Plextor PX-L890UE for CD burning (and Plextor in general)

[DavidB.Wilkerson]

Hello, all. Just ordered a Plextor PX-L890 external burner to replace my Iomega. I read some good things about it, and about Plextor drives in general, but I'm just wondering what users of this forum think of Plextor's performance in burning audio CDs, especially in the last few years since Lite-On started making their drives.

Has your experience with them been positive? Does anyone have the PX-L890 in particular?

[Stefan Wood]

I think at this point most if not all drivers can do the job very well. It all comes down to build quality. Lite-On, LG, Sony, etc. have made good machines.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

Plextor drives used to be a premium-priced product because they made a premium drive. Since they outsourced the drive manufacture, they dropped off my list. I don't see a reason to pay a premium to have the drive say "Plextor".

I will say that I have several Lite-On drives and they work fine. I think I paid $20.00 at newegg.com for the last one I bought which is a lot less than the ~$70 Plextor's getting for this drive.

[DavidB.Wilkerson]

Thanks so much for the replies. My Iomega Super DVD Writer actually still burns just fine, but has a problem with a tray that gets stuck frequently. CD burning is a big deal for me, so I just wanted to get a new drive, and perhaps use the Iomega as a backup.

When I researched new drives, it was hard to find one that reviewers singled out for its ability to burn audio CDs, so I settled on the Plextor PX-880, which seemed to be highly rated as a DVD burner. Then I saw that it had been replaced by the PX-L890, and I went with that.

Thanks again.

Dave

[DavidB.Wilkerson]

Well, the L890 seems to burn CDs reasonably well, but on this unit the Lightscribe function doesn't work. After being walked through various solutions, I keep getting the same error message saying that the drive has lost communication with my laptop.

And actually, the CDs I've burned don't sound quite as good as the ones I burned on my Iomega. I'm no audiophile, but something seems slightly less vibrant. I suppose this could be some difference in the Lightscribe CD-Rs, but when combined with the labeling problem, it raises a red flag.

Given Amazon's excellent return policy, I'm not going to play games with this thing. I'm going to get a refund, and buy an LG.