Plextor drives used to be The King, but several years ago they started being made by some other manufacturer. A current computer magazine I picked up while in the airport last week wrote up the Plextor PX-850SA. They liked it but said it was a better ripper than a writer. This is the drive I use.
I ripped a couple of hundred CDs with EAC about two years ago. All in all, I have found about a dozen audible errors just from casual listening. Re-ripping took care of a few of the errors but not all.
I've since moved to dbPowerAmp as my ripper of choice. After the small learning curve, I like it better. I've read somewhere that it is the new 'Gold Standard' (whatever you can take from that...). I prefer the more modern interface of dbPowerAmp and their suite of converter software it I have to transcode.