Over the years we have sold all the CDG capable drives. Yamaha was the premier years ago, but the quality of their drive has suffered since the 4824 model. A typical Yamaha WILL drop some of the RW codes, either reading or writing, and sometimes both. It is NOT the preferred drive of choice for CDG work. That is why we do not recommend or sell it any more.
Jimbo is right, the RW subcode (actually it is P Q R S T U V W as an 8-bit code) is NOT stored in error checking or redundant, so any scratch will damage it. We have had many users over the years report that using Microstudio and our CDG Certified drives, the copy was CLEANER than the original, even when the original is scratched.
The right drive can make a world of difference in reading a scratched disc.
As to the recording speed, the industry experts we talk with say that writing at the faster speeds is superior as the laser does not heat up the dye layer as much. There apparently is an "annealing" process that can happen when too much heat is applied. The "pit" is not a physical pit, but an optical changing of the dye layer. Writing at a slower speed has never been proven to be superior with the MTU Silver media, to our knowledge.
As to the audio quality sounding better at slower speeds, we have heard this argument for the past 11 years since we have sold CDR drives for studio quality audio workstations. I do not remember a single instance where someone who claimed "better audio at slower speeds" after going to MTU Silver media made the same claim. Using inferior media WILL change the audio quality, AT ANY SPEED! Using the ultimate media does not matter what writing speed.
As to why MTU won't ship out of the USA, it has been to prevent the Credit Card fraud we were experiencing. When we ship a drive and the payment turns out to be bogus, we are out the full amount, including the freight. Today, we have changed our internal procedures and we will now accept International orders. We now will call and/or email to verify the order was placed by the real Credit Card owner, and that other information can be provided to us. When we can verify this, we will accept the order and ship out of the USA. mlepine, we would be honored to accept your order if you wish to place it.
