diff --git a/benchmark/4e822a1.txt b/benchmark/4e822a1.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ce94b25
--- /dev/null
+++ b/benchmark/4e822a1.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+benchmark
+starting  simple-query-parsing
+4166 ops/sec - (100/0.024)
+8333 ops/sec - (1000/0.12)
+10405 ops/sec - (10000/0.961)
+10515 ops/sec - (10000/0.951)
+10638 ops/sec - (10000/0.94)
+10460 ops/sec - (10000/0.956)
+starting  prepared-statement-parsing
+4166 ops/sec - (100/0.024)
+8264 ops/sec - (1000/0.121)
+7530 ops/sec - (10000/1.328)
+8250 ops/sec - (10000/1.212)
+8156 ops/sec - (10000/1.226)
+8110 ops/sec - (10000/1.233)
+done
+
diff --git a/lib/connection.js b/lib/connection.js
index b8ebd79..2bdd07f 100644
--- a/lib/connection.js
+++ b/lib/connection.js
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ var util = require('util');
 var utils = require(__dirname + '/utils');
 var Writer = require('buffer-writer');
 
+var TEXT_MODE = 0;
+var BINARY_MODE = 1;
 var Connection = function(config) {
   EventEmitter.call(this);
   config = config || {};
@@ -19,6 +21,7 @@ var Connection = function(config) {
   this.writer = new Writer();
   this.ssl = config.ssl || false;
   this._ending = false;
+  this._mode = TEXT_MODE;
 };
 
 util.inherits(Connection, EventEmitter);
@@ -488,8 +491,15 @@ Connection.prototype.parseField = function() {
     dataTypeID: this.parseInt32(),
     dataTypeSize: this.parseInt16(),
     dataTypeModifier: this.parseInt32(),
-    format: this.parseInt16() === 0 ? 'text' : 'binary'
+    format: undefined
   };
+  if(this.parseInt16() === TEXT_MODE) {
+    this._mode = TEXT_MODE;
+    field.format = 'text';
+  } else {
+    this._mode = BINARY_MODE;
+    field.format = 'binary';
+  }
   return field;
 };
 
@@ -500,7 +510,11 @@ Connection.prototype.parseD = function(msg) {
     var length = this.parseInt32();
     var value = null;
     if(length !== -1) {
-      value = this.readBytes(length);
+      if(this._mode === TEXT_MODE) {
+        value = this.readString(length);
+      } else {
+        value = this.readBytes(length);
+      }
     }
     fields.push(value);
   }
@@ -569,7 +583,7 @@ Connection.prototype.parseGH = function (msg) {
 };
 
 Connection.prototype.readChar = function() {
-  return Buffer([this.buffer[this.offset++]]).toString(this.encoding);
+  return this.readString(1);
 };
 
 Connection.prototype.parseInt32 = function() {
@@ -594,7 +608,7 @@ Connection.prototype.readBytes = function(length) {
 
 Connection.prototype.parseCString = function() {
   var start = this.offset;
-  while(this.buffer[this.offset++]) { }
+  while(this.buffer[this.offset++] !== 0) { }
   return this.buffer.toString(this.encoding, start, this.offset - 1);
 };