Hello! My BenQ DW1620 is nearly end (this drive give me lot of problems last days...) so it is time to think about new DVD burner.
I found Asus 1608P2s interesting. I have experiences with 1608P2, it is OK burner, but, it is not so good reader. CDRW writing quality is very poor. Every disc I burned with it had C2 errors and was unreadable....
My question is: Is 1608P2s same as 1608P2, with only different firmware, or it is different drive. CDRW quality is important to me so if anybody knows is it fixed with this drive? Or, should I think about other manufacturers: Nec, Samsung, LG, Pioneer. BenQ is not available here anymore.
If anybody have some experience with 1608P2s, please let me know, how it performed as DVD, CD burner....
Thanx!!!

They are the same drive, they are also a pioneer 110(D) and they are all crossflashable. Read through some of the other threads to learn more.

I have cheap princo CDR's and they burn very well, and the quality is *excellent* when burned at slow speeds (ie. 10x). The latest firmware is 1.37 or 1.39 so the drive you used may not have had the latest FW. Also CD burning times are not long regardless of burn speed, so it is worth the extra quality to burn at a slower speed (this goes for most dvd cd burners).

I can honestly say I'm disappointed thus far with this drive. It has horrible media compatibility straight out of the box. Even with firmware 1.37 it isn't any better. Writes to high quality Taiyo Yuden and some Verbatim at only max 4X to around 6X. Verbatim DVD+R DL at only 2.4X. Fuji Taiyo Yuden at only 4X for just DVD+R. Taiyo Yuden DVD-R at only 4X. What's funny is that it writes at 6X for crappy media like CMC by Phillips. Already done all the troubleshooting. Nothing wrong with my system. Asus tech support is horrible. I've sent them an email. It's been 2 weeks now. No answer. They should stick to making motherboards and let the big players like Plextor, Benq, Nec, Lg, etc... handle the optical stuff.

You'll get better support from cdfreak members. I flashed my Asus drive to the pioneer 1.39 A10XL, and it solved my problem. It still ticks me off and disappoints me that Asus releases a drive that is horrible straight out of the box. This drive at least doesn't live up to the Asus name. The fact that it reads and writes all current dvd formats, and it's very quiet at doing it are the positive sides of the drive. Some people say it's based on the 110 drive by Pioneer, others say it's the A10XL. I also find it to be a bad reader. It's very slow at accessing both written and blank discs whether they are cd-rs or dvds. I will shortly be replacing this drive for either a Benq 1655, 1640, or some form of Plextor, Nec, and or Lg. Not sure yet. I've only had the drive for 2 weeks though.

OK, thanx for the opinions. I don't understand, if I crossflashed this drive to Pioneer, will I get CDRW writing quality like it is on Pioneer 110(D) review, and what is positive things that I will get if crossflash ASUS.
Thanx!!!

Well the firmware should be similar if not the same between pionner and asus, but the A10XL version has the ability to use the QuiteDRive utility from pioneer. Also, you can flash to a third party version of the 110(D) called buffalo, that will enable bitsetting for +R media. There is a version called '8.37 maxrip' (search for it) which is very good.

Whichever reviews you've read, you have to make note of the firmware version, since they will vary. There are reviews here at CDfreaks and CDRinfo. You can read them for all versions of the drive.

Ditto! Crossflash to the A10 FW or '8.37 maxrip'

OK thanx! One more thing I want to see: If anybody have a scan of CDRW disc burned with crossflashed ASUS, please post it here. If CDRW work ok, I will buy ASUS.
Thanx!!!

CD-RW is not CD-RW, same for CD-R

There are normal speed, Ultra-Speed and High-speed media.

Why don't you just visit the reviews??
ASUS: http://www.cdfreaks.com/article/247/4
PIONEER: http://www.cdfreaks.com/article/233/4

I have some 12x cd-rw's and all I can say is that they burn better on my 110 than on my 1640.

Nice to know!

I read review of ASUS 1608P2, CDRW writing quality is poor. I also read Pioneer 110D review, and rewriting quality is OK.
Would I get CDRW writing quality like on 110D if i crossflash ASUS?
Thanx!!!

And If anyone try writing any kind of CDRW with firmware 1.39, if results is OK, I will buy this burner...

Are you unable to visit the links I've posted?

Please read the REVIEWS!

@_chef_: I read both reviews but I still have same question.

"Any kind of CD-RW" is just wishful thinking, sorry.

Try your luck at www.videohelp.com ...

I have 1608P2S on 1.37 and have burned a few TDK 12x cd-rw's without any problems, the available speeds were 10x and 4x. I haven't done any detailed quality testing, but during verification in Nero the cd-rw's seemed to have been read at full speed without problems. Even my Sony cd walkman did not compain about the mp3's on cd-rw and I know it is much more picky about disc quality than any computer optical drive. Only once the walkman skipped over some songs but full-blanking the disc and writing again solved the problem (I have found full blanking very effective and would recommend to do it from time to time). These are just my own experiences but I would never say that cd-rw writing is very poor, I think it is at least acceptable and certainly will depend on media brand. So far I am quite satisfied.

@Lemon Juice: Thanx for the info! I alredy bought LG 4167B, and I am happy with in now, but it is nice to know that CDRW burning working OK for You.
Thanx again!