| |
Introduction
Ask
just about anybody what product they think of when
they hear the name MSI and I'm betting you'll get
one of two replies, motherboards or graphics cards.
The fact that MSI also make optical drives is something
that many people don't know about, and those of us
who do have tended to forget simply because they're
not particularly prolific, or at least not in the
UK.
When
a company as large and well respected as MSI branch
out into new product areas you can usually be assured
of at least reasonable quality. No successful company
with any business sense would jeopardize a hard won
reputation for quality by supplementing their product
line up with rubbish so although we can be fairly
sure the CR52-A2 is good we really need to discover
how good!
A
quick glance through the drive specs reveals that
the MSI marketing department aren't shy when it comes
to using acronyms. There's AWSS (Advanced Weighting
Suspension System) which is apparently designed to
reduce vibration and noise. There's also ROPC (Running
Optical Power Control) which it seems is a "technology
to avoid writing errors during high-speed CD-Recording
by checking the quality of the CD media and automatically
selecting the optimum (Maximum) write speed, giving
the highest quality results". Next there's EXACT-Rec
(Enhanced eXtracting & Adapting Control Technology
for Recording)
which it's claimed actively monitors record quality
and lastly there's BURN-Proof which to be fair is
down to Sanyo who developed the technology rather
than MSI, and is the name given to their buffer underrun
prevention system.
Here's the specs:
Specifications
|
Special
Features |
|
Performance
Data
transfer rate
Read: 7800 KB/s (Max.)
Re-Write: 4800 KB/s (Max.)
Write: 7800 KB/s (Max.)
Random Access time: 90 ms (Typical)
Type
Interface: E-IDE/ATAPI UDMA33
Loading: Tray type
Mounting: Horizontal & Vertical
Error
rate
Soft read error: < 10-9
Hard read error: < 10-12
Audio
performance
Number
of channels: 2 (Stereo)
Frequency response: 20 Hz ~ 20 KHz (+0.5dB,-3.0dB)
S/N ratio: > 65 dB (f =1KHz)
Distortion: < 0.5% (LPF 20KHz,f =1KHz)
Output level
Line out: 0.7 Vrms (Typical)
Head phone: 0.7 Vrms (Typical)
Physical
Specification
Dimensions (WxHxD): 148.5x42.5x194.2mm
Weigh: <0.86Kg(bare drive)
Power Requirements: DC+5V/+12V, 2.0A (Max.)
Environmental
conditions
Temperature:
Operation: +5° to 45°C Non-operation:-20°
to + 60°C
Humidity:
Operation: 20% to 80% RH Non-operation: 20%
to 90% RH
Reliability
MTBF: > 60000 POH (Duty cycle 25%)
|
- BURN-Proof
prevents Buffer Under Run
- EXACT-Rec
(Enhanced eXtracting & Adapting Control
Technology for Recording) monitors accuracy
of writing
- AWSS
(Advanced Weighting Suspension System) Technology
reduce vibration & noise.
- ROPC
technology boosts recording reliability
- Compatible
with Windows 95/98/ME/XP/NT4.0/2000
- Support
discs capacity: 790MB(90min)/700MB(80min)/650MB(74min)
Support discs diameter:8/12cm
- Disc
formats: CD-DA, CD+, CD-ROM/XA, Mixed mode
CD, CD-I, Video-CD, Photo CD, CD Extra, CD-TEXT,
Bootable CD, CD-MRW
- Writing
Model: Disc At Once, Track At Once, Session
At Once, DAO-RAW, Multisession, Packet Writing
- Fully
supports both variable and fixed packet reading
and writing (CD-UDF compatible)
- 52X
Max. Read Press CD and CD-R (Data)
- 48X
Max. Read CD-RW
- Maximum
48X audio extraction
- Writing
CD-R: 4X,8X,12X,16X,20X(CLV) 24X,32X,40X,48X,52X(CAV)
- Writing
CD-RW: 4X,8X,12X,16X(CLV)
24X,32X(CAV)
- 2
MB internal buffer
- ISO
9660 compliant
- Power-saving
feature
- Motorized
easy touch tray loading
- Build-in
headphone jack, volume control Knob and play/
skip button
- Firmware
upgradeable
|
There's
a couple of noteworthy inclusions in the specifications,
not least of which is the CR52-A2's support for 790MB
or 90 minute media. There's also a fair selection
of RW speeds with 4x,8x,16x,24x and 32x available,
somewhat better than the rather limiting 4x, 10x and
24x available on the Plextor Plexwriter (PX-W4824TA
48x24x48x) against which I'll be comparing it.
Other
than this things look fairly standard. The reliability
figures are in line with most other units around as
is the 2MB buffer, although the Plextor comes with
double this at 4MB. Buffer size is less of an issue
since the advent of underrun prevention though it's
always nice to have more rather than less.
The
lack of Mount Rainier support seems a little odd for
such a high end drive but perhaps this is to come
in a future firmware revision.
It
should also be noted that the upper limit for CD-RW
reads and audio extraction is 48x rather than the
maximum 52x.
Having
looked at the firmware version number, the PCB and
allowing for the fact that this drive boasts BURN-proof
rather than any of the alternative buffer underrun
prevention technologies it appeared to me that the
CR52-A2 is based on the Optorite CW5205 which uses
the Sanyo LC898095 chipset however MSI reliably inform
me that they now manufacture all their own components
in-house and that this isn't the case. Don't hold
me to it but I've a feeling we could see 32x CD-RW
speeds from this drive soon. either officially or
with a "hacked" firmware version. I state
this because of that slightly teasing product shot
that MSI originally used (see top of page) ;)
Bundle
The
drive was supplied to me as a bare review unit with
a copy of Nero 5.5 so I can't make any real comments
on the bundle quality. As I understand it this is
pretty much what the retail kit comprises of plus
you get a single CD-R and a CD-RW.
The
blank media quantity is a little mean but the inclusion
of Nero is a good choice, particularly as it offers
good support for burning 90 minute media.
|
|
