PleXWriter PX-W4012A IDE CDR-W - Page 5

DAE Tests

- Test Method

We used CD DAE 99 v0.3 beta and EAC v0.9 beta 2 softwares 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 features. The drive does "Caching" data, supports "Accurate Stream" and includes "C2" error info.

- Pressed AudioCD results

AOpen CRW3248 supports up to 48x DAE ripping. The drive's average DAE speed was 35.3X outperforming the competition. PleXWriter PX-W4012A comes second with 30.1X, CyberDrive CW058D follows with 29.5X and LiteOn LTR-32123S is very close with 29.3X.

- CDR AudioCD results

AOpen CRW3248 doesn't have any problems ripping with the very good 35.4X from CDR media. The LiteOn LTR-32123S improves its reading speed and now reaches almost 30X (29.7X) while PleXWriter PX-W4012A gives exactly the same performance. CyberDrive follows with 29.4X and Mitsumi/Philips has the same performance (28.4X):

- EAC Secure Extract Ripping mode

After many requests from numerous visitors we have added the EAC's secure extract ripping mode results, which ensures maximum produced WAV quality. Note that 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. None of the five drives produced any errors during the Nero CD Speed Advanced DAE test. Aopen CRW3248 was faster with 35.32X and PleXWriter PX-W4012A gets the second position with 29.89X.

- Ricoh 74min 24x certified (made with Plextor PX-W2410A)

With Ricoh 74min 24x certified media, Nero CDSpeed Advanced DAE test showed that Plextor PX-W4012A produced data errors while simulating an on the fly copy. Also, the software stated that Plextor couldn't read CD Text… We decided to repeat the test with different media (Taiyo Yuden 74min 24x certified), as shown below, with better results:

- 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 AOpen. The drive lowered its reading speed down to 8x and managed to produce the lower reading errors at this roundup. The CyberDrive CW058D comes second with much higher errors but a low overall error rate. Plextor PX-W4012A was also fast but it produced a high amount of errors (11.46%)! We must note that the drive had problems recognize the test disc. After several re-tries the drive did managed to read the disc contents so we completed this test.

- Ripping 90 and 99mins AudioCDs

The drive recognizes both 90/99min AudioCDs without any problems. However it will stop reading at around 94mins.

- Reading/Ripping Protected AudioCDs

For the test procedure we used 3 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)
* CDR AudioCD protected with Cactus Data Shield (CDS100) - made with Clone Audio Protector v1.1 (adding 30 secs lead-out)

The Plextor PX-W4012A can "handle" protected CDs with the right software/settings. The drive will rip contents of Key2Audio/CDS200 discs with EAC 0.9beta 2. In order to rip CDS200 discs, you will have to use EAC's "Detect TOC Manually" option, "Burst" reading mode and "Read Command D8". If you use the "Secure" mode, the drive rips contents at almost 0X.