[AdamZuf]

hey there.
i would like to know a good burning software that can burn at x1/x2.
i intend to try the black cd-r's quality..check out the article...they can sound better then the originals:

http://www.genesisloudspeakers.com/w...Black_CDs1.pdf

thanks!

 

[Whitebread]

I believe most programs will let you adjust the write speed. I have an old version of adaptec's software and I can choose from 4 different speeds. Although, my hardware and software are from back in the day when CD burners would cost 300+.

 

[blessingx]

Thanks for the article AdamZuf. Been using Mem Black CDR's for a couple years now for durability. This is a nice added bonus.

Roxio's Jam/Toast combo can get you down to 1x (and true Redbook) but that's only available on the Mac. Not sure the specs on their popular PC CD Creator. Nero has so many other advantages with compression formats, etc. It would be worth looking into. I know I'm just stating the big/obvious guys.

 

[ZimBlabim]

Check out Feurio It's looking like a real nice program so far. I popped an old Plextor 12x, that was laying around, in my comp box and it allows for 1x recording in feurio. Haven't tried my 52x Liteon with this progie yet. Will do that in a little bit.

Later that evening:

I just tried the Liteon 52x burner with Feurio. Although 1x is listed as an option, when I start the process the program informs that 4x is the minimum speed that the Liteon can burn at.

 

[Hirsch]

Most burning software will let you adjust writing speed. However, some of the newer high-speed burners may not support low speed writing (or at least some of the lower speeds). If your burner doesn't support a particular speed, no software is going to let you get a good burn at that speed.

 

[AdamZuf]

thanks, hirsch.
that's ironic. we have to use older burners to achieve the best level. just like we need to use older sony headphones or PCDP's

the used market gets just better and better for audiophiles..

 

[lan]

Can you tell me why software matters? I don't see why it should.

 

[blessingx]

... or more importantly why x1 & x2 speeds are inherently better quality than x4/x8/etc. with the transfer speeds, interfaces and buffer sizes of today's burners. Just curious.

 

[grinch]

i used eac for all audio writing, unless i use the combined read/write offset function so that i can burn with nero (with fully corrected offsets, even though nero doesn't support that) and use my burner's "audio quality" mode. generally, i burn at 16x (since that's my burner's highest speed for CAV writing) and for the audio quality mode i use the burner's auto-select speed setting for the media, but it generally ends up using 8x.

i don't burn anything at 1x or 2x because my first burner was 2x and i've spent way more than enough time in my life waiting for cds to finish burning and there's no way in hell i'm going back to it when my burner is capable of finishing a cd in under two minutes. it's silly, it's stupid.

i think that article is a little nutso. i really find it amusing that this guy is doing all this comparing and isolating his burner and all that, and he's using the ****tiest software on the market to rip/burn his examples with. use eac and read about setting correct offsets here: http://www.ping.be/satcp/eacoffsets00.htm#- and THEN tell me if you can hear a difference in media/burners, maybe then i'll believe you.

i guess i should spend a bunch of time and blanks writing a bunch of test cdrs so that i can see if this crap is true or not, but i'd really rather just sit down and listen to the original cd instead. oh well. i'll stick with my current burning strategy, especially since the burns go in my car and its stock system isn't worth tweaking the cd for anyway.

for the record i think the black media is pretty cool, but i don't really use it very often. i buy either imation, tdk, fuji, or memorex.. whatever is on sale at best buy in 50-packs. in my experience, as long as you stick to the bigger companies you're okay. i'd stay away from that "too good to be true" priced media, as i've had bad experience with it in general.

 

[AdamZuf]

grinch,
the black CD issue is also a talk at audio asylum, it's not a 1 mans' opinion. don't disrespect it - you say he is using the ****tiest software on the market to rip/burn his examples, and still find improvements with the burns. just because he is doing that doesn't meen he has not got good ears - or others that got into good black cd-r's burning.
so use EAC to rip and do the rest according to his recommendations - and then it may be very possible that you believe that.

blessingx,
lowest speed matters in order to burn the bits at equal steps as possible (or something like that) - so the output bit stream would be good from the begining. you can say: in order to not burn jitter, as far as i understand.

