ASUS DVD-E616A

Review Pages

1. Introduction
2. Transfer Rate Reading Tests
3. CD Error Correction Tests
4. DVD Error Correction Tests
5. DAE Tests
6. Protected AudioCDs
7. Protected Disc Tests
8. Conclusion

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: 1529431
Errors (Loudness) dB(A)	Num:152079	Avg: -79.1 dB(A)	Max: -35.8 dB(A)
Error Muting Samples	Num: 5158	Avg: 1.0 Samples	Max: 9 Samples
Skips Samples	Num: 0	Avg: 0.0 Samples	Max: 0 Samples
Total Test Result	75.1 points (out of 100.0 maximum)
C2 Accuracy	99.8 %

We expected to see better performance from the E616A DVD-ROM, judging from the results of the E616P2, but since these two drives use different chipsets, it is logical to have some differences in the results. That aside, the E616A showed good performance with no skipped samples despite a high total error count. The total test result score of 75.1 is quite good

- ABEX TCD-726

Errors total	Num: 2380
Errors (Loudness) dB(A)	Num: 518	Avg: -89.1 dB(A)	Max: -54.2 dB(A)
Error Muting Samples	Num: 91	Avg: 6.3 Samples	Max: 46 Samples
Skips Samples	Num: 0	Avg: 0.0 Samples	Max: 0 Samples
Total Test Result	82.9 points (out of 100.0 maximum)
C2 Accuracy	59.3 %

Usually, the TCD-726 test disc is much easier for burners/readers to read, with the best drives managing a perfect score. Surprisingly, the E616A reported some errors. We hope to see some improvement in this in a future firmware release.

- 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 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.