I created this account to report this issue I discovered with the audio CD creation feature of ImgBurn.
I work at a University and one the services my office provides is audio dubbing from various media like records cassette tapes and 1/4 reels to CDs or digital files. I have been using ImgBurn for several years as an alternative to paid software like PowerDVD and overall I have found ImgBurn to be quite serviceable. My typical workflow involves recording to Audacity, editing, exporting to WAV and burning to a CD. Regretfully, I often do not check the finished CDs (as this would add a lot of time to projects) and assume the verification process would detect any flaws. In a recent project I decided to test one of the CDs and I was surprised to find the CD worked but the audio quality was significantly inferior to the original recording. I verified this with several CDs and decided to document my findings and post them here. I am very disappointed to discover that I have been selling poor quality CDs to my customers.
Testing Process:
1. I recorded a short segment of a Jazz Band recording from a 1/4 open-reel with a Tascam 34B deck.
2. I exported 30 seconds of that recording to 16bit PCM WAV.
3. I burned that WAV file to a CD using ImgBurn and CDBurnerXP
4. I riped both CDs to WAV with Window Media Player.
5. I imported the original 30 second clip and the ripped files into an Audacity project to compare.
Image 1: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B764gkA1unxbU3FJVjZxSGxTTlU
Image 2: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B764gkA1unxbNVZ1LXJ5NE1KTVU
Image 3: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B764gkA1unxbLU9hanlrdktqYTQ
Image 4: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B764gkA1unxbQTZoT0dtb2x2SlE
Here are 4 screen captures at increasing zoom levels of the three wave forms. The first track is the original recording, the second track is the ImbBurn CD rip, and the third track is the CDBurnerXP CD rip.
You can clearly see the ImgBurn wave form is visually distinguishable from the others and that it has been severely compressed. My guess is ImgBurn resampled the audio file to 8000 Hz before burning. Why would anybody want that?
Here are the WAV files for referance:
Original: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B764gkA1unxbUHJZWkt6SDE0dHc
ImgBurn: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B764gkA1unxbbjNVNGVUMzY5S2M
CDBurnerXP: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B764gkA1unxbdlhtbTdCTzFvQk0
I appreciate and respect the hard work people do behind the scenes to support free software like ImgBurn. I hope this issue can be resolved. Please let me know what you think about this. Have I missed something obvious? Has anyone else experienced this? I just want to let people know this is happening. Thank you for your constructive input.
-EDIT-
Here is the ImgBurn log entry for the CD burned for this test:
; //****************************************\\
; ImgBurn Version 2.5.8.0 - Log
; Tuesday, 12 April 2016, 15:10:34
; \\****************************************//
;
;
I 15:08:02 ImgBurn Version 2.5.8.0 started!
I 15:08:02 Microsoft Windows 7 Enterprise Edition (6.1, Build 7601 : Service Pack 1)
I 15:08:02 Total Physical Memory: 3,370,648 KiB - Available: 2,313,620 KiB
I 15:08:02 Initialising SPTI...
I 15:08:02 Searching for SCSI / ATAPI devices...
I 15:08:02 -> Drive 1 - Info: HL-DT-ST DVD+-RW GH50N B103 (E:) (ATA)
I 15:08:02 Found 1 DVD±RW/RAM!
I 15:08:52 Operation Started!
I 15:08:52 Source File: C:\Users\tmr_multimedia\Desktop\audio test.cue
I 15:08:52 Source File Sectors: 2,256 (AUDIO/2352)
I 15:08:52 Source File Size: 5,306,112 bytes
I 15:08:52 Source File File System(s): None
I 15:08:52 Destination Device: [0:1:0] HL-DT-ST DVD+-RW GH50N B103 (E:) (ATA)
I 15:08:52 Destination Media Type: CD-R (Disc ID: 97m24s01f, Taiyo Yuden Co.)
