Low Cost, Mid-Range or High-End? Three CD Writers at 8, 12 and 16 speed – THG.RU

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Three CD Writers at 8, 12 and 16 speed” –>

Three CD-Writers from AOpen, Mitsumi and Yamaha

Unlike the ongoing GHz battle between Intel and AMD, technological advances in the CD recording sector often remain less noticed. However, CD recording standards recently received a boost when Yamaha announced its 20-speed CD writer, just in time for the CeBIT.

Currently the fastest CD writers are available from Plextor and Yamaha. They support 16-speed CD recording, 10-speed CD-RW writing and 40-speed CD reading. Those drives can write a 74 min data or audio CD within 5 minutes.

Although most people usually write only one disc at a time, those who have to make regular backups or multiple copies will certainly appreciate the value of a fast recorder. This review compares three completely different models: An attractive 8-speed model from Mitsumi – basically enough for home use.

AOpen’s new 12-speed recorder CRW1232-A with Just Link technology and Yamaha’s top model, the 16-speed writer CRW2100E. Mitsumi’s recorder starts at less than $ 90. The AOpen drive can be purchased for approximately $ 135 and Yamaha’s flagship product costs at least $ 220 (prices according to www.pricewatch.com, March 21).

Buffer Underrun? No, thanks!

If the recording procedure of a CD-R is aborted (usually when the computer or the buffer cannot provide write data fast enough/any more), the disc normally can only be discarded. Almost all companies that produce CD recorders have developed their own technology to prevent such buffer underruns or have at least acquired the patents to implement such circuits.

Plextor calls their technology Burn-Proof (Buffer Under RuN Proof), Yamaha named it Waste-Proof and AOpen as well as some others call it Just Link. Plextor provides excellent technical information on their website; similar information can be found at the AOpen website. Yamaha mentions only the name of the feature, providing no further information.

All three technologies keep checking the buffer status and reduce or even stop the writing procedure if no further data is received. The circuitry automatically remembers the accurate position on the CD-R where the last bit was written. As soon as the buffer fills up again, the recorder will continue its work.

Unfortunately, the Mitsumi drive does not come with any mechanism to prevent buffer underruns, and also, considering the maximum speed of 8x, you should avoid working intensely with your computer when writing a CD. It comes with 2 MB of buffer memory, just like the AOpen drive.

The Yamaha drive, on the other hand, provides a surprisingly generous amount of 8 MB, which is actually much more than the drive really requires, thanks to its Waste-Proof feature. Still, the benefits of an 8 MB buffer cannot be overlooked – with such a large cache, the writing process will remain unaffected by interruptions in the data stream.

AOpen CRW1232-A

AOpen’s retail box includes the drive, plus one CD-R, one CD-RW, Nero 5.0, Gammut 2000, one IDE cable, an audio cable and a short manual. Nero is a very popular CD recording software. Gammut is an audio player that was been bundled with the predecessing CD writer from AOpen, the CRW1232 (without the A) already. Please check the AOpen 12speed CD Writer review for more information about this software.

Configuring the writer just as you would any other IDE drive. Set the jumper for master or slave and you are done.

The drive basically runs quietly, but when accessing a disc it is clearly louder than with the two other models. You should be aware of that if you plan to use your CD writer as CD reader as well.

I tried to interrupt the writing process by having WinZIP compress almost 1 GB of small files. The writer stopped five times and resumed work after a short break.

Mitsumi CR 4805 TE

We received the Mitsumi drive a few weeks ago in a big retail box. Mitsumi bundles this recorder with WinOnCD 3.7 – a software which has been available for quite some time now. Still it is known as a standard program for basic CD authoring. The box contains an IDE and audio cable, manual and one CD-R and one CD-RW.

Yamaha CRW2100E

Yamaha’s box looks the most professional and comes with a CD containing Adaptec’s Easy CD Creator 4, DirectCD and Take Two, a useful system backup tool. There are also two brochures inside which explain the software in detail. As always, you will also get each one CD-R and CD-RW disc. Keep in mind that Yamaha’s own CD-R media is specified for 16-speed writing, of course.

An audio and an IDE cable are also inside the package.

As you will see in the test result section, the Yamaha drive scored high. However, there is one noticeable drawback – the drive is noisy. Although the access noise is very gentle, the vibrations at 32x speed are enough to make the entire computer case vibrate as well (CD reading only). I’m not sure if maybe bearings were damaged when the drive was shipped; but even if they were, it probably would not have been enough to cause such intense vibrations. Conclusion: Do not use this drive for standard read purposes if you want a quiet computer.

Test Setup

Test Results – Access Time

Although Mitsumi talks about 110 ms average access time, we measured 167 ms with CDX. Modern CD ROM drives require approximately 90 ms for average data access, making the Mitsumi writer a less suitable candidate if you are looking for something to replace your good old CD ROM reader.

Data Transfer Performance

Write Time

Using Nero 5.0 it was no problem to write oversized CDs with up to 80 minutes. My sample CD was filled with 690 MB of various files. The chart shows the time elapsed until the completed CD was ejected.

Audio Grabbing Performance

If you should have a reason to grab CD-audio titles as wav-files on your hard disk, you can see that Yamaha’s recorder does that at the highest speed. The CRW2100E grabbed a complete audio disc with 17 tracks at 15.5x speed. AOpen’s drive came in second at 9.2x. In case of direct MP3-conversion the speed will often be limited by your CPU and typically clipped at 10-12x.

Spin-Up / Spin-Down Time

Tray Open/Close Time

Conclusion

None of those three drives had any serious problems except for some unnecessary noise. The AOpen drive generates disturbing access noise and Yamaha’s drive generates heavy vibrations in CD mode.

In any case we should not forget that all of these models are meant to be CD writers to begin with and all three fulfill their tasks reliably. As for the bundled software – all of them are adequate for creating audio or data CDs, although I personally prefer Nero (Demo available at www.ahead.de). Yamaha ships the drive with the best add-ons, AOpen offers one of the most balanced CD recorders and Mitsumi provides a low-cost solution for those who do not require high-speed write modes and are on a tight budget.

If you are not looking for any particular CD recorder, the Mitsumi drive is definitely worth its money, but be aware of buffer underruns – try to avoid them by keeping the workload of your system low while writing your CD. People who want more performance, excellent software and expedient audio-grabbing features should spend a bit more money and buy the AOpen drive.

Yamaha’s CRW2100E is a state-of-the art drive that is recommended for all who record a large quantity of discs. Although its performance as a standard CD reader is only moderate, you will get excellent recording performance, a huge buffer and superior audio-grabbing capabilities in exchange

Comparison Table