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

- ABEX TCD-721R

The error totals can be described as a bit high for this test although the maximum error loudness is acceptable. Overall, average performance with this test media.

- ABEX TCD-726

The 726 test media, is usually no problem for the majority of the tested drives. However in this case, we got readings that indicate poor CD error correction capabilities.

- 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 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.

With this test disc, the drive reported good results, managing to read flawlessly 4 tracks out of 5.

- Summary

The NEC ND-3540A is a bit of a mixed bag with CD error correction. The results with the ABEX TCD-721 and 726 disks were not the best we've seen but the CD Check disc was certainly better than average.