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: 3136019
Errors (Loudness) dB(A)	Num: 135875	Avg: -74.3 dB(A)	Max:-22.3 dB(A)
Error Muting Samples	Num: 9598	Avg: 1.0 Samples	Max: 17 Samples
Skips Samples	Num: 13	Avg: 6.0 Samples	Max: 6 Samples
Total Test Result	65.9 points (out of 100.0 maximum)
C2 Accuracy	99.7 %

The performance with this disc is not good. The total error count was very high, even higher than with the ND-2510A, as was the maximum level of the loudness errors at -22.3dB (this was similar to ND-2500A) and the number of skipped samples. The final score of 65.9 is rather low and is indicative of the poor performance of the drive.

- ABEX TCD-726

Errors total	Num: 15028
Errors (Loudness) dB(A)	Num: 23061	Avg: -82.3 dB(A)	Max: -15.2 dB(A)
Error Muting Samples	Num: 227	Avg: 6.0 Samples	Max: 467 Samples
Skips Samples	Num: 0	Avg: 0.0 Samples	Max: 0 Samples
Total Test Result	71.4 points (out of 100.0 maximum)
C2 Accuracy	99.7 %

The Abex TCD-726 test disc is much easier for drives in general to read. This is why the LaCie d2 DL performed better than with the previous CD. The drive achieved a total score of 71.4 but again this is a low score (here too performance is similar to ND-2510A).

- 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
LaCie d2 DL DVD±RW	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. Once again the drive showed poor performance. Usually, all drives have difficulties reading the 5th level, and a good drive can read 4th level. But most drives will pass at least the third level without any problems.

- Summary

The drive offers poor error correction with CD media. LaCie should look into it and solve this issue with newer firmware updates...