Audio Capture

The SOHW-1213S can return C2 errors, which the Plextor PX-712A can’t do. Besides that, the Lite-On can cache audio data, but this feature is of small practical use. The offset parameter is smaller with the Lite-On than with the Plextor PX-712A, but the average capturing speed is smaller, too. The drive can read the sub-channel data and Lead-in/out zones. The Lite-On read 64 sectors more than the Plextor from the Lead-In zone.

As for the time of real audio capturing, the Lite-On is faster in the Secure Mode and slower in other modes.

Lastly, one innovation: if the drive can return C2 errors, let’s try to see how well it does it. We’ll use the DAE Quality Test from the creator of the EAC program for this purpose. Using a special test disc it will allow us to evaluate the quality of returning C2 errors. Before showing you the results, here is an explanation on their meaning and associated terms:

Errors Total is the total of all erroneous reads during extraction of audio data. It includes areas of the disc where wrong reads go next to right ones.

Errors (Loudness) parameter shows the number of fast Fourier transforms. The maximal and minimal values are the difference of power between two signals. No acoustic model is applied when counting, so the numbers shown don’t necessarily result in audible errors.

Errors (Muting) is the error-masking value. When there are complex errors or error-masking (muting) technology is bad, the last sample read without errors is continued to when the next errorless sample appears. The first number is the total of mutes, followed by the average and maximum lengths of such samples, respectively.

Skips appear when there are sync failures and the drive has to reposition itself on the same or slightly different spot on the disc. Drives that don’t support Accurate Stream are prone to make sync errors.

This is about the first graph and the DAE Quality Test table. Let’s now discuss the second graph. It consists of three parts: the first (green) graph shows the total of C2 errors identified by the drive in the disc, the second (red) graph shows the number of C2 errors which are corrected in the resulting wav-file, and the third (blue) graph shows the number of C2 errors that made it into the resulting wav-file and were not identified by the drive. Ideally, the last graph should be a “zero” line.

So, here are the results:

In spite of the not very high read quality score (67.3 points out of 100), we can speak about a 100% return of C2 errors by this drive. The reason is that the unnoticed C2 errors fall on the areas with the lost sync (two skips when reading).