Very possibly. Not all sync errors are caused by the ASPI thing. They can also becaused by a damaged CD or by a drive that doesn't deal with them too well. It's a known fact that some drives work better in secure mode than others. Everyone is ga-ga over the Plextor drives, and I made do with a nice and cheap Lite-on drive.

I know exactly what you're talking about though - my old notebook could handle everything I tossed at it (slowly) whereas my newer, fancier Sony VAIO had issues.

Maybe do a Google on your drive model and "Exact Audio Copy" to see if certain settings are recommended? Also check for newer firmware for your drives. My Lite-on drive had trouble reading certain disks when I got it but a firmware update took care of that (and make everything faster).