CD/DVD Drive Accuracy List 2016

[Spoon]

Re: CD/DVD Drive Accuracy List 2016: C2 capability

Cache size is not relevant.

Fans and Power supplies do not affect digital extraction of audio in the way that you are thinking.

Apple drives are just rebranded drives.

[oddoc7]

Re: CD/DVD Drive Accuracy List 2016: C2 capability

Thanks for quick reply. Any recommendations on external enclosures & SATA to USB adapter for the Lite-On drives? If Apple drive is just a rebranded slim drive, then sounds like it would give poor accuracy like other slims, unless you have any recommendations for external slim drives for Mac or for PC? Otherwise best bets seem to be the external enclosure route for a hi-rated internal drive like the Lite-On for PC, unsure for MAC compatible drive.

Cache size is not relevant.

Fans and Power supplies do not affect digital extraction of audio in the way that you are thinking.

Apple drives are just rebranded drives.

[Oggy]

Re: CD/DVD Drive Accuracy List 2016: C2 capability

Thanks for quick reply. Any recommendations on external enclosures & SATA to USB adapter for the Lite-On drives? If Apple drive is just a rebranded slim drive, then sounds like it would give poor accuracy like other slims, unless you have any recommendations for external slim drives for Mac or for PC? Otherwise best bets seem to be the external enclosure route for a hi-rated internal drive like the Lite-On for PC, unsure for MAC compatible drive.

I can't remember who makes the latest Superdrive, but the older one was Matshita / Panasonic, which I have bought and used. A full sized drive, like the Lite-On, will be a lot quicker ripping.

To go for an enclosure or an adaptor is solely down to the individual. I went the adaptor route with both SATA and ide / PATA, so I can use this with any DVD drive and HDDs. This works superbly, but is not as elegant as an enclosure.

As for a recommendation, a couple of friends both use different brands, all with good results. So price, features, seller feedback, reliability.

[Drummerboy]

Re: CD/DVD Drive Accuracy List 2016: C2 capability

I have several questions:
1. Can the various readily available SATA versions of the top-rated ATAPI iHAS124 drive be considered comparable in accuracy?
2. Any real reason to use the cache size as buying factor? Newegg list a 512kb model @ $20 & a 1MB model @ $60, while Amazon lists a 1.5MB SATA Buffer Memory @ $21,all are Lite-On 24X DVD burner iHAS124-04. Also Amazon says newer model is iHSA124-14 no cache specified @ $20.
3. I want to put this internal SATA optical disc drive in an external enclosure with SATA to USB adapter to serve as hi res burner for a Surface Pro 3. All the enclosures seem to have their own power supply & a fan ( makes sense for a 5.25" drive that won't run off USB power alone like the slim drives). But fans & power supplies seem like potential sources of noise that could affect recording. I don't see any highly rated (or even rated) external ODD's in the 2016 list, so this seems like only solution. Please point out alternatives if I am wrong, and any suggestions for enclosures is appreciated.
4. My friend has a Mac mini w/o ODD. I don't see the latest Apple SuperMulti USB drive on the list. Any experience with accuracy on this or any alternatives I can pass on to him?
This is my first post & I am very grateful for your help.

Sorry if I am missing something but following oddoc7 question 1 above, I too had the same question but cannot see that the subsequent replies answered this point. For example, at the moment after an initial search on ebay UK, I only seem to be able to find the sata version of the iHAS124, and cannot readily find an ATAPi version yet. Does this matter? Will the SATA version be just as reliable as the top rated ATAPi model?

Thanks

[Spoon]

Re: CD/DVD Drive Accuracy List 2016: C2 capability

ATAPI are SCSI commands sent over the SATA bus, so any cd drive which is SATA is atapi.

[HamLet]

Re: CD/DVD Drive Accuracy List 2016: PX-230A computation

I am unclear about the accuracy computation: The Accuracy List 2016 says

Drive: PLEXTOR - CD-R PX-230A (131 users): Submissions: 6957 accurate, 118 inaccurate, 98.3322 % accuracy

The 2014 list says

Drive: PLEXTOR - CD-R PX-230A (126 users): Submissions: 6591 accurate, 56 inaccurate, 99.1575 % accuracy

So if (big if) my understanding is correct in the last two years there are 5 new users of PX-230A but among the 131 (new and old) 230A users they submitted 6957-6591 = 366 new rips of which 118-56 = 62 were inaccurate! Now that seems bonkers, since it implies an accuracy of barely 83% on the new rips!!! What's going on?

BTW, the PX230A is still my favorite together with liteon ATAPI iHBS212. These are the fastest and most accurate drives I have (among a dozen or so). I have both a iHAS124 F and W, I like the F better than W, but the Bluray iHBS212 is usually the best. My standard workflow is to do 1 Pass on the PX230A or iHBS212 This results in an accurate rip in 90% of the cases in about 2 minutes. If not, polish the disk and try again in secure mode. If not start trying other drives.

