DAE Quality.

Digital Audio Extraction:
http://web.ncf.ca/aa571/daefaq.htm

Test your transport with this:
http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/en/index.php/other-projects/dae-quality/

See other results here:
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=60091

The beauty of ripping to HD is that you can make an error free copy
Not many cd spinners do this
Some few cds will not play on my Mac
But would play on first gen cds
I bought new versions of damaged discs
They sound better of the HD than my Meridian spinner

Roger

Many thanks for the links.

I'm really interested in knowing which drive out there, that's currently avaliable, is considered the hands down best.

Perhaps there's more than one? Perhaps a Blueray player is better than the others at playing regular CDs?

I currently have a Plextor PX-230A, but I don't see it on that list. Is this to assume that it's not worthy? I purchased it a while back after reading some good reviews for ripping, which is what I was looking for at the time. Ideally, now, I need a SATA drive, at least. I'd prefer a slim drive if possible (like a laptop drive).

I guess I also need to know how much of a difference there will be in these reviews compared to what I'm really looking for. I'm needing to know which drive is the best for real time playback. Not for ripping. Will there be a difference here?

Quote:
The beauty of ripping to HD is that you can make an error free copy
Not many cd spinners do this
Some few cds will not play on my Mac
But would play on first gen cds
I bought new versions of damaged discs
They sound better of the HD than my Meridian spinner

Roger

thanks for your post, but I'm not sure I understand its relevance to this thread?

I imply
Put your music on a computer
Why faff with a computer drive?
Roger

I understand that most people would like to do this...as I do it as well.

However, as I stated in my first post, in this instance I need a CD-rom. For this application, a CD rom is ABSOLUTELY necessary to play back the music CD. No other option is viable as this is a REQUIREMENT.

A CD/DVD/Blueray-rom MUST be used.

Probably the biggest issue you will face is noise. Most if not all computer disk drives are loud, especially CD/DVD drives.

www.newegg.com is a good place to read reviews before purchase.

Thanks. I'm very familiar with NewEgg, however, they don't sell all brands, not to mention that reading through all of the reviews would take months.

I'm gathering that this isn't going to yield me any results on this forum. I'll go elsewhere.

Thanks for the help.