Which CD-ROM or CD-RW or DVD-RW drives are the best for reading game CD with redbook audio? \ VOGONS

Which CD-ROM or CD-RW or DVD-RW drives are the best for reading game CD with redbook audio?

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First post, by xtreger

Posted on 2025-01-18, 13:25

xtreger Offline

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I'm looking for some drive recommendations in the following order: DVD-RW > CD-RW > CD-ROM. Foremost it should be able to easily read game CDs with redbook audio, like Tomb Raider or Carmageddon. A plus if the drive has been tested in DOS with a redbook CD game with working game+CD audio. I'd be super grateful for any recommendations in this regard

Reply 1 of 2, by MikeSG

Posted on 2025-01-19, 10:25

MikeSG Offline

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CD-RW:
Lite-on LTR-48246S (48 x 24 x 48) work with the built-in MS-DOS 6.22 lite-on driver, and win95c(+).

Digital Audio should work on any CD drive with the internal 4-pin audio cable connected to the sound card?

Reply 2 of 2, by chinny22

Posted on 2025-01-20, 01:58

chinny22 Offline

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Depends on the hardware.
Just about all IDE drives and some early SATA drives have an "analogue audio output" port.

Run a cable from the drive to the soundcard and you'll get Redbook audio, no matter which OS.

Some IDE and most SATA drives dropped this connector and run the Audio over the data cable.
This requires WDM drivers which is only supported in Win98 and above.
I don't think any workarounds exist for earlier OS's (but haven't looked to deeply)

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