Difference in burning audio with a PC burner or a dedicated outboard burner?

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alonso

alonso

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Is there a difference between burning your audio tracks from your software directly to the PCs burner or routing it to a dedicated burner like the Burnit? Of course I am referring to a difference in sound. Some people say the outboard burners sound more musical, less britle and just better. Is this true?
 
I use my PC burner and it sounds fine. It's digital so it doesn't change the quality, However, the media you use can determine quality they say. The type of CD-R.
 
but then why are there these burners for audio that have XRL Inputs, digital inputs and some other stuff that go for $500 and more.and that promise great audio quality...if it would be the same to use your $50 Plextor?:(
 
well the stand alone has a small computer you could say which allows it to act on its own. It also has"XRL Inputs, digital inputs and some other stuff " as you said. A plextor internal isn't gonna have any of that. It needs the computer.
 
but in the end, if you a/b´d a cd burned with either of them, could there be an audible difference in quality?
 
I have listened through both and have not noticed. I only noticed as I said when using different type of CD's. But possibly other people have noticed....anybody else wanna comment?
 
I'd try the search engine, it's seems this topic has been discussed quite a bit recently. I think several of the pro's have weighed in, notably Blue Bear...
 
Everybody always yells at me for suggesting the search engine
 
yeah, the search engine doesn´t always provide results, if i were to look for cdr or burning, imagine that about 200 pages will appear
 
Here's the gist of what I thought were the salient points...

Ones and zeroes is ones and zeroes, they don't get degraded passing through various pieces of electronics the way an analog signal would. The place where errors are most likely to occur is in the actual burning process, occasionally a one or zero (I'm being simplistic) doesn't get burned because of mechanical/physical problems with the laser, or because of imperfections on the disk surface. This is why hardware that plays back the CD employs error correction, to replace the bits that are missing.

From that point the argument switched to:

1) which CD manufacturers made the best blank disks,

2) Which CD burners were most/least error prone.

3) How much does the write speed of the burner factor into the equation.

#3 was the most interesting to me because it made the most sense to people in my situation. I'm burning CDs from my computer's CD-RW and probably the smartest thing I can do is burn at a 1X speed to decrease the possibility of errors.

I know the error correction part sounds pretty suspect, but I remember taking two or three classes on the topic when I got my BSEE back in 1983. It's really fascinating how much it's used and how well it works.

Hope I didn't start another flame war on the topic.
 
he he I was born in 1983.....uhhh that's alright. I burn CD's at 16x and have had no erros as of yet. I have recorded for several small bands. Nobody has noticed. Full listen through of every CD i make.
 
I agree. Up till now I've buring as fast as the computer will let me and I just don't notice any problems. Could be these 48 year old ears though...
 
When recording at 8x and faster (PC burner) I've encountered problems with the CDs skipping during playback.

I have never been able to hear the difference between different CD-R brands. I've used no-name CD-Rs and brand-name CD-Rs and haven't notice a difference in audio quality, but have noticed a difference in the durability of the CD. Cheap CD-Rs top layers tend to peel off easily which leaves the CD unreadable.
 
MrLip, could be your buffer settings or CD-R Compatability issues with your computer. Also could be the media you're using.
 
Difference in burning audio...?

First off, the "more musical" sound sounds to me like marketing hoopla. I may be off base here guys but wouldn't the XLR inputs on the back of the standalones be for balanced analog inputs? (I don't know what standalone model you were referring to exactly. I did find reference to HHB CDR830 BurnIT but it didn't have XLR inputs.) If so, I would think that the A/D converters in a Marantz or HHB may be more competent (i.e. "musical") than those in a $50 Plextor. Of course if you were coming out of your sound card SPDIF or coaxial to the standalone burner it shouldn't make a bit of difference now should it.
 
I know it shouldn´t be any different but I just can´t stop wondering why they advertise these ultra expensive stand alone burner and see some pros saying that it is different and bla bla bla.....
 
And Mike, I think it is the Burnit Plus the one that has the XLR inputs
 
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