I'm sorry to hear issues with 1693s. I have had my drive since 2005. It has worked flawlessly. I have burned hundreds of discs with it. I have read hundreds of discs as well. To this day it is one of my best burners. I have seven in total. I've had all brands over the years. I had not had the best experience with Lite-On CD burners in the past. I remember a 48x Lite-On burner only lasting 3 months outside of warranty. So my experience with my 16XX series drives was a pleasant surprise.

Currently my 1653s and 1693s are wonderful. I currently use my Samsung SH-182M and my Lite-Ons regularly. I don't use my 165P6S as much. My Plextor PX-716SA is rather useless. I find quality leaves a bit to be desired with all types of media. Also with PowerRec on I can't burn above 12x, it drops back to 8x most times. With PowerRec disabled I get unwatchable DVD burns when burned at 16x. One thing I have noted about my 1693s it provides great burns on Ritek DL D01 media. My other drives don't even come close to the same quality of burn on the same media.