Do CD-R's sound the same as originals

Good point about reflectivity. Too bad that $200 CD burners can outperform big buck audio players :-( Concering error correction algorithms: notice I used the term "correctable error": this is an error which is detected by the error correction algorithm and CORRECTABLE -- the original data word is restored to its proper value. I won't go into technicalities, but the use of redundant bits allows this. For example in an (11,8) code, 11 bits are recorded to represent 8 bits of data input; at playback time an 11 bit is read and the error correction algorithms decides which 8 bit word was intended. It can perfectly correct any single bit error out of the 11 bits, but if a pair of bit errors happen within that 11 bit word, all it can determine is that an uncorrectable error has occurred. If 3 bits out of the 11 are in error, the algorithm cannot recognize the situation and the wrong 8-bit word is output. An uncorrectable error is one in which the algorithms has to "fake it" via interpolation, or in really bad cases, shuts down the output.

And it should be pointed out that the original CD was stamped all at once, and NOT spinning at full speed and having the data burned by a laser into a photo emulsive substrate. So, when a CD-R is "burned", we are talking about it first being read at the full 1x speed, and THEN written at the full 1x speed. And there are a myriad of other factors, such as the light passing thru the "decidedly NOT 'optical lens quality' polycarbonate", TWICE (once to read, once to write, with the writing energy level of light much higher than the reading energy level...all at full speed)...the various reflective properties of the gold or silver reflective layer (those are the only two materials used, no CD-R's use aluminum), the various opacity properties of the different dies used in the photo emulsive substrate. And also, how all of this affects the "jitter performance", which as pointed out above, can be both mechanically-interface-related, and also can take place in the digital domain during the data transfer through the circuitry. My point is, there is NO such thing as a "perfect copy" of anything ANYWHERE, simple physics (and the uncertainty principle) dictate this. Also, my brother is both an EE and a computer programmer, and he informs me that a data CD has much higher tolerance for errors than an audio CD, because of the nature of the error correction of the software (it does perform heavy interpolation to correct for errors...no personal computer would function at all, if this weren't the case).

Sorry, but you surely misinterpreted your brother's words. The physical CD-ROM format, IEC 10149, has more error correction levels especially because of the fact that a single, logically irreparable error is fatal to software. CD-ROM error correction definitely does not allow for interpolated data.

Except it's mostly correct. When modems transfer data they do simple error detection/correction like the (11,8) method mentioned above. If there is an unrecoverable error, the word is resent. I wonder if data roms will also rescan a disc when an unrecoverable error is detected while the transport in an audio CD will simply interpolate. Just a thought. This came up in a previous thread and someone actually did some experiments with strait digital dumps. It was interesting and highly (in my mind) unexpected.

Dshin answers my question as I make my post... Still wondering if audio cd's could theoretically use the same IEEE standards for ripping the bits and then buffering the data for output into the DAC. Actually, doesn't Levinson do something like this?