I’ve been using these for the best part of 4-5 years now
Both disks are still giving 100% life and health results. Excellent SSDs IMHO.
I’ve been using these for the best part of 4-5 years now
Both disks are still giving 100% life and health results. Excellent SSDs IMHO.
5 star rating on Amazon US - rare to see that.
You can get both the PRO’s & the EVO’s on Amazon UK but the price difference is huge. I went with the EVO’s as that was what I’d been recommended & they’ve given no problems.
My back-ups are kept on SanDisk portables & again they’ve given no problems either.
I had recent communication regarding my K40 with Mark Cole, during which he happened to mention Antipodes had tried a new SSD with positive result. Digressing for a moment, I had always found the K40 sound in my system to be a bit lean and the soundstage not as expansive as I would like. Since purchasing the K40 a couple years ago, I had been using for internal storage a Samsung 860 EVO SSD, which is a very good client-class drive. Mark suggested I try the newly released Samsung PM893 SSD, which is an enterprise class drive. These enterprise drives do cost more and are intended for use in server centres, for example. I was dubious, but I bought the new SSD. I can tell you - the PM893 is transformative in my system.
My K40 is performing in a stellar fashion and in a way not experienced before. I would describe the sound as fuller, smoother, more analogue and tube-like, better bass, sweet highs, and depth and breadth of soundstage improved. I am able to “hear into the music” to a greater degree than was the case previously with the 860 EVO. It is NOT a subtle change. I had to share my experience with my fellow Antipodes forum friends. Happy listening!!
Thanks for sharing, at least worth a try.
Indeed the Samsung PM893 SSD is the new standard for best playback from local files.
So can we make the K50 / Oladra etc copy our old SSD to a new one?
If swapping out, you will need to back up externally, everyone should have an external back up tho
I use the 860 EVO drives so I wish you hadn’t experienced this. The PM893 sure is pricey. I hope that the magic will eventually trickle down to their more affordable drives.
I have been doing some research as well on this matter. I have a Samsung 860 Pro SSD of 4TB and I need another disk, but I want it to be 8TB
I know that the Samsung EVO QVO is an option but I am not sure about its durability.
I found the PM893 in 7.6TB and the PM883 in 8TB which are enterprise grade and as such very reliable (for sure a lot more expensive) but they are Triple Level Cell and I understand that Multi Level Cell is better.
Was anyone able to compare some of these different options? Where they tested by Antipodes?
@rkalmeijer I did not experiment with any other enterprise SSDs. Perhaps Mark Cole or someone else has. I do know that in Samsung’s newest line-up, they also have enterprise SSDs PM897 and PM9A3, each with varying specs. The PM897, PM9A3, and PM893 all have “VNAND 3bit MLC” (Triple Level Cell) according to Samsung’s spec sheets. It is my understanding that the PM883 has been superseded by the new PM893.
The PM893 has been tested at our facility at proven to be both very reliable and the best sounding we have used to date.
Thanks. I recently bought the Samsung 960 Pro SSD 4TB. I hope (looking at the price) this is comparable in quality to the PM893?
The 960 Pro is still a consumer drive. It will be more durable than their other consumer drives, but a league below their enterprise drives.
Ordered the PM893 8TB and put the other one on eBay…
@rkalmeijer you probably did the right thing, but there is more to the equation. Please keep us posted. I will try PM893 too (not available here for now).
Memory of better quality will make an audible difference resulting in more black backgrounds, huge space rendition and a more natural musicians performance. Whether it be the SSD (SATA), the M2. SSD (NVMe or PCIe) or RAM.
Each is responsible for a different part of handling the music files. In my experience upgrading NVMe and RAM have an even higher impact than the SATA SSD. In other words where music file processing takes place and where the operating system resides as opposed to where the music files reside.
Different players/streamers can sound different with the same type memory and can benefit more or less. Connection types (cables, SATA, NVMe or PCIe and so on) also play an important role so this quickly becomes complicated and a trial and error. As Mark explained, they tested the PM893 on Antipodes devices so they know what they were ‘hearing’ for.
So as long as your Samsung 960 Pro SSD 4TB is not sold on ebay, just listen to both to make up your mind. 960 Pro has MLC NAND, and I know for a fact that 970 PRO with MLC NAND is considered very, very good for music. Unfortunately with the 980 PRO it became a TLC drive.
For example SLC (Single Level Cell) type with low latency and excellent endurance is considered the top performer as are also wide temperature and industrial grade memory types. SATA is a noisier , less direct connection than NVMe or PCIe. Usually disabling SATA in bios improves sound quality (not possible here but if you have a loose SATA cable connected at least remove it). Probably with SATA connection you can not get the best out of the drive. Memory fed by external power can sound even better (like the SSD in the example below). So you have to try, compare and hear for yourself.
To give you an idea where you can expect improvement please take a look at this image that compares different M2. NVMe SSD types and their respective performance regarding different sound quality parameters. This type SSD (NVMe) can NOT be installed in Antipodes servers/players (or for now at least? )
Image taken from Revelation Audio SSD | Zzyzx
SLC( Single Level Cell) flash is so called for it’s single bit that can either be on or off when charged. This type of flash has the advantage of being the most accurate when reading and writing data, and also has the benefit of lasting the longest data read and write cycles.
MLC (Multi level cell) stores multi bits of data on one cell. The big advantage of this is the lower cost of manufacturing versus manufacturing SLC flash.
TLC (Triple Level Cell) Storing 3 bits per cell, TLC flash is the cheapest form of flash to manufacture. The biggest disadvantage to this type of flash is that it is only suitable for consumer usage, and would not be able to meet the standards for industrial use. Read/write life cycles are considerably shorter at 3,000 to 5,000 cycles per cell.
Thanks for the elaborate post. The Pro disk is already gone Anyway it is better for me to have a bigger disk, so now I have it.
When I look at the spider graph, I am very pressed. Can people actually hear so precisely? I get what you say about RAM and NVMe but I will not open the K41. Might try at some point on the Pink Faun though.
I agree about the spider graph details. It is the first time i saw a comparison chart like this. I would love to see one for all the SSDs! I am aware it is made to sell the M2. SSD and show that it is better on every level compared to others (on two different websites various M2. SSD users did confirm it’s stunning performance though and most (all?) of them installed only the OS on it).
But I suppose you get the idea what we hear in a SSD (!) and the graph perfectly illustrates how different each SSD can sound (ok, possibly more subtle than the graph shows). Also I definitely do not want to encourage anyone to try in Antipodes servers except for the easy swappable SATA ssd.
Thank you, PaulW, for your information. In light of that, it would be very interesting if anyone has done an A/B comparison of the Samsung 860PRO 2-bit MLC versus the PM893 with 3-bit TLC. Perhaps Antipodes’ Mark Cole has compared sound quality of these two drives side-by-side?
I doubt they did an (extensive) comparison because until today Antipodes design does/did not seem to focus on for example independent power supply and SATA connection with a better quality cable for SSD. Or avoiding SATA at all, using other connections like PCIe and so on.
The HSL50 and HSL80 series up to 3 power supplies per unit are excellent and contributing greatly to performance of the standard Adata RAM and Adata SSD (wide temperature). They are both installed in my S30 and I suspect same type are also installed in higher end servers/players. Maybe a user can confirm?
I wrote here before:
It seems (to me) Antipodes do not believe in OR do not experience improvement with fuse upgrades, separate regulated power for SSD (or other components) or better inner cabling or RAM. Possibly Antipodes board (and OS) design avoids common problems by good design that by other brands can be (partially) resolved with upgrades.
The current testing of a better SSD is promising.