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

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.