40x CD-RW Roundup Vol 1 - Page 6

DAE Tests

- Test Method

We used CD DAE 99 v0.3 beta and EAC v0.9 beta 2 software in order to check the DAE performance of the drive with various AudioCDs (both pressed and CDR). The posted DAE results are the average of both applications. We made a full CD Rip starting from the first to the last track of the CD. The Average DAE reported speeds are displayed in the test graphs.

- DAE features

We used EAC v0.9 beta 2 to examine the drive(s) features:

- ASUS CRW4012

The drive doesn't "Caching" data, supports "Accurate Stream" and "C2" error info.

- LiteOn LTR-40125S/Cendyne Lighting III

The drives does "Caching" data, supports "Accurate Stream" and include"C2" error info.

- Pressed AudioCD results

LiteOn LTR-40125S is the faster reader at the 40x recording race with AudioCDs. The drive supports up to 48x (CAV) reading speed, and its average reading speed is 34X. Cendyne Lighting III comes second with 33.8X and ASUS CRW4012A third with 33.6X. PleXWriter PX-W4012A comes last with 30.1X:

- CDR AudioCD results

All the drives behaved the same in the CDR DAE test, as in the previous pressed CD test. Only PleXWriter PX-W4012A dropped its reading speed down to 29.7X:

- EAC Secure Extract Ripping mode

For each drive we used the build-in detection function:

- Advanced DAE Quality

All tested drives got a 100 score (best) in the Nero CD Speed Advanced DAE test. LiteOn LTR-40125S is the faster drive with 33.83X.

- ASUS CRW4012

The drive's average reading speed was 31.01X. As the following picture shows, the drive can read SubChannel Data/CD-Text and from the Lead-In area:

- LiteOn LTR-40125S

The drive's average reading speed was 33.83x and no errors were produced. As the following picture shows, the drive can read CD-Text/SubChannel Data and from Lead-In/Out area:

- Cendyne Lighting III

The drive's average reading speed was 33.21x and no errors were produced. As the following picture shows, the drive can read CD-Text/SubChannel Data and from Lead-In/Out area:

- Bad CDR Media results

Despite the fact that Nero CD Speed Advanced DAE test stretches drive's mechanism to the max, we decided to do real life tests with a scratched disc. The disc was dirty, and with some light scratches, enough in order cause problems to most of the tested drives. We used CD DAE 99 software to rip the whole disc (756539616 sectors) and the results were very interesting:

The best reader for this test comes from LiteOn. The drive, due to Smart-X reduced the reading speed and produced the lower total amount of errors. PleXWriter read the disc faster, but produces almost 12% reading errors. ASUS CRW4012A cannot recognize the disc, while Cendyne Lighting III stops reading the disc at 55%.

- Ripping 90 and 99mins AudioCDs

LiteOn/Cendyne/ASUS drives recognize both 90/99 min CDs without any problems.

- Reading/Ripping Protected AudioCDs

For the test procedure we used two protected AudioCDs, which we tested in both recognition and ripping (with CD DAE v0.3b/EAC v0.9 beta2) processes:

* Pressed AudioCD with Sony Key2Audio
* Pressed AudioCD with Cactus Data Shield 200 (Natalie Imbruglia - White Lilies Island)

The only drive that can rip protected AudioCDs comes from Plextor. The ASUS/LiteOn drives cannot recognize the Key2Audio disc contents and have problems ripping the CDS200 AudioCD.