CDR Tests

Sony CRX175A uses Z-CLV for achieving 24x writing speed. Below is a graph which represents the main differences of Sony implementation of Z-CLV writing technology compared to the fastest 24x Z-CLV recorder from Plextor. A quick look shows that the Sony drive shifts from 16x to 20x and to 24x later than the PleXWriter PX-W2410A. That means Sony''s total recording time would be higher than Plextor's. Our tests confirmed that claim but the maximum difference in times is no more than 4-5secs:

In the following table we can see the average writing speed of the TEAC CD-W524E, PleXWriter PX-W2410A, LiteOn LTR-24102B and Sony CRX175A, according to the Nero CD Speed:

Sony CRX175A gave an average writing speed of 22.40X, which is the best performance among the other drives shown above. However the compilation we wrote for the test with the Sony drive had a 79.59.00 sec length, (in an 80min cd), slightly smaller than the one we have used for testing the other drives. And that because the Sony CRX175A does not support overburning.

As the Sony CRX175A shifts its writing speed later than the PleXWriter PX-W2410A, it has lower rotation speeds which never exceed 8000rpm. Higher rotation speeds produces more noise but also give higher recording speeds.

- Procedure

We tested the Sony CRX175A with Nero v5.5.5.7, Ahead InCD v3.14, CloneCD v3.1.0.0 and, Padus DJ v3.50.799 software. We used various of media for performing our tests: Mitsubishi Chemicals 74/80min 24x certified, Mitsui 74min 24x certified, Taiyo Yuden 74/80min 24x certified, Ricoh 74min 24x certified and Ricoh's 74min HS-RW.

- 74min CD-R Tests

We created a "DataCD" job with data slightly more than 74mins (74:03:65). We burned the same job with all 4 CDR-W drives:

Sony does not seem to like writing at 16x and took 322 seconds to complete the task. However, it occupied the only the 9% of the CPU. The best performance in this test comes from Yamaha CRW3200 with 310 seconds.

In the above test we measured the writing time of four drives which support writing at 20x. The lowest writing time belongs to PlexWriter PX-W2410A. Sony CRX175A needs 268 seconds, a performance close to those from Liteon LTR-2410B and Aopen CRW2440.

This is the test you probably waiting the most. Sony did not manage to perform as the other drives, as shown above. The drive is slower than the competition and the answer may be the use of "PowerBurn" technology. We noticed that the drive spins up and down several times in the begining of the writing process in order to perform power calibration. This may have an affect in the writing time but possibly gives a higher quality result.. We will find it out in the C1 testing.

- 80min CD-R Tests

In our normal burning tests the 80min CD contains slightly more than 80min data (79:59.00 for the Sony CRX175A)

Sony CRX175A gave a good result and the 337 seconds it needed to finish writing is close to the competition. Also, Sony's CPU usage is very low. (9%)

Behaving as in the previous test, Sony does not give the best performance while writing at 20x, but gives a compatible result.

- Overburning Tests

Sony CRX175A does not support overburning. Users should have in mind that the data to be recorded should definitely fit in the cd they are using.

- CD-Text Results

Sanyo officially claims that the drive supports the CD-Text format. However we did not manage to write or read any audio cds with CD-Text. Nero Burning Rom produced an error when we tried to write an audio cd with cd-text in DAO mode.

- CloneCD Writing Tests

The CloneCD v3.1.1.0 reports that the drive supports the DAO-RAW and SAO features. We performed our usual tests and we confirmed that the drive supports fully the DAO-RAW writing mode (SafeDisc 1.0/2.0, LaserLock 1/2 and SecuROM 2) as well as the SAO mode.

- SD2 Support
For the SD2 test we used the "No One Lives For Ever", "Max Payne" and "Emperor Battle of Dune" game titles. We used the Sony CRX175A both as reader/writer. The produced backup worked partially, since it can work only in the same drive.

- Buffer Underrun tests

SONY CRX175A supports the "PowerBurn" anti-coaster technology which worked fine in any case of sudden buffer underrun.