In the following tests, we check the drive's behavior when it comes to reading scratched / defective discs. The test discs we use are the ABEX series from ALMEDIO.

- ABEX TCD-721R

The first thing to notice here is the maximum error loudnes level which is at 013.3.dB(A). This in itself is not so unusual as many drives will hit a peak somewhere around there. What is bad, is that around the 32 minute mark where it hits its first high peak, it remains consistently high hovering around -24 dB. At such a prolonged, high level, it is no wonder we get a very high total error count of 5,175,453 and correspondingly high muting sample errors and skipped samples. The total result score of 55.3 out of 100 is a very poor score.

- ABEX TCD-726

The behavior of drive was much better in this case where it managed to correct the disc's errors accurately. The result was a perfect 100.

- 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 ability to read music and reproduce it completely. Five tracks on the disc contain a sequence of progressively difficult tests. These tracks are referred as Check Level -1 through Check Level -5.

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

The drive passed only the first three Check Levels of the test. The performance reveals average sound reproduction and error correction. The fourth and the fifth levels include an error size of 1.125mm and 1.500mm respectively, and the drive produced continues audible clicks over those tracks.

- Conclusion

The performance of the Memorex F16 was average although with the ABEX TCD-721R disc, it was amongst the worst we have seen.