32x CD-RW Roundup Vol 2 - Page 14

Conclusion

After our first 32x CD-RW roundup we were are convinced that 32x Zone-CLV recorders couldn't offer any major improvements to the overall recording times, compared to the 24x recorders. That statement still stands. Until now, the highest time you could save is approximately 22secs, with Yamaha CRW3200E, but now CyberDrive CW058D managed to break our labs watches. Even the drive didn't show up as the faster 32x recorder, finished the burning first in the most of our recording tests. The secret behind those recording times is the low time during calibration and the drop-less passage through 16x->20x and 20x->24x recording speeds.

The CyberDrive CW-058D had the lower recording times also with HS-RW media-no surprise since CyberDrive was the first manufacturer that ever shipped a 12x RW recorder. The drive also performs very well at the reading part and can handle some protected CD without any problems (both Data/Audio). The C1 error rate was low when 32x certified media were used. On the bad side we can say that the attached 2Mb buffer will bring up many buffer underruns in case of such high recording speeds and when many tasks are performed. Other vendors have increased buffer up to 4Mb/8Mb or even 16Mb to reduce un-wanted buffer underruns. Of course ExacLink will prevent buffer underruns but...the less buffer underruns the better. Lastly, CloneCD users should't be happy since cannot backup SD2 CDs and reads very slowly the protected CDs.

The AOpen CRW3248 had the best overall reading performance. No surprise here due to its increased 48x reading speed. The drive can also rip CDs at 48x giving an overall of 35.5.X! The DAE ripping quality is very good, something that has been fixed from the previous models. Note that in such high rotation speeds, noise is higher. On the other side, the drive needs further improvement at the writing part. The drive was the slowest 32x recorder among the five tested drives. Of course the firmware is not final yet (0.98e) and in future we plan to revise our recording tests. CloneCD users will be partial satisfied from the drive's reading performance but will be also disappointed since the drive cannot create working backups of SD2 CDs.. Lastly, even if the drive's specs mentioned support of "Mt. Rainier" the current firmware (0.98e) didn't support it.

The Philips PCRW3210 has to compete four other drives that support 12x re-writing speed. So it starts with a negative point. The drive's overall performance is good at both data/DAE reading part and would lead this roundup if CyberDrive drive wasn't present. The 20x-32x recording policy was supposed to deliver the faster recording speed but real life tests didn't confirm it. The drive with further firmware tweaking can improve its performance.

There are also another two 32x recorders from LiteOn and Mitsumi that appearing in this roundup. LiteOn has improved the writing performance of LTR-32123S with latest firmware, while Mitsumi did increase the recording times. Mitsumi CR-480ATE is the only drive in this roundup that offers the "Mt. Rainier" format and a big 16MB buffer. For sure, the drive needs to improve its overall reading/writing performance to reach the top competitor drives.

As it currently stands, the CyberDrive CW-058D and LiteOn LTR-32123S are the two most complete solutions. The CyberDrive offers increased reading speed, lower recording times and better handling of protected AudioCDs. The LiteOn LTR-32123S has proven SD2 compatibility and showed the better overall CloneCD reading performance. As always the choice is yours :-)