According to accuraterip.com, the drive is listed and the offset is also listed so I'm assuming it has the ability to copy a bit for bit audio from a audio cd right?

Only if it can over-read up to the corresponding offset value, this is the only real requirement for bit-exact copies from a drive.

Pardon my amateursih question, but how do you test that (ability to over-read to the offset value)? Thanks.

Find a CD in EAC's Reference CDs List, put it the drive, then press the "Detect read sample offset correction..." button. The dialog box will tell you your drives offset value & if it can overread lead I/O.

I don't have the drive yet so I can't really test it out. How do I check from the reviews to see if this device is indeed capable of doing that? I really want to buy this burner, but not having the ability to copy bit perfect CD's will push me away.

Could you please specify the burner model ?
In any case, the offset issue westgroveg mentioned only affects either the first or the last track of audio CDs (depends on the drive's offset); all other tracks will be copied bit-truely.

Dude, I already listed the model # in the title and in the first post. It is the NEC 3520A. I want to use accuraterip to ensure a successful copy. Is this possible with the DVD burner?

Sure ... because your drive supports "Accurate Streaming" ... it does not overread I/O but since the I/O areas do consist of silence in most cases anyway, you will hardly ever take notice of the lack of this feature (especially since the read offset for the NEC drives is low).

The only drawback is this burner's rather low error correction capability (see the review at CDR-Info on that topic) which might be a problem if you run into damaged CD's ...

Do you happen to know if the Plextor 716-SA will be any better in the bit for bit coping department?

What would a non-Plextor drive with good error correction would be?

I am much interested.

I have a Lite-On 832S, which, according to my rather limited tests, has very good correction capabilities.
There's only one factory-defective non-copy-protected CD that it cannot rip (you know, one of those scratch-free CDs, that anyway have some tracks that skip)

I am looking to buy another drive soon (but a DVD burner, and Plextor drives have been dissapointing lately)

How have Plextor drives been disappointing?

The PX-708A (which is outdated and discontinued) scored the highest perecentage ever at the CDR-Info error correction test ... and the 716A seems to be a good choice, too.

The LG GSA-4163B looks promising as well ...

Put it together with PlexTools DAE & you will have unbeatable error correction & recovery

[off-topic]
I have the NEC ND-1300A and the Plextor PX-708A. I was given a data disc last week by a friend that was said to be unreadable (there was an obvious radial scratch right through the metallic layer). The NEC ND-1300A couldn't read anything from this disc, even the TOC. The Plextor managed to retrieve all but 5 images from a total of 30, plus an application on that disc.

This Plextor plus Plextools has been excellent for me.
[/off-topic]

Eyes get tired when sitting at the PC so long...