SPCR

this thing is -quiet-!

Where did you buy this drive? I've been looking for them, but haven't had much luck finding any new.

i'm in canada, had to get friend to ship it at double what i'd normally pay for a drive up from usa.

$100, had $25 rebate but he forgot to qualify for that.

http://www.jr.com/JRProductPage.process?Product=4021220

look for the black sku as well.

the front facia of the tray looks to be overly big, it probably wont fit well in cases with stealthed drive covers.

it is by far the quietest drive I have ever used. that includes plextor and samsung.

the program it comes with has a button to click that asks "do you want it to be silent but not work like crap" type of thing, you hit it, and it works the way we want it

retail boxed only. oem is crudey and cut down

Unfortunately, this drive was only released as a limited edition as far as I'm aware.

I tried to get one a couple of months after they were released but everywhere had sold out here in the UK.

A pity really.

I would think the A09XL model is going to be hard to find.
The newer A10XL retail version is selling locally (Australia) for au$99, based on the same 'honeycomb' case structure of the A09, but is now able to read DVD RAM.

yeah the retail 10 wasn't available yet when i got my 09xl :/ only the oem ones had just come out
but either choice is great for us silent pc enthusiasts

i've only just put it in having it had it sit on shelf for last few months

The A09 and A10 appear to be the same drive. I wonder if the only difference is firmware. If so, maybe it'd be possible to flash the A09 with A10 firmware and effectively have an A10.

oem 109 and 110 drives are completely different. don't let the sameness of the bezel fool you.

I've read the SONY DRU-800 is fairly quiet.
I can testify that the Plextor PX716 is crazy loud.
Sounds like it's trying to blast off, and achieve gravitational escape velocity.

I flashed my 109 with the A09 firmware a few months ago, for the ripunlock feature. It also enables you to use the Quiet drive utility.

I can't remember the exact procedure, you cannot just flash the drive with the Pioneer flasher (don't attempt this or you may damage the drive), you need to use a program called DVRFlash - search on rpc1.org, cdfreaks.com, pioneer109.com etc.

Just came by this post on Anandtech, thought you guys might be interested.

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview ... erthread=y

Not sure if he has any left, I sent the guy an email. I'll let you all know what I hear back.

anyone seen the dvr-a10xl anywhere? i only see it listed on australian sites, nowhere in canada yet.

It is fairly quiet yes, not as quiet as my liteon CD writer slowed down to 8x, but perhaps dvd drives spin faster, i'm no expert.

It's not bad though, i can clearly hear it over my system but it's pretty unobtrusive noise provided you have the drive set to quiet. (it's deafening otherwise, so if you get the OEM version make sure you reflash as described above)

ebay item 8726843813

i just bought an dvr-a10xl off ebay last night

(sob)

IT'S A DISEASE

Mariner wrote:I tried to get one a couple of months after they were released but everywhere had sold out here in the UK.

What sites had had it? I'd like to keep a lookout in future.


Thanks

Derek

rei wrote:anyone seen the dvr-a10xl anywhere? i only see it listed on australian sites, nowhere in canada yet.

Same here. What's so special about Australia, is it just closer to the Asian plants?

the initial windup sound is subdued but still there but the wonderful lack of noise happens with sustained data copying/music playing. other drives would constantly make the leafblower sound while the pioneer is only upon initial disc insertion/access.

I concur the A09XL is very quiet!

According to know-it-alls on many different sites the only differnce between the retail A09 and the oem 109 is:
A09 has a fanzier bezel
A09 has a honeycomb shell supposed to dampen vibrations
Different firmware

Guess the same applies to the newer models.

Pioneer said the retail A09 version were never to be distributed in Europe. I had to E-bay mine from overseas.
Again, perhaps the same goes for the newer ones.

Derek Baker wrote:

Mariner wrote:I tried to get one a couple of months after they were released but everywhere had sold out here in the UK.

What sites had had it? I'd like to keep a lookout in future.

Thanks

Derek

Unfortunately, I don't remember which ones exactly!

I'm pretty sure that Novatech and Overclockers both sold them at one time or another though. I'd expect both of them to sell the newer one if it becomes available in the UK.

Ah didn't realise the drives were actually different in anything apart from the aesthetics. Perhaps the honeycomb does make a difference then, my re-flashed OEM 109 is definately quiet but you can still hear a noticable amount of noise when reading data. The initial spin-up is much louder as has already been noted, but sustained transfer is clearly audible as a quiet whoosh. Its pretty innocuous whiteish noise, akin to the sound of air blowing rather then the irritating vibrating buzz you often get with optical drives.

I'm using it in an already very quiet system (PIII650 cooled by a panaflo@5V, fanless gfx card, elastically suspended notebook drive + an S12) so it could well be that it's completely drowned out by slightly noisier systems.

I bought a DVR-A09XLB off eBay about a week ago, and it showed up today. Open the box, and what do I find? A DVR-A08XLB. I can't believe this. The model is printed clear as day on the drive many times. The seller even had a little sticky-note inside the package right on top of the drive that said DVR-A09XLB, ship to so-and-so, etc. He/she must be frikken retarded or something.

The drive works pretty well, quieter than I expected. However, it has an annoying whine after initially reading a CD that lasts for a minute or so. Is this common to these drives and/or the DVR-A09XL.

To be honest I'm pretty pleased with the drive, but kind of pissed because I payed for an 09. Then again, as little as I would burn DVDs, I guess it's not a big deal (according to what I've read I think the 09s are supposed to be faster burners than the 08s, but I think construction is similar). Just trying to decide if it's worth the hassle of sending back.

Sorry for the OT post/rant. What do you guys think, should I just keep it? Any way I can get rid of/reduce that whining I mentioned?

Mariner wrote:

Derek Baker wrote:

Mariner wrote:I tried to get one a couple of months after they were released but everywhere had sold out here in the UK.

What sites had had it? I'd like to keep a lookout in future.

Thanks

Derek

Unfortunately, I don't remember which ones exactly!

I'm pretty sure that Novatech and Overclockers both sold them at one time or another though. I'd expect both of them to sell the newer one if it becomes available in the UK.

Thanks. Definitely Novatech: http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prod ... p0s0n0m224

I've just installed a DVR-A10XLB.
There is definately a difference to the Pioneer 110 when it comes to noise.
It's unbelievably quiet.. I love this drive.
The retail pack also has considerably more software than the OEM 110, and costs AU $30 more.

(For those in Australia, its available through Harris Technology - apparently they have first priority to new pioneer releases.)

it's crazy good right?

it's like the only one to get really I feel. It just hardly makes a sound when playing dvd's and during games. Installs it can woop up, but it still is very low noise comparitively.

i just replaced my lightly used 09xlb with a 10xlb (from hk/ebay) tonight. the tray closing was a little 'jagged' loud and it had trouble reading my unscratched ut2004 cd4 for some reason but i'll probably put this little gem up for sale here in the appropriate forum. or send me a pm. i'll ship within north america, have all the original pkg still.