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Digital
Audio Extraction:
For those of you that like
to compile your own fresh music mixes, these CD DAE
tests on the PleXWriter 40/12/40A should give you an
idea of how the drive will hold up to an audio rip.
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Track 1 performance
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Track 19 performance
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On the outside tracks of the
disc, at track 19, we see 40X performance. At the
inner most track, number 1, the Plextor 40/12/40A shows
19X performance. Overall, this drive should handle
Digital Audio Extraction very well.
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CD-R Media Performance Variations |
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When 16X isn't
16X and neither is 24X |
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OK quiz
time... Remember when we said we would get back to
the topic of PoweREC II and various CD-R media?
Well OK, we'll spare you the test for now.
However, we did discover that with this new high speed
burner from Plextor, all CD-R media is not created
equal. As a matter of fact, the variances in burn
time from one brand to another were quite surprising.
We placed a call to Plextor Tech Support but actually
discovered the answer on our own. Plain and
simple, some CD-R manufacturers are just not up to par
with some of the new higher speed CD-RW drives.
Frankly, rated performance of some discs, like the PNY
media we tried, is very suspect. Here is a quick
analysis of relative performance we obtained with a
variety of discs.
As you can
see, PNY's Precision Gold 24X discs actually perform
more like 16X discs in the PleXWriter 40/12/40A.
However, the Imation 16X discs we used actually scored
the best of all types, even better than the Plextor
discs we were supplied with our unit. It was
amazing to see the type of spread we saw here.
However, Plextor's PoweREC II technology allowed us to
burn through even the lesser quality PNY discs without a
single coaster in any test we performed. The moral
of the story? Try before you buy. We suggest
picking up a small quantity pack of discs and trying
them with this drive (or any new high speed CD-RW drive
for that matter) before you take the plunge on the 50+
pack. Interestingly enough the Imation discs here
were the cheapest of the lot!
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Burning Benchmarks - Tres Generaciones |
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Three
generations of Plextor CD-RW performance |
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We then
commenced to our CD-R and CD-RW write testing. We
decided to work with the Imation media, since it gave us
the best performance for any run we attempted.
What nice
linear graphs we have here, don't we? If you asked
us almost a year ago, when we tested Plextor's 16X
burner, if we ever thought we would be writing a whole
disc in three minutes, we would have told you to stop
dreaming. However, less than one year since the
introduction of the 16X drive, this new 40X unit
delivers just that. We cut a lot of CDs around the
HotHardware labs. From drivers, to press kits,
benchmark suites and of course "attitude adjustment
music", we certainly can appreciate the 40% speed gain
we've been given since the 16X drive was released.
In addition, the PleXWriter 40/12/40A is roughly 25%
faster than it's 24X sibling.
And the
re-write... since we certainly do make our fair share of
mistakes around the lab as well.
Here we see
the same 25% performance edge with the PleXWriter
40/12/40A versus the 24X unit. As you will note,
the 40/12/40 is right where it should be with a 12X
re-burn, closing in on the time stamps put up by the 16X
drive during the CD-R sessions.
This time
around with Plextor's latest CD-RW drive, we learned a
little something about the technology that is going to
be much more of a focus we believe, in future product
development for most all vendors. Not only is the
goal to produce a fast CD-RW drive but also one that is
forgiving of less than high quality media, yet still
deliver write and re-write speeds to its fullest
potential. Can we fault the PleXWriter 40/12/40A
for not being able to burn at a 40X rate with all of the
CD-R media we threw at it? No, that certainly
would not be a level playing field, now would it?
Remember, the PNY discs we tried were only rated to 24X
(although they didn't hit that speed either) and the TDK
discs were rated up to 32X. Actually, we checked
several local retailers and not one had true 40X
certified media on the shelf. However, as you can
see, the Imation 16X discs faired best of all, clocking
in with excellent write times. Something tells us
when there is true 40X media available, we may see these
times drop even slightly below the 3 minute mark for a
full cd.
Regardless,
the PleXWriter 40/12/40A is one fantastic CD-RW drive.
At a small premium over its 24X little brother, we think
it is well worth it's current sub $160 street price tag.
We're giving the PleXWriter 40/12/40A a HotHardware Heat
Meter rating of...
And once
again, Plextor earns the coveted HotHardware.com
Editor's Choice Award...
You have something meaningful to say or do you just want
to flap your gums?
Come get some in the HotHardware Conference Room!
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