Conclusion

I can’t honestly name any definite winners or losers of our today’s tests. Some drives were better in one test, but poorer in the next one. In fact, we had a competition between two major manufacturers of optical drives, LITE-ON and Pioneer. I’d like to note that we had devices of two generations (with DVD±R burn speeds of 4x and 8x) and this had an impact on the results in some tests.

Considering the small price difference (about $10) between these two categories of drives, the faster devices seem more appealing to the end-user since they allow considerably saving the time on burning discs. The Sony DW-U18A model features the fastest speed characteristics among the drives we have tested today. It also confidently went through all the tests (save for Nero Advanced DAE Quality Test with a scratched CD). Its hardware characteristics allow making precise audio copies from Audio CDs. I guess it can be recommended to any user, especially if we recall the ease of disabling its regional protection.

On the other hand, the other three high-speed models – ASUS DRW-0804P, Pioneer DVR-107D and TEAC DV-W58G – were just a little worse, or sometimes even better. In this case, minor factors like the availability of a digital audio output, headphones socket, design or loyalty to any particular manufacturer may affect your choice of a DVD-burner.