How does Audio Master Quality Recording improve data longevity?

Does Audio Master Quality really improve data longevity? In order to test this we conducted a light endurance analysis.

Objective
To determine change and increase in jitter induced errors over time. (examination of light endurance with regard to the longevity of back-up data)

CD-R disc light endurance analysis

Conditions
A total of 4 discs were compared - 3 recorded using normal methods, 1 recorded using the Audio Master Quality Recording System.*

1 disc - CRW3200
(Audio Master Quality Recording System)
1 disc - CRW3200
(normal recording method)
1 disc - comparable drive from company ³A²
(normal recording method)
1 disc - comparable drive from company ³B²
(normal recording method)

• All four recorded discs were placed "face up", approximately 10 cm away from a 15W fluorescent light
• The recorded side of the disc was exposed to the light for approximately 6000lux.
• The discs were exposed for 2365 hours (approximately 3 months).
• The experiment was to end when all 4 discs experienced a C-1 error.

Results
Pits and lands lengthened by Audio Master Quality System resulted in more durable recordings. These discs were more resiliant to change; supported by data in the following 3 areas:

• Discoloration to the exposed side of the disc
• Overall increase in Jitter (the gap that occurs between different sized pits of recorded data)
• Occurrence of C1 errors

*the same WAVE file data was recorded to each disc at 4x

What is Jitter?
A CD-R/RW drive writes audio in the form of pits and lands on the recordable layer of the disc. The digital information in the pits and lands is decoded by the scanning unit in the CD player and played. Various factors (e.g. crystal oscillators, component tolerances, ADCs and DACs frequency mismatch, electromagnetic fields, the inconsistency of the lands and pits-their length or width and the uneven gaps between them) can prevent these signals from reaching the CD-player's scanning unit at exactly the intended time. This timing inaccuracy is what is known as "jitter".

Discoloration to the exposed side of the disc

Before	After

The pictures above show how the faces of the discs fade under extended exposure to light; this can impact the recorded data's readability. Now it is a question of how much change should be expected, and whether there is a measurable difference between the Audio Master Quality Recording CD-R and the others.

Overall increase in Jitter
(the gap that occurs between different sized pits of recorded data)

What we can determine from the preceding graph:
1. compared to the other drives, the CRW3200 produces the least amount of jitter.
2. Jitter occurrence increases with the duration of light exposure.
3. Only the Audio Master Quality recorded disc stayed within the Orange Book standard of 35ns.

C1 error occurrence

What we can determine from the preceding graph:
1. Compared to the other drives, the CRW3200 incurred the fewest C1 errors.
2. The Audio Master Quality Recording CD-R was the last to incur a C1 error.
3. In this series of tests, the Audio Master Quality recorded discs' first C1 error occurred approximately 500 hours after the last standing disc, which was recorded with the CRW3200 using conventional recording methods.

These tests were meant to roughly determine how likely it was for a given recorded media to avoid incurring a C1 error. After the analysis, each disc was placed in a CD player and all of the normally recorded discs skipped to the point of being unplayable. The Audio Master Quality recorded discs, however, still played without difficulty!