Poll: Please Choose a CDROM for me

[optimistic]

In Poll~~~~~>

Will be picking up one today

 

[Shudder]

Toshiba DVD.

Sorry, but I don't like CDRoms anymore. It seems to me they try to make them as fast as possible at the expense of your ears.

But I'm sure there's one on the list that may be quiet

 

[HansXP]

There's really not a reason to get a CD-ROM anymore. A DVD reads CDs plenty fast (mine goes at 40X) and can be had for not that much more than CD-ROMs. I recommend the 16X Toshiba DVD-ROM drive. It's just $50.

 

[optimistic]

This will be for a low-end workstation I am building. So a decent cdrom with fast access time, and silent operation will do this system good.

 

[optimistic]

There's also the possibility that this might be coupled with a 12 speed burner so high rip/dae speeds is a plus.

 

[Dundain]

Well, I'd personally recommend the Toshiba 16x DVD. Ive been very impressed with it. Its quite zippy and almost totally silent (cant hear it over 4 case fans) but it has a fairly low DAE. (Atleast in CD'n'Go) If you want the fastest CDROM drive you could possibly get you might want to try finding a Kenwood 72x. But it doesnt have good DAE. Try looking at sites like www.storagereview.com or www.cdrlabs.com

 

[Silver_VR6]

Hi,

for the best drives for audio extraction, you should definitely take a look at this:

CDSpeed DAE Extraction results top 200 drives

Furthemore, it tells you if the drives can be matches to 10x and 12x burners. Check it out !!!!

Francois

 

[rw120555]

I just got a Teac CDROM 540/E. I wanted a drive that could keep up with my Plextor 12/10/32A and let me do CD to CD copying at 12X. I thought about a DVD Rom, but didn't really need it and was afraid it would create some new set of hassles for me. So you may be making a mistake not buying dvd, but if so you've got company.

So far at least, the Teac is great. On my system, depending on the program, DAE benchmarks at between 18X and 27X. The data benchmarks are between 23X and 30X. So, it is more than fast enough for my Plextor, indeed, I imagine it would be ok with a 16X burner. I've only copied a few audio cds so far but they seem fine.

One major caution: You will probably need to download the firmware update and some other software from the Teac site. I was appalled at the benchmark speeds (about 4x for DAE) until I made the update. Unfortunately, I bet a lot of people will use the drive without the updates and never realize just how good it can be.

I agree that the cdspeed site is great to check out. It not only has benchmarks, but a lot of user reviews and comments. Drives with the best benchmarks often have some very negative comments from users, but almost everybody gave the Teac good marks.

I got the drive for $50 + s & H from Shopteac. There are a little cheaper places to buy, but I didn't trust their reputations, and the price was quite competitive (actually better) than what buy.com wanted.

Let us know what you get (or already got). RW

 

[Fastball]

I wouldn't use anything but the Teac 540E. Excellent DAE and quiet.

 

[Villareal]

Toshiba SDM1502 DVD-ROM, no question. It's fast, quiet and stays cool. Cost about the same as a decent CDROM and adds DVD playback. No better value IMO.

 

[rw120555]

The Toshiba DVD sounds like a very good drive. But, according to the benchmarks at CDSpeed2000, it only does DAE at a little over 8X, compared to about 30X for the Teac 540E. Depending on your computer and software, you might find that you could only do an audio CD to CD copy at as little as 4X. So, which is best depends on what you are most interested in -- do you want to play DVDs on your computer, or do you want to do DAE and CD to CD copying? Personally, I've never had any great desire to play DVDs on my computer, but I might be more interested if more software and data started coming out on DVDs.

If you want both DVD and high-speed DAE, the LiteOn LTD163 may be worth a look. It gets great benchmarks at CDSpeed2000 and the handful of comments on it are for the most part positive. I have no personal experience with it though.