I have been looking at the charts on www.daefeatures.co.uk, and it seems to me that if you rip with a drive that can read into the lead-in or lead-out (depending on the read offset), you can rip all audio information from a disc. If your drive can't read into the lead-in or lead-out, then you could miss a few samples.

I just did a Nero CD-DVD Speed test with my Lite-On LTC 48161H, and found that it can read both lead-in and lead-out:



Now, since the read offset is +6, I should be able to use EAC to get all the information off of an audio CD, right?

(All this is coming from my really anal quest to make a rip as perfect as possible. I'm trying to find a drive that can do this, without spending as much money as a Plextor would require.)

Thanks for your help!

I also have a LITE-ON drive - the SOHR-5238S - and although CDSpeed reports that my drive can overread both lead-in and lead-out, EAC throws out a synch. error at the end of the last track.

Damn! I get the same thing, a sync error on the last track. So it appears that the drive can not read into the lead-out. I wonder why Nero said it could?

I've got to either get a Plextor drive, or cure myself of this obsession.

One more thing. Can I use EAC to determine if a drive can read into the lead-in or lead-out? How do I do it?

If Nero is not reporting correctly, then perhaps EAC will...

Yes, just run the "detect read sample offset correction" test, under offset/speed tab in the drive configuration.

Sorry, a little more please. When I run the "Detect sample offset correction..." test, it tells me the offset but that's all.

Are you saying that it will check the "Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out" box after the test if the drive can do it?

Thanks again for your help!

(I just did a quick test with the only CD I have that appears to be in the EAC database. I checked the "Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out" box, and the ran the test. After clicking "Apply", it unchecked the Overread box. I guess that answers my question!)

Yes, it tells you the lead-in/out capabilities as well:

See the first line "overread"?

Oh, yeah. I must have looked at that dialog box a thousand times without actually seeing it.

Thanks!