CD Error Correction Tests

In the following tests we check the drive's behavior when reading scratched / defective audio discs. The test discs used were the ABEX series from ALMEDIO.

- ABEX TCD-721R

Errors total	Num: 1440784
Errors (Loudness) dB(A)	Num: 141212	Avg: -79.4 dB(A)	Max: -14.3 dB(A)
Error Muting Samples	Num: 5496	Avg: 1.3 Samples	Max: 18 Samples
Skips Samples	Num: 33	Avg: 6.0 Samples	Max: 6 Samples
Total Test Result	64.4 points (out of 100.0 maximum)
C2 Accuracy	98.7 %

The total error count was about average but the maximum error loudness level was high at -14.3dB. There were 33 skipped samples which is high, while the drive achieved a total score of 64.4. In general, the drive's performance was not that good with this test disc.

- ABEX TCD-726

Errors total	Num: 4089
Errors (Loudness) dB(A)	Num: 13856	Avg: -85.3 dB(A)	Max: -49.7 dB(A)
Error Muting Samples	Num: 86	Avg: 1.0 Samples	Max: 1 Samples
Skips Samples	Num: 0	Avg: 0.0 Samples	Max: 0 Samples
Total Test Result	81.6 points (out of 100.0 maximum)
C2 Accuracy	100 %

The Abex TCD-726 test disc is much easier for drives in general to read. Most drives manage to compile a score in the 90s with the better drives managing 100. The drive managed only 81.6, showing again that the drive's CD error correction capabilities need improving. A good CD reader should produce better results than these.

- CD-Check Audio Test Disc

The CD-Check Test Disc is a very useful tool for evaluating the Sound Reproduction / Error correction capabilities of a CD player. The disc offers a signal combination with disc error patterns to rate the drive's abilities to read music and reproduce it completely. Five tracks on the disc contain a sequence of progressively more difficult tests. These tracks are referred to as Check Level-1 through Check Level-5.

The tracks are reproduced through a software multimediaplayer (i.e. Windows Media Player). Each level is considered as passed, if the tone is smooth, continuous without interruptions, skipping or looping. The higher the Check Level passed, the more reliable the sound reproduction of the tested drive.

Error Level	1	2	3	4	5
RICOH MP5316DA	5/5	5/5	3/5	0/5	0/5

The drive successfully passed only the first two out of the five check levels for this test. Here too, the drive turned in a poor performance. Almost all drives have difficulties reading the 5th level but good quality drives can read up to the 4th level. However, most drives will pass at least the third level without any problems.

- Summary

Generally we can say that the CD error correction of the RICOH MP5316DA is average, something that could be fixed with newer firmware releases.