many years ago. The first hard drive digital experience was with something called Olive discussed below, an early music server that was pretty hopeless and clumsy by today’s standards but caught my attention because I could see the potential.
I have often said that it was Audio Note Japan and Kondo - san that showed me how wonderful music could sound in the home when conveyed properly by equipment that worked. I have since said that the only company that has had the same impact since is Computer Audio Design-CAD, for me they are the leaders in the delivery of digital of music.
Blog Entry from 2010…
I have never thought I would say it but music stored on hard drive seems to have many of the advantages (not all the advantages however) of vinyl. Or to put it in another way, some of the "nastys" associated with CD seems to be removed when music is stored and played back from hard drive.
I now regularly use (don't say this too loud!) the Red Wine modified iPod or the Olive, again modified by Red Wine.
I was minded to write this short article having spent the weekend listening to music from the hard drive off an Olive, via a 47Lab Gemini DAC, Mactone pre and power amplifier and into some Living Voice Avatar speakers, all strung together with Kondo interconnects and speaker cables. The point is that the music was reproduced in an entirely satisfying, lively and non-fatiguing way. This system isn't, of course, to coin a phrase "chopped liver" but in the world of audio it remains an "affordable" system.
As I have said before, the fact that Mactone is so little known is one of the great mysteries of audio. It sounds just so good, leading TAS to call it the "best kept secret in audio!"
The future of two channelled audio probably rests on its ability to reinvent itself after the desolate years of CD. The years after vinyl, which have been dominated by Red Book CD, have been a disaster. It is a nasty medium with nasty long term listening experiences associated with it. While LPs continue to delight some, the fact of the matter is more convenience is now required by most, and hard drive offers the way out from the horrors of CDs.
I don't download from iTunes (I am not sure I know how!) but instead I transfer my CDs onto hard drive. Why is it that the music is much more satisfying via a hard drive, having originally been placed there from a CD? The answer is… I have no idea! All I know is that a day listening on CD leaves me frustrated, while a day listening to music stored on hard drive does not. I encourage more of you to try it!
