DAE quality report on Plextor PX-755A Options

[exec]

Perhaps some people might be interested in more DAE quality reports like the ones Jan S. posted a while ago. So, I've created a test CD and will post the results of my drives in the next time. For more information on the DAE quality project, see the EAC homepage.

Unfortunately, the c2extract.exe program doesn't work in my PC, it seems that it can't find my drives (I always get the message that the drive number doesn't exist. So all my results will be provided without the c2 graphs and info. Sorry about that.

Some explanation about the whole procedure:
- EAC (burst mode) is used to rip the test CD.
- EAC is allowed to reduce the speed during extraction.
- I test every drive with various speed settings. All these are controlled with the appropriate EAC setting ("drive options" -> "offset / speed" tab -> "speed selection").
- To keep the posts concise, I will not post all tests with all drive speeds. I will only provide test which are most informative/interesting.
- Every test is done twice to make sure that there is no outlier. If the results are essentially the same (only smallest differences - no two test will produce exactly the same results), I will pick the one with the better results.
- Furthermore I will provide all important information including DAE graph, DAE logs and EAC logs (to see where EAC had timing/reading/etc. problems while extraction).
- At the end of every test row, I will post some final thoughts. These might only be some speculations and/or conspicuities about that specific drive/test.


So here we go:

Drive: Plextor PX-755A
Firmware: 1.08


Test at full speed ("Actual" speed setting in EAC)

Image
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....ost&id=4264


DAE log
Errors total Num : 650726
Errors (Loudness) Num : 12285 - Avg : -59.1 dB(A) - Max : -9.0 dB(A)
Error Muting Num : 7360 - Avg : 6.3 Samples - Max : 343 Samples
Skips Num : 128 - Avg : 67.9 Samples - Max : 2910 Samples

Total Test Result : 57.6 points (of 100.0 maximum)


EAC log

CODE

Exact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 4 from 23. January 2008

EAC extraction logfile from 9. February 2008, 19:20

Unknown Artist / Unknown Title

Used drive : PLEXTOR DVDR PX-755A Adapter: 2 ID: 0

Read mode : Burst

Read offset correction : 30
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : Yes
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Gap handling : Not detected, thus appended to previous track

Used output format : Internal WAV Routines
Sample format : 44.100 Hz; 16 Bit; Stereo


TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
---------------------------------------------------------
1 | 0:00.00 | 74:00.00 | 0 | 332999


Track 1

Filename D:\DAE\Plextor PX-755A\EAC - Actual\2\Track01.wav

Peak level 77.4 %
Copy CRC 7DF55B19
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK


None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database

No errors occurred

End of status report

Test at 24x

Image
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....ost&id=4263


DAE log
Errors total Num : 478003
Errors (Loudness) Num : 12061 - Avg : -65.0 dB(A) - Max : -14.6 dB(A)
Error Muting Num : 1470 - Avg : 1.5 Samples - Max : 61 Samples
Skips Num : 77 - Avg : 13.2 Samples - Max : 42 Samples

Total Test Result : 64.9 points (of 100.0 maximum)


EAC log

CODE

Exact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 4 from 23. January 2008

EAC extraction logfile from 10. February 2008, 14:21

Unknown Artist / Unknown Title

Used drive : PLEXTOR DVDR PX-755A Adapter: 2 ID: 0

Read mode : Burst

Read offset correction : 30
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : Yes
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Gap handling : Not detected, thus appended to previous track

Used output format : Internal WAV Routines
Sample format : 44.100 Hz; 16 Bit; Stereo


TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
---------------------------------------------------------
1 | 0:00.00 | 74:00.00 | 0 | 332999


Track 1

Filename D:\DAE\Plextor PX-755A\EAC - 24x\2\Track01.wav

Peak level 77.4 %
Copy CRC 488F71FB
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK


None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database

No errors occurred

End of status report

Test at 8x

Image
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....ost&id=4262


DAE log
Errors total Num : 273444
Errors (Loudness) Num : 9827 - Avg : -68.1 dB(A) - Max : -18.5 dB(A)
Error Muting Num : 559 - Avg : 1.0 Samples - Max : 2 Samples
Skips Num : 69 - Avg : 7.0 Samples - Max : 18 Samples

Total Test Result : 67.9 points (of 100.0 maximum)


EAC log

CODE

Exact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 4 from 23. January 2008

