Hello,

I have started with ripping my CD's.

Some of these CD's are scratched.

Exact Audio Copy cannot rip these CD's. I tried the CD's in my two drives.

My current drives are;
- Lite-on XJ-HD166S (DVD-Rom)
- Benq DW-1655 (DVD-RW)

It looks that the Lite-On can read better/faster than the Benq when a CD is damaged.

Now I have some money, I'm thinking to invest in a good CD drive to rip my CD's.

At first sight I was thinking about the Plextor Premium 2 as the one and only option but after reading tons of forums and reviews http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....p;hl=best+drive It looks the Plextor isn't the King of the Hill.

I hope somebody can give me some advice about what the best drive is (also for CD's with scratches). My budget is around $150.

I rip all my CD's with Exact Audio Copy.


Best Wishes,
Jordi

Edit: Is it possible that a new drive can rip my scratched CD's, because my both drives cannot or is this wishful thinking?

I've used EAC on lots CDs in lots of different drives over the years. On average, CD writers have given the worst results with 'difficult' disks and CD readers have been the best with my one and only DVD reader falling somewhere in between. My oldest writer, an HP 9150i, refused to recognize one or two unblemished discs.

If you really can't get an error free rip on a disc with any of your drives try polishing it. I've used EAC and elbow grease to get cood copies from discs that had been used as frisbees. They were so bad that audio players wouldn't touch them. The most obvious scratches aren't always the worst. Look for tangential rather than radial ones. Also, note two important points:

1) If the damage is on the label side the disc is junk.

2) Be careful what you rest a disc on while you polish the playing side. There's not much point removing all the scratches only to turn it over and find several holes!

Thanks for your tips Johnny