The drive is based on Ricoh’s new RL5E946 chipset. It’s all very simple inside, without any noise-reducing and dust-proofing pads. The chips lack heat-conducting pads, too. This model seems to have been designed in the cheapest way possible.

The basic technical characteristics of the drive:

• CD-R write speeds: 48x (CAV), 40x, 32x, 24x (Z-CLV), 16x, 12x, 8x (CLV)
• CD-RW write speeds: 32x, 24x (Z-CLV), 16x, 12x, 10x, 4x (CLV)
• DVD write speeds:
  • DVD+R: 16x (CAV), 12x, 8x (Z-CLV), 4x, 2.4x (CLV)
  • DVD+RW: 4x, 2.4x (CLV)
  • DVD-R: 8x, 6x (Z-CLV), 4x, 2x (CLV)
  • DVD-RW: 4x, 2.4x (CLV)
  • DVD+R DL: 2.4x (CLV)
• DVD read speeds: 16x Max (DVD-ROM Single Layer), 8 Max (DVD-ROM Dual Layer), 12x Max (DVD±R), 8x Max (DVD±RW), 8x Max (DVD+R DL)
• CD-ROM read speeds: 48x Max (CD-ROM/CD-R), 32x Max (CD-RW)
• DAE speed: 48x Max
• Supported CD formats: CD-DA, CD-ROM, CD-ROM XA, CD-Extra, Video CD, Photo CD, CD-R, CD-RW, Multi-session, CD-I, CD-Text
• Supported CD disc formats: CD-Audio, CD-ROM, CD-ROM/XA, CD-R, CD-RW, Photo CD, Video CD, CD-Extra, CD-I, CD-Bridge, Hybrid-CD, CD-Text
• Supported DVD disc formats: DVD-ROM, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, DVD+R DL
• Supported CD burn modes: Disc At Once, Session At Once, Track At Once, Fixed and Variable Packet Writing
• Supported DVD burn modes: Disc At Once, Random Write (DVD+R/RW), Sequential Write (DVD+R/RW), Incremental (DVD-R/RW), Multi-Border (DVD-R/RW), Restricted Overwrite (DVD-RW)
• Buffer size: 2 megabytes
• Declared access time: 120 milliseconds with CDs and 140 milliseconds with DVDs

Nero InfoTool and DVDInfo report the following info about this device:

As I said at the beginning of the article, the AOpen DUW1608/ARR model belongs to the previous generation of optical drives. It can burn DVD+R DL media only at the lowest possible speed (2.4x) and doesn’t support the DVD-R DL format altogether. It can’t burn DVD-Rs at 16x and rewrites DVDs at 4x only. But still, the speed formula of this drive should be quite sufficient for a majority of home tasks. If the drive produces discs of high quality, that is. And I am going to check this parameter in my tests.