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: 2325547
Errors (Loudness) dB(A)	Num: 114672	Avg: -75.8 dB(A)	Max: -30.5 dB(A)
Error Muting Samples	Num: 6850	Avg: 1.2 Samples	Max: 582 Samples
Skips Samples	Num: 0	Avg: 0.0 Samples	Max: 0 Samples
Total Test Result	75.0 points (out of 100.0 maximum)
C2 Accuracy	99.6 %

The total error count is very high, however the maximum error loudness is low at -30.5dB and within acceptable levels. While there are quite a few muted samples, there are no skipped samples thanks to the low error loudness level just mentioned. The total test result score of 75.00 out of 100 is good.

- ABEX TCD-726

Errors total	Num: 24554
Errors (Loudness) dB(A)	Num: 3601	Avg: -85.3 dB(A)	Max: -47.9 dB(A)
Error Muting Samples	Num: 98	Avg: 1.0 Samples	Max: 2 Samples
Skips Samples	Num: 0	Avg: 0.0 Samples	Max: 0 Samples
Total Test Result	82.7 points (out of 100.0 maximum)
C2 Accuracy	100 %

The total error count is high but no samples were skipped. However, this is a much easier test disk than the previous one and most drives pass this test with a near perfect score. The total test result score of 82.7 out of 100 is not as good as it could have been.

- 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 being reproduced through a software multimedia player (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
LG GSA-4120B	5/5	5/5	2/5	0/5	0/5

The drive successfully passed only the first two out of the five check levels for this test. This is not good performance. Almost all drives have difficulties reading the 5th level, while a good drive can read the 4th level. But almost all drives can handle the third level defects without any problems. The performance is similar to the previous LG model, the GSA-4160B.

- Summary

The CD error correction of the LG GSA-4163B, as was the case with the previous LG GSA-4160B model, is mediocre.