Audio Capturing

Although the drive can return C2 errors, EAC still doesn’t “see” this function, but you shouldn’t be too sad about this fact, considering the powerful audio capturing tools available in the PlexTools suite. What’s strange is the implementation of the caching of audio data in the new drive. I don’t understand what they have done this for.

The write offset equals the read offset in the new model (the same as we saw with the PX-712A). That’s a certain advantage of the drive, especially for those users who are seriously working with audio information. The drive can also read the auxiliary areas of the disc, both Lead-In and Lead-Out. The new model reads five sectors more from Lead-Out than its predecessor. Overall, the PX-716A is among the best at processing audio.

Now let’s try it at a real task. I’m going to extract the tracks from two audio CDs. One disc is normal, and the other is bad, i.e. has mechanical damage.

There are no significant changes since the previous model – both drives have very similar results, except the Fast mode where the PX-716A behaves rather strangely. The new drive performed the task well enough, although it can’t claim the title of the fastest drive for processing audio. But that’s the task where speed is not the most important thing, though.

As I said above, EAC didn’t find the drive capable of returning C2 errors, so I don’t offer you the results of the DAE Quality Test. Instead, I offer you something new. We’ve expanded our test methods to include a test which determines the drive’s ability to copy copy-protected compact-discs.

Sheep Test

You can read the description of this test here. In brief, the drive is tested for its ability to copy discs protected with different versions of Safe Disc. The developers of the popular CloneCD program use the following drive classification:

1. No “sheep” means the device cannot make copies of Safe Disc 2.0 and higher without certain software tricks.
2. One sheep – the drive can make copies of Safe Disc 2.0-2.4.
3. Two sheep – the drive can make copies of Safe Disc 2.5.
4. Three sheep means the drive can copy all the weak sectors.

According to this classification the Plextor PX-716A gets two sheep. It’s a good, although not the best possible result. But well, there are very few products in the market to deserve three sheep.