The Quest for Quiet DVD/CD-RW drives

Hyperspace · Post by **Hyperspace** » Mon Aug 12, 2002 2:32 pm

Hello everyone,
 
 I'm currently building a (hopefully) quiet PC from scratch, and I'm looking to buy both DVD-ROM and CD-RW drives.
 
 But I've been looking at many reviews for CD drives, but very few ever mention anything about sound levels.
 
 Does anyone here have recommendations for (or experience with a) quiet CD-RW and/or DVD drive?
 
 Thanks - any help is appreciated.
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manalainen · Post by **manalainen** » Mon Aug 12, 2002 2:32 pm

Well,
 
 I recently bought a LiteOn LTD-163D. So far I have been really impressed by it´s performance when playing DVD´s. It´s almost completely silent (It plays DVD´s 1X) if you don´t count the noise that occurs when it spins up or down etc. It´s quite loud when reading CD´s but I suppose you could use a software to control the speed it runs. As an added bonus they are also sold with a black frontbezel/plastic parts but unfortunately I managed to get an ordinary beige one, it´s quite hard to get specialiced parts here in Finland and as such those black ones can only be found from US or international online retailers which kind of sucks.
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josephclemente · Post by **josephclemente** » Mon Aug 12, 2002 2:32 pm

I picked up an ultra-cheap 16X DVD-ROM drive at Fry's Electronics for $40 US. It is in a box by "BTC" - the label on the drive says "Manufactured by TOP-G".
 
 To my surprise, it is the best DVD-ROM drive I ever bought! It slows down to 1X while playing DVD movies so you won't hear it.
 
 Now I own two of these drives. <IMG SRC="modules/phpBB_14/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif">
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FraZor · Post by **FraZor** » Mon Aug 12, 2002 2:32 pm

From my research I have found the following...Please note these are from reccomendations only and I have no first hand experience of these drives.
 
 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
 
 The least noisey DVD drive which I have come across is the Sony DDU1621. You can see a comparison and review here:
 
 <A HREF="http://www.digit-life.com/articles/dvd1 ... are16.html" TARGET="_blank">http://www.digit-life.com/articles/dvd1 ... 16.html</A>
 
 Its the only drive in that list which is noted to be quiet.
 
 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
 
 Also of note is the Samusng SM 332B as seen here:
 
 <A HREF="http://www.samsungelectronics.com/odd/c ... _332b.html" TARGET="_blank">http://www.samsungelectronics.com/odd/c ... 2b.html</A>
 
 Which has DVA (Dynamic Vibration Absorber) to reduce noise.
 
 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
 
 I am building a new system aroung Xmas, and I plan on choosing one of these two drives, unless I find a better option. Also note that these two drives are able to be made region free, which important to me as I live in the UK [R2] and buy DVD's from the US/Canada [R1] and Australia [R4].
 
 I currently have a SCSI 6x Pioneer DVD drive and while it is VERY reliable, it is also VERY noisey. Noisey DVD drives can be real distracting while watching a film!
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Jolt · Post by **Jolt** » Wed Aug 21, 2002 9:37 am

I have also read the same review that FraZor pasted a link to (digitlife) and after that I recently bought a Sony DDU1621.

I can say that the drive hasn't disappointed me at all to this point. It is very quiet (it would probably be inaudible in a normal pc-rig, in my (silent) computer it is audible while reading from cd-s but it is in no way even near the noise levels that fast dvd-roms produce). Worth noting is that i haven't used it extensively yet and I dont know for sure if performance and compatibility are great, and I have yet only used it with cd-roms (not dvd, only cdr and commercial cd-discs) but it sure has been very quiet.

I definitely recommend this drive.