detail information

Now we'll start testing the reading of normal/unprotected data discs. Let's see how fast the TEAC drive can read data and if it can really reach the claimed 48x. For the tests we once again used Nero CD Speed and repeated the tests several times to make sure the results were accurate.

The data read tests are divided into four sections:

• Original/Pressed Discs
• CD-Recordable Media
• CD-ReWriteable Media
• Conclusion

Transfer Rate Test - Original/Pressed Discs:

For the transfer rate tests we used a pressed CD-ROM containing PlexTools v1.05 which was exactly 74 minutes (333.000 sectors) long. Below the produced graph with Nero CD Speed:

And of course the speeds and seek times the TEAC CD-W540E reached:

In the left screenshot you see that the TEAC CD-W540E performs well getting an average reading speed of 36.71x. The drive can reach the claimed 48x without problems.

The seek times with original/pressed media were very good as you can see in the screenshot on the right. In the table below we compare the achieved times with other drives we've previously reviewed.

Please note that the other drives are all 40x readers and so it's no surprise the TEAC is the fastest reader. It's the only drive capable of reaching 48x:

Transfer Rate Test - CD-Recordable Media:

For the transfer rate tests with CD-Recordable Media we again used the PlexTools v1.05 disc only this time we read from a back-up disc. The disc used was a 'That's Write' CD-R certified up to 16x writing and manufactured by Gigastorage. Here's the ATIP information from CDR Identifier:

• ATIP: 97m 28s 12f
  
• Disc Manufacturer: Gigastorage Corp.
  
• Reflective layer: Dye (Long strategy; e.g. Cyanine, Azo etc.)
  
• Media type: CD-Recordable
  
• Recording Speeds: min. unknown - max. unknown
  
• Nominal Capacity: 702.83MB (79m 59s 74f / LBA: 359849)

The back-up disc was of course also 74 minutes (333.000 sectors) long. Below the produced graph with Nero CD Speed:

The speeds and seek times the TEAC CD-W540E reached with the CD-R media:

The TEAC CD-W540E is slightly faster with CD-R media than with original/pressed discs. It can reach 48x, but not without some problems (see the note below). The top reading speed was 48.43x.

The seek times aren't very good. A lot slower than with original/pressed discs.

We do have to make a note here since the TEAC CD-W540E didn't perform well with some CD-R media. We got some various results with our back-up of the PlexTools disc and tried several times with different media but every time the achieved results were different. The full seek times for example would vary from 129ms up to 500ms.

Transfer Rate Test - CD-ReWriteable Media:

To test the transfer rate with CD-RW discs we again used the "PlexTools v1.05" disc only this time we read from a CD-ReWritable disc. The disc used was a 'Verbatim' CD-RW certified up to 10x writing and manufactured by Mitsubishi. Here's the ATIP information from CDR Identifier:

• ATIP: 97m 34s 23f
  
• Disc Manufacturer: Mitsubishi Chemicals Corp.
  
• Reflective layer: Phase change
  
• Media type: CD-ReWritable
  
• Recording Speeds: min. 4X - max. 8X
  
• Nominal Capacity: 656.40MB (74m 43s 00f / LBA: 336075)

The CD-RW disc was of course also 74 minutes (333.000 sectors) long. Below the produced graph with Nero CD Speed:

And of course the speeds and seek times the TEAC CD-W540E reached:

The TEAC CD-W540E really produces an excellent result here and can read CD-RW discs at full speed (49.54x!). It's even faster with CD-RW discs than with original/pressed discs and CD-R discs!

The seek times however, are a bit disappointing. They are very slow as you can see on the right.

In the table below we compare the achieved results to some of the reviews we've done previously. The TEAC is again (of course) the fastest reader since it's the only drive that can reach 48x and in this case, even 49x:

Transfer Rate Test - Conclusion:

Overall we can say the TEAC CD-W540E is the fastest data reader we have reviewed. But of course that's no surprise since it's the only drive that can reach 48x. The TEAC did have some problems reading CD-R media since we got some various results, varying from very fast to very slow (e.g. only 4x reading!). The drive does achieve great speeds with CD-RW media but again we didn't always achieve these results. The seek times of the TEAC CD-W540E could have been better with CD-R and, especially, CD-RW media.

So far for the data reading part. Now let's check the audio reading (DAE) speeds...