EAC extraction logfile from 5. February 2008, 17:22

Unknown Artist / Unknown Title

Used drive : PLEXTOR DVDR PX-755A Adapter: 2 ID: 0

Read mode : Burst

Read offset correction : 30
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : Yes
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Gap handling : Not detected, thus appended to previous track

Used output format : Internal WAV Routines
Sample format : 44.100 Hz; 16 Bit; Stereo


TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
---------------------------------------------------------
1 | 0:00.00 | 74:00.00 | 0 | 332999


Track 1

Filename D:\DAE\Plextor PX-755A\EAC - 8x\Track01.wav

Timing problem 0:31:00
Timing problem 0:31:09 - 0:31:10
Timing problem 0:31:25

Peak level 77.4 %
Copy CRC BB2C5675
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy finished


None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database

No errors occurred

End of status report

Test at 4x

Image
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....ost&id=4261


DAE log
Errors total Num : 211816
Errors (Loudness) Num : 9604 - Avg : -72.9 dB(A) - Max : -19.5 dB(A)
Error Muting Num : 508 - Avg : 1.0 Samples - Max : 2 Samples
Skips Num : 4 - Avg : 6.0 Samples - Max : 6 Samples

Total Test Result : 73.9 points (of 100.0 maximum)


EAC log

CODE

Exact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 4 from 23. January 2008

EAC extraction logfile from 5. February 2008, 17:12

Unknown Artist / Unknown Title

Used drive : PLEXTOR DVDR PX-755A Adapter: 2 ID: 0

Read mode : Burst

Read offset correction : 30
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : Yes
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Gap handling : Not detected, thus appended to previous track

Used output format : Internal WAV Routines
Sample format : 44.100 Hz; 16 Bit; Stereo


TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
---------------------------------------------------------
1 | 0:00.00 | 74:00.00 | 0 | 332999


Track 1

Filename D:\DAE\Plextor PX-755A\EAC - 4x\Track01.wav

Timing problem 0:18:24
Timing problem 0:25:47
Timing problem 0:26:24
Timing problem 0:26:38
Timing problem 0:26:57
Timing problem 0:27:07
Timing problem 0:27:44
Timing problem 0:28:07
Timing problem 0:28:30 - 0:28:31
Timing problem 0:28:38
Timing problem 0:28:52
Timing problem 0:29:05
Timing problem 0:29:08 - 0:29:09
Timing problem 0:29:15
Timing problem 0:29:17
Timing problem 0:29:28 - 0:29:29
Timing problem 0:29:36 - 0:29:37
Timing problem 0:29:39
Timing problem 0:29:41
Timing problem 0:29:51 - 0:29:52
Timing problem 0:29:55 - 0:29:57

Peak level 87.0 %
Copy CRC D4BE08E6
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy finished


None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database

No errors occurred

End of status report

Conclusion

Unlike other drives, the 755A never had to slow down extremely during ripping. No problems arised during extraction.
The results of the 755A are much worse than I tought (at least compared to my other drives - will post these results later). The lower the extraction speed, the better the results get (based on the "Total Test Results" numbers), not a big surprise. But when looking at the graphs, the speed does not much affect the correction of the (artificial) scratches. In contrast, at lower speeds the drive seems to get more problems correcting the painted triangle (I guess this is just "simulated dirt"). Also there more timing problems reported by EAC when lowering the extraction speed.

To sum it up: As far as these tests can be trusted, Plextor's 755A is not really a DAE killer drive. It had some problems correcting scratches and simulated dirt, but the dirt was handled much better than the scratches.

[Jan S.]

About c2extract.exe: Could you try again? I had trouble with this myself... make sure EAC is not running. Try all from 0-something. Try with a different random cd... it seems to sometimes just start working.
Thanks for you efforts. Nice to have more results.

[exec]

About c2extract.exe: Could you try again? I had trouble with this myself... make sure EAC is not running. Try all from 0-something. Try with a different random cd... it seems to sometimes just start working.

I've already tried nearly everything (different drives, different numbers, different CDs). But no way, always getting the error "drive number does not exist".

[johnsonlam]

Hi Exec,

Did you try comparing the sound quality using EAC against PlexTools Professional XL?

Thanks.

[exec]

Did you try comparing the sound quality using EAC against PlexTools Professional XL?

Well, actually I didn't compare the audio quality of the resulting WAV files; rather doing a target/actual comparison.

As using a buffered burst mode, the results should not be dependent on the software used.

[Jan S.]

The point of the test is to evaluate the drive's performance and not the software. That is why burst mode is used.