Error Correction during CD replay // Super Black Hole from Herbie's Audio Lab


I tried my best but just cannot comprehend this statement from Herbie's page:  "Error correction in audio CD discs is not perfect; it is algorithm-based "guessing," not binary like in data CDs"
Why is that? and does this apply to, say, McIntosh players spinning discs at double speeds? What about CDs ripped onto HDD?
Any info or links very much appreciated.

For months now I am struggling with my Wadia 781i trying to understand why it refuses to play a few CDs from my collection. Narrowed down, at least some, to pressing defects: some CDs are seriously eccentric, when played on tiny Discmans such CDs make them jump like an unbalanced centrifuge! But only Wadia refuses to play such CDs.
sevs
I did buy Staedtler 350 Lumocolor marker in Green.
Funny thing, once I treated hybrid SACD of Grieg Piano Concerto with this marker, its SACD layer got busted: starting at track 2 it skips and stalls. CD layer is OK. This proves, I guess, that using green marker does have some effect.
Someone joked that Green is for the Spring/Summertime edge-painting, I shall try flat black tomorrow. 
Whoa! What! Never use green on Grieg! 😀 I’d be interested to hear what happens with flat black. I predict you will not like the sound. But if you use black on the inner edge I predict it will be OK. You can also try purple on the outer edge. A lot depends on what the label color of the disc is. What color is the Grieg SACD?
Problems with players reading CDs is typically the result of the CD itself and not the player. I have over 3500 CDs of varying brands, and many of my disks have been played back on a handful of different players.

I’ve never had a player in the price category of your Wadia though. At the moment, besides my Oppo UDP-205 which is a universal player, the only stand-alone red book CD player I have is an Emotiva ERC-3. One of things it does extremely well is "read" the disk, and in fact the ERC-3 differentiates itself from many other more expensive players because it spins the disk 3 to 4 times faster (1000 RPM) instead of a most players (300 RPM) and what that does is allow for re-reading of the same information.

However, if error correction algorithm is engaged then I also agree this is not "perfect" and is in fact a "best guess". In fact, this notion of "guessing" can be demonstrated when using a PC and the defacto standard ripping software, Exact Audio Copy. If a CD that cannot be read in a particular spot is ripped using "burst" mode, the data (albeit not all of it) can be copied/ripped. If you use a "secure’ mode in an attempt to "perfectly" read the data, often times this will not work (i.e. hang the software) or if it does work take an hour to complete instead of minutes.
First released in 2008, 9 years ago that for a sacd/cd player is getting long in the tooth, it may need a new laser, as back then sacd/cd lasers weren't the most durable.

Cheers George  
However, if error correction algorithm is engaged then I also agree this is not "perfect" and is in fact a "best guess"

Error correction and interpolation are two different things.  System will interpolate when it cannot error correct any more (gaps longer than 4000 bits).  When it is able to error correct then data is recovered bit perfect.  When you error correct you can still get expected/verified CD checksum.
Data CDs are also error corrected.  Extra bytes required for error correction waste about 15% of disk space.  For instance 700MB CD-ROM has 737MB data capacity but in reality contains 847MB.  Additional 110MB is used for error correction coding.