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Topic: Need help looking for a new Optical drive for EAC (Read 4198 times) previous topic - next topic
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Need help looking for a new Optical drive for EAC

Hi everyone, I have looked at the website for years but finally joined. I have spent days trying to figure out what to get for a ripper for my desktop PC. I have a few year old Lenovo PC with a Dvd/CD drive. I have just noticed that some of my discs are getting scratched in circular motion from my drive. I have never played most of my CD's just ripped them and stored them away.

I don't know if my current Disc drive is doing it or my last PC disc drive but I am too nervous to use it anymore. It is hard to see the scratches in normal light they have only been ripped 2 to 3 times in 20 years or less, and just happened to notice it on a cd looking at it in the light a certain way so it isn't a total coaster yet, but others have it too but not all. But the damage is 100 percent coming from this drive or my last one as they have never been played in a CD player only ripped in my PC. Some of my CD's are not replaceable or are 60 to 100 plus dollars to get new ones and I don't want to cause further damage so I need a new burner as I am trying to back them up properly now with gap detection, test and rip, ect so I never have to do it again.

I use EAC as it is my preferred way to rip. I am looking for advice on a new Optical drive of higher quality that the stock ones in my current PC and previous HP as they are bare bones cheap burner/rippers. I usually get nearly 100% rips occasional 99% at the end of some tracks but no errors. I just want a good quality spinner. I will mostly use it for CD backup, but I can play blu-ray and will be able to play 4k soon as I upgrade parts. I just have a hard time figuring out what to get. Something well built, pretty accurate for rips, especially CD and I don't mind if it is a 4k/blu-ray/DVD/CD player I don't care about the cost just a quality built player that doesn't ruin my CD's. I have been looking at an LG WH14NS40 or LG WH16NS60. I don't know about all the technical specifics of the drives like if they are able to cache audio, have accurate stream or if they correctly use C2 pointers or if you can turn that off it is a bit over my head especially HOTA and all that other stuff. I don't care about the cost just want something new, well built and capable of ripping CD's without errors that are in good shape. And Also don't cause rings in unused or barely used CD's that are worth a lot of money that are supposed to be my archive.

Sorry this was so long but input would be greatly appreciated and I am very desperate at this point.

Re: Need help looking for a new Optical drive for EAC

Reply #2 –
Quote from: Roseval on
Most drives, internal or external will do a decent job.
But you might have a look here: https://forum.dbpoweramp.com/showthread.php?48320-CD-Drive-Accuracy-2022

Yes I have looked at that but that only gives you a picture of what to expect. I have read some drives give out in a short period of time, a lot of the good ones on the top are laptop optical drives, I have a full size bay for the drive. The LG on the top is the only one that is readily available "or easy to find" and I was seeing if anyone had experience with the two drives I mentioned or had another they had good luck with that I can still find new.

Also where is there a resource to find out if drives that are on that list what features they have that work in EAC, like knowing if it does C2 pointers correctly as I read somewhere you have to keep everything on in the new drives and trust the drive is doing it's job correctly. So basically someone that has knowledge of the drives like they currently use them and they work correctly with the functions I stated above. I have been googling for days and find no clear answers and I want to get a few drives while there are still decent ones being made so if one craps out I still have a couple more. I don't plan on ditching CD's as that is my personal preference for media. I don't want downloads or records. Thanks for the input but looking for someone with hands on with any of the models that you can still buy new. I have read that turning off C2 error detection comes back with cannot be verified as accurate but if you turn it on it comes back ok and I am used to having it off.

Re: Need help looking for a new Optical drive for EAC

Reply #3 –
Yeah, problem about the accuracy list is that many of these are not anymore available ... or not under that name.

Do you have just one bay? IME, the simplest way to get an AccurateRip hit on a troublemaking CD is to try just a different drive model. (Then you should avoid drives that are rebrands of each other.)

Weird enough I have not seen any adapter to fit multiple slimline optical drives into a single 5.25 bay.

Re: Need help looking for a new Optical drive for EAC

Reply #4 –
Quote
Also where is there a resource to find out if drives that are on that list what features they have that work in EAC, like knowing if it does C2 pointers correctly as I read somewhere you have to keep everything on in the new drives and trust the drive is doing it's job correctly.
DAE Drive features database
Unfortunately many of the newer drive entries are limited to read offset.
korth

Re: Need help looking for a new Optical drive for EAC

Reply #5 –
Recently I purchased a Pioneer BDR-S12UHT Internal UHD-Drive (approx. 125€ Retailbox) and I'm very pleased with it.

