Ricoh MP7163A CD-RW

Review Pages

1. Features
2. Data Tests
3. RW reading tests
4. DAE Tests
5. CDR Tests
6. RW Writing Tests
7. Conclusion

Ricoh MP7163A IDE CDR-W - Page 7

Conclusion

Positive (+):

Negative (-):

- Supports 16x writing (CLV) speed
- "JustLink" anti-coaster technology
- "JustSpeed" media quality detection system
- Good data reading performance
- Very Good Seek times
- Very good DAE quality with scratched CDs
- Supports HS-RW standard (10x re-write)
- Supports DAO-RAW
- Supports reading/writing of SubChannel Data
- Supports CD-Text (writing)
- Supports Overburning (up to 99mins)
- Supports Ultra-DMA 33 connection interface
- Very quite tray operation

- Bad CloneCD reading performance with SD1/2 protected CDs
- Doens't support reading of CD-Text
- Fair packet reading/writing performance
- Failed to backup SD2 protected CDs

Ricoh's MP7163A has only one competitor with the name AOpen CRW1632. Both drives have the exact same specifications and someone possibly expected to have the same performance also. This did not confirmed in all tests. Both drives have similar performance in some cases, but also are very different in others.

In short words, Ricoh seem faster when writing CDs, by a few seconds, have better DAE quality but have also problems. The drive's CloneCD performance is not very good when reading SD1/2 protected CDs, doesn't support reading of SubChannel data and seems slower in some tests. Both drives support "JustLink" and "JustSpeed" technologies and cannot produce working SD2 backups.

So which one is better? The Ricoh or AOpen drive? The price would possible be the final decision. The AOpen can be found at the price of 84$ and as for the Ricoh we would estimate as the same price tag. The real question now is why buy one of the above recorders, when with extra 7$ you can have a 20x (either Ricoh or AOpen) CD-RW drive? ;-)