Asus CRW-5232AS

Review Pages

1. Retail Package - Installation
2. Transfer Rate Reading Tests
3. CD Error Correction Tests
4. Protected Disc Tests
5. DAE Tests
6. Protected AudioCD Tests
7. CD Recording Tests
8. 3T Jitter Tests - Page 1
9. 3T Jitter Tests - Page 2
10. C1/C2 Error Measurements
11. Conclusion

ASUS CRW-5232AS Recorder - Conclusion

Conclusion

The ASUS CRW 5232AS is a CD rewritable drive aimed at users wanting a burner with full CD operations and high performance cou;led with the latest technological achievements on compuct discs.

The drive offers high speed transfer rates with CD-Rs but seems to be slow when reading rewritable media compared with drives in the same category. The drive offers good error correction with scratched / defective discs. With game backups, it produces working copies readable with all drives for safedisc protection scheme up to version 2.8 and only partial compatibility with version 2.9 build.

The ASUS CRW 5232AS uses 52X CAV DAE speed and offers features such as cached DAE, accurate stream and C2 error information. It received a score of 100 (perfect) in the Nero CD Speed Advanced DAE test with an average reading speed of 37.24X. The drive supports Key2Audio/CDS200 protected Audio discs but gave us timing problems and Read&Test CRC difference with CDS200 protection. It supports 99min reading Audio CDs but has reading problems with 90min Audio CDs.

The ASUS drive supports 4X, 8X, 16X, 24X, 32X, 40X, 48X and 52X speeds and has average writing performance, with high jitter at all speeds with TraxData 52X media as well as with various other media we tried. It also gave us high C1,C2 and CU errors, especially with BenQ and TraxData recorded at 52X & 8X.

The ASUS CRW 5232AS is priced at around $25.

- The Good

Low price.
32X US-RW support.
Compatible for backup of SafeDisc2 v2.8x protected discs.
Good CD error correction.
Can overburn up to 99mins.
Supports Key2Audio/CDS200 protected Audio discs.

- The Bad

CD-R writing needs much improvement, drive produces high C1,C2 & CU error rates as well as jitter.
Doesn't accurately backup SafeDisc2 v2.9x+ protected discs.
Dosen`t rip 100% accurately CD200 protected Audio discs.
Retail package doesn't include any CDR-RW media.

- Like to be fixed