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Topic: CD Duplicator copy quality (Read 3532 times) previous topic - next topic
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CD Duplicator copy quality

I have a stand alone CD duplicator made by i/o magic. I really like the concept, however I am not sure if I am getting an exact copy of my source audio. Do such duplicators introduce errors, audible or otherwise?

Max recommended audio copy speed is 40x with this unit. I noticed if I use any speed higher or lower I get a higher chance of clicking and snapping on the copy, dont know why.

In closing, does anyone have/know/use stand alone CD duplicators? Any tips tricks suggestions?

Thanks in advance...

CD Duplicator copy quality

Reply #1 –
I dont own any, and seems to me they are like a "chain" where the player sends data directly to the recorder(s). There is no software interference and the reader is solely responsable about the quality(or lack of it) of what is sent to the recorder.

The manufactures claim about how fast copies can be made... So, this makes me believe all  the "default" features don't help a bit to achieve perfect 1:1 copies, specially for audio, because:
1.The ripping is done in burst mode(full speed?)
2.The recording is done in high speed also.
3.To keep costs down, they use cheap drives.
4.They also dont use any external buffer, only the ones on the drives themselves.

Those devices maybe can be used to copy from brand-new data disks.
For audio I still rely on EAC and drivers like LiteOn, Plextor etcs, specially if the source is not in mint condition.
"Jazz washes away the dust of everyday life" (Art Blakey)

CD Duplicator copy quality

Reply #2 –
You are right, the data just seems to go through a controller card without much software hardware interference.

So what kind of problems should I expect? I think I resolved my clicking (buffer underrun?) problems by copying only at 40x.

What is the problem with reading / writing at high speed (as long as there is no buffer underrun)?

CD Duplicator copy quality

Reply #3 –
Ripping the original and the copy to wav, then using EAC to perform a "compare wavs" between them will answer your question. EAC will report any difference, skip, crop, or offset.

CD Duplicator copy quality

Reply #4 –
Will you be posting a result, Soundofsilence?
I 'tested' my father's Philips CD copier (just a few tracks, not a proper test, it was more of curiosity) and it appeared to work well (identical results as EAC, apart from the offset)

CD Duplicator copy quality

Reply #5 –
A "component" CD recorder (such as your father's Philips unit) should always produce good results, assuming that it copies in real-time and that the source discs are clean enough to play without any difficulty in a standard CD player. Stand-alone bulk CD-R copiers, on the other hand, are not actually playing the audio, and where a standard CD player would interpolate corrupted samples around a slight scratch, these will not.

  A couple of years ago I had the opportunity to test a few such units with a friend. It was a small, non-scientific test; we simply copied the same disc via an audio component CD recorder (which was synced in real-time with a stand-alone CD player), and using a bulk duplicator that recorded at 12x (after it first ripped the disc to its internal hard-drive at who-knows-what speed). The disc had some slight visible scratches from the slot-loading CD player in his car, so it seemed a good "corruption candidate."

  The results: The disc made with the component recorder had 1 instance of differing samples from the EAC extraction (aside from the aforementioned offset), and the "error" was inaudible. The disc made with the bulk duplicator had something on the order of 1100+ errors... including a major (as in painful!) click in the same spot as the single error from the other disc.

  Conclusion: If you would use it in your home stereo system, and record at single speed, you're probably safe. Otherwise, buyer beware.

    - M.

CD Duplicator copy quality

Reply #6 –
I loaned my duplicator to a friend for a week. I WILL test it once I get it back. I don't like hearing your experience, M.

Albeit, this may be a different unit, it does not have a hard disk, just a controller, and a 2mb buffer for "burnproof" technology or whatever they called it. But, if it made that many errors, how could it ever correctly copy a data disc? Or is copying a data disc a hollennadder matter?
 

CD Duplicator copy quality

Reply #7 –
Quote
But, if it made that many errors, how could it ever correctly copy a data disc? Or is copying a data disc a hollennadder matter?

Data discs are much easier to copy than audio discs, for the simple reason that data discs only use 2048 of the 2352 available bytes-per-sector for data (the other 304 bytes are used for sync and error correction). Faint scratches are therefore less likely to cause a complete read failure when extracting data, although they may effectively slow down the read process.

    - M.

P.S. - What the heck is a "hollennadder "?

CD Duplicator copy quality

Reply #8 –
The CD used by M was very damaged. ("a good corruption candidate"). In these conditions, it is difficult to read audio or data. Audio will have errors, data will pass or fail : perfect copy or "read error" message, and no copy.