QUOTE
When you rip a mounted image is the ripping faster and
always flawless? I mean, there isn't any actual ripping taking
place that would compromise the quality of extracted tracks
and the speed of the extraction, or am I missing sth?
This is some what incorrect. If you rip a mounted image the rip will be flawless in comparison to the image file however image files can be created ie clonecd it will include errors like scratches to will not complete a sector by sector Secure Mode scan like EAC. If you want to rip an audio to an image file use EAC --> Cue Sheet. You then mount the cue-sheet with daemon tools.