NAS RAID Configurations sound different? My experience:

Kingsrule

Kingsrule

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May 11, 2014
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I just redid my NAS drive and the sonic changes are very interesting.....

I have been using for the past few years:

QNAP TS453Pro with 4x4Tb hd's formatted in RAID 5. Firmware version 4.3.3.0262. Only music files on the NAS. I have had one drive fail in approx 600 days of use. I never turn it off and have it plugged into a APC UPS good for 14 hours of running without ac. I do every firmware update so the NAS is periodically rebooted. In reading about RAID configurations, I decided it wasn't worth the risk of not being here if a drive goes down and specifically if 2 go down as that would lose all data with RAID 5. So for the last few days I did a full backup of my music files (having 2 just in case!) and reformatted the NAS to RAID 10.

So, observations:

1. Roon is snappier
2. When shuffling in Roon, the Vivaldi changes tracks of different resolutions much faster. And so far no lock ups! (Previously, it would sometimes lock up in shuffle mode)
3. But here's the biggest bonus: everything sounds better. Bass has more punch and detail, width to width across sound field more defined, images more defined. More dynamic. More air. Louder and more dynamic with the same volume setting...did I say more dynamic twice? U bet!

Nothing, other than the reformat has changed in my system
So what is the reason for the changes?
Either its the way RAID 10 delivers the files, interacts with the network/ Roon core, there was something buggy with my original RAID 5 system on the NAS, or the recopying of the music files did something. I'm thinking its the way RAID 10 delivers the files

In any case its like I just got a new component. For context, its a bigger change than any new cable or PC might bring...it is huge!
 
I believe the reason that you are seeing the snappier response with RAID 10 is due to gain in read and write speed over RAID 5. The reason for the speed gain is due to multiple heads that read and write, along with no longer the need to generate parity information and writing that out to the disk for recovery. Did you have a designated spare with RAID 5? If the answer is no, than you just lost ~4tb of disk storage by converting. Something to keep an eye on it for future when if you are running close to the storage capacity. Hopefully, you have a backup copy of your music outside of the NAS also.
 
shadowlight

Good points
I know what the differences between RAID 5 and 10..storage is cheap, loss is not
And as I said, I backed up twice just to be safe.....I usually backup monthly

Any idea why RAID 10 sounds better?
 
Fiber from NAS to audio
Total isolation exactly the same config when I ran RAID 5
 
Apart from fiber, are you saying that your NAS is on a different, isolated power line from your audio?
(sorry, EN isn't my main language and I want to be sure to understand)
 
Kingsrule said:
shadowlight

Good points
I know what the differences between RAID 5 and 10..storage is cheap, loss is not
And as I said, I backed up twice just to be safe.....I usually backup monthly

Any idea why RAID 10 sounds better?
Click to expand...

The only thing that I can think off is the resource required to read and write RAID 10 v/s 5. RAID 10 is faster.
 
Only music files on the NAS? Besides read/write throughput of RAID10 when you recopied your files back to the drive they would have been written in contiguous sectors, further improving speed of access. (Just a hunch, depending on how they were originally copied on to the NAS.)
 
bibo01 said:
Apart from fiber, are you saying that your NAS is on a different, isolated power line from your audio?
(sorry, EN isn't my main language and I want to be sure to understand)
Click to expand...


Yes. With UPS
 
Kingsrule said:
Yes. With UPS
Click to expand...
As far as i know a UPS protects your hardware from power source fails and voltage spikes, Most UPS do not provide protection from noise of other devices. Most of all is the other way around: is your audio system running on a different power rail from your NAS? Is your audio system isolated from what a NAS can inject into the line?
 
I think your question is irrelevant here. But to answer yes and yes

As I stated, nothing changed except the reformat of the NAS
 
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