It supports, C2 Pointers, HOTA, Overread in/out and it was able to rip scratched CDs from the public library accurately - my Plextor PX-760A was not able to achive this task.
There is also a "Drive Utility" available which allows the end user to adjust BD-drives' performance https://pioneer.jp/device_e/product-e/ibs/device_e/dev00001r_e.html#DriveUtility

I also have a LG  BH16NS55 (MFD: 12/2017) and a Pioneer BDR-207EBK (MFD: 05/2012)
The LG broke down in Spring 2021, to be specific, the BD-Laser is broken, it's still able to read CD/DVD.

So I don't recommend LG drives in a long term.

The 10 year old Pioneer BDR-207 is still working fine. In my point of view, the Pioneer drives are much more reliable.
.halverhahn
 

Re: Need help looking for a new Optical drive for EAC

Reply #6 –
wow thanks everyone. I will have to check into these models. Probably a different name in the EU I am in the U.S. but i'll figure it out. I probably will mostly use the red laser for CD reading don't think i'll use the bd as much. Oh and yes I have only one bay in my PC for a optical drive.

Re: Need help looking for a new Optical drive for EAC

Reply #7 –
Quote from: .halverhahn on
Recently I purchased a Pioneer BDR-S12UHT Internal UHD-Drive (approx. 125€ Retailbox) and I'm very pleased with it.

It supports, C2 Pointers, HOTA, Overread in/out and it was able to rip scratched CDs from the public library accurately - my Plextor PX-760A was not able to achive this task.
There is also a "Drive Utility" available which allows the end user to adjust BD-drives' performance https://pioneer.jp/device_e/product-e/ibs/device_e/dev00001r_e.html#DriveUtility

I also have a LG  BH16NS55 (MFD: 12/2017) and a Pioneer BDR-207EBK (MFD: 05/2012)
The LG broke down in Spring 2021, to be specific, the BD-Laser is broken, it's still able to read CD/DVD.

So I don't recommend LG drives in a long term.

The 10 year old Pioneer BDR-207 is still working fine. In my point of view, the Pioneer drives are much more reliable.


I seem to have found that pioneer drive BDR-S12UHT on amazon but don't see it on any lists anywhere to see the specs, not in the drive accuracy list and not in the DAE Drive features database also it is only listed by one seller and is over 200 dollars so I will have to look at another drive. I have a dumb question is a drive better or worse if one has a offset of +6 and the other has an offset of +667. Does it make any difference if you set it up correctly? Thanks.

Re: Need help looking for a new Optical drive for EAC

Reply #8 –
No, you just need to run the EAC/AR setup so it knows what your offset is and can correct for the offset when you rip CDs.

Re: Need help looking for a new Optical drive for EAC

Reply #9 –
I don't think 667 is so much that it could be an issue if overreading etc doesn't work well?

If I were to buy and with one bay to go, I would have gotten a BD burner, but ... well ... you find new Pioneers at eBay. Like https://www.ebay.com/itm/224378230369 , that was a number high up on the
(And probably I would have seen if I could sneak out a SATA and power cable out of the cabinet's back plate for a second drive. Or, just waited for a bunch of troublemaker discs to pile up, and put a different-brand drive in the bay.)

Re: Need help looking for a new Optical drive for EAC

Reply #10 –
Quote from: motorhead7319 on
I seem to have found that pioneer drive BDR-S12UHT on amazon but don't see it on any lists anywhere to see the specs, not in the drive accuracy list and not in the DAE Drive features database also it is only listed by one seller and is over 200 dollars so I will have to look at another drive. I have a dumb question is a drive better or worse if one has a offset of +6 and the other has an offset of +667. Does it make any difference if you set it up correctly? Thanks.

The Pioneer BDR-212UBK is almost the same drive, it has a standard bezel - the S12UHT has a shiny one.

If you don't care about UHD, you might go for a BDR-212EBK or the US-Model BDR-2212


The offset +667 has been automatically set up by EAC (even with my old EAC 0.95pb5). With overread enabled into the lead-out, you won't miss samples at the end of the last track. If you don't enable overread, its doing no harm - most of the time it's anyway digital silence or noise-shaped silence.
+6 or +667 makes no diffence, the ripped tracks are all the same - except for the last samples of the last track (at any offset, if it contains no digital silence). If the drive is able to overread, the offset samples will be read. The LG can't overread (+6), so you will miss 6 samples (the samples will be filled up with 0, I don't care about 6 samples).

