Is the Kenwood 72x CD-ROM any good?

[Jarablue]

I want to know if that CD ROM is any good. My friend has it and he wants to sell it to me for 65 bux. You guys have any input about it?

 

[Guest]

Go for it man. I like Kenwood very much. They usually cost aroun $80. Its transfer rate is from 6.75MB to 10.8MB/sec (you can say it as 100xCD-ROM across the entire disc.

 

[SoulReaper]

My kenwood 72x CD-ROM eats CD's for breakfast. On my old 24x half-life (400mb) took about 5 min to install. the new 72x tore it up in under a minute. If you are looking for a sweet CD-ROM, this is the one to get.

 

[machow]

My 50x CD-ROM drive's max speed is 20X. Ew, disgusting. But I heard Kenwood's TrueX splits one laser into 7 and read the CDROM quicker and more effeciently, slowing down the disc's RPM and operates much quieter than normal drives. I heard that their min speed was 50x of the 72x model. However, you pay the price for the performane and features...


Smart guys are not smart; they only see things in different perspective.
1st <b>member</b>!

 

[Jarablue]

Thanks for the info I am getting it in 2 days. Thanks all!



In the immortal word's of Bob Marley, "Let's get together and feel alllright...:"

 

[Guest]

Don't forget to post your first impressions.
Good luck

 

[Guest]

The Kenwood True-X 72X CDROM is very good if you are only reading pressed CD's. It has some real problems with DAE and reading different CD-RW media. Read the hardware review at www.cdrinfo.com

 

[Guest]

Test it first! When true-x technology first came out, it was amazing! 40X read speeds at 8X spindle speeds. Maximum PC gave the first Kenwood drive a 9 and a 'kick ass' rating.

It was found in the months that followed that the quality of the drives went south as production increased and tons of people complained of the drive not reaching anywhere near it's potential. The design also has trouble with DAE as mentioned above, so it's not a good choice for ripping MP3's.

However, if you're looking for an all around drive that blows away anything else for read speeds, go for it!
Just offer your friend $50. After all, it is used!

 

[Guest]

The Kenwoods are great for most things. While I only have a 42X myself, I can attest that they are extremely quiet. If you play Diablo II however, there is a known problem with all these TrueX drives which does not allow the cinematics to play (or even be installed). There is a firmware update on Kenwood's tech support site which supposedly fixes this problem. However, the syntax they use does not work with the file they provide. I have tried several times to get in touch with technical support via email and phone, have left messages, but have not heard one word back from Kenwood. While I think the drives are great, so far support to me has sucked. Sure it's only one game, and for the other 99% of what I use my CD drive for, it works great, but that isn't the point. It wouldn't be so aggravating if the fix didn't exist in the first place, but knowing it is there, and then finding out that it doesn't work??? Very irksome. So, when my drive really goes out, I'll probably go with a Plextor, or even Toshiba, despite a loss in speed. I also am a bit perturbed at the more or less incompatibility with CD-RW discs. While I don't do any of that now, I certainly plan to in the future! At least I only paid $50 for mine..

Aaron
http://www.aaroncgilbert.com/computer.html

 

[Jarablue]

Well I got it yesterday and put that sucker in right away. I have to say that the cd rom is awesome. I installed games in like under 1 minute when on the Acer it took about 5-8 min to install UT and other games. I haven't tried anything else except play diablo2 and test out some other burnt cd's to see if they would read. It all worked with no hiccups. I also upgraded the firmware from Kenwoods site. All in all I think it is a kick ass drive. And for only 65 bux! woohoo


In the immortal word's of Bob Marley, "Let's get together and feel alllright..."

 

[Jarablue]

I just wanted to make sure of something. I used 8 screws instead of 4 to install it. 4 on each side and I tightened it pretty good. That won't mess up the cd rom at all will it? The reason I am asking is last night the drive got stuck and the cd was in fine. I am thinking maybe I am warping the drive with all the 8 screws in tight. Any info on this would help thanks.


In the immortal word's of Bob Marley, "Let's get together and feel alllright..."

 

[Jarablue]

Nevermind found it out myself. Thanks for all the ppl who replied I aprreciate it!


In the immortal word's of Bob Marley, "Let's get together and feel alllright..."

