In the following tests we check the drive's behaviour when reading scratched / defective audio discs. The test discs used were the ABEX series from ALMEDIO.

- ABEX TCD-721R

The total error count is extremely high while the maximum error loudness at -7.2 dB(A) is also extremely high and could lead to audible clicks. Generally, most drives record levels that will produce the odd spike reaching into the teens. The ASUS drive manages to hover consistently around -12dB and this has led to high muting sample errors and skipped samples. The total test result illustrates the poor performance in this test.

- ABEX TCD-726

The Abex TCD-726 test disc is much easier for drives in general to read. The ASUS DRW-1608P drive managed a score of 100.0 out of 100, which is excellent.

- CD-Check Audio Test Disc

The CD-Check Test Disc is a very useful tool for evaluating the Sound Reproduction / Error correction capabilities of a CD player. The disc offers a signal combination with disc error patterns to rate the drive's abilities to read music and reproduce it completely. Five tracks on the disc contain a sequence of progressively more difficult tests. These tracks are referred to as Check Level-1 through Check Level-5.

The tracks are being reproduced through a software multimedia player (i.e. Windows Media Player). Each level is considered as passed, if the tone is smooth, continuous without interruptions, skipping or looping. The higher the Check Level passed, the more reliable the sound reproduction of the tested drive.

These are the best results we have ever had from a drive with the Audio Test Disk, since not many drives manage to reproduce successfully the fifth track. Great performance.