[sizwej]

let me get str8 to the point.As i continue to learn more about high end/high grade audio,i find i rely heavily on the advice and opinions of more advanced audiophiles on this site.therfore if a hundred of you tell me that a product is good,i'm inclined to consider it.One brand that has been held in very high regard is the legendary plextor px-230 drive.Unfortunately, that drive is no longer available in the U.S,and they now have a px-240 for the U.S market.One would think that this would be equal if not an upgrade from the 230,but it doesnt seem that way to me.For starters,of the 3 drives i use, EAC recommends the plextor be my 3rd option.This is confirmed by the fact that i've had a few bad rips (using secure mode) with the 240,while my other 2 drives rip with no errors.Is it possible that this product is actually a cheap downgrade from the 230,or is it more likely that i have EAC configured wrong?

 

[pedxing]

A lot of people say the plextor 240 is a downgrade in respect to the plextor 230. Both products are actually rebadged drives you can probably find it for like $40 USD or less when they were in production.

I believe the plextor 230 was a BenQ optical drive with better than average reliable C2 error reporting. Its ripping capabilities was considered very good if not one of the best. If you can find any 230's out their lying about, grab them.

The plextor 240 drive might be rebadged Liteon. In general, Liteon makes good drives, but their quality can be all over the map from model to model. I read mediocre reviews about its ripping capabilities.

In my opinion, avoid plextor drives unless you are interested in acquiring the insanely expensive premium 2 CD burner (yes CD, not DVD).

EAC is getting better form version to version, but it still has that legacy interface of controlling every aspect of the drive. I suggest using accurip with C2 detection, if your drive can support C2 error reporting. Otherwise, securerip or paranoid mode will reduce the life of you drive by quite a bit. I highly recommend trying the DAE test (at EAC web site) where you scratch up a CD with razor blades and mark it up with a pen.

Everyone's mileage is different, but I suggest trying dbpoweramp. It is more automated and most of the rip settings are simplified. I found it to work well with my pioneer DVD burner with almost no configuration besides turning on C2 error reporting.