Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!microsoft!brianw
From: brianw@microsoft.UUCP (Brian WILLOUGHBY)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hardware
Subject: Re: CD Player Recommendations?
Summary: A warning
Message-ID: <10105@microsoft.UUCP>
Date: 31 Dec 89 01:47:54 GMT
References: <13802@reed.UUCP>
Reply-To: brianw@microsoft.UUCP (Brian WILLOUGHBY)
Organization: Microsoft Corp., Redmond WA
Lines: 41

In article <13802@reed.UUCP> rbrewer@reed.UUCP (Robert S. Brewer) writes:
>
>So basically I want something like the Apple CD ROM player with audio CD
>buttons on the outside. It would also be nice if it was as fast or faster than
>the Apple CD ROM player. If anyone has any suggestions, please either respond
>here or send me email as you see fit.
>
>Robert S. Brewer

Microsoft seems to swear by a CD ROM drive made by Amdek.  As employees, we
even get a discount if we purchase through MS, so I checked out the specs.  I
don't recommend the Amdex because the audio outputs are rated at over 1%
distortion.  It is a waste of hardware to have digital CD quality audio and
budget rate output circuitry.  I imagine that the reason for the ridiculous
levels of distortion is that Amdek didn't want to make a large impact on the
total price of the drive, so they used cheap parts and a poor design.  I
suspect that many other CD ROM drive manufacturers have taken the same
shortcut.  If the audio circuits have such poor specs, I would prefer audio
outputs to be a cost option, so I could get the quality D/A conversion I'm
looking for in a CD player.

If I were you, I would check the specifications of the analog outputs on any
CD ROM drive that is to be used for audio.

If anyone knows of a CD ROM drive with audiophile quality analog outputs, send
me some email!

If you want a faster drive than Apple's, you _might_ have to move to a faster
media than CD ROM.  The CD format was optimized for audio use, i.e. quick
sequential access and a very large amount of data.  The tiny tracks are
squeezed close together, and they are arranged in a single spiral track.  This
is adequate for sound data, but random access is not simple because a CD ROM is
unlike a standard disk where tracks are concentric and precisely located at
static locations.  Of course, Apple's drive may leave some room for
improvement - I haven't compared any CD ROM drives side-by-side.

Brian Willoughby
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