hi,

this may have already been asked too many times, or there may be too many topics related to this too, but what i've found is quite outdated or about drives i cannot buy here in my country

so, i need a good cd/dvd drive, which will give me good ripping results for audio cds

what else's important:

• no audio cache (afaik this improves accuracy - ok it can be disabled in certain appz but it's better if it's not available at all)
• ability to rip copy-controlled discs
• availability of rpc1 firmware
• it MUST be an ATA drive, i have no SATA on-board
• good quality of audio discs burned with the drive

the list of drives i can pick one from:

• Pioneer DVR-112D
• Asus DRW-1814BL
• LG GSA-H55NRB
• Samsung SH-S202J/RSMN
• Samsung SH-S202H/BEBE
• LG GSA-H42LRB
• LG GSA-H42LBB
• LG GSA-H50LBB
• LG GSA-H42NBB

i don't know which has the features i expect as mentioned above

the pioneer drive seems to be a good choice, but if you have a better pick please let me know
thanks in advance

>no c2 cache

two seperarte things, c2 is the ability of the drive to report to computer when there is an error.

Audio Cache slows down secure cd rippers (they have to read more to cancel the cahce).

eh you're right, i was in a hurry

i fixed it

Caching has no direct relation to accuracy.

but only if you can disable it via software (in eac, for example),right?

No. Improper handling of caching drives is detrimental but this does not change the fact that caching has no direct relation to accuracy.

ok

so do you have any advice?

I'd try a Samsung first and then an LG. The Pioneer is interesting in that it can overread, and it(*) probably doesn't cache, but from what I've seen, drives with NEC chipsets (those with an offset correction of +48) aren't terribly spectacular when it comes to DAE.

EDIT: To be clear, drives that don't cache do provide for a significant speed increase when using EAC in secure mode.

(*)EDIT2: Other models of Pioneer drives can overread but it seems this one cannot.

Personally I would recommend you two drives,

Plextor 708a, it is fast, about 25x, the Cache can be disabled with the FUA command (only available through (www.saitekinc.com)

Lite-On SHM-165H6S, it does not cache, this is one of the absolute fastest rippers on the market today, I rip in between 37-48x depending on the position on the cd, I cannot confirm this myself but it is supposed to to have a very good error correction on scratchy cds as well

http://www.cdrlabs.com/reviews/index.php?reviewid=284

thanks but i can buy only the ones listed above

about the app, i have linux only, so i cannot use any additional hacks/tools (since most -99%- of them is win-only)

Ah ok, does it even exist a good ripper for Linux nowadays ?

I own a PX-716A and although it is a good drive, it is not as good at DAE as other drives I've seen.

The PX-708, PX-712, PX-755, PX-760, Premium and Premium 2 are no better.

These drives all cache audio data, but are capable of accepting the FUA command. I have faith in their ability to provide useful C2 pointers, but others may disagree. Hopefully this is useful information for those planning on using EAC.

libcdio, but i have no knowledge of a useable implementation
cdparanoia, a cli util

or rubyripper, which is a cdparanoia frontend:
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....showtopic=58854

Like with every other cdparanoia-based solution, Rubyripper cannot make use of C2 pointers, does not use AccurateRip and has no immunity against consistent errors

I think we both can agree, this is to a big degree "speculation", serious tests like this does not really exist. I have done quite much research on this, and I found nothing negative really about 708a, the premium models on the other hand where not got at all for DAE. Spoon has done an reliable test, he did use 708a and 230a, both did get very good results, there for I can recommend them. No one really seam to have the answer what is the "best" DAE drive today, even though there seam to be a kind of "general" opinion that Plextor 230a (the rebaged BenQ version) is among the absolute best today, if not the best... ?




Well, as long as you rip non-scratchy cds it would be no problem then I guess...
Otherwise I guess in worst case scenario it would be possible the emulate windows applications such as dBpoweramp or EAC, never tried myself though, might not be to recommend ?

In general I would say that LG and Lite-On drives out-perform the last major wave of Plextor drives (the ones I listed previously). Aside from HTOA, these recent true-Plextor drives are just not that interesting.

I have not tried the PX-230A or any other BENQ drive, for that matter.

230a is definitely a price worthy investment. They are very cheap, in usa probably $35 ?

Ironic, don't you think?

yeah it is...usually great drives cost about $30 or so...benq, samsung, lg, liteon etc all around $30 plextor is one of the few brands that are alot more...i know plextor are very good drives but not worth the price imo

This may sound kind of vague but also make sure your drive can read the pregap before track 1 if there is one.

I have at least 4 or 5 cds with songs there hidden, or whatever and only 1 out my 5 drives can read them.

and how can i find it out?

You can look in the DAE Drive Features Database for example. Not every drive is listed, but it should help.

many thanks, it will help a lot

edit: i think i will pick a Samsung SH-S202J

edit2: i bought it
hw = a, fw = sb00, ver.j, aug 2007
and it has rpc1 fw

edit3: well now i had the opportunity to test it with eac:
accuratestream: yes
audio cache: no
c2: yes

so my assumption seems to be right that it's just a 203b with eide interface

now i think i give a go to the hacked fw

edit4: