Guys, I want to buy a CD-R Drive/Burner for recording a RedBooks MasterCD with maximum quality of recording, minimum of error C1/C2/BLER etc.
What do you recommend to buy?
It is about $ 100-200, maybe a bit more. Don't recommend me $ 1000(and higher) ones with diamond glamourous lights and other colourful beautiful things, anniversary editions with developers' signatures etc. I need it for professional CD-recording, not for exhibitions for clients!
A lot of people recommend Plextor - maybe some models do you know? Who had experience with them?
Also: speed of recording? 8x? 4x? 2x? which is good/optimum or the best?
CDs? - Taiyo Yuden? They offer to order 100 CDs from other city, it will be expensive...maybe other excellent CD? Mirex Maestro? Verbatim? Sony?...
About software for redbook CDs - I prefer Sony CD Architect 5.2 (latest). Maybe exists better or it doesn't matter?????

 

Hi, ArcticStorm!

Yeah, they exist in our shops (computer centres etc.)
because AudioCD (CD-DA) is still format of music and I need it to burn masterCD. There is a distribution on CDs. Need it to make good redbook for further duplications.

 

hey,

taiyo yuden compact discs were, perhaps are still (pray do one search), the usually recommended (quite often even required) brand for mastering purposes.

in those somewhat older times, plextor drives were, possibly still are (worth one search too), the recommended brand to have for audio usage.

deciding factor about the software needed for said purpose might be the error compensation method(s) in use, the low speed writing capability.

all the best...

 

I guess Yamaha's CRW-F1 is still the best and always will be, since there are no newer drives, but I have no idea where you might get one today though.

So, just get any DVD writer for 20 bucks (maybe some LiteOn) and a few different discs and check the quality of the recordings with Nero DiscSpeed.

 

olaf,

I have ATAPI (LiteOn) iHas 122 or 124 (don't remember) - but I'm not sure about it.

 

There are different models with the same number. It depends on the letter after iHAS12*.
Apart from this, the iHAS32* is the same drive as a retail version and model A is pretty good with both tested Taiyo Yuden and Ritek media.

 

Audition V3 & V5+ can apparently do it : http://blogs.adobe.com/audition/2013/02/creating-cds-in-adobe-audition-part-1.html#.VFQjRMnNlyM

My suggestion for burning: burn at half of max speed.

 

Obviously, Sony is likely going to be your best bet for a burner (and for CD-R stock), though Toshibas aren't too shabby, either. If you're making a replication master and you're worried about the quality, I'd advise bypassing trying to burn a master CD at home altogether and instead burn a DDP (2.0) playlist to a data CD-R. Your replicator should be able to read the DDP fileset and create something like a single-speed glass master from that, using much better hardware than you could afford. An easier method along the same lines would be burning a disc image to a data CD-R. Either way, you won't have to worry about PCM audio burning errors.

 

I recommend LiteOn or Plextor in conjunction with TYG/JVC (Taiyo Yuden) media. Best combination so far.

As for software, ImgBurn might suffice - create Bin/Cue and burn it, simple as that. *yes*

 

Olaf,
My writer is iHas122 C (XL06)

 

C is an MTK chipset drive. It should be fine with the right media and it has the quality scanning abilities required by DiscSpeed. I would just update the firmware to the newest one to increase compatibility with certain discs.

 

thanks, Olaf!

 

DiscSpeed might not give always accurate results, it's quite old actually.
OptiDrive Control replaced it, though it's commercial.
For free alternative, go for KProbe. Since I have it, never looked back when in need for PI/PIF testing *yes*

 

Yeah, you could use any software. The results will be very similar. None of the software will give you accurate results though. You would need completely different hardware (e.g. from AudioDev). Of course it's unaffordable.

So, the results from a single drive are not comparable with another drive. They are just comparable with the (temporal) quality from another disc (burn with this same drive). If you burn multiple CD-Rs and scan them, you could decide which one fits your drive best. It's not necessarily the same disc for every drive, but Taiyo Yuden should always be a good choice.

 

for example, Olaf, it will be very good?
CD-R disk: JVC (Taiyo Yuden, JAPAN) CD-R (I see that I can order these 50 CD-Rs only in one pack/spindle) (also I have some worse CDs: Mirex Maestro, Verbatim etc.)
CD-R Drive: ATAPI LiteOn iHas 122 C with the latest firmware
speed of burn: x10(this will be minimal) or x16
soft for burn: any (preferably to me: Sony CD Architect 5.2 (pre)latest build)
*yes* ?

 

I don't know about Mirex, seems to be a Belarusian(?) reseller. They could order the CDs from Ritek, MBI, etc. You can check by the MID.
Verbatim can be pretty good too. But again, it depends on the compatibility with your drive.

The software doesn't matter, as long as you're working with Cuesheets (that's the minimum for authoring). As Andrew already said, ImgBurn is fine. For DDP you would need something else (Sonoris, HOFA etc.).

I'm still not sure about why you're trying to burn a CD instead of sending the image to the replicator.

 

Yes, Mirex is Ukraine or Belarussian CD. Just I don't know if copying from DDP to CD-DA exists in Russia. Previous Redbook CD was recorded on Pioneer which is old now and it was copied/replicated on CDs by factory. Now I don't know if they support images, DDPs... And I have no idea how to create it with Sonoris/hofa DDP Creators and burn it on CD with image...

 

I use Ashampoo Burning Studio 11. It does all that stuff and heaps more.