Japanese Plextor will release an enhanced version of its Premium series of CD-RW drives in the Japanese market, which features the Yamaha's AudioMaster technology for better audio recording.

The drive will be available in the Japanese market only later this month, for 19980 Yen ($170).

The recorder does not offer higher recording speeds compared with its successor, the Plextor Premium. The maximum allowed burning speed for CD-R media is 52x, while CD-RW can be recorded at 32x max. What's new is the support for some more recording speeds, such as the 2x CLV for audio CDs, which promises more accurate recording and thus, better sound quality.



In addition, the Premium 2 supports Yamaha's AudioMaster recording technology for audio CDs. According to Plextor, the AudioMaster mode improves the audio quality of an audio CD by keeping the jitter in low levels (less than 1.4m).

The AudioMaster mode is controlled through the PlexTools Professional software, which is included in the drive's retail package. The software also offers the Q-Check writing quality functions, GigaREC recording for squeezing up to 1.4 times more data in a CD-R, the Silent Mode and more, already introduced in previous Plextor drives.

Basic specifications:

Interface: ATA/ATAPI Ultra ATA/33 (Ultra DMA Mode 2)
Buffer: 8MB

Recording:

CD-R 52x CAV, 48x CAV, 40x PCAV, 32x PCAV, 20x CLV, 16x CLV, 8x CLV, 4x CLV, 2x CLV
CD-RW 32x PCAV 24x PCAV, 10x CLV, 4x CLV

Reading: 52x max.