They claim that this “audiophile” SSD improves audio quality

An NVMe SSD designed specifically for audiophiles? The last time any of this was heard was on the Audiophilestyle forums. Supposedly, the unit can increase audio quality and deliver true 3D sound along with an experience that only comes from vinyl … The truth is that the impact on audio quality that it may have is questionable, to say the least without insults and grievances …

The developer claims to have designed and built the device from scratch in close collaboration with an unidentified SSD controller manufacturer. The device shown in the picture has a controller for SSDs from Realtek, a company more than known for their sound processors even though they started making SSD controllers a few years ago.

The drive comes with 1TB of 3D TLC flash chips, but it only has 333GB of usable storage capacity. This is because the SSD is in pseudo-SLC (pSLC) mode, which trades usable capacity in favor of performance and endurance. It should be noted that there are already SSDs on the market that use pSLC modes for some tasks.

The manufacturer claims that using this mode increases sound quality, surpassing the standard TLC mode.

According to the manufacturer in TLC mode: The music sounds bad, as in the background, without power, everything is flatter, lacks extension and density. In pSLC mode: there is a very special natural feeling, the sound becomes softer and quieter, the density increases slightly and, in general, it is more resistant to hearing ”.

As for the rest of the unit’s features, it comes with a Crystek CCHD-957 oscillator, two Audionote Kaisei 220uf capacitors, an external 5V DC power input, an eight-layer PCB, 5u gold-plated connectors, and a heatsink. copper heat.

In addition, the manufacturer claims that this SSD works with an external power supply (the power does not come from the motherboard) to further improve the sound quality. You can see the power connector in the lower left corner of the device.

Apparently some units were sent to various forum members, many of whom “lost contact” with the manufacturer after receiving the product. However, one of the users left some comments about the device, saying: “I am still testing the unit. The initial impressions are positive, it is nice to start the operating system very quickly. “

Clearly looking at the forum a bit more, it appears that the experience with the SSD is based on the read / write and boot performance of an OS, and there are no actual measurements of sound quality for now.

Honestly, we highly doubt that the sophisticated contraption provide additional sound enhancements compared to a standard SSD. Regardless of technology, SSDs store data in binary 1’s and 0’s, which means you can only have 1’s and 0’s as data. Simply put, adding additional devices won’t change those 1’s or 0’s into something better.