Here we will be measuring the DAE ( Digital Audio Extraction) speed and comparing the results between the drives. The measurements were made with Nero CD-DVD speed utility and the results are listed on the following tables...

With both pressed and CDR media, four out of eight drives managed to achieve maximum extraction speed. The BenQ, LiteOn, Plextor and Samsung drives reached all the way up to 40X and reported and average speed of 36.72X with Pressed CD (BenQ) and 36.56X with CDR media (LiteOn-Plextor), which are the highest average speeds in the comparison.

- Advanced DAE Quality

Here, the graphs were split in two and in the first graph we have the reported Quality Score, while in the second graph we have the Average speed - both values reported by the Nero CD DVD Speed Advanced DAE Quality test.

All drives except for the NEC, managed to achieve a 100 quality score according to CD DVD speed DAE tool, while the fastest drive proved to be the LiteOn 1693S with an average speed of 33.29X.

In the following table we can see some of the features for each drive as reported by Nero CD speed advanced DAE Quality test, and 90/99 min audio disc ripping capabilities.

Overall

All drives performed well in this series of tests. Best average speed came with the BenQ, LiteOn, Plextor and Samsung drives with pressed and CD media while only BenQ, Plextor and LiteOn drives managed to achieve highest speeds in the second test. 90/99 min audio discs were not successfully ripped by all drives, while the Samsung drive was the only one capable of ripping both media.