In House Review - ASUS CRW-5232AS 'QuieTrack' 52/32/52 CD-RW

[Ian]

Today CDRLabs brings you a review of ASUS's new 52/32/52 CD-RW, the CRW-5232AS. Featuring some of the fastest speeds currently available, the CRW-5232AS reads and writes at 52x and is the first drive from ASUS to rewrite at 32x. The drive also has many of the features we've come to expect from ASUS, like FlextraLink and FlextraSpeed along with new ones like QuieTrack. This brand new technology works to reduce noise, without sacrificing performance.

In this review we take a look at some of the features found on the CRW-5232AS and see how it compares to some of the 52x writers from the competition. Can the drive deliver the performance and quality ASUS is known for? Is it the fastest writer around? You'll have to read the review to find out.

[url=http://www.cdrlabs.com/reviews/index.php?reviewid=220]
ASUS CRW-5232AS 'QuieTrack' 52/32/52 CD-RW[/url]

If you have any comments or questions about this review or the ASUS CRW-5232AS, please post them in the forum using the link provided below.

[dolphinius_rex]

How are you getting that Ciba dye media? Are you bringing it in from Europe? or have you found a local distributor? I'm very interested in playing with some of that!!

[Ian]

They sent me a whole pile of it awhile back. I have no idea where you can buy it.

[MediumRare]

Ian,
is your final score an 8 or a 9 ?

Conclusion (8 / 10)

Overall: 9

G

[vsekh]

Nice review. I like the fact that it will burn at least 48x on most media if not 52x.

[Ian]

MediumRare, it should say 9. I fixed it.

Yeah, even at 48x, its as fast as a lot of the other 52x writers I've reviewed.

[Halc]

Ian,

thanks for the great review.

Call me thick, but I was a bit confused between normal and quiet versions.

Which one did you test?

Are they identical sans the noise levels?

If so, why not even sell the noisy version?

Or did I just misunderstand completely :)

[Ian]

They sent us the original awhile back and then followed up with the QuieTrack version. For this review, I focused on the QuieTrack version.

As far as I can tell, they are identical other than the QuieTrack stuff. Heck, other than the QuieTrack logo on the front, I can't tell them apart by looking at them. They even seem to use the same internals and firmware since the performance was also very similar.

The noisy version is being phased out. Initially ASUS announced QuieTrack versions of their 52x CD-ROM and 52/32/52 CD-RW. They will also be releasing QuieTrack versions of their other CD-ROM and CD-RW drives.

[Halc]

Thanks for the clarification!

[yamawho]

Man that is one ugly looking drive.

I noticed that it comes with an OEM copy of nero.

Can this version only work with Asus drives ?

[vsekh]

I know with the oem Nero 5.5 software that came with drives only worked with the drive it came with. I'm pretty sure the Nero 6 OEM will only work with the drive it came with.

[Arup]

Ian has given this drive a very good rating(9/10) and I like its solid build quality with gasketted doors for enhanced dust protection. Also the drive itself seems to be very well build in general compared to other drives in the market. I also happen to own a Yamaha CRW-F1 as well as a Plextor Premium and a Liteon LTR 4012S.

Too bad folks at CDRInfo.com gave this drive a real poor rating which is really contradictory, they found C-1/C-2 as well as CU errors which I am yet to encounter. The funny fact is that CDs burnt with the ASUS run on my ancient finicky home CD player which previously refused to play CDs recorded with Yamaha CRW-F1's audio master mode as well as the Plextor premium's Vari Rec mode.