Are all USB sticks equal for music files (sound wise) ?

[bmichels]

A strange thing I noticed today: on the back of my MarkLevinson 519 DAC there is 2 sockets to put USB Stick with music files.

And... the files stored in an old 64 GB stick ( Corsair) sound better than the same stored in a brand new 1 TB stick!?!

Is it my ears playing tricks on me or is it possible? (Maybe to reach 1 TB they do weird hardware/firmware manipulations?)

—> Are there some usb stick ( and memory card) brands recommended for storing/playing music files ?

(It was a time SONY had released a special memory card for its walkmans. 2 times more expensive than the others and of course…. I didn't believe it at all...)

Last edited: 17 minutes ago

 

[VNandor]

Everything makes a difference, no difference is small enough to be unnoticed by audiophiles, if you hear a difference there is a difference, if you don't hear a difference but someone else does, there is a difference, your gear or ears are just not good enough, and so on.

 

[XTF1]

I would not recommend the obscure, super cheap brands, beyond that, I don’t know.

the files stored in an old 64 GB stick ( Corsair) sound better than the same stored in a brand new 1 TB stick!?!

What made you conclude that the brand was the issue and not the size, 64 GB vs. 1 TB?

 

[bmichels]

I would not recommend the obscure, super cheap brands, beyond that, I don’t know.


What made you conclude that the brand was the issue and not the size, 64 GB vs. 1 TB?

I Include nothing. For me it may be the size or the brand… I just want to know if someone else experienced this or has advices.

 

[2leftears]

Nope.

I have tried different USB sticks. They either work, or they don't.

I've not heard any differences in sound.

The only very noticeable difference is that some are much slower to write to than others, but in terms of reading & playback all I have tried either work fine, or they don't work at all.

Some that were giving intermittent playback problems were simply fixed by removing the USB stick and reinserting it again; probably a dirty/dodgy contact.

 

[Diet Kokaine]

I would not recommend the obscure, super cheap brands, beyond that, I don’t know.


What made you conclude that the brand was the issue and not the size, 64 GB vs. 1 TB?

I’ve come across discussions claiming that USB drives from different manufacturers can subtly alter audio quality. While it seems counterintuitive at first glance, I’m inclined to think design factors could play a role. Electrical noise, power delivery quirks, or shielding inconsistencies might create tiny but audible differences in high-resolution setups. After all, audio is full of surprises—I’ve tested phenomena that defied my expectations, too. Wouldn’t write this one off without deeper investigation

 

[XTF1]

I’ve come across discussions claiming that USB drives from different manufacturers can subtly alter audio quality. While it seems counterintuitive at first glance, I’m inclined to think design factors could play a role. Electrical noise, power delivery quirks, or shielding inconsistencies might create tiny but audible differences in high-resolution setups. After all, audio is full of surprises—I’ve tested phenomena that defied my expectations, too. Wouldn’t write this one off without deeper investigation

I’m not suggesting to write it off… @bmichels reported sound differences between two sd, from two different brands, and two different sizes. But then asked for brand recommendations…
I was just curious about how the brand, not the size, was deemed to be the culprit.