An average CD reader when it comes to speed but with decent CD error correction. The Sony also has decent DVD error correction and good reading speed with pressed single layer DVDs. Its reading speed with double layer discs or DVD±R/RW is low. It could have been considered as a better than average drive some time back, but now...At least the ripping speed is good.

According to our DAE tests, the drive showed good performance and a perfect score in the Nero CD Speed Advanced DAE test. It managed to read the 99min test disc but it failed with the 90min. Apart from this, the Sony DRU-800A won't let you down when it comes to reading and ripping CDS200 and Key2Audio protected AudioCDs.

It can handle game protection schemes only up to the usual level. Safedisc protected games with version newer than 2.8 are a problem for the drive. There are some software programs, such as Blindwrite which might help you to do it but in this case, it would be mostly the contribution of the software and not the drive's chipset.

The CD writing quality of the Sony is much dependent on the inserted media. There were cases where we saw good writing quality while other times quite appalling. However, recording at 48X speed is not the best choice and this applies to just about all the burners on the market.

We burned 35 different DVD single layer media from all formats and at all supported speeds. Although the error levels were low with PlexTools, in most cases CDSpeed had a different idea about the quality. The writing quality was good only in a very few cases while in most cases it was average. We expect most of these cases will be fixed with a newer firmware upgrade.

The drive hopefully supports booktype setting for all the plus format media and this can be done with almost all the available utilities. Hence its ability to measure the writing quality with CD/DVD media as well as to be set as region free are an advantage. We would also like it if we could read the drive's firmware media support list with Omnipatcher.

The retail package is very good but a couple of blank media would be welcome. Its retail price at the time of the review was US$115 from Newegg.com and US$122 from Amazon.com, which is rather high.

- The Good

• Decent CD/DVD error correction
• Supports protected Audio discs (CDS200, Key2Audio)
• Can overburn up to 99mins
• Region free utilities
• Can be used for DVD media error measurements
• Supports Booktype setting

- The Bad

• Doesn't accurately backup SafeDisc2 v2.9x+ protected discs
• Doesn't support DVD overburning
• CD writing quality at 48X with specific media

- Like to be fixed

• DVD writing quality for sure

 

Retail Package
Reading
Error Correction
Protected Discs
Writing
Features