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CD Burning: What Route Should I Go?

I have no experience with CD burning and don't have a burner. I've gathered that some people feel you get best results from a dedicated outboard CD burner than from doing it on your computer. Pardon my computer illiteracy, but I have a Mac from 1998 with only CD-ROM. What would be the easiest route with the best sonic results for me to invest in a burner to make copies?

Are the sonics better from a direct burn than from storing the data on hard drive first?

My other concern would be the durability of the burner. A friend had excellent sonic results with a Philips burner, but the Philips didn't seem very durable, becoming sensitive to which blanks were used, and it finally died out after 3 years. Thanks for all opinions.
kevziek
mdomnick
332 posts
 
It's only an opinion, but I am in IT and have been for 8 years, so.......

I feel a computer burner will meet all of your needs. I use a burner in my PC and have done side by side tests with factory created CDs and could not hear a difference. I really can't see logical reasons why a dedicated burner would record the 1s and 0s any differently than a computer's burner. If anything, the media you use should make the biggest difference as you are burning (literally) the media and how the media reacts to that could affect sound, so use good media.

Now, more to my expertise in computers, unless you are looking to upgrade and buy a new computer, simply buy an external burner. I'm not 100% familiar with Macs that are 6 years old, but if possible, buy a USB 2.0 card for your Mac and buy a USB 2.0 compatible External burner and you'll be set. I'd also recommend the name brand Plextor; it’s a solid brand and isn't the most expensive on the shelf.

If you can upgrade your computer, just about anything you buy these days will come with a burner.

Side note; a burner used on your computer also gives you much more functionality than a dedicated CD burner. Money well spent in my opinion.

Good luck.

m-
tomryan
796 posts
 
Durability's an issue, eh? Good luck with that. Most items like CD recorders are built with the cheapest parts and labor available on the planet. Same thing with 99% of all other electronics.

That being said, I think the stand alone CD recorder is the best way to go, sound wise. Most of the time good parts mean better all over performance and a stand alone would have more to it than the burner in your computer. You may want to check out Harman/Kardon or Marantz SE series.
vvrinc
323 posts
 
I have burned CDs using a computer burner with my G4 Mac. The burner is an external EZ Quest 48X. This uses the regular CDR media. I also use a HK CDR2 (uses only CDR “music” media) connected through my Enkianthus DAC and being fed by my transport.

I’ve found that duplicating with a computer burner, at high speed, tends to degrade the sound slightly from the original. I have heard extra brightness and lack of bass focus on the duplicated disc in comparison to the original. Even at the lowest speeds the results are similar. The HK transfers (done at 1-to-1 speed) sound much closer to the original. With some CDs there is hardly any difference at all.

I have experimented with various brands of CDR and CDR “music” software and the results are the same as described above.

I hope this is of some assistance to you.
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