What cd-rom or dvd drive to use for ripping cd's?

zybar · « **on:** 21 Aug 2005, 11:40 pm »

Now that I have committed myself to the pc audio route, I need to get a good drive to rip all my cd's.

I have had a few people recommend the following:

Plextor Premium:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16827106234

BenQ 1640:

http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/productDetail.do?oid=127972&com.broadvision.session.new=Yes&BV_UseBVCookie=No

I will be adding the drive to an older 800Mhz machine.

Thanks,

George

JoshK · « **Reply #1 on:** 21 Aug 2005, 11:50 pm »

Plextor is good, also Pioneer is said to be really good. Those are the two best I've heard. I think the buffer size matters too, so go with the biggest buffer size you can get. But in the end it probably won't make any difference.

Carlman · « **Reply #2 on:** 22 Aug 2005, 02:18 am »

I thought LiteOn was supposed to be a hot brand at one time or another...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827106966

You may want to PM Tirade for a specific recommendation for CD-burners. He said there was a Plextor that read lead-in something or other better than the others...

BTW, you mentioned DVD but the Plextor you linked to only does CD....

-C

DeadFish · « **Reply #3 on:** 22 Aug 2005, 02:33 am »

Hey zybar,
From a purely computer user point of view, I vote for Plextor.
They have made state of the art units almost since the beginning of the technology, maintained reliable technology as well. I've gone thru about every brand available in cd drives since the one speed burners came out.
Plextor=reliability in my book. Got DVD and CD burner units and don't look back on either purchase, given how really cheap they are ultimately in the chain of things. They've pushed the limits of the technology a lot and done it well.
So there....
harumph.....

Regards,
DeadFish

ted_b · « **Reply #4 on:** 24 Aug 2005, 11:32 am »

George,
Some good responses here (below), especially if you are gonna use EAC as your DAE ripper (which I recommend). The speed of the drive, especially in C2 mode, is important, but so is noise (of course), the ability to run in uncached mode, etc. Twelve posts down in this thread is a decent summary.

I use a Liteon 52327S and its been great.....and at the time it was quite inexpensive.

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?s=5f4a796744abc795fee8735d43bc5262&showtopic=35977

Ted

EchiDna · « **Reply #5 on:** 24 Aug 2005, 11:38 pm »

Plextor drives are good, no question, but they also OEM for many other brands... the same models can be had for 30% of the Plextor price, but under another label if you look about. There should be a nice listing somewhere, but a quick google didn't show it up...

I'm using lite-on at the moment and found it to be fast (but noisy) for ripping

CSMR · « **Reply #6 on:** 24 Aug 2005, 11:42 pm »

Plextor is good and also has software that is straightforward to use. WIth another drive you will need to learn how to configure EAC.

zybar · « **Reply #7 on:** 25 Aug 2005, 01:40 am »

Thanks for all the great comments guys.

I will probably decide tomorrow on what to buy.

George

jqp · « **Reply #8 on:** 25 Aug 2005, 01:51 am »

I vote Plextor. I would not get a DVD burner to rip CDs.

EchiDna · « **Reply #9 on:** 25 Aug 2005, 11:47 pm »

Quote from: jqp

....I would not get a DVD burner to rip CDs.

I must ask - why?
is there any REAL inherent difference or are you speaking from personal preference? finding decent CDrom drives new is very difficult these days!

DeadFish · « **Reply #10 on:** 26 Aug 2005, 03:08 am »

I can tell you why I would agree with jqp, EchiDna.
I have both a Plextor Cd burner and and Plextor DVD burner. CD unit much faster dealing with CD formats, than DVD unit. Even just reading directories of CDs I've burnt. My guess (at least per my situation) is that the DVD unit can recognize more formats and takes its sweet time figuring out what it is looking at.
If I am scanning thru a bunch of file disks I've burnt on my machine, I always look thru the CD unit. When searching CD directory, machine speed sucks until it comes up with something. Nature of the beast. I previously had just a DVD play unit along with the CD burner, and it was the same way, real slow at deciding what it was looking at.

Regards,
DeadFish

EchiDna · « **Reply #11 on:** 27 Aug 2005, 12:05 am »

time is one thing, but that doesn't effect the rip quality in the end does it?

there is drive speed control/ file type control software about (nero6 has both) and you can choose the file type to search for first etc etc...

anyway, like you I have both types in my ripping pc

DeadFish · « **Reply #12 on:** 27 Aug 2005, 12:37 am »

Ultimately, I expect the same quality from both drives. I just really trust the brand that much.
I'm just *really* impatient for instant gratification when it comes to my hardware.

DF