48x CD-RW Combo Roundup Vol.1 - Page 10

DAE Tests

- Pressed and CDR AudioCD results

In this test we examine the DAE speed of the drives. The audioCD we used held 74:00 min of audio tracks.

Both drives are fast and support the 48X CAV speed for audio extraction. Optorite DC4801 was approximately 1X faster than the LiteOn drive. In addition, the drives were sightly slower when ripping the CD-R media.

- CDSpeed Advanced DAE Quality

LiteOn LTC48161H

Optorite DC4801

LiteOn and Optorite gave back the same quality score 100.0 (Perfect). On the advanced features tab, the software reports that both drives support reading of LeadIN/LeadOut data and CD text.

- Ripping 99mins AudioCDs

For this test we used an 99min audio disc and EAC. Both drives managed to rip all the contents of the disc without posting any errors.

- Reading/Ripping Protected AudioCDs

For the test procedure we used 2 protected AudioCDs, which we tested in both recognition and ripping (with EAC) processes:

* Pressed AudioCD with Sony Key2Audio (Celine Dion - New Day Has Come)

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

Optorite DC4801 manages to extract both Key2audio and Cactus Data Shield 200 audio protected discss without problems. On the other hand, LiteOn is able to recognize both discs but cannot extract the CDS200 contents. The Key2Audio protection was not a problem for the LiteOn drive.