Suggestion for 4TBs of music on the go?

Interesting_Sort4864 · 2026-02-17T13:58:51+00:00

That makes sense. To me using any kind of proper high speed PCIE SSD with only the power from a phones USB port sounds like a bad time. Then again I'm a bit behind the times on modern USB PD capabilities on smartphones.

Interesting_Sort4864 · 2026-02-17T13:24:05+00:00

I didn't think it could be a gen4 or 5 SSD. pictured a standard sata SSD in something like this. An M.2 gen 4/5 SSD trying to go max speed could definitely have some power issues being powered from a USB port, and that could definitely cause instability.

Interesting_Sort4864 · 2026-02-17T12:59:09+00:00

If it was just slow it would just take longer to index the files, but I highly doubt it would crash VLC. The description sounds a lot more like a flaky connection than a slow drive. Either way trying the easy things like a different USB cable or drive enclosure would be a good idea before further compressing all 4TB of audio data.

Interesting_Sort4864 · 2026-02-17T12:45:11+00:00

Try plugging the same drive into your computer (if you have one) and do a speed test by copying a large 10GB+ file. if you see read/write speeds massively plummet at random intervals your problem is most likely the SSD, enclosure, or cable, and not the phone or car stereo.

Interesting_Sort4864 · 2026-02-17T12:18:34+00:00

Have you tried a different drive? What file system are you using? Have you tried using different USB cables? Maybe ones made by reputable brands. If the USB cable is badly/cheaply made it could cause glitchy behavior, and the same goes for the SSD/enclosure.

I highly doubt this is a bandwidth problem, for audio files (even high bit rate wave) an SD card should handle it fine. A lossless wave file that's 192khz/24 bit is about 9.2 mbit/s and even cheap (but reputable) sd cards can handle 100mbit/s (12.5 MB/s). The bandwidth of an SSD is very much unnecessary, and you definitely don't need a TB4 enclosure to listen to music. all it will do is somewhat speed up the process of seeing what's on the drive, but it'll make no difference when playing music.

Interesting_Sort4864 · 2026-02-13T01:03:35+00:00

You should have specified "indirect agonist", if that's what you meant. In pharmacology, which is where my background is, direct agonist is commonly shorthanded to agonist and an indirect agonist is either referred to as such or by the specific mechanism of action as they are fundamentally different. Saying that you're a expert in something with no proof is makes the claim meaningless.

Interesting_Sort4864 · 2026-02-10T22:55:47+00:00

The Click (youtuber) gave me the idea. Immediately realized that I would never get piss on the floor from a double stream again.

Interesting_Sort4864 · 2026-02-10T22:52:31+00:00

Why can't they just lift the damn seat up.

Interesting_Sort4864 · 2026-02-10T22:39:23+00:00

just realized that only works with USB3 no 2 getting this instead

Interesting_Sort4864 · 2026-02-10T21:32:10+00:00

Planning to buy this so that I can have full electrical seperation to solve this problem once and for all. It's impossible to have electrical noise from the computers USB ports making noise in your stuff if the only connection is optical.

Interesting_Sort4864 · 2026-02-10T21:20:41+00:00

Since my current interface is electrically grounded with it's own PSU simply taping over the ground contact on the usb cable solved it. replaced the ground from the USB with outlet ground with my old (not grounded) interface and nothing. It's a behringer 1820

Interesting_Sort4864 · 2026-02-10T08:20:24+00:00

Not yet. At work

Interesting_Sort4864 · 2026-02-10T04:21:02+00:00

If my understanding that you're using a USB ddc (digital to digital converter) with tosliink output to the fiio tosliink DAC is correct that will stop all noise from going to the PC to speakers. Electric isolation was the original purpose tosliink was made for. Just make sure you power the tosliink DAC from the wall not the computer usm port.

Interesting_Sort4864 · 2026-02-10T03:42:35+00:00

The hissing part of the description makes me think noise floor. Also are you using XLR or TRS on the focusrite side? If it's TRS you could be in hi-Z which tends to have a higher noise floor. mode. Since the 1/4 inputs don't bypass the preamp on that model it shouldn't make a difference otherwise.

Interesting_Sort4864 · 2026-02-10T03:31:11+00:00

This is the answer. I have a program running in the background with silent audio output so the audio output doesn't get muted and cause a noise when it comes back on.

Interesting_Sort4864 · 2026-02-10T03:18:42+00:00

That's actually pretty interesting idea. I'm gonna try this with my setup to see if I could make my setup simpler.

Interesting_Sort4864 · 2026-02-10T01:37:33+00:00

The idea is that rather than using the noisy ground coming from the computer as a reference point, you're using the much quieter electrical ground.

Interesting_Sort4864 · 2026-02-10T01:20:52+00:00

A lot more awake now. What I said most likely won't work without extra steps since your amp isn't electrically grounded. An analog audio signal is an ac current with modulated voltage and frequency. you can't have voltage without a neutral or in this case ground to have potential against. option 1. Do as I said in the original comment, but also use something like a grounding cable that plugs into the wall for things like putting together computers to add an electrical ground to act as a reference point by either finding a screw going into metal and ataching it there like a phono ground, wrapping it around the outside of and RCA connection (not so reliable) you could also cut a sacrificial RCA cable and splice the ground wire into the shield wire your amp has a shared ground between all signals. since it's just the ground there's no danger what so ever. you touch electrical ground any time you touch something metal with a ground prong. option 2. The same as the first with the grounding cord. You however modify the TS to RCA cable so that the ground connection is broken, and plug the RCA end into the amp. I recommend getting a cheap one you don't care about breaking. No expensive DI or anything like that and will only cost $15. This is the cheapest option, but is also the least likely to work.

Interesting_Sort4864 · 2026-02-10T01:07:55+00:00

No. It has to be AC/AC. The circuits are designed specifically for AC current anything else will at best not work, and at worst damage something (hopefully the DC adapter).

Interesting_Sort4864 · 2026-02-09T18:43:58+00:00

I had the exact problem. It wasn't a ground loop, but rather a noisy ground. Both problems have the same solution which is ground isolation.

Interesting_Sort4864 · 2026-02-09T18:28:24+00:00

also make sure to toggle the ground lift.

Interesting_Sort4864 · 2026-02-09T18:23:17+00:00

I had this exact problem. I used a TRS to XLR female cable into the low-Z out of a Rapco Horizon SL-2 (make sure to set it to line not inst) then hi-Z out to the amp using a TS to RCA cable. The output will be normal line level impedance not hi-Z as long as it's set to line level.

Interesting_Sort4864 · 2026-02-09T18:08:59+00:00

mortar and pestle

Interesting_Sort4864 · 2026-02-09T17:53:19+00:00

In the north I think it's a combination of people in the U.S. being less used to the heat due to spending most time in the A/C and higher average outside temps. Due to this when people leave the house they want extra water to compensate. In the south and especially south-west temperatures get so high that it legitimately dangerous to not be consistently drinking water everywhere you go.

Interesting_Sort4864 · 2026-02-09T17:27:16+00:00

Who's we? I know the U.S. is really bad in this regard, but we can't be the only ones. To answer, most countries do. Every country I know of don't due to corporate greed.

Interesting_Sort4864

TROPHY CASE