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Appeared on: Tuesday, February 19, 2002
TEAC 532E CD-ROM


1. Installation

Teac 532E-A IDE CD Rom - Page 1

This is one of the best seller CD ROM from Teac. Even it is around some time many people prefer it over the latest 48x and 52x CD Roms. Is it worth buying it ? Find out by reading the review..

 

 

CD Rom Specifications :

Interface

E-IDE/ATAPI

Transfer Rate

32X MTRP ~ 4800 KB/sec

Functions

Multi Read, Horizontal & Vertical Mount, CAV/CLV, Analog output, Plug-n-Play

Ultra DMA 33

No

Data Buffer

256KB

Supported CD Formats

CD-DA, CD-ROM(MODE-1,MODE-2)
CD-ROM XA MODE-2(FORM-1,FORM-2), Multi-Session Photo CD, CD-I, Video-CD, Enhanced CD & CD PLUS Compatible

Front of Teac 532E-APackage:
The OEM version included CD Rom, manual, drivers for Win 3.1 & DOS, cable for connect CD Rom to soundcard.

Installation:
Installation was easy. I enabled Master jumper on the rear panel (i putted it Master on Second IDE channel). After boot CD Rom intentified as CD-532E-A from BIOS into Dos & as Teac 532E-A in Windows.

DMA checked off auto from Windows since it isn't Ultra DMA compartible. I unchecked Auto Insert notification and reboot. Since the CD Rom had 1.0A firmware I updated it with latest version 3.0A. All was set and time to start tests..

Test Machine:
ABIT BH6
Celeron 300A over clocked to 464 MHz
128 MB SDRAM PC 100
Quantum Fireball EX 6.4 GB UDMA
CL RivaTNT
CL AWE32
MS Windows 98 SE
Teac 532E-A Firmware : v3.0a


2. Data Tests

Teac 532E-A IDE CD Rom - Page 2

Data Tests

Test Method:
I used CD Speed 99 v0.41b, SCSI Mechanic v2.1h (evaluation version) and SiSoft Sandra 99 v3.5.0 to run Data tests. I run all tests with DMA On & Off (even the CD Rom isn't support it). All test done with same CD on all Tests.

CD Speed  results :       (Speed : Bigger is better,  Seek Times : less is better, CPU Usage : less is better)

Speed (x)

Seek Time (ms)

CPU Usage (%)

Start

Average

End

Random

1/3

Full

1x

2x

4x

8x

DMA Off

14.03

20.49

20.95

86

97

161

4

8

17

34

DMA On

15.14

25.57

32.19

85

94

160

2

4

9

19

Teac 532E-A Data Graph (DMA On)

SiSoft Sandra 99  results:

Drive Index

Track Speed (ppm)

Buffered Read (mb/s)

Sequential Read (mb/s)

Random Read (kb/s)

Average Access Time (ms)

DMA Off

2307

11254

21

3.267

868

98

DMA On

3091

15925

128

4

966

96

Teac 532E-A SiSoft Sandra Data Graph (DMA On)

SCSI  Mechanic results:                                       (I/O throughput : Bigger is better)

Random I/O
throughput (kb/s)

Sequential I/O
throughput (kb/s)

Same Sector I/O
throughput (kb/s)

Min

Average

Max

Min

Average

Max

Min

Average

Max

DMA Off

731

846

1011

2676

3655

3986

1534

1598

1682

DMA On

462

814

992

2656

4456

5943

1308

1537

1592

Verdict of Data Tests:
All results say the same thing. Teac 532E-A performance is max when DMA option checked on (even the drive isn't support it). Not only it helps Data transfer rate but reduces to half CPU usage.The next question is..How good is the performance ? (comparing to other CD Roms..) Into past i had made an roundup between 3 drives (Teac 32x, Plextor 40x, Phillips 48x). If you go there you will check that Teac really performs quite good (in some cases outperformed 40x and 48x drives..). From Scsi Mechanic tests it reached the 5943kb/s top speed.


