Synology Diskstation DS213 Air NAS Review

We take the issue of noise very seriously at KitGuru, and as such we took meter readings with our Pyle PSPL25 Sound Level Meter from 1 meter away. Of course, our HDD's will, under load, be contributing to most of the sound. As the fan can be controlled via the software we set it to ‘quiet mode'.

As this can be a little confusing for people, here are various dBa ratings in with real world situations to help describe the various levels.

KitGuru noise guide
10dBA – Normal Breathing/Rustling Leaves
20-25dBA – Whisper
30dBA – High Quality Computer fan
40dBA – A Bubbling Brook, or a Refridgerator
50dBA – Normal Conversation
60dBA – Laughter
70dBA – Vacuum Cleaner or Hairdryer
80dBA – City Traffic or a Garbage Disposal
90dBA – Motorcycle or Lawnmower
100dBA – MP3 player at maximum output
110dBA – Orchestra
120dBA – Front row rock concert/Jet Engine
130dBA – Threshold of Pain
140dBA – Military Jet takeoff/Gunshot (close range)
160dBA – Instant Perforation of eardrum

The DS213 Air is almost silent when idle. When you load the drives the fan spins up to counter the rising internal temperatures. You certainly wouldn't notice this device running against the noise of a standard desktop computer, for instance.

The Hard Drive temperatures tend to sit at around 26/27 degrees C when under general every day operation, and only increase to 31c when you start copying files across. These temperatures are certainly very good, especially when you consider the noise level output is also low.

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