I've used Poikosoft in addition to EAC and find it does a good job as well. The rip speed should be set to automatic and determined by the software based on quality settings.
As for compression, the amount of compression can also affect playback depending on the processor speed of the playback device. The more compressed, the more complex the math to "unzip" the file. Although there is no lossless compression going on, an extreme compression setting can cause the CPU to work harder than necessary. If you find that your system struggles on playback, the good news is you don't have to re-rip the tracks, just run them through a batch converter and re-compress to a different level.
Orjazzm, thanks for heads up on the Sonicflare review, I'll keep my eyes out for it.
As for compression, the amount of compression can also affect playback depending on the processor speed of the playback device. The more compressed, the more complex the math to "unzip" the file. Although there is no lossless compression going on, an extreme compression setting can cause the CPU to work harder than necessary. If you find that your system struggles on playback, the good news is you don't have to re-rip the tracks, just run them through a batch converter and re-compress to a different level.
Orjazzm, thanks for heads up on the Sonicflare review, I'll keep my eyes out for it.