Skip to main content ↑ ↓

Notice

Please note that most of the software linked on this forum is likely to be safe to use. If you are unsure, feel free to ask in the relevant topics, or send a private message to an administrator or moderator. To help curb the problems of false positives, or in the event that you do find actual malware, you can contribute through the article linked here.
Topic: Are old Plextors particularly good for audio? (Read 2470 times) previous topic - next topic
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Are old Plextors particularly good for audio?

Years ago I understood that Plextor CD readers and writers were particularly good for audio, with firmware specialised to optimise audio performance. Accordingly I have for many years been using a Plextor Ultraplex 40 reader and a Plexwriter 12/4/32, both SCSI, with last firmware versions and Plextools software, designed to use Plextor's audio features. Typically I have been extracting from audio CD to Ogg Vorbis. I don't use these a great deal, amongst other things with the decline in use of CDs. I understand that Plextor later (but still long ago) stopped manufacturing optical drives optimised for audio, supplying fairly standard drives instead. (By the way, Plextor may have been supposed to have excellent audio performance, but I didn't find them reliable; several drives failed shortly out of warranty. While I've had the present drives for years, I don't use them much. Also, the latest and last Plextools Pro, excellent while it works, has a tendency to misbehave, sometimes requiring a reboot of Windows 7/64.)

My question, in considerable ignorance of modern audio optical drive technology: are the old Plextors/Plextools any better than modern hardware and software? Or are they about the same, or not as good? It's not really a matter of having the best (they work fine, I don't need better), but the problems of maintaining SCSI, and drives that can't be replaced once failed, in the modern world. Should I, on updating computer or on drive failure, simply use a standard modern SATA DVD rewriter (or a pair)? Or any particular one, better for audio extraction (or conceivably a specialised audio CD-only rewriter)? Is any software particularly good for audio extraction? Thanks

Are old Plextors particularly good for audio?

Reply #1 –
You should use AccurateRip. If the rip passes, then you are for practical purposes fine (except possibly if you want to extract a "hidden track one" pregap bonus track, which isn't caught by AccurateRip and which some drives cannot extract).

Use any modern drive. If you run into a troublemaking CD, try a different drive - like your old Plextors. Be sure to keep tags or cuesheet from the failed rip, because then you can use e.g. CUETools to verify against AccurateRip even when pregaps are not 2 seconds - provided you rip to lossless.

Are old Plextors particularly good for audio?

Reply #2 –
Ahhh, those were the days, now not so much. In my view, the Plextor advantage is moot as modern DVD readers produce accurate rips. If my Plextor drive has any benefit, it's been durability. It's still working, many other drives have died. For this reason alone, if I have to rip a badly scratched CD, I'll use the Plextor, set with plenty of time to cool down.

It's funny how some CDs won't rip on on one drive or rip with errors, but another drive has no problem. Fortunately, this is rare these days.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
 

Are old Plextors particularly good for audio?

Reply #3 –
Quote from: 2tec on
It's funny how some CDs won't rip on on one drive or rip with errors, but another drive has no problem. Fortunately, this is rare these days.


I got that in my last batch this month.  And if you buy scratched 2nd hand CDs now they are cheap ...

The "other" drive could sometimes rip well even if it isn't a particularly good one. But it should be a different one.