EAC + AccurateRip + drive that caches audio: help me choose one of two, I have a BENQ DW1640 and a Pioneer DVR-215D; is either one preferable? Options

[mous00]

I own a Pioneer DVR-215D which is supposed to be a decent drive for audio extraction according to Spoon's thread "CD/DVD Drive Accuracy List" on another forum.
According to the DAE Drive Features database, the drive has the following features:

DVR-215D
Caching: Yes
Accurate Stream: Yes
C2 Error: Yes
HTOA: Yes
Overread: None

I'm using EAC with accuraterip and just wanted to know what is the best practice to backup my (300+) CD collection.
Detect gaps and then Test & Copy?

I know there are many guides but I would like to hear what folks on HA say. I also own a BENQ DW1640 which is supposed to be a good drive though it falls lower on Spoon's "CD/DVD Drive Accuracy List 2011" thread (based on user submissions).
That drive:

DW1640
Caching: Yes
Accurate Stream: Yes
C2 Error: No
HTOA: No
Overread: Lead In

Should I choose one drive over the other to rip my CDs at long last?

[pdq]

You would be better off to look for a drive that does NOT cache audio. In audio extraction, cacheing is an undesirable feature.

[greynol]

I posted an answer to this over at digital-inn.de. pdq is right, caching of audio data is undesirable. With discs in good condition you can use burst mode and the inefficiencies due to caching will not come into play.

[mous00]

You would be better off to look for a drive that does NOT cache audio. In audio extraction, cacheing is an undesirable feature.

Thank you pdq for the advice. I was hoping not to buy another drive though this is something I wonder about. People praise certain drives for their accuracy based on Spoon's Drive Accuracy database thread. Many of the top drives do in fact cache audio. I'm guessing the emphasis there is on how well the drives do with C2 errors?

I posted an answer to this over at digital-inn.de. pdq is right, caching of audio data is undesirable. With discs in good condition you can use burst mode and the inefficiencies due to caching will not come into play.

Thank you greynol, reading your post now.

[greynol]

Many of the top drives do in fact cache audio. I'm guessing the emphasis there is on how well the drives do with C2 errors?

It's solely based on which drives provide the most submissions that match what is already in the database as a percentage of total submissions. Matching submissions are assumed to be accurate rips.