Pioneer's latest DVD-ROM shows a number of improvements over previous models in the range and chief amongst these is noise reduction. This is significant, as Pioneer drives have been quite noisy in the past.

The 16-speed (40-speed CD) DVD-106S is also one of the first DVD-ROM drives to provide Ultra ATA/66 support. This allows you to run the DVD-ROM in the same IDE chain as, for example, an ATA/66 hard drive without losing any of the bandwidth - and therefore the performance - of the latter. With previous ATA/33 DVD or CD-ROM drives chained to an ATA/66 hard drive, the IDE controller on the motherboard would talk to the drive in the slowest mode available, resulting in a loss of hard drive performance.

But readers with older motherboards that only have ATA/33 support needn't worry, as the maximum theoretical sustained transfer rate of the drive is 21.6MB/s, so there shouldn't be any loss of performance from the DVD-106S when using the slower interface.

Among the formats supported by the DVD-106S are DVD-ROM & Video (dual and single layer), DVD-RW, DVD-R, CD-R, CD-RW, CD-ROM and CD-DA. When tested, the DVD-106S produced an access time of 92.5ms - a little slow when compared to the opposition - but exceeded its 40-speed specification when its sustained transfer rate was tested.

Pioneer has listened to complaints about the noise of its older drives and has fitted the DVD-106S with a new, low-vibration mechanism called the Dynamic Resonance Absorber (DRA). Pioneer claims that this reduces sound levels by 2dB, and the DVD-106S is certainly the quietest model currently available from Pioneer. However, subjectively it still seems a little noisy compared to, say, the latest AOpen drives.

The DVD-106S reviewed features a slot rather than a loading tray, with all the usual features on the front bezel, namely headphone jack, volume control, power-on/busy LED and load/eject button. The rear panel contains the usual IDE interface, jumper block, power connector, analogue audio output connector and, on this slot model only, a digital audio output.

Although this drive has the usual DVD region protection built in, it is sold in a separate pack by some companies as a region-free drive, following firmware modifications that will let you use all Region Code Enhanced (RCE) DVDs.

Pioneer's DVD-106S is a quiet, fast DVD-ROM drive that offers good DVD and CD performance. It has a low access time and a small buffer size when compared to the opposition, but its above average transfer rate and very reasonable price are in its favour. For those who desire region-free operation, this drive will also be appealing in its modified form.