X-bit labs

Five DVD-ROM Drives Roundup (page 16)

Category: Storage

by Andrey Kuznetcov

[ 09/03/2005 | 10:09 AM ]

Exact Audio Copy

The second audio-extraction program we use in our tests differs from Nero CD DAE in allowing the user to enable specific hardware features of the optical drive to achieve the maximum possible quality.

Before extracting audio tracks we used the Drive Options menu to determine the hardware characteristics of the drives. Besides the general report about the drive’s properties, we used the bad audio CD prepared in Nero CD-DVD Speed to determine the drive’s ability to process C2 errors. Then we switched the most effective Secure Mode on and extracted audio tracks from the same disc as in the Nero CD DAE test, converting them into WAV-files.

ASUS DVD-E616P3

Plextor PX-130A

Sony DDU1615

Sony DDU1622

Toshiba SD-M2012

The screenshots tell us that the Sony DDU1622 and the Toshiba SD-M2012 do not support caching. The latter drive doesn’t also report C2 errors. The ASUS DVD-E616P3 is considerably slower than the other optical drives at ripping the test disc. The Plextor and the Sony DDU1622 are the fastest here, differing little between each other.