TEAC CD-W552E

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G@M3FR3@K
Senior Moderator: Article posted 28 Mar 03 20:11

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Introduction

Review: TEAC CD-W552E (IDE)
Reviewer: Dennis
Provided by: TEAC Germany
Firmware: version 1.05

As most of our readers will know, the current CD-RW recorder market is reaching its peak. CD-recorders have reached their maximum speeds and almost all major CD-RW drive manufacturers have started producing their fastest recorders. The Japanese TEAC company is no exception and has recently released their CD-W552E drive. As the model number suggests the drive supports 52x writing (and reading) speeds, while re-writing is done at a maximum speed of 24x.

When we reviewed the TEAC CD-W540E drive, it was the fastest 40x recorder available at that time. In this review we will compare the TEAC CD-W552E drive to other 52x recorders and see if this drive is also a ’speed monster’. Besides that we will of course also take a look at how the drive performs in general and with more advanced tests. Read on to find out what we have to say about this latest TEAC recorder!

Test Machine:

For the tests we’ll be using the following configuration:

Hardware:

Motherboard: GigaByte GA-7VAXP
Processor: AMD AthlonXP 2100+
RAM: 512MB (PC2700)
GFX: ASUS V8200 (GeForce 3 Ti200)
Hard Disks: DiamondMax 40GB (7200rpm)

System set-up:

The TEAC CD-W552E drive was hooked up as Master to the (onboard) secondary IDE-controller and identifies itself as “TEAC CD-W552E”. DMA (Direct Memory Access) was enabled and autorun was disabled for every device.

Used Software:

The Windows XP Professional operating system is installed on our test machine. We’ll be using the following software to perform the various tests:

On the next page of our review we’ll take a look at the drive’s package, the drive itself and its specifications and features.

Package and Features

7 Comments

valnar: Posts: 219; Posted on: 29 Mar 03 02:01

I find it hard to believe that quality Mitsui media would be that bad. Did you record at the maximum speed of the drive, or the maximum recommended speed of the media? Try it again at 16-32x. . While it is true that many recorders have a difficult time getting Phthalocyanine dyed media, when the data finally gets put on there, it will last longer.

G@M3FR3@K: Posts: 10655; Posted on: 29 Mar 03 14:21

As mentioned in the review: Mitsui/MAM-E - 48x certified - 48x write So the discs were certified for 48x recording and were also written at that speed. The TEAC simply didn't like these discs at all. Edit, ATIP information on the used discs: Manufacturer: Mitsui Code: 97m27s58f Disc Type: CD-R Usage: General Recording Layer: Dye Type 8: Short Strategy (Phthalocyanine) Capacity: 79:59.74 703 MB
[edited by G@M3FR3@K on 29.03.2003 16:01]

war4peace: Posts: 100; Posted on: 01 Apr 03 20:42

Well... I have a Teac CD-W540E, a Teac CD-W548E and now I am going to get a Teac CD-W552E Tomorrow! The first (40X) Unit works perfectly, but the CD-W548E thrashed a month ago (only 2 months after buying it). Anyhow, I was not sure whether I should keep buying Teac units (cos the 48/16/48 unit was baaad), but this article definately eased my decision. A such great unit is a must-have!!! Actually, I don't care very much about the drive's incapacity of reading copy-protected audio CDs, so my opinion is that it's not a flaw. Also, the existence of a 52X certified CD-R in the package is not really really necessary. Such media will appear more often in the next 2 or 3 months, I guess. And concerning the 24X CD-RWs, I already have bought 25 of them @ 1.5 USD per piece, so I'll test them as soon as I get this great unit!

guest: Posts: 15288; Posted on: 04 Jun 03 19:28

I hated this drive when I was using firmware 1.05. I never had problems, but it would slow down all the time when burning DAO on nero. Also I couldn't burn above 48x as flawlessly as they say it should be here. Found 1.09 on a japaneese teac site, updated it and wow. I can burn any quality brand disk at speeds of 52x all day long even if the disk doesnt support 52x. I DO recomend that you update the firmware to 1.09, and maybe that the site re-reviews the cdrw with updated firmware.

G@M3FR3@K: Posts: 10655; Posted on: 04 Jun 03 19:32

Unfortunately TEAC asked us to send the drive back to them, so re-reviewing is out of the question. Thanks for your input though, Crystallas!

nickKK: Posts: 151; Posted on: 08 Feb 05 00:50

Had one of these drives for a few months now, and haddn't considered updating the Firmware, just poped to the Teac site and the drive is now up to 1.14 and reading the changes applied, said to me that they had read this review !! e.g. CD-RW read speed up to 40x

nypetey: Posts: 1; Posted on: 02 Oct 06 22:36

I cannot buy or download oak simplicd?

TEAC CD-W552E

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