Ian,
Hirsch said to correct me- it's the writer ability to go to a certain low speed.
maybe there are softwares that reaches low to that speed, maybe there are others that don't??

 

[Thump]

I have heard about this black cdr media thing in a couple of places now. Personally, I place very little credance in it-I view it as likely am improvement as the green highlighter deal from several years back.

Run a cd identifier on your black media to find out the manufacturer and die lot. I have some black media-Verbatim I like-that comes up with the identical media manufacturer, etc. as regular Verbatims and Sonys-CMC I think, but am not sure.

It is also a PIA to write on black media. You need a special pen. I personally have a phobia against putting paper labels on CDs.

As far as slow burning speed goes, it does depend on the hardware. Like grinch, I spent way too much time with a 2X burner to go back to those days again. This is a subject I research fairly extensively at one point, because I burn and trade a lot of audio CDs (concerts). The concensus seems to be different speeds may better on different burners (to a very minor extent) and there are two prevalent minority views-one says burn at the "native speed" (ie, 48x on a 48x burner) the other says burn at the slowest speed possible. I ran a number of burns at 8x to 40X (the range of my current TDK burner) on the same media (TY manufactured Fuji's, which are excellent) and couldn't hear any audible difference.

Personally I think the best burning practice is to use quality media (TY or Misumi (SP?) are generally seen as top quality), defragged HD, no other applications running and a stable burning program-I like Alcohol 120% or Nero. Using EAC (Exact AUdio Copy) to extract the tracks ensures a bit perfect copy, although I can't get it to burn CDs reliably on my system. I burn at maximum speed.

I would put the time and effort into learning and using EAC first.

 

[grinch]

Quote:

Originally posted by AdamZuf grinch, the black CD issue is also a talk at audio asylum, it's not a 1 mans' opinion. don't disrespect it - you say he is using the ****tiest software on the market to rip/burn his examples, and still find improvements with the burns. just because he is doing that doesn't meen he has not got good ears - or others that got into good black cd-r's burning. so use EAC to rip and do the rest according to his recommendations - and then it may be very possible that you believe that.

i find it interesting that anybody puts credence in the opinion of a place called an "asylum." it's called that for a reason, ya know. have you ever seen some of the stuff they believe radically changes sound?

also, you might want to add that the older burners, since they couldn't reach a very fast speed, spin the disc much more slowly than burners today, and i imagine this can probably aid in "burning jitter."

i only buy the good stuff when i can, i went from a plextor 12x to my yamaha 44x (both scsi, of course) and i've had zero problems and the discs sound fine in comparison to my originals. i really have trouble believing anybody who says otherwise, but then again i really haven't spent tons of time burning sample cds to a/b with. although, i am fairly certain at this point that if any difference was there, i'd be able to hear it on my system.

 

[AdamZuf]

Quote:

Run a cd identifier on your black media to find out the manufacturer and die lot. I have some black media-Verbatim I like-that comes up with the identical media manufacturer, etc. as regular Verbatims and Sonys-CMC I think, but am not sure.

what was that?

Quote:

The concensus seems to be different speeds may better on different burners (to a very minor extent) and there are two prevalent minority views-one says burn at the "native speed" (ie, 48x on a 48x burner) the other says burn at the slowest speed possible. I ran a number of burns at 8x to 40X (the range of my current TDK burner) on the same media (TY manufactured Fuji's, which are excellent) and couldn't hear any audible difference.

it's logical.. & i guess may vary on different burners (?)

 

[AdamZuf]

to another question: why does my EAC makes makes a "sync error" at the end of every song i rip? i used auto detection for my LG burner (at work)

 

[Audio Redneck]

Aside from the things mentioned about 1x/2x burns, they generally help with compatibility with older players (and older CD-ROM drives for that matter). I believe it makes them easier to read correctly.