Thanks! -- Ham

[Spoon]

Re: CD/DVD Drive Accuracy List 2016: PX-230A computation

It probably means that people are using this drive to only rip discs they cannot rip with their other main drive, hence the high failure rate.

[HamLet]

Re: CD/DVD Drive Accuracy List 2016: PX-230A computation

It probably means that people are using this drive to only rip discs they cannot rip with their other main drive, hence the high failure rate.

Thanks Spoon, makes sense! But OTOH it means that the former "champion" drives might be unfairly evaluated if people "save" them only for difficult cases. Good to know and thanks for publishing these stats.

[HamLet]

Re: CD/DVD Drive Accuracy List 2016: PX-230A computation

revision matters? W, B, C etc...
where can I buy a W ??????

Revision certainly matters. I suspect that iHAS124 W and F do not even have the same chipset, they use different numbering schemes for the firmware. (The W goes HL05, HL08, HL0A, HL0F, HL0G, a very common scheme for LiteOn, and some of these are shared with other drives. The F has CL09 and CL99.) I have both: can not tell you which is more accurate, but I can tell you that F is faster. (Of course YMMV and different specimens of the same drive might have different performance).

I use a 76 minutes long CD that is a bit worn out as a test disc (Helene Grimaud plays Bach, very nice BTW). Some drives can read all tracks on first pass, some need to re-rip a few frames, some need more than the 3 min max I allow per track. Both the F and the W can do it on the first pass but the W needs 5:44 while the F needs 2:11 and my beloved PX-230A needs just 1:56.

You can easily buy either off e-bay: just ask the seller for a picture of the label. I think the ones sold as iHAS124-14 are invariably F, and many are newish OEM while 124-04 are mostly W and used. About $20 incl shipping for a new OEM one is about right, but you can find a W or a B for less than $15. Good luck! (BTW, the cheapest way to collect drives is to go scavenging at a nearby e-waste center. :-).

Hope this helps! -- Ham

[marukuru]

Re: CD/DVD Drive Accuracy List 2016: PX-230A computation

I recently bought an iHAS124-04 and got a revision D. It's fairly fast and accurate with your everyday CDs, but it instantly died on a copy protected CD. It didn't manage to accurately rip a single track. Still waiting for an iHAS124-14 and a PX-230A to arrive.

[marukuru]

Re: CD/DVD Drive Accuracy List 2016: PX-230A computation

Same goes for the iHAS124-14 (reports itself as iHAS124 F). Both drives report to be capable of C2, but I don't trust them on that.

[scruffy]

Re: CD/DVD Drive Accuracy List 2016: PX-230A computation

I just got done ripping about 200 CDs using EAC. To expedite things, I installed 3 optical drives: ATAPI iHAS124 W, ATAPI iHAS124 E, and an ASUS DRW-24B1ST c. It usually took between 3-6 minutes rip each CD using burst mode with AccurateRip. Out of the 200 CDs, I was getting a lot of errors but most turned out to be due to a thumb print on the CD from removing them from tight sleeves. Being more careful removing the CDs from the sleeves resulted excellent results overall, with the ASUS drive coming up with more errors than either of the Lite On drives. Both of the Lite On drives were about equal when it came to accuracy.

[Gaspar]

Re: CD/DVD Drive Accuracy List 2016: PX-230A computation

I wanted to post. It's Christmas Eve, and for myself for Christmas , I picked up a Lite-On iHAS124-03 W revision WU, and an Vantec enclosure. Got everything together and connected to my Win XP rip PC, in like 15 min. The drive is a lot quieter than the 2 Plextor PX-W4824TU's that have been my workhorses over the last 5 or so years. That Plextor is not the 230, but prices are rising even for that one. The Lite-On/Vantec combo cost less than $60. Have always been nervous about not being able to get Plextors as they get older and pricier, so I should be really set for the foreseeable future now. :-D

[Lossless]

Re: CD/DVD Drive Accuracy List 2016: PX-230A computation

Hello,

I want to get a good drive for ripping my old CDs into FLACs. I'm new to the issue. My current rig doesn't have any drive at all because I think it's useless besides anything but ripping audio. So I didn't get any random drive while builing my PC. Now I want one with good accuracy. I live outside North America/EU so my options are much more limited in terms of what I can find over here. I found a model called Pioneer BDR-209EBK brand new for about 53USD. Is this a good model? Does anyone have this and can say anything about its accuracy? Thank you.

[DigitalLA]

Re: CD/DVD Drive Accuracy List 2016: C2 capability

Hi. Could anyone please recommend an accurate drive for ripping CDs? My Windows machine is nearly ten years old and seems wobbly. I have an iMac, too, but I have noticed that ripping with an external SuperDrive often takes many times longer than ripping with my ancient Windows computer, so I wonder whether there is something wrong with it. I also have an external Blu-Ray reader/writer for the Mac.

I suppose I could replace the Windows computer, but what DVD drive or CD drive (if someone still makes those) should I buy for it? I get the sense that the obsolete drives rip most accurately, but does no one currently make a drive that can accurately extract the zeros and ones from an audio CD?

Thanks for any help.