PleXWriter PX-W4012U external CDR-W- Page 5

DAE Tests

DAE features

EAC reports that the drive supports the "caching" feature, provides accurate stream and C2 error info.

Pressed AudioCD results

PlexWriter PX-W4012A ripped the audio files at 28.3x average speed. The drive is slower than the PX-W4021A and CyberDrive CW078D holds the first position with 34.6x.

CDR AudioCD results

Ripping a copy of the pressed audio CD was a little harder for PX-W4012U, and the drive lowered the average speed to 27.7x.

EAC Secure Extract Ripping mode

For each drive we used the build-in detection function:

Advanced DAE Quality

All tested drives got a 100 score (best) in the Nero CD Speed Advanced DAE test. None of the five drives produced any errors and the PX-W4012U gave a 29.9x average speed, and can read CD-text, subchannel data and leadin/leadout data.

CD-Check Audio Test Disc

The PX-W4012U fulfilled the forth level requirement of CD-Check test disc. The drive didn't produce any pops during the playback process until that level.

Bad CDR Media results

The disc has fingerprints and includes light scratches, enough in order cause problems to most of the tested drives. We used CD DAE v0.3beta software to rip the whole disc (756539616 sectors) and the results are posted in the following table:

The best reader for this test comes from Teac. The drive lowered its reading speed down to 4.5x and managed to produce no reading errors at this roundup. The CyberDrive CW058D comes second a low overall error rate. PlexWriter PX-W4012U was fast but gave a 18.23% error rate.

Ripping 90 and 99mins AudioCDs

Reading/Ripping Protected AudioCDs

For the test procedure we used 2 protected AudioCDs, which we tested in both recognition and ripping (with EAC) processes:

* Pressed AudioCD with Sony Key2Audio (Celine Dion - New Day Has Come)
* Pressed AudioCD with Cactus Data Shield 200 (Natalie Imbruglia - White Lilies Island)

As the test results showed, Plextor PX-W4012U can "handle" protected AudioCDs without any issues..