Conclusion

Many users expected the TEAC 40x drive to decide when -and if- they should upgrade their system. TEAC gave the CD-W540E a specific design "Quality" versus "Speed". The drive's reading mechanism is improved and the lowest seek times of the industry are here! The drive will also decrease its reading speed to read any inserted media. It will also write many media, even 16x certified, at the maximum (40x recording) speed with a good recording quality. Mt. Rainier format is present, making it the only 40x recorder that supports it out of the box. Finally, it's the fastest reader as far as it concerns Data CDs, at this category and supports overburning (up to 99min CDs).

Its' weakest point is the reading/writing performance of protected CDs. Of course the reading performance can be surpassed with the help of a good reader, but the recording part cannot be. The drive cannot backup SafeDisc 2 v2.5x CDs, which the competition from LiteOn/ASUS and partially Plextor does. The DAE is lower than the competition, but as we said earlier, speed is sacrificed in the name of quality.

The drive's price makes it directly comparable to the PleXWriter PX-W4012A. The TEAC drive is faster at reading/writing tests, has Mt. Rainier (Plextor will support it also with future firmware) and has "wider" media compatibility for the 40x recording speed. The PleXWriter has some unique features (VariRec, Black Tray) and support for SD2 v2.50.x CDs. Lastly; both drives have two years of warranty.

Comparing the drive with the LiteOn LTR-40125S, we can say that TEAC is slightly faster at both reading and writing tests, has lower DAE speeds and better recording quality. LiteOn has SD2 v2.51 support and almost $40-50 less price. As usual, you must balance your needs and decide which drive fits yours needs best.

TEAC CD-W540E gets our "Editors Choice Award" for its performance/value for money. Let’s hope that the upcoming CD-W548E will get no negative comments ;-)