 

[simtis]

I guess this post is a little late but what the hell. I have had a 42X and now a 52X because the 42X crapped out and they replaced with 52X. That was nice of Kenwood. Yes the drive is nice......usually......i have problems reading CDR and CDWR sometimes. It doesn't like the cheap media. As long as i stick with Maxell of Memorex, it seems to read ok. I dont know if i would consider it blazing speed, i guess for installs but when using it for game play im not sure 52 or in your case 72x is really required.
If you have a writer or are going to get one before you buy that 100 pack of CD's at 2cents each try one of your buddy's to be sure it reads them. Otherwise stick with a better quality media, gold seems to work well, silver is another story.

 

[Jarablue]

yeah I have been finding out that some of the times it doesn't read some media. All the retail media (store bought games) the cd reads fine but some burnt cd's it has trouble reading it. But the thing I like about it is that it doesn't take 10 years to spin up a cd like some burners do.


In the immortal word's of Bob Marley, "Let's get together and feel alllright..."

 

[Guest]

Any thing above of 48X is Jocking!!!!!!!!!!!!

May be bad idea to go up to 52X now.

If you want to waste your money, go ahead to make ..

 

[seanmcne]

try it you'll be surprised. Then Kenwood is the mother of all cdrom drives. If you can afford it it's worth it. I assure you.

 

[seanmcne]

One comment HELL YES! It is probably the best CDROM Drive I have ever seen. You'll be happy.
-=-Sean-=-

 

[Guest]

Another post way after the fact, but from what I've read on various sites the way the Kenwood achieves its blinding speed is by splitting the laser and reading multiple areas simultaneously. I assume this means a lower power for each "split" beam, so lower quality media won't be read as well/at all.

 

[Guest]

The 72x does have problems reading. Ir reads my RW pretty good, but I am looking to get rid of it because I am having trouble installing games and software that have scratches on them. My burner reads them fine. I have come to the conclusion that the 72x is good only for installing games and large software. Another benefit is the fact that is is VERY quiet. The DAE is good too. (32x) However, a lot of burners are coming out with awesome DAE so if you like installing games very fast then get this.

 

[andoh]

I gotta put my two cents in. I have the 62X. Have not had much problem reading CDR or CDRW's. Very fast and quiet.
I do have to admit that my original drive crapped out after 9 months but Kenwood sent me an RA and I had my replacement drive within 10 working days. Pretty good customer service considering that it takes 4 days just to get it there using UPS ground.
BTW, the problem I had was the blinking light of death. Tray would not open or close from the front panel button. If I pushed the tray shut the disk would not spin up and front panel light would flash.

 

[The_Beaver]

After the fact, but just want to say I had the 52X SCSI for a short time; just long enough to find it had trouble with CDR/RW's. It's an innovative design and really quiet, but not without it's drawbacks.

Good Karma

 

[allsops]

I've been trying to find somewhere on the net that sells the cd-rom in question... but I found nothing. Any ideas?

 

[LordKaos]

I think you would put your money to better use buying a
DVD-rom!
16x DVD , has about 50x reading CD´s!
And you can always watch some movies in it!

That 72x is not 72 speed in all CD as someone was saying ,
is 72x in the outter part of the cd and it drops (don´t
know how much for sure, but it is a lot!) on the inner part!

Better burn in Hell with some company than freeze in Heaven all alone

 

[Guest]

Not true. 72 true-x is the average speed at which it reads. It accomplishes this with 7 reading lasers and a lower spindle speed, rather than just one at over 5000 rpm.

IMO, I would not get this drive for your only CD-ROM drive. It has trouble reading some types of CD-R media. If you want to back up games that you own, this drive will not be able to read the subchannel data either, so it won't happen. A DVD rom is actually a very good suggestion. Toshiba drives, I have read, will read anything, including that subchannel data that is needed for those back up disks.

If you want to do superfast digital audio extraction or load programs really fast, get the Kenwood 72 true x. If you want to do anything else with it, I think there are better drives out there.

Oh and one last thing, I tried playing a burned CD in my 72 true x drive and the music had a lot of pops and just sounded generally bad. I stuck that same CD in my burner and it played flawlessly.


- Every private citizen has a public responsibility

 

[LordKaos]

Well, i Think the Toshiba ´s are great but i was pointing to the fastest DVD-Rom drive that i could remember! The 16x
slot-in DVD-Rom drive from Pioneer!

I have heard wonders of the 12x DVD-Rom from Toshiba!

Better burn in Hell with some company than freeze in Heaven all alone