treeninja
Feb 19 2007, 21:43
Just wondering if I would get better, more accurate reads with a CD-ROM drive than a CD-R (or DVD-/+R) burning drive.
I see that there are still some regular old CD-ROM drives out there for sale. I went to newegg.com and typed CD-ROM and found about 5 models. Can anyone confirm if these would be more specialized and superior for reading CDs than the burning drives that are supposed to be among the best? I have a PX-230a (recently discontinued), and though my drive is considered one of the best, I'm wondering if it can top any of thse guys:
LITE-ON Black 52X CD-ROM IDE CD-ROM Drive Model LH-52N1P-185
SONY Black 52X CD-ROM IDE CD-ROM Drive Model CDU5225
ASUS Black 52X CD-ROM E-IDE/ATAPI CD-ROM Drive Model CD-S520/A5
LITE-ON Black 52X CD-ROM IDE CD-ROM Drive Model LTN-5291S BK
Spoon, have you tested any CD-ROM models to see if they work better with dBpoweramp than a PX-230a?
rudefyet
Feb 19 2007, 22:11
from personal experience, the PX-230A is the best drive I've used for scratced, original, store bought cd's, but it leaves much to be desired on cds with film damage or decaying cd-rs (which sadly happen to be 90% of my cds from my teen years). Having to clear 1.35 megs of cache every re-read really makes the process tediously slow.
last week I picked up a PX-760A so I could use PlexTools and to replace my ailing BenQ DW1620. I'm utterly amazed with this drive. It's much, much better with damaged cd-rs and much faster since it supports the FUA command. It however does produce a lot of errors on my store bought cds that are just scratched.
I however will probably be selling my PX-230A since it's only a month old, and the PX-760A just does a better, faster job with a majority of my cds
I also have a few older drives, a Lite-On CD-RW drive, LG CD-RW/DVD combo, Toshiba CD-Rom, BenQ DW1620 and a Artec DVD-ROM
out of those 5 drives the LG does the best on most cds, there are a few it just won't read. The Artec DVD-Rom really shines on some of my really decayed cd-rs too.
Overall, it seems some drives just read certain types of damage better, it doesn't really matter if it's a CD-Rom or DVD Burner