It seems that everyone is focusing on either Plextor or LiteOn. This is very interesting, because I remember hearing a rumour last year that Plextor's parent company, Shinano Kenshi of Japan, was also the primary manufacture for the Taiwan-based LiteOn Tech, Corp.
From what I read, I think Plextor has a 4 mb buffer and LiteOn has a 2 mb buffer. Also Plextor uses Zone-CLV technoligy, but some of the LiteOn models do not. (you can read about Zone-CLV here:
http://www.cdrinfo.com/hardware/ricoh7200a/)
But I read recently somewhere that there is a new technoligy out there, P-CAV, that records faster/more frequently accessed data to the inside of the CD-Rom and slower/reference data near the outside. But the trade off was that Zone-CLV could nolonger be supported, because it now mapped the CD as rings not sectors. There was also a quality issue for audio CD's? Whether it is out yet, I do not know?
This stuff is really beyond my own technical expertise, but I thought it might help to share what little knowlege I have. Here is some reference links you might want to look at and a quote from the first link:
1)
Roundup 1
2)
Roundup 2
3)
Roundup 3
-------------------------------------------------------
Quote:
-------------------------------------------------------
"LiteOn LTR-40125S is definitely the winner at this roundup. The drive is the faster in both reading/writing tests than both ASUS and Plextor drives are. LiteOn decided to give users the option to de-activate "Smart-Burn", which however is not recommended from our side, at least with 16x and even with 24x certified CDs. Users will be pleased from the ability to backup almost all protected CDs and will be disappointed from the lack of Mt. Rainier format, the increased noise and the fact that it cannot handle any protected AudioCD. The biggest advantage of the LiteOn drive towards the competition is assumed in one word: Price.
Plextor PX-W4012A has a few unique features (black tray, VariRec function) but also an increased price (up to $150+). Of course the European users have an additional year of warranty (2 years in total), which can affect their final decision. In addition Plextor has promised Mt. Rainier format support with future firmware upgrade, which none of both ASUS and LiteOn have done so far."