What are the best Phthalocyanine CD-Rs?

[jdwho]

I was burning my audio CD-Rs to TYs, which gave great error scans. But then I acquired an older Yamaha CD changer that has a hard time playing them. However, the Yamaha has no problem with Prodisc CD-Rs, so I concluded it is happier with phthalocyanine discs.

So, what are the best phthalocyanine CD-Rs (that I'm likely to be able to get in Canada)?

A few years ago I used Riteks (both TDK-branded and unbranded) that gave great scans, but a more recent stack of unbranded Riteks wasn't nearly as good. The Prodisc stack hasn't been bad (C1 max=15, total=650, C2=0), but not as good as the TYs (C1 max=8, total=120, C2=0).

Any recommendations?

Thanks.

[CowboySlim]

I'm sticking solely with Verbatims nowadays.

But that is just me, YMMV.

[jdwho]

I'm sticking solely with Verbatims nowadays.

I bought a stack of 50 Verbatims recently, but found they were made in Malaysia with a vendor code of "Daxon". The one I tested had an ok (?) scan (C1 max=22, C1 total=1200, C2=0) but not nearly as good as TYs, or even the the old Riteks and TDKs.

If there are better Verbatims available (that are still phthalocyanine), how can I identify them?

Thanks.

[Scour]

Verbatim-media have Azo, not phthalocyanine

The best media with phthalocyanine was Mitsui-media, but it´s not good anyome since it was sold and renamed to MAM

[evilboy]

Try CMC CD-R. Some of their premium stuff (sold as HP or Verbatim) is good.

[TheWizard]

I like CMC CD-R's too. People used to bash them a lot back in the day, but for me, they have always performed well. I can't say the same about Ritek. As evilboy pointed out, stick with the big brands and you should get good quality CMC discs. HP, Verbatim, Memorex, Imation, and TDK have been known to use CMC discs. For more details on which spindles to look for in a store, take a look at this thread.

To find out what brands use which manufacturers' discs, or to see which other media will work well with your burner, take a look at the Media Compatibility List.

[Justin42]

You are very, very lucky if a CMC disc, especially an older one, hasn't failed on you. I'm getting to the point where some of my early CDR burns are failing and almost every one I've discovered so far (probably 5-10) has been CMC.

Thankfully I learned fairly early to use good quality media. The TY discs I have from 1998-1999 still scan as well as most burns today.

The only CDR media I'd trust today is TY or Verbatim. Anything else and you're gambling with your data.

[jdwho]

I like CMC CD-R's too. [...]
I can't say the same about Ritek. As evilboy pointed out, stick with the big brands and you should get good quality CMC discs. [...]
For more details on which spindles to look for in a store, take a look at this thread.

To find out what brands use which manufacturers' discs, [...] take a look at the Media Compatibility List.

Thanks for the pointers to these threads. I'll look out for CMC-style cases, though these threads suggest that packaging isn't always consistent. My Daxon Verbatims came with a CMC-style lid (PP5, too; though with a grey base).

However, looking at some posted scans for Verbatims, maybe I'm being too harsh on the Daxons. Scans with C1 max/total of 15/1200 get called "great", when this seems quite a bit above TY-levels.

[jdwho]

You are very, very lucky if a CMC disc, especially an older one, hasn't failed on you.
[...]
The only CDR media I'd trust today is TY or Verbatim. Anything else and you're gambling with your data.

Thanks, but I can't play TYs reliably, and it seems the "good" Verbatims are the azo type which are also long-strategy, and probably won't play any better.

But, maybe the answer is to burn 2 copies of each disc: 1 TY to archive, and a second cheap pthalocyanine for playing...

[TheWizard]

But, maybe the answer is to burn 2 copies of each disc: 1 TY to archive, and a second cheap pthalocyanine for playing...

For important data, this is always a good idea.

[SkaarjMaster]

might be time to get a new CD changer.

It was good to hear this though as all my burned CD-Rs are TY media:
"Thankfully I learned fairly early to use good quality media. The TY discs I have from 1998-1999 still scan as well as most burns today"