I 15:08:52 Destination Media Supported Write Speeds: 4x, 8x, 16x, 24x, 32x, 40x, 48x
I 15:08:52 Destination Media Sectors: 359,845
I 15:08:52 Write Mode: CD
I 15:08:52 Write Type: SAO
I 15:08:52 Write Speed: MAX
I 15:08:52 Lock Volume: Yes
I 15:08:52 Test Mode: No
I 15:08:52 OPC: No
I 15:08:52 BURN-Proof: Enabled
W 15:08:52 Write Speed Miscompare! - MODE SENSE: 8,468 KB/s (48x), GET PERFORMANCE: 9,402 KB/s (53.3x)
I 15:08:52 Write Speed Successfully Set! - Effective: 8,468 KB/s (48x)
I 15:08:53 Filling Buffer... (80 MiB)
I 15:08:54 Writing LeadIn... (CD-TEXT)
I 15:09:13 Writing Session 1 of 1... (1 Track, LBA: 0 - 2255)
I 15:09:13 Writing Track 1 of 1... (AUDIO/2352, WAVE, LBA: 0 - 2255)
I 15:09:14 Synchronising Cache...
I 15:09:19 Exporting Graph Data...
I 15:09:19 Graph Data File: C:\Users\tmr_multimedia\AppData\Roaming\ImgBurn\Graph Data Files\HL-DT-ST_DVD+-RW_GH50N_B103_TUESDAY-APRIL-12-2016_3-08_PM_97m24s01f_MAX.ibg
I 15:09:19 Export Successfully Completed!
I 15:09:19 Operation Successfully Completed! - Duration: 00:00:27
I 15:09:19 Average Write Rate: 5,181 KiB/s (26.2x) - Maximum Write Rate: 5,181 KiB/s (26.2x)
I 15:09:19 Cycling Tray before Verify...
W 15:09:29 Waiting for device to become ready...
I 15:09:37 Device Ready!
I 15:09:37 Operation Started!
I 15:09:37 Source Device: [0:1:0] HL-DT-ST DVD+-RW GH50N B103 (E:) (ATA)
I 15:09:37 Source Media Type: CD-R (Disc ID: 97m24s01f, Taiyo Yuden Co.)
I 15:09:37 Source Media Supported Read Speeds: 10x, 16x, 24x, 32x, 40x
I 15:09:37 Source Media Supported Write Speeds: 4x, 8x, 16x, 24x, 32x, 40x, 48x
I 15:09:37 Source Media Sectors: 2,256
I 15:09:37 Source Media Size: 5,306,112 bytes
I 15:09:37 Image File: C:\Users\tmr_multimedia\Desktop\audio test.cue
I 15:09:37 Image File Sectors: 2,256 (AUDIO/2352)
I 15:09:37 Image File Size: 5,306,112 bytes
I 15:09:37 Image File File System(s): None
I 15:09:37 Read Speed (Data/Audio): MAX / MAX
I 15:09:38 Read Speed - Effective: 40x
I 15:09:38 Verifying Session 1 of 1... (1 Track, LBA: 0 - 2255)
I 15:09:38 Verifying Track 1 of 1... (AUDIO/2352, WAVE, LBA: 0 - 2255)
I 15:09:45 Exporting Graph Data...
I 15:09:45 Graph Data File: C:\Users\tmr_multimedia\AppData\Roaming\ImgBurn\Graph Data Files\HL-DT-ST_DVD+-RW_GH50N_B103_TUESDAY-APRIL-12-2016_3-08_PM_97m24s01f_MAX.ibg
I 15:09:45 Export Successfully Completed!
I 15:09:45 Operation Successfully Completed! - Duration: 00:00:06
I 15:09:45 Average Verify Rate: 1,036 KiB/s (5.2x) - Maximum Verify Rate: 1,255 KiB/s (6.3x)
I 15:10:34 Close Request Acknowledged
I 15:10:34 Closing Down...
I 15:10:34 Shutting down SPTI...
I 15:10:34 ImgBurn closed!