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An audiophile DVD burner ??

I am looking to archive music files on DVD's but I have not been completely satisfied with the playback sound quality coming from burned DVD's. I have Pioneer and Samsung burners but both have their shortcomings in the sound quality department (at least not up to the crispness I can get from my best CD burner). So, is there any DVD burner on the market that produces nice crisp, dimensional sound? Please don't try to tell me that all burners sound alike, because I know they don't (I can hear differences between every one of them, though sometimes it's subtle). How are LG, Philips, LiteOn, Asus burners? And are Plextor's really worth the premium price?
piano632
15 responses Add your response
jfd01
32 posts
 
Have you considered using a computer for that purpose, rather than a dedicated burner? I haven't tried myself but that sould be an easy experiment.
cheers
piano632 OP
19 posts
 
I am using a computer - not sure what you mean. I am trying to burn several CD's-worth of music onto a single data DVD using lossless compression, but I am not completely happy with the sound quality coming off the DVD's so far (using Pioneer and Samsung burners). The Pioneer has nice dimensionality, but also sounds softened. The Samsung sounds a little crisper but lacks depth. So neither burner is really appealing to me. Is there another burner that's better with sound quality?
arnold_layne
141 posts
 
http://www.tascam.com/details;8,11,42.html

Steve
piano632 OP
19 posts
 
I am looking for DVD burner you can put in a computer tower, not interested in any standalone device.
pschoi
23 posts
 
If you edit the question as "An audiophile computer DVD-R/RW drive?" you may get a better response. I too thought you were asking about stand-alone. Audioasylum's PC Audio section may also have some answers. Sorry to answer your question with a question, but do you also hear differences between DVD-R media?
piano632 OP
19 posts
 
Yes, I do hear some differences between DVD-R media, though burn speed on DVD-R doesn't seem to affect the sound as much as with CD-R. Haven't figured this one out yet.
piano632 OP
19 posts
 
Basically I'm looking for a burner with the lowest jitter (which equates to clearer audio).
arnold_layne
141 posts
 
You may want to consider the older Plextor models such as the 716A. It gives the user the ability to adjust the burn quality. The model is no longer made, so you may have to hunt down some new old stock.

Steve
piano632 OP
19 posts
 
I was thinking along the same lines, so I was able to snatch up a supposedly unused Plextor PX-712A for $28 on Ebay. We'll see how it goes when I receive it.
djembeplay
178 posts
 
Hey... thought I would chime in with a possibility. Maybe whatever you are playing the discs back on struggles a little reading whatever codec you are encoding the music with.

How does it sound if you copy a file back to your HDD from a burned DVD and play it back through your computer?

Best of luck-
piano632 OP
19 posts
 
All files sound the same if you copy them back to HDD since that would be reclocking the jitter.

I'm still doing tests, but it seems that discs burned on the Plextor drive sound "cleaner" than my other burners (regardless of what device they are played back on). It seems the others have some "coloration" in the sound (or I guess I should say they don't control jitter quite as well.
Post removed 
joemt
22 posts
 
Are you testing the quality of your burns, media can surely be a factor.
I have a Plextor 712A but it's IDE.  It's been sitting idle for years.  Last time I connected it via usb converter, it failed to read any discs so I guess it's dead.  I have new plextor, samsung, LG, Lite-ON..  I just try to find the best media for each drive.  Using a Dell XPS Tower.  I can make DVD-Audio, DVD-Video ( with 24/96 music files ).  I use HD-Audio Solo software.  At this point, just putting the files on a USB media stick. 
I have multiple players now which accept usb media so the days of burning DVD-A and V might be over.....  

Joemt. 
ldorbel
2 posts
 
Does the sound quality have anything to do with dvd burning software?
Post removed 
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