.halverhahn

Re: Need help looking for a new Optical drive for EAC

Reply #11 –
Found it: The AccurateRip algorithm ignores the first 2939 and the last 2940 samples, and no known drive has a larger offset.

Re: Need help looking for a new Optical drive for EAC

Reply #12 –
Quote from: .halverhahn on
Quote from: motorhead7319 on
I seem to have found that pioneer drive BDR-S12UHT on amazon but don't see it on any lists anywhere to see the specs, not in the drive accuracy list and not in the DAE Drive features database also it is only listed by one seller and is over 200 dollars so I will have to look at another drive. I have a dumb question is a drive better or worse if one has a offset of +6 and the other has an offset of +667. Does it make any difference if you set it up correctly? Thanks.

The Pioneer BDR-212UBK is almost the same drive, it has a standard bezel - the S12UHT has a shiny one.

If you don't care about UHD, you might go for a BDR-212EBK or the US-Model BDR-2212


The offset +667 has been automatically set up by EAC (even with my old EAC 0.95pb5). With overread enabled into the lead-out, you won't miss samples at the end of the last track. If you don't enable overread, its doing no harm - most of the time it's anyway digital silence or noise-shaped silence.
+6 or +667 makes no diffence, the ripped tracks are all the same - except for the last samples of the last track (at any offset, if it contains no digital silence). If the drive is able to overread, the offset samples will be read. The LG can't overread (+6), so you will miss 6 samples (the samples will be filled up with 0, I don't care about 6 samples).



Very interesting info. I was never quite sure about offsets and what they did. My current is +6 and it doesn't do overread but still got perfect rips with it. But like I said I don't want my drive making my CD's coasters so I have to get a new one that's the only reason I ask. I have never had to buy an aftermarket drive I always just used what came with my desktops.

Re: Need help looking for a new Optical drive for EAC

Reply #13 –
Quote from: motorhead7319 on
I am trying to back them up properly now with gap detection, test and rip, ect so I never have to do it again.
Are you sure that you need to re-rip them again as CUETools can verify existing rips against AccurateRip/CTDB.

You haven't said anything about what you currently have, but assuming you've ripped to lossless tracks and that you don't have the CUE sheet (otherwise you'd already have the track gaps) the only useful information you'd be missing are things like pre-emphasis flags, although the track 1 pre-gap is useful for validating against AccurateRip. If nothing but ALL the available information will be enough, then fill your boots :-)

I've used a cheap Liteon iHAS124 B for more than a decade, and bought another (slightly updated model iHAS124 F) a year or two ago just in case the first one failed as they're readily available, cheap and accurate (iHAS124 F at 97.75%).

Re: Need help looking for a new Optical drive for EAC

Reply #14 –
Quote from: SimBun on
Quote from: motorhead7319 on
I am trying to back them up properly now with gap detection, test and rip, ect so I never have to do it again.
Are you sure that you need to re-rip them again as CUETools can verify existing rips against AccurateRip/CTDB.

You haven't said anything about what you currently have, but assuming you've ripped to lossless tracks and that you don't have the CUE sheet (otherwise you'd already have the track gaps) the only useful information you'd be missing are things like pre-emphasis flags, although the track 1 pre-gap is useful for validating against AccurateRip. If nothing but ALL the available information will be enough, then fill your boots :-)

I've used a cheap Liteon iHAS124 B for more than a decade, and bought another (slightly updated model iHAS124 F) a year or two ago just in case the first one failed as they're readily available, cheap and accurate (iHAS124 F at 97.75%).

No, I don't have to re-rip my whole collection I was working through it I have like 1200 CD's, I do have the cue sheets for the currently ripped ones but am not using another cheap built in disc drive that puts rings in expensive CD's. I have lots of out of print or japanese pressings that sell for way too much to replace so I don't want to ruin anymore discs so I want something built better and the drive I currently have that was pre-installed in my buy off the shelf PC is a HL-DT-ST DVD-RAM GHC0N. I have problably burned 400 CD's in it and sometimes it grinds and other times it does not it is random, but when it does it leaves a nice ring in my disc, not really bad but enough to where I'll never put it in again. So looking for a good drive that I can atleast rip my collection 1 time.