3. DAE Tests

Teac 532E-A IDE CD Rom - Page 3

DAE Tests

CD Speed  results:       (Speed : Bigger is better,  Seek Times : less is better, CPU Usage : less is better)

Dae Quality- Accurate Stream

Speed (x)

Seek Time (ms)

CPU Usage (%)

Start

Average

End

Random

1/3

Full

1x

2x

4x

8x

DMA Off

10 - Yes

11.36

14.88

15.28

90

116

202

5

11

23

46

DMA On

10 - Yes

11.36

15.62

16.33

94

116

202

3

6

13

26

Teac 532E-A DAE Graph (DMA On)

Various Rippers Results:

Test Method: I used CDFS, EAC v0.81b, WinDAC32 & AudioGrabber v1.50 to test audio capabilities.

Tested CD: The Chemical Brothers "Dig Your Own Hole" - Track:  5 (Setting Sun)

Comparing Method:
- Ripped Track 5 of the CD with Drag & Drop (using CDFS) and with all the other CD Rippers.
- Edited all wavs with Hedit v2.0.04 and located the 2 following bytes "EA  68" (chosen randomly)
- Removed all previous bytes and saved.
- Then in a Dos window compared them using: FC /b x.wav y.wav

Programs Settings:

CDFS Driver v4.00.130 : Drag  & Drop
EAC v0.81b: Burst & Secure Mode / Rip Speed Default / Allow speed reduction / Error correction medium
WinDAC32  v1.49: Burst Mode / Rip Speed Default
AudioGrabber v1.50: Buffered Burst Mode / Rip Speed Default

Program

DMA off
(Average  Speed)

DMA off
Listening Quality

DMA On
(Average  Speed)

DMA on Listening Quality

CDFS Driver v4.00.130

32 sec for 56.630= 11.79x

No clicks..No sec  lost..Seemed ok!

81 sec for 56.630 kb = 4.66x

No clicks..No sec  lost..Seemed ok!

EAC v0.81b (burst)

10.5x

Seconds  lost. Pops.

10.8x

Seconds  lost. Pops.

EAC v0.81b (secure)

5.7x

No clicks..No sec  lost..Seemed ok!

6.0x

No clicks..No sec  lost..Seemed ok!

WinDAC32  v1.49

11.0x

Seconds  lost. Pops.

4.18x

No clicks..No sec  lost..Seemed ok!

AudioGrabber  v1.50

11.5x

Seconds  lost. Pops.

12.65x

Seconds  lost. Pops.

Comparing Results (DMA OFF)

CDFS Driver v4.00.130

EAC Burst

WinDAC32 - Burst (Rip Speed Default)

AudioGrabber
(Rip Speed Default)

EAC Secure

same

not  same

FC:  cdfs.wav longer than windac.wav

not  same

Comparing Results (DMA On)

EAC Secure

same

not  same

FC:  cdfs.wav longer than windac.wav

not  same

Verdict of DAE Results:
Teac 532E-A seem to have great ripping spped for IDE CD Rom. With EAC (secure mode) reached the 6.0x ripping speed (when the same time Plextor 40x reached 9.0x under the same track..) EAC and CDFS managed to produce clear and exact copies without any pop or click inside. On the other hand AudioGrabber and WinDAC32 failed to produce clear and without pops wavs. The reason is that both programs failed to adjust ripping speed (lower it) so the Teac could perform it's best. I suggest that Teac 532E-A users should stay away them. Some of you might think..Why use EAC when CDFS has double ripping speed than it ?

The answer is that CDFS hasn't any error correction method. When the CD is scratched or have surface problem CDFS will rip the wav but will not give accurate results. So what are my final thoughts about it ? Use EAC and maybe CDFS (when you need it). Both programs are freeware (cost nothing to you) and can really produce exact audio copies of your favorite wavs.


4. Conclusion

Teac 532E-A IDE CD Rom - Page 4

Conclusion

Positive (+):

Negative (-):

Multi Read
CAV/CLV
Good data transfer rates
Good seek times
Good ripping speed (for IDE)
100.000 MTBF
Flash Memory
Low Read Retry Count
(good for CDs with Errors)
Low price!

Not Digital Output
Only 4x when reading RW CDs

Should you buy Teac 32x CD Rom ? I think yes. It has very good mechanism and performs quite good in both DATA and DAE tests. It is a decent drive and the best off all has very low price!..(40-50$)



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