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what drive should I buy???

Y

yonatan

New Member
Hello my name is Jonathan I am 22 years old.
I'm pretty new to all matters of sound.My question is very simple:My CD drive is: HL-DT-ST GH22NS50 I heard this drive's performance is quite poor.
Which new drive should I buy Around these prices:50-150$
?
Best drive you can get in these prices
Drive that performs:good c2,AccurateRip, DAE test successfully passes. I'm planning project that will include archiving hundreds of CDs (EAC-FLAC) This project is very important to me so I have to be sure I have the appropriate drive for extracting music CDs The best way.drive that will have all the features to extract songs perfectly.

So what do you recommend?
(If you need more information I will be happy to give them)

jonathan.
 
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somebody correct me if i am wrong. your CD drive does not really matter. as long as it is capable you should be fine. your software should simply make a copy of 1s and 0s on the disk, right? or copy and archive the waveform image?

either way, its not like you are choosing an analog turntable setup to archive albums. 1s and 0s are 1s and 0s no matter what media in which they reside.


good luck.
 
CD drive "quality" for computers is a pretty moot point. I don't know that any drive can be any "better" than any other drive beyond the simple marker of whether it functions correctly or not. For instance, if you were installing a program from cd and the drive was somehow not transferring the information correctly to the computer, the program would never install. This is rarely if ever a problem.
 
By the looks of things it's an LG drive, and those have been good drives. Your D/A converter is doing to impact the sound more than anything, along with the analog amplification. If your having issues cleaning the drive and checking the cabling may help.
 
You can always google best cd-rom drives or specific models.

There are a lot of sites that test where they compare read speed, read errors, ripping etc.
My only experience that didn't fit "they're all just 1s and 0s mantra" is an Asus drive I bought because it was supposedly newer technology and faster. It had problems reading a Moody Blues Days of Future Passed CD using EAC to rip. Kept getting read errors and wouldn't complete. I reinserted my old Acer drive , and was able to use EAC to rip no problem.

This was a few years ago, so maybe things are now so good with CD/DVD drives it doesn't matter.
 
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other things to consider
1. Rip lossless
2. Turn on CD Device error correction (ie in WMP tools/options/device - select device - select properties - click error protection)
3. Will need min 500 gb to store - get big drives - you want a backup copy so you need 2 drives min. At least one a USB drive for mobility.
4. Plan your file folder layout. For instance not one gigantic folder.
 
I've had good luck with Plextor drives. My computer came with a samsung drive that actually performs better on scratchy discs, but the plextor makes far better burns. Just my 2Cents!
 
yonatan said:
Hello my name is Jonathan I am 22 years old.
I'm pretty new to all matters of sound.My question is very simple:My CD drive is: HL-DT-ST GH22NS50 I heard this drive's performance is quite poor.
Which new drive should I buy Around these prices:50-150$
?
Best drive you can get in these prices
Drive that performs:good c2,AccurateRip, DAE test successfully passes. I'm planning project that will include archiving hundreds of CDs (EAC-FLAC) This project is very important to me so I have to be sure I have the appropriate drive for extracting music CDs The best way.drive that will have all the features to extract songs perfectly.

So what do you recommend?
(If you need more information I will be happy to give them)

jonathan.
Click to expand...

My preference is Plextor on a sata interface.
 
By far the best drives I've ever owned are Pioneer CD/DVD±R(W) combo burners. They sound great, rip beautifully, they're quiet, and they have burned quickly and successfully any media I've fed them. In three years I've had exactly two coasters out of hundreds of discs burnt.

Tom
 
My Plextor PX-870A has served me well... 4yrs old?

Anyhow... I would rip lossless to HDD with EAC and play from the file
 
At one time what drive you had made a huge difference but not any more. For a long time Plextor's were considered the best particularly SCSI drives. But now I think Plextor just buys OEM drives and puts their name on it. Lite-on was a good drive but I don't know if they make them anymore or outsource. I think it is hard to find a bad drive at this point in time. You might want to buy an external drive and use that to rip.

If you're running windows good tools to have is EAC or DBPoweramp and rip to lossless using accuraterip. If you're running OSX then XLD is the tool of choice. Your choice whether you rip to FLAC, ALAC or APE.
 
If the drives do not really affect the extraction results As some of you said Why there are different results in DAE tests in Different drives?

How do I check what D / A converter I have?

What is analog amplification?

What are the factors that affect the extraction results?
What most interests me is the extraction of the songs. Accuracy. quality. Etc.
 
If you want to keep your focus simple, as I said google best CD-Rom, best ripper, best burner, etc. That way you get a wide variety of reviews on old and new drives.

The reviews will cover just about all your questions or at least the ones pertinent for buying advice.

If you have specific models google those for reviews.

There are plenty of sites that review hardware that detail extraction and performance results.

They will compare drives head to head, read speed, extraction results, conclusions, ratings, etc.

A lot less haphazard than a list here that may or may not be readily available. Plus you will also want to consider system requirements, firmware support, manuals, etc. Just because something works for a member here doesn't mean it will work for you.

I'm not familiar with the HL-DT-ST GH22NS50, but where did you hear it was poor? Is it just a reader or is it a burner as well? Does it not read or burn well?

Then the other question is what kind of software you will be using? I use EAC to rip and Nero 6 to burn. A bundled limited version came with my Memorex CD/DVD burner. I later bought a full Nero 6 package. Not as elite as others but it certainly works for me. Some later Nero versions are not as well recommended. I use EAC just because it's recommended as the best ripping software at the time. But I wouldn't know if it really makes an audible difference from just doing a disc copy with Nero.

You can get into theory if that is the purpose of your thread. The crucial points are system compatibility and the ability to read and burn discs. If it can get past that, then I'm not sure how perfect it has to be for you in the price range or whether you can hear any difference from model to model versus measurements and debate.

Oh and I consider part of reading is the ability of the drive to read scratched discs.
 
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