detail information

On the previous page where we showed you the PlexTools screenshot with the listed supported read speeds we could see that audio was listed at only 8X. Let's check if this latest external Plextor drive is indeed limited to only 8X when it comes to DAE (Digital Audio Extraction). For the audio read tests we this time only used the PlexTools software. Exact Audio Copy didn't work with the Plextor drive for some reason. We could get EAC to recognize the drive with Ahead's WNASPI32.DLL file but when we wanted to extract the audio tracks, EAC simply crashed.

Digital Audio Extraction - PlexTools:

For the Digital Audio Extraction (DAE) tests we started PlexTools and simply extracted the separate audio tracks in uncompressed WAV format to our hard disk. Our test disc had 20 tracks and a total playing time of 77 minutes and 45 seconds.

Plextor PX-S2410TU DAE speed - PlexTools

As expected and as you can see from the screenshot the external Plextor drive is indeed limited to about 8X when doing DAE. Not a very good result considering that the drive can read normal data discs at 24X and CD-RW discs at 16X. Let's check our results with Nero CD Speed:

The tests done with Nero CD Speed confirm the results we got with the PlexTools software and the drive gets an average read speed of 8.02X. As you can also see from the screenshot the seek times are within the drive's specifications. The processor (CPU) usage was a bit high at 8X but the Nero CD Speed tests aren't always correct and 69% seems a bit too high.

Advanced DAE Quality Test:

To conclude our DAE test we did the 'Advanced DAE Quality Test' with Nero CD Speed. This test is a very hard and intense test for any reader.

We created a new test disc using a Plextor PX-W4012TU recorder. We used some high quality 'Hi-Space' media which are also available from our online shop (for our Dutch and Belgian visitors only). These Hi-Space discs have a 24 carats gold reflective cover and can be written up to 24X. Here are the results from the Advanced DAE Quality Test:

As you can see from the screenshot the average DAE speed of the Plextor PX-S2410TU is again about 8X. The drive cannot read any data from the lead-in and lead-out area but it can read the CD-Text and SubChannel Data information. The drive also produces a perfect quality score of 100%.