Mad Dog MD-16XDVD9 DVD Burner

The specifications of the Mad Dog 16X-DVD9 state that the drive is able to write CD-R discs at 48x. Let us find out how the drive really performs in speed and quality.

Writing Data CD-R discs:

First, let us examine the CD-R writing technology used by the MD-16XDVD9 by burning a data disc in CD-DVD Speed:

We can see that the MD-16XDVD9 uses CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) to write at its’ rated CD-R speed of 48x. This gives an average speed of 36.38x. Let us compare this to two other technologies used by other DVD writers:

The NEC ND-2500A uses Z-CLV, (Zone-Constant Linear Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 32X. The drive wrote the last zone at 32X and this gives an average speed of 27.16x.

The Plextor PX-708A uses P-CAV (Partial-Constant Angular Velocity) to reach it rated speed of 40X. This gives an average speed of 33.38x.

We also wrote a disc with 700Mb of data using Nero Burning ROM software. Writing method used is DAO (Disc At Once), and the disc is set up as a non-multisession disc with ‘finalize disc” enabled.

The Mad Dog MD-16XDVD9 used 2 minutes and 58 seconds to write the disc at 48X. For comparison we have made the following table: 

The drive performed excellent in this test and is one of the fastest drives we have seen for CD-R writing!

CD-R Write Quality:

We will test a total of 8 different CD-R discs for speed and write quality. To really measure the write speed, we used the ‘create data CD” function in Nero CD-DVD Speed. The discs were written at the maximum speed that the drive supports. For the quality test we used K-Probe 2, which is a tool developed by a Lite-On Employee. It runs under Windows and works with drives made by Lite-On. Also note that different drives and different reading speeds may affect the results obtained when scanning the discs. We used a Lite-On LTR-32123S drive with firmware XS0Z and scanned the discs at 40X speed (Actual speed is approximately 43X CAV on 80 minute CD-Rs).

A written CD-R disc will always have some C1 errors; C1 errors are easily corrected by the drives’ error correction capabilities. The next level of errors is C2, while C2 errors could also be corrected by most drives’ error correction capabilities; they are not wanted on a good quality disc. A good disc should not contain any C2 errors, and preferably have an average C1 error amount of below 2.0 for the best discs, or at least below 10.0 average for good quality discs. After C2 errors there are only un-correctable errors that will make a disc unusable.

Why wait any longer? Below are the obtained results:

Perfect results! This is what we like to see from a C1/C2 scan on a CD-R. These Verbatim CD-Rs are highly recommended.

Another good result with the Moser Baer CD-R media.

This is acceptable and the C1 average is quite good. There is some small spiking here, but there are no C2 errors to worry about.

Good results here also. The single spike can be ignored and there should be no trouble using these discs.

The MD-16XDVD9 could only burn these 52X CD-Rs at 16X speed. This speed limitation might be a good thing though, because we have had trouble with these discs when burning at higher speeds in the past. The C1 error amount is acceptable here. There should be no quality problems burning these discs at 16X.

Good results here. It’s too bad the MD-16XDVD9 couldn’t write these discs at 48X.

Some C1 spiking activity shown here, but there are no C2 errors and there should be no problems using these discs.

Another excellent result, we can highly recommend this media.

Writing data CD-RW discs:

The specifications of the Mad Dog 16X-DVD9 state that the drive is able to write CD-RW discs at 24x. Let us find out how the drive really performs in speed and quality. First, let us examine the CD-R writing technology used by the MD-16XDVD9;

The Mad Dog MD-16XDVD9 uses Z-CLV (Zone-Constant Linear Velocity) writing technology with 2 zones to write at 24X for ultra speed CD-RW discs. The average speed is 23.68x. This seems pretty fast, but let us again take a look at the writing strategy of two other drives:

The Pioneer DVR-A08XLA also uses Z-CLV, (Zone-Constant Linear Velocity) with 3 zones, to write at its rated speed of 24x. This gives an average speed of 22.47x.

The Plextor PX-708A, with its P-CAV (Partial-Constant Angular Velocity) write speed of 24X for Ultra Speed CD-RW discs is among the faster writers due to its high starting speed of 20.01x.

We also wrote a disc with 650Mb of data using Nero Burning ROM software. Writing method used is DAO (Disc At Once), and the disc is set up as a non-multisession disc with ‘finalize disc” enabled.

For a better overview we present the following comparison table:

*The MD-16XDVD9 appears to be average with CD-RW writing speed compared to other drives, however please note that our 24X CD-RW write tests on this drive were performed using a 74min CD-RW disc. Now we will examine the CD-RW writing quality;

The very beginning of the disc shows some high C1 errors in our scan, but there were no C2 errors and the disc was perfectly readable in the transfer rate test.

These results are good. No C2 errors, low C1 errors for most of the disc and a perfect reading curve.

Plasmon is not known for manufacturing the best quality discs. With that in mind, these results are very acceptable. Good C1/C2 scan for a CD-RW disc and perfect transfer rate reading curve.

CD-R/RW Writing performance Summary:

The CD-R writing performance is impressive. This drive is able to write with good quality to a range of various CD-R discs. CD-RW performance is also good. The MD-16XDVD9 receives high marks for quality in the CD-R/RW area.

But after all, it’s a DVD-Writer, so head on to next page and read about DVD-Writing performance and DVD media compatibility…